Mortal Kombat

Mortal Kombat
	;
Genre(s)	Fighting
Developer(s)	Midway Games
Publisher(s)	Warner Bros
Creator(s)	Ed Boon and John Tobias
Platform of origin	Arcade
Spinoffs	Films and television series, comic

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For other uses, see Mortal Kombat (disambiguation).

Mortal Kombat is a best-selling series of fighting games created by Ed Boon and John Tobias in 1992. Mortal Kombat began as a series of arcade games, which were picked up by Acclaim Entertainment for the home console versions. Then Midway Games exclusively created home versions of Mortal Kombat. The current status of the franchise lies with Warner Bros. as the result of a sale in July 2009. ^[1]

It is especially noted for its digitized sprites (which differentiated it from its contemporaries' hand-drawn sprites), and its high levels of blood and gore, including, most notably, its graphic fatalities—finishing moves, requiring a sequence of buttons to perform, which, in part, led to the creation of the ESRB. The series itself is also known for using the letter "K" in place of "C" for the hard C sound, thus misspelling the word "combat," as well as other words with the hard c sound within later games in the series.

[edit] Overview

[edit] Brief history

Screenshot of Mortal Kombat.

The original Mortal Kombat was developed as a response to the popular Capcom fighting game Street Fighter II, with digitized sprites based on actors, as opposed to animated cartoon graphics. Critics said the game's graphic violence was only included in order to generate a public outcry and controversy that would gain publicity for the game (the level of violence in Street Fighter is considerably lower, getting an unrestricted "Teen" rating as opposed to the restricted "Mature" rating of Mortal Kombat). Although highly controversial, the mix of realism and violence propelled Mortal Kombat to widespread and historic renown.

Throughout the series, the game was known for its extreme violence which included fatalities, uppercuts that sprayed blood and launched players into the air, and its theatrical special moves.

[edit] Legacy

Midway has created seven sequels for the arcade and home systems, as well as a few spin-off games. Mortal Kombat 4 brought the series into 3D, replacing the digitized fighters of previous games with polygon models, while Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance dropped the fighting style of previous games, in favor of giving each character a number of different fighting styles. This was the first MK game to include a "Konquest" mode, which would be developed for later titles into a story-based adventure minigame. Deadly Alliance was the first major installment of the fighting game series to skip arcades altogether and go directly to consoles, a symptom of the U.S. arcade market's dramatic decline. The following title in the series, Mortal Kombat: Deception (named Mortal Kombat: Unchained for the PSP) also featured several new gaming modes, such as a Puzzle Fighter-like puzzle game and an Archon-like chess game. Mortal Kombat: Armageddon, which attempted to wrap up the current story continuity, featured all but one of the characters that have appeared in the series so far, (but also featured two new characters, Taven and Daegon) and included a new Mario Kart-like racing minigame called Motor Kombat.

Finishing moves in later games included the Animality (turning into an animal to violently finish off the opponent), the Mercy (where the victor gives a little health to the opponent), the Brutality (bashing an opponent into pieces with a long combination of hits or combo), the Hara-Kiri (a move by the opponent to commit suicide, performed before the victor can execute a Fatality), 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 satirical non-violent finishing move, a sarcastic swipe at the U.S. 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, and Mortal Kombat's "purely explicit" and dark gameplay was once again implemented upon the release of Mortal Kombat 4.

Mortal Kombat also has always been a topic of controversy due to its depictions of graphic violence, and has always been in the limelight of debates about the effects of video game violence.

Guinness World Records awarded the Mortal Kombat series with seven world records in the Guinness World Records: Gamer's Edition 2008. These records include "Most Successful Fighting Game Franchise", "Biggest Fighting Game Series", and "Most Successful Video Game Spin-Off Soundtrack Album".

[edit] Palette swapping and character depth

More so than other fighting games at the time, Mortal Kombat was famous for re-coloring certain sprites to appear as different characters. This was most prominent with the series' various ninja/assassin characters. Many of the more popular characters were spawned from these palette swaps.

In the very first game, Scorpion, Sub-Zero, and Reptile were essentially the same character. The colours of their attire, fighting stance, and special techniques indicated the difference. Sub-Zero wore blue attire, Scorpion wore yellow and Reptile wore green. Later games added other ninjas based on the same model: Noob Saibot (fully black), Smoke (gray with an attire that emitted clouds of smoke), Ermac (red), and Rain (purple). Chameleon was later introduced as a ninja whose attire changed to match the other ninjas. When this happened, he adopted their special moves; for example, when facing Sub-Zero, Chameleon turned blue and adopted Sub-Zero's special moves.

