Mortal Kombat (1992 video game)
Mortal Kombat | |
---|---|
Sculptured Software (SNES) | |
Publisher(s) | Midway
|
Composer(s) | Dan Forden |
Series | Mortal Kombat |
Platform(s) | |
Release | August 1992
|
Arcade system | Midway Y Unit (Revision Prototype 4.0–Revision 4.0) Midway T Unit (Revision 4.0T–Revision 5.0T) |
Mortal Kombat is a 1992
Mortal Kombat is considered by critics to be one of the greatest video games ever made. It spawned numerous sequels and spin-offs, beginning with Mortal Kombat II in 1993. Both games were the subject of a film adaptation in 1995. However, it also sparked much controversy for its depiction of extreme violence and gore using realistic digitized graphics and, along with the home releases of Night Trap and Lethal Enforcers, prompted the formation of the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB), a U.S. government-backed organization that set descriptor ratings for video games.
Gameplay
Mortal Kombat is a
Mortal Kombat uses an eight-directional joystick and five buttons, including two punch and two kick buttons, each further differentiated between high and low. Attacks can vary depending on the player's distance from the opponent. All player characters have a shared set of attacks performed by holding the joystick in various directions, such as a leg sweep and an uppercut; the latter attack knocks the enemy high into the air and causes a large amount of damage. Most special moves were performed by tapping the joystick, sometimes ending with a button press. Unlike previous one-on-one fighting games, few moves require circular joystick movement. The game's blocking system also distinguished itself from other fighting games, as characters take a small amount of damage from regular moves while blocking. However, the dedicated block button allows users to defend against attacks without retreating and blocking characters lose very little ground when struck, thus making counterattacks much easier after a successful block.
Mortal Kombat further introduced the concept of "juggling", knocking an opponent into the air and following up with a combination of attacks while the enemy is still airborne and defenseless. The idea became so popular that it has spread to many other games. Another of the game's innovations was the Fatality, a finishing move performed against a defeated opponent to execute them in a gruesome fashion.[6]
In the single-player game, the player faces each of the seven playable characters in a series of one-on-one matches against computer-controlled opponents, ending in a "Mirror Match" against a duplicate of the player's chosen character. The player must then fight in three endurance matches, each of which involves two opponents. As soon as the player defeats the first opponent, the second one enters the arena and the timer resets; however, the player's health meter does not regenerate. After the third endurance match, the player fights the
Between certain levels, players can compete in a
Plot
The game takes place in
According to the
Characters
Mortal Kombat includes seven playable characters, each with their own unique Fatality and all of whom would eventually become trademark characters and appear in several sequels. The game was developed with digitized sprites based on real actors.[10][11]
Ho-Sung Pak plays Liu Kang, a member of the White Lotus Society who enters the tournament representing the Shaolin temples. He is tasked by Raiden to win the tournament and save Earthrealm. Originally envisioned as a monk, Pak refused to shave his head for the role, leading Kang’s final design to more closely resemble actor Bruce Lee.[12]
Elizabeth Malecki plays the Special Forces agent Sonya Blade, who enters in pursuit of a dangerous criminal from the Black Dragon organization. Her team is captured and held hostage by Shang Tsung, forcing Sonya to participate in the tournament. Sonya was inspired by actress Cynthia Rothrock.[13]
Carlos Pesina plays Raiden (spelled "Rayden" in the MS-DOS and console ports), a thunder god and guardian of Earthrealm who competes in the tournament as a mortal, and seeks to guide Liu Kang and the other Earthrealmers to victory.
Daniel Pesina also portrays the undead revenant Scorpion, a ninja who was murdered in cold blood by Sub-Zero some time prior to the events of the game and brought back to life to avenge his own death. Scorpion possesses fire-based abilities.
The yellow color of Scorpion's outfit was changed to blue to create his rival and murderer
The four-armed warrior and a prince of Outworld,
Shao Kahn, Emperor of Outworld, is not seen in-game but is mentioned in story text. Kahn is a cruel and merciless conqueror, and will be allowed to take Earthrealm if he wins this final tournament.
