Mortal Kombat
1992 · Fighting · Arcade
Overview
Mortal Kombat was a fighting game built around digitised actor photos rather than hand-drawn sprites, and around Fatalities — finishing moves that killed opponents in graphic ways. The game's violence triggered congressional hearings that led to the ESRB rating system. Despite — or because of — the controversy, it became one of the most commercially successful fighting game franchises.
Deep Dive
Mortal Kombat was designed by Ed Boon and John Tobias at Midway. The game's digitised graphics — actors photographed performing martial arts moves — gave it a visual realism that hand-drawn characters didn't have. The Fatalities — special finishing moves that killed the defeated opponent graphically — were designed to differentiate the game from Street Fighter II and generate press attention. The attention they generated was more significant than anticipated.
Developer Story
Mortal Kombat was designed by Ed Boon and John Tobias at Midway in approximately two years. The game was conceived as a fighting game with more graphic violence than Street Fighter II offered, and the Fatality system was designed specifically to differentiate it. The arcade game launched in October 1992.
Did You Know?
- Mortal Kombat's congressional hearings in 1993 — which also targeted Night Trap and Doom — directly caused the creation of the Entertainment Software Rating Board in 1994.
- The SNES version of Mortal Kombat replaced blood with 'sweat' and removed Fatalities — the Genesis version retained blood with a cheat code, driving Genesis sales significantly.
- Goro — the four-armed boss character — was a physical puppet photographed in stop-motion, then digitised, rather than drawn digitally.
- Ed Boon and John Tobias created Mortal Kombat without official authorisation from Midway's management — they pitched it as a licensed Bruce Lee game before developing it as an original property.