In the game Mortal Kombat: Deception, one of the unlockable videos explained that Kitana and Milena were essentially the same character in Mortal Kombat II. Introduced in Mortal Kombat 3, The robots: Smoke (transformed from human to robot within the game's storyline) , Cyrax, and Sektor were the same design but with different colors and special moves. Their differences were still few in later games.

The Mortal Kombat characters played virtually identically to one another (with the exception of unplayable bosses and hidden characters). Whereas other fighting games had characters with considerable differences in speed, range, height, normal moves, strength of normal moves, walking speeds, jumping heights and distances, and so on; characters in Mortal Kombat differed mostly in their special moves and finishing moves. Essentially this led to increased importance placed on special moves, as they were the only unique part of most characters.^{[citation needed]}

In any case, the games after Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance changed this by finally differentiating characters normal moves and even giving them multiple fighting styles. Most characters would have two unarmed fighting styles, and one weapons style. There are a few exceptions to this, such as monster-like characters like Onaga, who would have only one fighting style. Most of the fighting styles featured are based on real martial arts styles, though a few of them are not. Goro's fighting styles, for example, are designed to take advantage of the fact that he has four arms. For Mortal Kombat: Armageddon, fighting styles were reduced to a maximum of two per character (generally one hand-to-hand combat style and one weapon style) due to the sheer number of playable characters. Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe dropped the multiple fighting style trend altogether in favor of giving each character a much wider variety of special moves (with the exception of Baraka, who uses two fighting styles, one utilizing the retractable blades in his arms).

[edit] Easter eggs and secrets

Mortal Kombat included secret characters, secret games, and other Easter eggs. Mortal Kombat 3, for example, included a hidden game of Galaxian. Many extras in the series have only been accessible through very challenging, demanding, and sometimes coincidental requirements.

In the 1992 arcade original when fighting on The Pit stage (the bridge), the player could qualify to fight the hidden character Reptile, provided that the player obtained a double flawless victory without hitting block during the winning round and executed a Fatality (due to Sonya's fatality combination including the block button, she was only allowed to face Reptile on the home ports). The requirements to face Reptile would be made simpler on home ports wherein the fighter had to uppercut the opponent as a "finishing move" in lieu of a standard one. Doing so on this particular stage resulted in the opponent being launched up and over the platform and falling into a pit of spikes below, impaling the losing opponent and the winner being credited with a fatality, after which Reptile would be faced down below as the battleground. It was the first instance of a stage fatality in the series; a feature that would become more prominent in later games. Reptile's character was a merger 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. The Sega Mega Drive versions had some unique eggs: in Mortal Kombat, a headshot of President of Probe Software Fergus McGovern flew in front of the moon the Pit stage, while in Mortal Kombat II, Raiden could perform a "Fergality" by pressing Back, Back, Back, Block during a fatality on the Armory stage.

Some Easter eggs originated from private jokes between members of the Mortal Kombat development team. The best-known example is "Toasty", which found its way into the game in the form of a small image of sound designer Dan Forden, who would appear in the corner of the screen during gameplay (after performing an uppercut) and sing the word "Toasty" (players could face the hidden character Smoke when this happened in the "Portal" stage). Later games included other jokes that originated in similar fashion; Mortal Kombat 4 had characters quickly uttering unintelligible battle cries such as saying "ooh I'm gonna throw you over there" when a player performed a throw (many are, in fact, screams of silly words in Spanish like "play the piano.") Another note of interest in Mortal Kombat 4, Forden would also appear at the bottom of the screen and sing "Toasty 3D!" referring to the fact the Mortal Kombat 4 was the first 3D game in the series. "Toasty" is also found in Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks after pulling off a chain of hits and will appear randomly, but the picture of Forden will not appear. Pressing the start button during the "Toasty" will also result in the player receiving a 1000 experience bonus points. Another private joke was the hidden character Noob Saibot, who appeared in various versions of the game. The character's name derived from two of the series' creators' names, Ed Boon, and John Tobias, spelled backwards. This was shortened to 'Noob' in later games after Tobias left the partnership. In addition, Ermac's name is short for "error macro" referring to the glitch in previous games, when a ninja character would turn red, and Mokap's name is short for "Motion capture" and is based upon the person that does the motion capture for modern MK games.

