Mortal Kombat

Kung Lao's "Razor's Edge" Fatality being performed on Mileena in 2011's Mortal Kombat. NetherRealm Studios' Ed Boon described it as possibly the most painful-looking finishing move in the series yet[10]

One of the most notable features of the Mortal Kombat series is its brutal and gruesome finishing moves, known as "Fatalities". The basic Fatalities are finishing moves that allow the victorious characters to end a match by murdering their defeated, defenseless opponent.[12] Usually Fatalities are exclusive to each character, the exception being Mortal Kombat: Armageddon, which instead features Kreate-A-Fatality, a feature that allows players to perform their own Fatalities by conducting a series of violent moves chosen from a pool that is common to all characters.[1][13]

Other finishing moves in the various Mortal Kombat games include Animalities (introduced in Mortal Kombat 3), in which the victor turns into an animal to violently finish off the opponent;[14] Brutality (introduced in Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3) which consists of bashing the opponent into pieces with a long combo of hits; and Stage Fatalities/Death Traps (introduced in the original Mortal Kombat Pit Stage where the victor can uppercut their opponent off of the platform into a bed of spikes below, later made more difficult in Mortal Kombat II by requiring a character-specific button sequence) utilizing parts of certain stages to execute a lethal finishing move (such as a pool of acid). Mortal Kombat: Deception added the Hara-Kiri, a move that allows the loser to perform a suicidal finishing move, giving way to a potential race between both players to see if the winner can finish off their opponent before they can kill themselves.[12][15]

There are also two non-violent finishing moves in the series, which were introduced in Mortal Kombat II as a satire to the outrage the first game caused due to its violent content.[12] Friendship moves, which result in a display of friendship towards the enemy instead of slaughter,[16] and Babalities, which turn the opponent into a baby.[16][14]

Mortal Kombat started development in 1991 with only four people: Ed Boon (programming), John Tobias (art and story), John Vogel (graphics), and Dan Forden (sound design).[24][25] According to Mortal Kombat actors Richard Divizio and Daniel Pesina, the first game actually began as a ninja-themed project by John Tobias (a young new employee of Midway Games at the time) and them as well as Carlos Pesina, however their pitch to Tobias' boss Ed Boon was rejected by the entire management of Midway.[26] Midway was then abortively approached to create a video game adaptation of the then-upcoming 1992 film Universal Soldier, starring Jean-Claude Van Damme,[27] and Tobias imagined a fighting game featuring a digitized version of Van Damme.[28] Intending to make a game "a lot more hard edge, a little bit more serious, a little bit more like Enter the Dragon or Bloodsport" than contemporary cartoonish fighting games,[29] Tobias and Boon decided to continue their project even after the deal to use the Bloodsport license fell through.[30] The first of Mortal Kombat characters,[26] Johnny Cage (Daniel Pesina), became "a spoof on the whole Van Damme situation."[27] Divizio credits himself with convincing Tobias to go back to the original idea and trying again.[26]

It was the success of Capcom's Street Fighter II: The World Warrior that finally convinced Midway Games to let the team produce their own arcade fighting game (the genre chosen by Tobias for his game as to let him use as large digitized sprites as possible),[31] but there was not much influence by Street Fighter II on the actual project. According to Tobias, who cited 1984's Karate Champ as an actual inspiration,[32] they even intentionally worked on making a game different than Capcom's title in every way.[31] Besides the digitized characters that differentiated it from its contemporaries' hand-drawn ones, one stark difference was in the very high amount of blood and violence. Capcom's senior director of communications later compared Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat by asking if the interviewer preferred the "precision and depth" of Street Fighter or the "gore and comedy" of Mortal Kombat and also stated that the Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat rivalry was considered similar to the Coke and Pepsi rivalry in the 1990s.[33]

John Tobias said that his inspirations for the game's story and characters came from Chinese mythology and some of the stories and rumored events about the Shaolin monks.[27] Regarding the film Big Trouble in Little China, Tobias wrote that although this movie "kind of Americanized my obsession for supernatural kung fu films from China, it was not my biggest influence.[35] My biggest influences came from Tsui Hark films -- Zu Warriors & The Swordsman. We had to get them from bootleggers in Chicago's Chinatown."[36] In 1995, he said about their general process of designing characters for the series: "First we figure out the type, like she or he and will she/he be big or small. Then we'll get the theme of the characters, like ninja or robot. Then we'll design the costume, and while doing that we create the storyline and how s/he fits into the universe. Then we'll find an actor that kinda resembles our character."[37] Tobias' writing and artistic input on the series ended around 2000[31] following the release of Mortal Kombat 4. In 2012, he said: "I knew exactly what I was going to do with a future story. A few years ago I [wrote] a sort of sequel to the first MK film and an advancement to the game's mythological roots."[38]

