Decades after its multi - organisation release , Mortal Kombathas become a play image . sweep more than a dozen game , two theatrical films , and an eternal extended macrocosm of comic book literature , the originalMortal Kombatremains one of gaming ’s most influential titles . How well do you know the background and fact about fighting secret plan ’ ultimate tournament ?
1.Mortal Kombatwas created by only four people in 10 months.
In 1991 , Midway Games wrangled computer programmer Ed Boon , then 27 , and comical book artist John Tobias , then 22 , to conceive and make a fighting arcade biz that would be ready for release in 10 months . Boon and Tobias rounded out their squad with artist John Vogel and sound designer Dan Forden .
2.Mortal Kombatwas originally based around Jean-Claude Van Damme.
According to Tobias , the biz startle when the producers ofUniversal Soldiercame and asked Midway Games to create a game ground on the movie . But Midway thought it would be more fun if they licensed Jean - Claude Van Damme on his own , making a gritty gamemore likeVan Damme’sBloodsport . But that deal fell through , eventually go the martial arts tournament to the fictional satellite of Earthrealm .
3. Jean-Claude Van Damme maintained his presence in the final cut.
Still skip to capitalize on Van Damme ’s simulacrum as the epitomic action movie persona of the time ( and in edict to “ parody the whole Van Damme situation ” ) , the pair wound up modeling popularMortal Kombatplayable character Johnny Cage — in appearance , backstory , and personality ( the character is a notoriously narcissistic Hollywood thespian ) , and initial — after Van Damme .
4.Big Trouble in Little Chinawas a prominent source of inspiration.
TwoMortal Kombatcharacters were model after villain in the 1986 John Carpenter movie . The plot ’s thunder god , Raiden , took visual inspirationfrom the movie ’s assassin terzetto , “ The Three Storms ” ( toy by Carter Wong , Peter Kwong , and James Pax ) , whileMortal Kombatboss Shang Tsung resembles the film ’s big bad sorcerer , Lo Pan ( played by James Hong ) . Designer John Tobias has said that these influence were an homage toBig Troublebecause the premiss of both the pic and the secret plan were “ kind of a mashup between a mythological easterly earthly concern and a westerly world ground more in reality . ”
5. Coming up with a name for the game took six months.
deadly Kombatdidn’t have a name for more than one-half of the development period ; every suggestionfor a titlewas allegedly hate by at least one of the four designers . name that did n’t make the cut includedKumite(which refer to a deal - based section of karate training),Dragon Attack , Death Blow , andFatality .
6. An outsider came up with the final title.
Pinball and plot designerSteve Ritchie , a ally of Boon ’s , come up with the nameMortal Kombaton a whim upon catch a glance of a misspelled “ kombat ” on the latter ’s drawing board during a sojourn to his federal agency .
7. Some of theMortal Kombat“actors” have impressive resumes.
Just about every character in the originalMortal Kombatgame was derived from a question - capture performance by one offive thespian : Korean - American actorHo - Sung Pakplayed both game hero Liu Kang and big chief Shang Tsung ; England - bear Elizabeth Malecki played Sonya Blade ; Chicagoan Richard Divizio played Kano ; fellow Windy City aboriginal Carlos Pesina played Raiden ; and the latter ’s older crony Dan handled the lion ’s portion , portraying Johnny Cage , Scorpio , Sub - Zero , and Reptile . ( Additionally , the corps lining the Pit Bottom grade are play by the game ’s four Almighty . )
Ho - Sung has the most extensive filmography of the crew , with well - eff titles including the Jackie Chan favoriteThe Legend of Drunken Master , Epoch of Lotus , the Christian Slater filmAlone in the Dark , and the 2012 remaking ofRed Dawn .
8. Only oneMortal Kombatcharacter wasn’t portrayed by a live actor.
In line to his human - portrayed counterparts , the big boss Goro ( a four - armed human - dragon hybrid inspired by the lore of Sinbad the Sailor ) was the consequence of end - motion photography of a clay number design by sculptorCurt Chiarelli .
9. Liu Kang started out with a different identity.
Earlier potation of theMortal Kombathero design him as a Nipponese warrior calledMinamoto Yoshitsune . Tobias toldElectronic Gaming Monthlyin 1995 that the crowd could n’t “ distribute with the name , ” so they prefer for the light “ Liu Kang . ”
10.Mortal Kombat’s release was one of the biggest video game launches of its time.
Despite the minimal fourth dimension and resource pumped into the game ’s development , the sizing of its launch was almost unparalleled . A twelvemonth after taking original form as an unsloped colonnade game , Mortal Kombatfound life-time via four home system : Nintendo ’s Super NES and Game Boy , and Sega Enterprises ’ Sega Genesis and Game Gear . All four versions of the game were released on a heavily market “ Mortal Monday ” on September 13 , 1993 .
11. Not all versions ofMortal Kombatwere the same.
Each habitation version of the game was marked by a few secern characteristics , knowing or otherwise . The Nintendo variations take out the presence of blood entirely — replacing it with effort — and foreshorten down substantially on the vehemence , while the Sega biz allow for access to these gorier features , though onlyvia rip off computer code .
12. One version ofMortal Kombatgives a shout-out to Phil Collins.
The aforesaid cheat code needed to leave the presence of blood line and gore in the Sega Genesis variance of the plot is “ ABACABB . ” This combination of letters is a citation toAbacab , the 1981 record album of Phil Collins ’ rock band Genesis ( which just so happens to share a name with the gaming system in question ) .
13. A Belgian rock band formed to bring theMortal Kombatsoundtrack to life.
14. One American senator had a big problem withMortal Kombat.
Connecticut Senator and future Vice Presidential campaigner Joseph Lieberman took a stand against gory video games likeMortal Kombatata Washington D.C. printing press conferenceon December 1 , 1993 . “ Violent video game may become the Cabbage Patch bird of the 1993 vacation time of year , ” Lieberman enjoin , referring to the miniature ’ popularity . “ But Cabbage Patch dolls never oozed stock and nipper were n’t taught to rip off their heads … We ’re talking about video game that spiritualize wildness and teach children to enjoy inflicting the most gruesome form of cruelty conceivable . ” oddly , the league also featured Bob Keeshan , well known as Captain Kangaroo , indorse Lieberman ’s contestation .
15. This controversy inspired the ESRB rating system.
A version of this account go in 2015 ; it has been update for 2021 .