[edit] Titles

[edit] Fighting games

Cover artwork of Mortal Kombat II for the 32X, one of the many home versions produced of the game.

Mortal Kombat (1992)
Mortal Kombat II (1993)
Mortal Kombat 3 (1995)
- Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 (1995)
- Mortal Kombat Trilogy (1996)
- Mortal Kombat Advance (2001)
Mortal Kombat 4 (1997)
- Mortal Kombat Gold (1999)
Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance (2002)
- Mortal Kombat: Tournament Edition (2003)
Mortal Kombat: Deception (2004)
- Mortal Kombat: Unchained (2006)
Mortal Kombat: Armageddon (2006)
Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe (2008)
Mortal Kombat 9 (TBA)

[edit] Adventure games

Mortal Kombat Mythologies: Sub-Zero (1997): The first in a planned series of MK spinoff games featuring popular characters from the fighting games fighting mode as well.

Mortal Kombat: Special Forces (2000): An Action Game starring Major Jackson Briggs.

Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks (2005): A game starring Liu Kang and Kung Lao, telling an alternate version of the events between the first and second Mortal Kombat

[edit] Storyline

The series features a universe that consists of six surviving realms created by the Elder Gods: Earthrealm, Netherrealm, Outworld, Orderrealm (Seido), Chaosrealm, and Edenia. The Elder Gods decreed that the denizens of one realm could only conquer another realm by defeating the defending realm's greatest warriors in ten consecutive Mortal Kombat tournaments.

The first Mortal Kombat game features Earth bringing some of its best fighters in order to win the tenth tournament and preserve Earthrealm's freedom. Among the established warriors were Liu Kang, Sonya Blade, and Johnny Cage. With the help of the Thunder God Raiden, the Earthrealm warriors become victorious and Liu Kang become the new champion of Mortal Kombat. In Mortal Kombat II, unable to deal with Shang Tsung's failure, Outworld Emperor Shao Kahn forces Earthrealm warriors to go to Outworld by kidnapping Sonya. They eventually thwart Shao Kahn's sinister plan and rescue Sonya. The Earthrealm warriors defeat Shao Kahn, ending his threat. With Kahn defeated, Edenia was freed from Outworld, and was returned to a whole realm. By Mortal Kombat 3, Shao Kahn revives Sindel, the Edenian queen in Earthrealm who committed suicide, combining it with Outworld. As such he attempts to invade Earthrealm but is defeated by the Earthrealm's warriors. The following game, Mortal Kombat 4, features the former elder god Shinnok attempting to conquer the realms and attempting to kill his enemy Raiden. However, he too is defeated by the Earthrealm warriors.

In Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance, the sorcerers Quan Chi and Tsung join forces to conquer the realms. By Mortal Kombat: Deception, after several fights, the sorcerers emerge victorious having killed most of Earthrealms' warriors. Simultaneously, Reptile had freed the spirit of the defeated Dragon King, Onaga. Onaga then deceived Shujinko into merging all six pieces of the kamidogu. Now that the source of his powers were together, Onaga claimed Reptile's body and resurrected his Dragon Army. His first act was to defeat Shang Tsung, Quan Chi and Raiden together. Li Mei creates a make shift team of heroes to challenge the dragon king, consisting of Sub-Zero, Kenshi, Ermac, Sindel, Jade, Bo' Rai Cho, and Shujinko.

In Mortal Kombat: Armageddon the catastrophe known as Armageddon starts. Centuries ago, when Queen Delia foretold the future of the realms as Armageddon, King Argus had his sons, Taven and Daegon, put into incubation guarded by two dragons. They would be awakened one day to fight Blaze and save the realms from Armageddon. Eventually, Taven defeats Daegon in battle on the edge of the crater in which Armageddon is said to begin. Taven finally reaches the end of his quest to save the realms and decide the fate of the other fighters, either by destroying them all at once, or stripping them of their powers. In the end, however, because Blaze's design has been corrupted by Onaga's holy men, his victory over Blaze does neither of the above, instead actually increasing the powers of the fighters below, potentially exacberating the onset of Armageddon. As a result, Taven will make it his duty as a new god to delay Armageddon until a solution can be found.

