List of media in the Mortal Kombat franchise

Mortal Kombat
Screenshot List of media in the Mortal Kombat franchise
Developer:	Midway Games
Publisher:	Midway Games
Release date:	1992
Genre:	Fighting
Game modes:	Up to 2 players simultaneously
Cabinet:	Standard
Controls:	Joystick; 5 buttons
Monitor
Orientation:	Horizontal
Type:	Raster, standard resolution (Used: 400 x 256)
Notes
Known for its brutal and bloody fatalities; Used digitized characters; So popular that two movies of the same name have been created; In the KLOV Top 100 and one of the two best games in 1992

Mortal Kombat is a 1992 fighting arcade game by Midway Games. It was popular because of its realistic, digitized graphics mixed with bloody and brutal action. This differentiated it from the hand-animated, more cartoon-like graphics of competing games like Street Fighter II.

Overview

Mortal Kombat was developed as a reaction to the popular Capcom game Street Fighter II, with simpler controls and digitized graphics. Some say the game's graphic violence was gratuitous, and was only included in order to generate a public outcry and controversy that would increase publicity for the game.

Although highly controversial, the mix of realism and violence propelled Mortal Kombat to the height of popularity. An example of the game's innovations was the Fatality, a special finishing move executed against a beaten opponent to kill them in a gruesome fashion. For example, one character would grasp a defeated, wobbling opponent by the head, then rip the head and spine out of the opponent's body, which then crumpled to the ground in a pool of blood. Such move may be performed only after two successful rounds of fighting, and generally annihilates the opponent player.

Another aspect of gameplay that became a recurring element in games that followed was the so-called "juggle", where a series of moves could be executed against an opponent who was kept in mid-air by the force of the attacks, and who hence had no defense against further attacks as long as the "juggle" could be maintained.

Legacy

Midway created five sequels for the arcade and home systems, each one bloodier, more brutal, and stranger than the last. Mortal Kombat 4 brought the series into 3D, replacing the digitized fighters of the previous games with polygon models, while Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance was the first in the series to skip arcades altogether and go directly to consoles, a symptom of U.S. arcade market's dramatic decline. The newest instalment in the series, Mortal Kombat: Deception, was released for the Xbox and Playstation 2 platforms in October 2004 (with a Gamecube version scheduled for 2005). Following a gameplay style very similar to the one found on Deadly Alliance, Deception also features several new gaming modes, such as a Tetris-like puzzle and a chess game, as well as a hara-kiri finishing move for each character.

Finishing moves in later games included the Animality (turning into animal to violently finish off the opponent), the Brutality (decimating an opponent into pieces with a long combination of hits or combo), the Friendship (offering one's opponent a token of friendship), and the Babality (transforming the opponent into a baby). The Babality and Friendship moves were created as a jokey "non-violent" finishing move, a swipe at the US Congressional Investigation for Violence in Videogames who came down harshly on the Mortal Kombat games. Purists, fonder of the earlier style, were upset by the introduction of such finishing moves, yet Mortal Kombat's "purely violent" and dark gameplay was once again implemented after the release of Mortal Kombat 4.

Throughout the series, the game was noted for its simplicity of controls and the exotic special moves it featured.

Easter eggs and secrets

Mortal Kombat was among the first titles in the beat 'em up genre to include secret characters, secret games, and other Easter eggs. Mortal Kombat 3, for example, including a hidden game of Galaxian. In the 1992 original, by executing a Fatality when fighting on The Pit stage (the bridge) without taking any damage or pressing the block button in the winning round, the player could fight Reptile, a merge between the Sub-Zero and Scorpion characters. In Mortal Kombat II, Reptile would be developed into a full character with his own special moves and would be available from the outset. Carrying on in this tradition, if the player won 50 consecutive fights he/she would come face to face with the black ninja Noob Saibot, which originates from the last names of the lead designer John Tobias and lead programmer Ed Boon backwards. It was pioneering ideas like these that has made Mortal Kombat one of the most memorable of the beat 'em up genre.

However, one of the most fascinating elements of Mortal Kombat was completely unplanned and out of the programmers hands. Following the release of Mortal Kombat II, a myth culture was created around the game. The most famous one is the Goro myth. In the first game, Goro was a four armed monster that acted as a miniboss to the game's main boss, Shang Tsung. Many fans were convinced that Goro was hidden somewhere in Mortal Kombat II and many were obsessed with finding him. The UK's GamesMaster magazine (also a popular TV Show on Channel 4) received numerous letters asking about where to find Goro. Much searching was done, both by fans and the computer game press, until in 1995 GamesMaster concluded, "We are positive Goro isn't to be found in Mortal Kombat II, we are positive he would have been found by now."

Movies and television

Mortal Kombat was adopted into two major motion pictures, Mortal Kombat: The Movie, and Mortal Kombat: Annihilation. Both featured high action, outdated special effects and B-rate plots.A Third Movie is said to be in pre-production as confirmed Officially in October and will release some time in 2005 or 2006

The franchise also sparked two television series, the animated Mortal Kombat: Defenders of the Realm and the live-action Mortal Kombat: Conquest.

Ports

File:Mortal kombat.PNG

Mortal Kombat II, for the Super Nintendo/Super Famicom

From a marketing perspective, the 1993 launch of Mortal Kombat for video game consoles by Acclaim was probably the largest launch of a video game up until that time. A "Mortal Monday" television campaign featured a flood of television advertisements, which were unusual for video games at that time, and all four home versions of the game were made available for sale on the same date.

When the first game in the series was released for the Super Nintendo in North America, Nintendo of America held a strict "Family Friendly" policy towards the content of the games released on their systems, this included the removal of graphic violence, religious imagery and themes; mention of death, sexual themes, and other sensitive subjects. Henceforth, the first Mortal Kombat game on the SNES had the blood recolored gray in order to pass it off as sweat, and the various Fatality moves were graphically changed to be less gruesome. Although it was graphically superior and had better controls then the Sega Genesis/Sega Megadrive version, the SNES version sold very poorly due to its sanitation of the game's violent content. After this, Nintendo began to concede on their policies, and the SNES version of Mortal Kombat II was released with the violence fully intact with a warning label on the game's packaging. Nintendo later allowed other publishers to make games with sensitive subject material following the advent of various video game content rating systems. In Japan, the game was also released for the Japanese version of the SNES, the Super Famicom.

Ports:

Sega Genesis/Sega Megadrive (1992) - the American Sega Genesis version was censored, but entering a secret code leaves the blood intact.
Amiga (1993)
Game Boy (1993)
IBM PC (1993)
Sega Master System (1993)
Sega Game Gear (1993)
SNES/Super Famicom (1993) - Because Nintendo of America had a problem with the realistic use of blood, the SNES replaces blood with sweat.
The game has been ported illegally to the Famicom in Asia. It has appeared in several multicarts in China.

Sequels

There was also a separate game starring the character of Sub-Zero called Mortal Kombat Mythologies: Sub-Zero. This was a platform game rather than a fighting game.

External links