Mortal Kombat

That Mortal Kombat’s idea was not new was known by everyone. Yet another fighting game among many.

When it first came out in 1994, people called it a Street Fighter rip-off, a beautiful unoriginal clone and an all-round revisit of an old idea—however, no publicity is bad publicity and Acclaim used the fact that Mortal Kombat is not a game to be passed by unnoticed. What SF lacked in – MK perfected and made better—nothing more so, than the Finish Him/Her sequences, that, when learned properly (as sequenced keyboard strokes) by players, were an indication they’re a force to be reckoned with.

The seven original characters (kombatants) each had their own back-story and within them a reason to fight in the tournament for the pride, glory and the future of Earthrealm (or, you know, its total demise!), as well as a set of special moves they were allowed to use on their opponents (Fatalities, the finishing moves included).

And herein lay the novelty of the game! The bloodiness and the violence supreme of the game (alongside a few others, e.g. Doom) were the reason gaming became a medium rated by authorities. I had already put in countless hours of MK and performed a million Fatalities, finished the game with each and every character (Sub Zero being my personal favourite) and saw the final scenes (which back then were really just images, plus the presentation of the actors, who were used for the motion capture of the kombatants.

One of the drawbacks of the game (as per some reviewers and actual gamers, not necessarily Yours Truly), was that all of the characters shared the set of standard moves – and that feature, too, made it into the next games (however, in MK3 it got improved upon, by introducing Kombos and Kombo Kounters and in MK4 got abandoned altogether).

Even though, at first sight MK was just an SF clone, it became a franchise in itself, which received a cult following, and, to date, it has spawned 10 instalments of the game, plus plenty of spin-off games, movies, cartoons, a TV series and after the franchise got acquired by Warner Bros. the MK universe got adopted into the DC multiverse and spun-off a whole series of comic books.

Other games tried adopting the “finishing move” feature (Primal Rage, anyone?), but they never really got past one instalment and the franchise usually died.

You can love Tekken, Virtua Fighter and be a die-hard SF fan – but you have to respekt Mortal Kombat for it’s innovation and story.

Review By Greg