When fighting on the Pit stage, the player could qualify to fight the
Goro, Shang Tsung, and Reptile were non-playable characters. The Masked Guard in the Courtyard stage was portrayed by Mortal Kombat developer John Vogel.[17]
Rumors were spread of two characters, Ermac and Nimbus Terrafaux, who were also supposedly secret fighters in the game.[18] However, the name Ermac was the result of a text glitch and the character did not really exist, while Nimbus was a prank started by Electronic Gaming Monthly.[19] The developers liked the idea of Ermac so much that he was made into a real playable fighter in Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3.[20]
Development
Mortal Kombat creators Ed Boon and John Tobias have stated that Midway Games tasked them with the project of developing a "combat game for release within a year", which the two believed was intended to compete with the popular Street Fighter II.[21] According to Tobias, he and Boon had envisioned a fighting game similar to Data East's Karate Champ but featuring large digitized characters even before that, and the success of Capcom's Street Fighter II only helped them convince the management of their idea.[22] Boon said the development team initially consisted of four people — himself as programmer, artists John Tobias and John Vogel, and Dan Forden as sound designer.[23] The game's budget was around $1 million.[24]
According to Richard Divizio and Daniel Pesina, Mortal Kombat had actually begun when Tobias along with Divizio and the brothers Daniel and Carlos Pesina planned to create a ninja-themed fighting game, however this idea was rejected by Midway's management.[15] Instead, Midway sought to make an action game based on the upcoming movie Universal Soldier and featuring a digitized version of martial arts film star Jean-Claude Van Damme,[25] but he was already in negotiations with another company for a video game that ultimately was never released. Divizio then convinced Tobias to return to their original project.[15] In the end, Van Damme was parodied in the game in the form of Johnny Cage (with whom he shares his name's initials, JC), a narcissistic Hollywood movie star who performs a split punch to the groin in a nod to a scene from Bloodsport.[26] Tobias credited other inspirations as having come from the Asian martial arts cinema.[9][22]
Boon later said, "since the beginning, one of the things that's separated us from other fighting games is the crazy moves we've put in it, like fireballs and all the magic moves, so to speak."[27] According to Tobias, the game's ultraviolent content had not been originally intended and was only implemented gradually as the development progressed.[28] The concept of Fatalities in particular evolved from the "dizzied" mechanic in earlier fighting games. Boon said that he hated the "dizzied" mechanic, but that it was fun to have one's opponent get dizzied and get in a free hit. Boon and Tobias decided they could eliminate the aggravation of getting dizzied by having it occur at the end of the fight, after the outcome had already been decided.[29] An early version of the game used two more buttons for middle punch and kick attacks.[30]
Mortal Kombat was reportedly developed in 10 months from 1991 to 1992, with a test version seeing limited release halfway through the development cycle.
The team had difficulty settling on a name for the game. Ed Boon has stated that for six months during development "nobody could come up with a name nobody didn't hate." Some of the names suggested were
Release
While the arcade version of Mortal Kombat was not localized for Japan, it had an official release there in 1992 by Taito, who published imports of Midway's games in the Japanese market.[36]
The launch of Mortal Kombat for home consoles by Acclaim Entertainment was one of the largest video game launches of the time. TV commercials heralded the simultaneous release of all four home versions of the game,
Mortal Kombat: The Album, an album by The Immortals featuring techno music, was released in May 1994. It features two themes for the game, "Techno Syndrome" and "Hypnotic House", as well as themes written for each character. "Techno Syndrome" was adapted for the 1995 movie soundtrack and incorporated the "Mortal Kombat!" yell from the Mortal Monday commercials.[38] Jeff Rovin penned a novelization of Mortal Kombat, which was published in June 1995 in order to coincide with the release of the film. There were lines of action figures based on the game's characters.[citation needed]
Home versions
Four ports were released in North America as part of the "Mortal Monday" campaign in 1993: home console ports for the
The Game Boy version was largely cut down from its arcade counterpart. It had laggy controls and a limited button layout. It also omitted Johnny Cage, Reptile and the bloodier Fatality moves. However, players could play as Goro via a code.