The title Mortal Kombat was the idea of pinball designer Steve Ritchie,[39] following difficulties trademarking the original title of Mortal Combat.[32] Since then, the series often intentionally misspells various words with the letter "K" in place of "C" for the hard C sound. According to Boon, during the MK games' development they usually spell such words correctly, only making the substitution when one of the developers suggests it.[40]

The characters of the original Mortal Kombat and its initial sequels were created using digitized sprites mostly based on filmed actors, as opposed to hand-drawn graphics.[41] Mortal Kombat games were known for their extensive use of palette swapping, which was used for the ninja characters. In fact, many of the most popular characters have originated as simple palette swaps.[42] In the first game, the male ninja fighters were essentially the same character; only the colors of their attire, fighting stance, and special techniques mark a difference.[42] Later games added further ninjas based on the same model, as well as several female ninja color swap characters initially also using just one base model. All of them gradually became very different characters in the following installments of the series. Eventually, Mortal Kombat 4 brought the series into 3D, replacing the digitized fighters of previous games with polygon models animated using motion capture technology.[43]

Mortal Kombat included secret characters, secret games, and other Easter eggs. Popular characters Reptile and Jade were originally introduced as hidden enemies, becoming playable after returning in subsequent games. There is also a hidden game of Pong in Mortal Kombat II,[44] and Mortal Kombat 3 includes a hidden game of Galaga.[14] Many extras in the series have only been accessible through very challenging, demanding, and sometimes coincidental requirements. The Sega Mega Drive/Genesis versions contain a unique finisher, named "Fergality".[45] The Sega CD version also contained an additional code (known as the "Dad's Code"), which changed the names of the fighters to that of characters from the classic BBC comedy series Dad's Army.[46]

Some Easter eggs originated from in-jokes between members of the development team. One 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 yell the phrase "Toasty!", originating from him saying "you're toast".[47] This egg was also the key to unlocking the hidden character Smoke when it happened in the Portal stage in Mortal Kombat II.[44] In Mortal Kombat 4, Forden would say "Toasty! 3D!" after Scorpion did his burn Fatality, a reference to the fact that it is the first 3D game of the series.[48] "Toasty!" is also found in Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks, appearing randomly after the character pulls off a chain of hits, though the picture of Forden was removed for that title,[49] but brought back for the 2011 Mortal Kombat game. Yet another private joke was the hidden character Noob Saibot, who has appeared in various versions of the game starting with Mortal Kombat II. The character's name derived from two of the series' creators' surnames, Ed Boon and John Tobias, spelled backwards.[50] In addition, a counter for ERMACS on the game's audits screen (ERMACS being short for error macros), was interpreted by some players as a reference to a hidden character in the original Mortal Kombat. The development team decided to turn the rumor into reality, introducing Ermac in Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 as an unlockable secret character.[51][52] The character Mokap, introduced in Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance, is a tribute to Carlos Pesina, who played Raiden in MK and MKII and has served as a motion capture actor for subsequent titles in the series.[53]

The original Mortal Kombat game was released by Midway in arcades during October 1992, and has since been ported to several console and home computer systems, with early ports released by Acclaim Entertainment.[58] The sequel, Mortal Kombat II, was released for arcades in 1993, featuring an increased roster and improved graphics and gameplay, then ported to the numerous home systems in 1993–1995, released again by Acclaim.[59] Mortal Kombat 3 followed in 1995 in both arcade and home versions.[60] MK3 received two updates which expanded the number of characters and other features from the game: Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3, released that same year in arcades,[61] and Mortal Kombat Trilogy, released for home consoles the following year.[62] The following game, Mortal Kombat 4, was released in 1997, and marked the jump of the series to 3D rendered graphics instead of the digitized 2D graphics used in previous games. Mortal Kombat 4 was ported to the PlayStation, Nintendo 64 and Microsoft Windows. Its updated version titled Mortal Kombat Gold was released exclusively for the Dreamcast in 1999.

