Mortal Kombat (electronic game)
Mortal Kombat is a renowned fighting video game franchise that debuted in 1992, created by Midway, a company known for its arcade games. Initially developed to compete with the popular Street Fighter II, Mortal Kombat quickly distinguished itself through its unique combination of intense martial arts combat and graphic violence, which sparked significant controversy and discussion about video game content. Players control characters in one-on-one battles, employing a variety of moves to deplete their opponent's health, culminating in dramatic finishing moves known as fatalities.
The game's narrative is set across various realms, including Earthrealm, Outworld, and Netherrealm, with characters ranging from ninjas and wizards to soldiers and deities, reflecting a diverse and imaginative roster. Over the years, the franchise has expanded to include multiple sequels, spin-off titles, and even two live-action films. Despite initial censorship concerns, Mortal Kombat has maintained its popularity within the gaming community, influencing the fighting game genre and setting a standard for graphics and gameplay mechanics. Through its blend of creativity, violence, and engaging characters, Mortal Kombat remains a significant part of video game history.
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Mortal Kombat
Mortal Kombat is a video game that was released in 1992 by Midway, a former amusement park game manufacturer. Though originally designed as a means to compete with another game, Street Fighter II, Mortal Kombat quickly became a leader in its genre. The video game was controversial for its intensely violent content and its console ports were originally censored. However, as violent video games became more common, censorship of the series was lifted.
Mortal Kombat involved players controlling a character, and then pressing buttons on a controller to make the character execute martial arts moves. Players could move from left to right, jump, block, and attack. If a player’s move connected with an opponent’s character, it would lessen the character’s health. Reducing a character’s health to zero resulted in victory. In some cases, one character could be controlled by a person and another by the game’s computer. Other times, two people played against one another.
The Mortal Kombat franchise proved to be extremely popular with the video game community. Mortal Kombat II was released the following year, and more than twenty other entries into the Mortal Kombat series followed. Additionally, two Mortal Kombat live-action movies have been released.
Background
Midway Manufacturing, the company that released Mortal Kombat, was founded in 1958. The company quickly became profitable by manufacturing and selling amusement park games. In 1973, Midway began to manufacture and sell digital arcade games. At the time, most video games were in large structures called cabinets. Midway developed numerous successful video game titles, including Space Invaders, Pac-Man, and Miss Pac-Man.
By the 1990s, Midway had become one of the most successful video game developers in the market. However, these games were played in arcades. Other than one failed attempt at creating a home console, Midway had remained a producer of arcade games.
In the early 1990s, fighting games began to grow in popularity. These games gave the player control over one character, and a second player or computer had control over a second character. Players attempted to land blows to reduce their opponent’s health to zero, knocking the player out of the fight. The genre was propelled into the mainstream in 1991, with Capcom’s Street Fighter II and SNK’s Fatal Fury. Midway wanted to become better known as a producer of original games and decided to release a fighting game.
To work on its new project, Midway recruited artist John Tobias and programmer Ed Boon. Boon had worked with Midway previously, in both the company’s pinball and game development departments. Because the new title was designed to compete with Street Fighter, it borrowed many of the series’ gameplay mechanics. Players could move left or right and utilize various types of attacks, blocks, and throws. These moves were executed by correctly pressing certain buttons on the controller. However, Tobias and Boon planned to differentiate their game from Street Fighter with an artistic style.
Rather than simply animating everything, Midway used digital photographs to make the game artistic and give it a more realistic feel. They also made the game’s combat and animations much darker than other games. The animations were violent, gory, and borrowed heavily from 1980s action movies and Kung Fu films. Midway released its first fighting game, Mortal Kombat, in 1992.
Overview
Mortal Kombat is a series of fighting games begun by Midway in 1992. At first, the series was played on arcade platforms. However, as home consoles advanced and arcades declined in popularity, it quickly shifted to the various popular consoles. The Mortal Kombat series is best known for its excessive gore, exotic martial arts, and brutal finishing moves called fatalities.
Mortal Kombat was heavily criticized by the media for its excessive violence. Parents were concerned about such violent games being available for anyone in an arcade to play. When it was revealed that the game’s developers were preparing to release Mortal Kombat on home consoles, many parents demanded that the home versions of the game be censored. Nintendo’s port removed some of the game’s more graphic fatalities. It also changed the color of the game’s blood from bright red to gray. However, the Sega port of Mortal Kombat featured a code that unlocked all the moves from the arcade version.
The mythology of Mortal Kombat involves interactions between various dimensions, or realms. Earthrealm is modeled after the modern world, Outworld is a barbaric wasteland, and Netherrealm is a hellish underworld. Once per generation, each realm sends representatives to a secret fighting tournament called Mortal Kombat. If one realm can win Mortal Kombat ten times in a row, that realm is allowed to invade and conquer another realm. For this reason, the fighting roster of the Mortal Kombat games contains a diverse cast of characters, including ninjas, wizards, modern soldiers, action stars, robots, and deities. Many of the same characters are featured as a consistent cast throughout the numerous Mortal Kombat games. Some characters that are iconic to the franchise include Scorpion, an undead ninja, and Sonya, a US Special Forces operative.
The original Mortal Kombat game heavily influenced the fighting game genre. Its method of entering commands differed strongly from Street Fighter II and was adopted by numerous other games since. Additionally, its violent animations quickly became something other games attempted to emulate. Mortal Kombat II was released the following year, and Mortal Kombat III in 1995. Many titles for various video gaming platforms followed, including a mobile release, arcade versions, and several handheld variants. A Mortal Kombat themed film, Mortal Kombat, was released in 1995. A sequel, Mortal Kombat: Annihilation, was released in 1997.
Bibliography
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“Mortal Kombat Is Back, More Violent Than Ever. Is This a Bad Thing?” The Irish Times, 2019, www.irishtimes.com/life-and-style/people/mortal-kombat-is-back-more-violent-than-ever-is-this-a-bad-thing-1.3769094. 13 Aug. 2019.
“Mortal Kombat: Violent Game That Change Video Games Industry,” BBC, 2014, www.bbc.com/news/technology-27620071. 13 Aug. 2019.
“Mortal Kombat Timeline: Story Explained,” Den of Geek, 2019, www.denofgeek.com/us/games/mortal-kombat/248595/mortal-kombat-timeline-story-explained. 13 Aug. 2019.
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“The History of Mortal Kombat,” IGN, 2012, www.ign.com/articles/2011/05/05/the-history-of-mortal-kombat. 13 Aug. 2019.