A port for DOS PCs was released in late 1993. The DOS version is the most accurate port of the arcade version in terms of graphics and gameplay. It was first released on floppy disk and later re-released on CD-ROM, with that release upgraded with the original arcade music and sound effects. An Amiga version was released in early 1994 in Europe only, with graphics based on the Genesis version, controls limited to either one or two action buttons, and a minimal soundtrack with music arranged by Allister Brimble. The DOS version was eventually released on GOG.com.[46]
The
Mortal Kombat was later released in Japan for the Super Famicom, Game Boy, Mega Drive and Game Gear as Mortal Kombat: Legend of the Advent God Fist (モータルコンバット 神拳降臨伝説, Mōtaru Konbatto: Shinken Kōrin Densetsu)[48] and for the Mega-CD as Mortal Kombat: Legend of the Advent God Fist - Extended Edition (モータルコンバット 神拳降臨伝説 完全版, Mōtaru Konbatto: Shinken Kōrin Densetsu - Kanzenhan) with no major changes from their western releases.
A conversion of the game being developed by
In 2004, Jakks Pacific released the game as one of its Plug It in & Play TV Games, developed by Digital Eclipse. It is a unique port made directly from the arcade code by Chris Burke, who was the sole programmer on the port. Due to hardware limitations from the uncommon processor used by the Jakks Pacific units, the backgrounds are static and feature no parallax scrolling.[53]
Also in 2004, the premium edition of
The game was also a part of the 2005 compilation
After the lukewarm response to the SNES version of the game, developer
Reception
In the United States, RePlay reported Mortal Kombat to be the second most-popular upright arcade cabinet in September 1992.[56] It then topped the RePlay upright arcade cabinet charts from October to November 1992,[57][58] then from February to March 1993,[59][60] and then in November 1993.[61] It also topped the Play Meter arcade chart in December 1992.[62] It was the second top-grossing arcade game of Summer 1993, below NBA Jam, according to RePlay.[63] It was one of America's top two highest-grossing arcade games of 1993 (along with NBA Jam), exceeding the $300,000,000 (equivalent to $630,000,000 in 2023) domestic box office gross of the film Jurassic Park the same year.[64][65] It also topped the Sega CD sales chart in June 1994.[66]
In November 1993, Acclaim announced that they had shipped more than three million copies of Mortal Kombat for home systems, counting the SNES, Genesis, Game Boy and Game Gear versions combined.[67] The game sold 3 million copies worldwide in its first three weeks of release.[68][69] In the United States, it was the top-selling Sega Genesis and SNES game in January 1994.[70] In the United Kingdom, it was the top-selling home video game in October 1993,[71] the top-selling Sega Master System game for four months in 1994 (from May[72][73] to August),[74][75] and the top-selling Mega CD game in June 1994.[73]
By July 1994, the home cartridge versions had sold more than 6 million units worldwide[76][77] and grossed over $300,000,000 (equivalent to $630,000,000 in 2023) in sales revenue.[78][79] As of 2000[update], it has sold 6.5 million cartridges across all home consoles, with the Genesis version accounting for the majority of sales.[80] An additional million cartridges of the Game Boy version were sold.[81] As of 2002[update], the original arcade version has sold 24,000 arcade units and grossed an estimated $570 million. The game also generated licensing fees from films and TV shows, bringing total game and licensing revenue to $1.5 billion as of 2002[update].[82]
Reviews
Aggregator | Score | |||
---|---|---|---|---|
Computer and Video Games | 93%[86] | 72%[85] | N/A | N/A |
Electronic Gaming Monthly | N/A | N/A | 8.25/10[88] 6.25/10 (SCD)[89] | 7.25/10[90] |
GamesMaster | N/A | N/A | 81%[91] | 81%[91] |
Sinclair User | N/A | 69%[92] | N/A | N/A |
Mega | N/A | N/A | 82%[93] | N/A |
Electronic Games | N/A | N/A | 92%[87] | 96%[87] |
The arcade game received mixed reviews upon release from Computer and Video Games and Sinclair User. The digitized sprite graphics were praised and compared favorably with Pit-Fighter, but the gameplay was compared unfavorably with Street Fighter II and Fatal Fury 2.[85][92]
Upon release on home systems, the game received generally positive reviews. GamePro hailed the SNES port of Mortal Kombat as having graphics closer to the arcade version than the other three initial home ports, with cleaner definition and a better color palette, and said that while four of the fatalities had been cut, the new finishing moves which replace them "are pretty cool, though not as bloody." Comparing it to the Genesis version, they found that the controls are less responsive but the sound is better due to the higher quality and inclusion of the announcer's voice. They concluded, "Despite some control glitches and the altered Fatality Moves, Mortal Kombat for the SNES is a great representation of an arcade classic that will more than satisfy most gamers."[96] However, the Nintendo version's widely reported censorship of blood and dismemberments affected sales, and was widely criticized by gaming media for censorship issues into the following decades. In 2006, IGN named it as the eighth worst arcade-to-console conversion.[97] Nintendo's decision to make the game more family-friendly was also included on GameSpy's list of the dumbest moments in gaming.[39] Reviewing the Super NES release, Nintendo Power praised the games graphics, animation and sound as "excellent" while noting that four of the finishing moves are not identical to the arcade game. The review criticized the game as "pretty easy unless you set the difficulty to hard."[98]