[edit] Tournament

[edit] Concept

The Mortal Kombat tournament was originally thought to be a solely human conception, until later retcons revealed it to be universal among the series' featured Realms, created by the Elder Gods as a way for other realms to defend themselves against Outworld after it grew too powerful.

A realm may declare Mortal Kombat on another realm if they wish to invade it and conquer it. Once one party declares Mortal Kombat, the other party may not refuse. A tournament ensues, where the combatants will be knocked out until the reigning champion does battle with the challenger. Once defeated, a single Tournament victory is added for the realm. Once that realm earns ten Tournament victories in a row, they earn the right to invade the losing realm. This is the only 'legal' way for a realm to invade another, and any violation of this rule is seen as treason against the Elder Gods. The reigning champion will have their aging suspended by the Elder Gods until the next tournament.

[edit] Notable tournaments

1000-500 years before Mortal Kombat: The first known Mortal Kombat tournament, created when sorcerer Shang Tsung, under orders by Outworld emperor Shao Kahn, took control of an Earthrealm Shaolin tournament in a bid to upset the furies and invade Earth. In the tenth tournament, Shang Tsung was defeated by Great Kung Lao.
500 years before Mortal Kombat: The Great Kung Lao held his position as Grand Champion for only one generation, after which his title - and his life - was taken by Shang Tsung's newest warrior, Goro, who held the title for another nine victories.
Mortal Kombat: Liu Kang defeats Goro, thus breaking his winning streak and preventing Outworld's invasion of Earth. Shang Tsung challenges Liu Kang to a battle but is defeated while trying to salvage something from his champion's loss. As such, he is forced to relinquish his hold on the tournament and flee back to Outworld.
Mortal Kombat II: A false tournament proposed by Shang Tsung to Shao Kahn to lure Earth's warriors to Outworld by kidnapping Sonya, where Kahn's forces would have a distinct advantage. It also posed as a distraction away from Kahn's revival of his wife, Queen Sindel on Earth, which would force a merger of the realms regardless of the false tournament's outcome. Liu Kang gains victory. After this, no official Mortal Kombat tournament is held, with all future storylines following all-out war between the realms.
Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance: Although the main storyline doesn't involve a tournament for the main characters, at this time, there was a tournament going on; one set up by Shang Tsung and his partner, the necromancer Quan Chi to give the Outworld native Li Mei a chance to free her people, who were currently enslaved by the two sorcerers in order to build a temple over a Soulnado, a means of which they could achieve their goals of ultimate power and immortality. This tournament has not been expressly stated as a Mortal Kombat tournament, and it is highly debatable among fans whether or not it can be called such, but regardless, it was as fake as the one set up in MK2, with the sorcerers having no intention of keeping their word, regardless of the outcome.

[edit] Mortal Kombat in other media

[edit] Movies and television

Mortal Kombat was adapted into two major motion pictures, Mortal Kombat (1995), and Mortal Kombat: Annihilation (1997). Neither film was screened for critics prior to theatrical release, receiving poor critical receptions at the time they were released. However, the first movie was a financial success, eventually grossing $70 million in the U.S. (and over $125 million worldwide) while jump starting the Hollywood careers of Paul W. S. Anderson and Robin Shou, among others. That momentum did not carry over into Annihilation, however, which received a colder reception from critics and fans alike, and took in only $30 million in the U.S. A third film is currently in the development stage with a tentative release date of 2010, having read the script, Ed Boon has stated the next movie will actually be more of a reboot, as opposed to a third sequel as previously believed. The title "Mortal Kombat Devastation" appears to have been scrapped, as the current working title is simply "Mortal Kombat".

The franchise also sparked two TV series, the 1996 animated series Mortal Kombat: Defenders of the Realm and the 1998-1999 live-action Mortal Kombat: Conquest. Neither series ran for more than one season (despite the popularity of Conquest). In 1995, an animated prequel to the first movie, titled Mortal Kombat: The Journey Begins, was released straight to home video. Coinciding with the popularity of TV media, the Mortal Kombat: Live Tour was launched at the end of 1995. The tour expanded to 1996 featuring MK characters in a theatrical display on stage.

[edit] Other merchandise

[edit] Contributing cultural material

The Mortal Kombat mythology borrows heavily from multiple sources, primarily Asian cultures, particularly Chinese and Japanese religions, languages and martial arts, while also bearing close resemblance to Norse myths.

