Mortal Kombat

Midway · Since 1992

Midway's digitised fighting game franchise defined controversy in gaming: its Fatality finishing moves triggered congressional hearings and directly caused the creation of the ESRB age rating system in 1994.

Mortal Kombat (1992) used digitised photographs of real actors converted to sprites, giving the game a realistic visual style that amplified the impact of its graphic Fatality finishing moves. Ed Boon and John Tobias's design was commercially calculated: the game needed to differentiate itself from Street Fighter II, and violence accomplished this where gameplay might not. The strategy succeeded spectacularly — Mortal Kombat was the highest-earning arcade game of 1992, and its home console release triggered the congressional hearings that produced the ESRB rating system. The Genesis version's uncensored blood code outsold Nintendo's censored SNES version significantly, providing data that would inform platform holder content policies for years. The series continued through multiple 3D entries before a 2011 reboot that returned to 2D gameplay and a new narrative continuity.