GamePro's review of the Genesis port echoed the comparisons mentioned in their SNES review, but noted that while all the arcade version fatalities are included in "Mode A", they are noticeably cruder in appearance. They also criticized the fact that the port was developed for the three-button controller, saying this makes some moves awkward to pull off, but concluded, "Great graphics, sound, and control in combination with the special Mode A setting make the Genesis Mortal Kombat a beat-em-up force."[99]
Highly praising the graphical detail and sharpness, as well as the bloody action when the violence code is enabled, GamePro declared the Game Gear version to be "everything its 16-bit big brother is, plus it's portable." They noted that the audio is fairly basic and, as with all four initial home ports, it has issues with the controls, but considered it an overall impressive achievement for a portable system.[100] It later won GamePro's 1993 hand-held game of the year award.[101]
Bill Kunkel wrote in Electronic Games that both Genesis and Super NES ports of the game as "superb, first-rate conversions" noting that the SNES edition graphically was better than the Sega Genesis version while noting that "the characters, while they don't move quite as quickly as their Genesis counterparts, are magnificently animated."[87] Kunkel noted the exception of the character Goro who "suffers from comparatively crude animation".[87] Kunkel noted the difficulty in pulling off the moves in the game, finding that some players will "be frustrated by the awkwardness of the commands" and that "those unfamiliar with the game will frequently find themselves accidentally discharging specialty moves while attempting a simple spin kick or other stunt."[87]
Reviewing the Game Boy version, GamePro commented, "If you think the moves on the other systems are hard to execute, wait until you try to pull a move on the Game Boy. The unresponsive two-button controls are almost impossible to master. The game play is also abysmally slow, and the fighters don't always connect, even when they're close to an opponent." Additionally bemoaning the difficult-to-discern graphics, weak animation, and minimal sound, they deemed it the worst version of the game.[102] Reviewing the Game Boy version of the game, Nintendo Power stated that the graphic have been simplified but that "the essence of the Super NES and arcade games have been well-preserved" while noting that "the animation, not surprisingly, is considerably slower than the Super NES."[103]
The Sega CD version was even more harshly criticized by gaming media. The reviewers of Electronic Gaming Monthly described it as over-hyped with only minor improvements over the Genesis version, and complained of the lag times.[89] GamePro similarly commented "The original Mortal Kombat is back, this time on CD, and you'd think there'd be some improvements. Think again." They criticized that the load times between fights and lag times during fights "give the game a quirky, out-of-touch feel."[104]
From retrospective reviews, Nick Thorpe and Darran Jones of Retro Gamer found the game had an interesting character roster and that the blocking ability that was not featured in many fighters[clarification needed] would make players rethink gameplay strategies. The review summarized that it was inferior to Street Fighter II and that the game's main appeal was its graphics and gory content and "proved that you didn't need to have amazing game mechanics in order to be popular."[105]
Accolades
Controversy
Mortal Kombat was one of many violent video games that came into prominence between 1992 and 1993, generating controversy among parents and public officials.
Notes
- Arena Entertainmentbrand name on Sega systems.
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Acclaim sold approximately 6.5 million Mortal Kombat cartridges. The Genesis version, which included the original arcade fatality moves, outsold the edited-down Super NES version by nearly three-to-one
- ISBN 0-7615-3643-4. Retrieved 2024-04-09.
Acclaim also released Game Gear and Game Boy versions of Mortal Kombat. Amazingly, Acclaim sold 1 million copies of the Game Boy cartridge.
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External links
- Mortal Kombat at MobyGames
- Mortal Kombat at IMDb
- Mortal Kombat at the Killer List of Videogames