[edit] Organizations

The White Lotus Society to which Liu Kang belonged may have been named after the secret White Lotus Society which existed in China during the Yuan Dynasty and Ming Dynasty. A white lotus is traditionally symbolic of death as well as purity. This is also seen as a Buddhist society. Members include Liu Kang, Kung Lao, and Kai.
The Lin Kuei assassins' clan that Sub-Zero hails from is based on the Lin Kuei, a secretive Chinese cult that was known for its espionage, thievery, and living in the wildernesses of China. They were called "Lin Kuei" or "forest demons" because they lived in the forests and were known to terrorize nearby villages in order to steal goods and items for the benefits of their clan. It was said that they were one of the causes that helped develop the art of Ninjutsu in Japan. Some of the elements may have been used in Takeda's departure from the Lin Kuei to set up his own ninja clan in Japan, the Shirai Ryu. Members include Tremor (former member currently aligned with Black Dragon), both Sub-Zeros, Frost, Smoke, Cyrax, Sektor, and (possibly at one time according to his UMK3 Bio) Rain.
The Wu Shi Academy follows Theravada Buddhism.
The Black Dragon clan may be based loosely on the historical Black Dragon Society. Members include Kano, Jarek, Kira, Kabal, Tremor, No Face, Tasia, and Kobra.
The Red Dragon clan is very well known rivals with the Black Dragon. Members include Mavado, Hsu Hao, and Daegon.
The Brotherhood of Shadow is a clan of assassins based on the Lin Kuei. Lead by Noob Saibot, the clan consists of previously deceased assassins. They appear as enemies in Mortal Kombat: Armageddon's Konquest mode. However, Noob Saibot and Smoke are the only two members to be included on the Kombatant roster. Smoke was reprogrammed by Noob to serve him, and the combined pair appear as a sub-boss in 'Mortal Kombat: Deception'.

[edit] Concepts

The Elder Gods are taken from the concept of Buddhist Elder Gods headed by the Jade Emperor who watch over the Universe. Even the places attributed to the Elder Gods looks like those in Chinese Mythology.
The Netherealm, which Shinnok (loosely based on Yan Wang) rules resembles Di Yu or the Chinese picture of Hell. The prison cells almost resemble Di Yu's level where the prisoners are shredded to pieces as the Chamber of Grinding. Such a stage can also be seen in The Slaughterhouse in Mortal Kombat: Deception. Shinnok's Spire is somewhat like the chambers of Hell.
The Orderrealm and Chaosrealm resemble the Yin and Yang of Taoism. The Orderrealm is similar to the Heavenly Courts in Chinese Mythology, responsible for enforcing order.
The concept of the One Being comes from Pangu, one who the Elder Gods led by the Jade Emperor to form all of reality and form the seven artifacts of Buddhism.

[edit] Mortal Kombat crossovers

Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe features Mortal Kombat characters along with characters from the DC Comics universe.
Raiden had a cameo appearance in a pinball machine, Midway's World Cup Soccer, in a bonus round.
Shooting the Damsel Ramp in Midway's Medieval Madness continuously will result in a random "Toasty" or "Finish Him!" quote.
Winning the video mode in the Bally pinball Creature from the Black Lagoon results in a bloody animation and "Fatality".
Raiden, Reptile, Scorpion and Sub-Zero appeared as playable characters in early versions of the arcade game NBA Jam TE and its Sega Saturn conversion. [2]
Raiden and Shinnok appeared as unlockable characters in the original NFL Blitz game.
Raiden appeared as an unlockable character in Unreal Championship 2: The Liandri Conflict (which coincidentally also included a fatality system similar to MK's). Shao Kahn's voice is also an alternate to the default announcer.
Sub-Zero and Scorpion both appear as secret characters in MLB Slugfest 20-04.
Scorpion can be unlocked as a skin for the main character of the Midway game Psi Ops.
Scorpion, Noob Saibot and Sub-Zero can be unlocked in the third-person arcade shooter The Grid. [3]
In NBA Ballers: Phenom, in the Training Academy stage, characters such as Sub-Zero, Raiden and Liu Kang in the background watch streetball with the crowd.
The Mortal Kombat characters are also featured in the trading card game Epic Battles which pits them against characters from other fighting game series.

[edit] See also

[edit] References

^ http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/technology/2009/07/midwaywarnersaleapproved.html

[edit] External links

[0] ttp://latimesblogs.latimes.com/technology/2009/07/midwaywarnersaleapproved.html

[1]