THE RETRO GAMER GUIDE TO…

MIDWAY’S BLOODTHIRSTY SERIES HAS BEEN ENTERTAINING GAMERS FOR 31 YEARS. DISCOVER HOW A PLANNED COMPETITOR TO STREET FIGHTER II BECAME A CONTENDER IN ITS OWN RIGHT

WORDS BY NICK THORPE AND DARRAN JONES

Mortal Kombat is quite an interesting franchise as it’s one that has generally improved with each successive main instalment. Yes there have been some huge stumbles along the way (most of the spin-offs, for example, are absolute garbage) but the core games have tended to always improve on the original game’s appeal, which was gore, gore and even more gore.

Created by Ed Boon and John Tobias as a competitor to Capcom’s phenomenally successful Street Fighter II, Midway’s brawler mainly relied on two things to wow gamers in the arcades: its realistic digistised characters; and an unhealthy amount of over-the-top blood and guts that immediately made it stand apart from virtually every other game of the

MORTAL KOMBAT 1992

ARCADE, VARIOUS The original Mortal Kombat caused a massive stir upon its release, ushering in awareness of just how graphically capable videogames were becoming, and proved that you didn’t need to have amazing game mechanics in order to be popular.

Up against Street Fighter II, Mortal Kombat was clearly the inferior game, but gamers didn’t seem to care. Unlike many fighters of the time, Midway’s game featured a block button that instantly made you rethink how you approached matches. Its character roster was interesting too, featuring everything from a Hollywood movie star (Johnny Cage) to a trio of deadly ninjas (Sub-Zero, Scorpion and secret character Reptile) and the God Of Lightning (Raiden). Each character in the game was portrayed by a real-life actor, using Midway’s state-of-the-art digitising techniques. There was even a half-decent story at the heart of all the fighting that explained how all the fighters were competing in a deadly tournament in the hope of overthrowing the evil sorcerer Shang Tsung and his four-armed protector Goro. Perhaps the biggest draw of Midway’s game, though, was the insane amount of blood and guts it featured, the most important of which were its Fatalities, which were available upon winning your second bout against your opponent. Your helpless foe would stagger for a few seconds allowing you to hopefully pull off an insanely devastating attack move that would instantly kill them.

The controversy surrounding the likes of Mortal Kombat, Night Trap and Lethal Enforcers (all of which featured digitised human characters) was so great that it led to the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) being formed. Ratings started to appear on the boxes of games, so consumers knew whether they would be suitable for their children to play or not. Hugely successful in arcades, Mortal Kombat found similar success in the home market, particularly on the Mega Drive and SNES. Nintendo’s strict rules at the time meant that the blood on the SNES version was replaced with less controversial sweat, giving Sega’s console a much-needed boost over its competitor. time. Sure the animation was incredibly ropey and naff in the first game, and the block button was a pain in the arse to get used to, but the imaginative setting, stylised characters and the ability to perform insane Fatality moves, that ranged from ripping out your hapless foe’s heart to stripping them of their spines, ensured there was no shortage of players that wanted to tackle Midway’s game.