At this point that the series started being targeted at consoles only, with Mortal Kombat 4 being the last game in the series to be released for the arcades. Also the series' naming scheme changed to favor the use of sub-titles instead of numbered installments, beginning with Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance in 2002.[63] Deadly Alliance was released initially for the Xbox, PlayStation 2 and GameCube.[64][65][66] Deadly Alliance was also the first Mortal Kombat game to feature fully 3D gameplay, where up to Mortal Kombat 4 the gameplay had stayed in a 2D plane; this trend would continue for the following two games.

The next sequel was 2004's Mortal Kombat: Deception, released for the PlayStation 2, Xbox, and GameCube.[67][68][69] Its port for the PlayStation Portable, Mortal Kombat: Unchained, was released in 2006.[70] Mortal Kombat: Armageddon was published in 2006 for the PlayStation 2, Xbox, and in 2007 for the Wii.[71][72][73]

Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe, a crossover fighting game between the Mortal Kombat franchise and DC Comics, was released in 2008 for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.[74][75]

A ninth game in the series, a reboot titled simply Mortal Kombat, was developed by the former Midway Games, now known as NetherRealm Studios.[76] It was first released for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 in 2011, and was ported to the PlayStation Vita in 2012 and to the Microsoft Windows in 2013. Downloadable content became a feature of games in the series at this time. Its first sequel, Mortal Kombat X, was released in 2015 on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Microsoft Windows, and marked a return to numbered sequels. This was paired with the first Mortal Kombat game for tablet and smarophone computers, Mortal Kombat Mobile. A follow-up, Mortal Kombat 11, was released in 2019 for the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and Microsoft Windows.

Besides the fighting games, there are three action-adventure titles that work as spin-offs from the Mortal Kombat storyline. Mortal Kombat Mythologies: Sub-Zero was released in 1997 for the PlayStation and Nintendo 64;[77][78] its story is focused on the first incarnation character of Sub-Zero and is focused in the timeline before the first Mortal Kombat game. The next action game was Mortal Kombat: Special Forces, released in 2000 for the PlayStation, starring Major Jackson Briggs in his mission to destroy the Black Dragon.[79] Both games were critically panned (although the reception of Mythologies was more mediocre). Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks, developed by Midway Studios Los Angeles, was released in 2005 for the PlayStation 2 and the Xbox, starring Liu Kang and Kung Lao and telling an alternate version of the events between the first and second Mortal Kombat games. A similar game entitled Mortal Kombat: Fire & Ice, which was to star Scorpion and again Sub-Zero, was canceled when the developers of Shaolin Monks "couldn't do it in time and under budget".[80] On October 18, 2022, Mortal Kombat: Onslaught was announced; it's a role-playing game scheduled for a 2023 release for Android and iOS. NetherRealm said it will be a cinematic experience and also it will be loyal to its core visceral nature.[81]

Mortal Kombat was adapted into two major motion pictures, Mortal Kombat (1995) and Mortal Kombat: Annihilation (1997), both released by New Line Cinema. The first film was released on August 18, 1995, grossing $23 million on its first weekend.[82] Despite mixed reviews from critics, Mortal Kombat became a financial success, eventually grossing approximately $70 million in the U.S. and over $122 million worldwide; the film also gained a cult following amongst fans of the video game series with Robin Shou, Linden Ashby, Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa, Bridgette Wilson, Talisa Soto and Christopher Lambert starring, and its success launched the Hollywood career of its director, Paul W. S. Anderson.[83] However, this momentum did not carry over into the movie's sequel, Mortal Kombat: Annihilation, which was directed by John R. Leonetti with Shou and Soto as the only two returning from the first film. The film received a poor reception by critics and fans alike, grossing only $36 million in the U.S. and $51 million worldwide, which was disappointing compared to the first film's worldwide intake of $122 million.[84]

In 2010, director Kevin Tancharoen released an eight-minute Mortal Kombat short film, titled Mortal Kombat: Rebirth,[85] made as a proof of concept for Tancharoen's pitch of a reboot movie franchise to Warner Bros. Pictures.[86] Tancharoen later confirmed that the unofficial short featured the writing of Oren Uziel, who at the time was rumored to be writing the screenplay for a third Mortal Kombat movie.[87] In September 2011, New Line and Warner Bros. announced that Tancharoen had signed on to direct a new feature-length film from a screenplay written by Uziel,[88] with the intention of aiming for an R rating.[89] Shooting was expected to begin in March 2012 with a budget of well under $100 million (projected at between $40–50 million[90]) and a release date of 2013,[91][92] but was ultimately delayed due to budget constraints. Tancharoen quit the production in October 2013.[93]

The reboot was released on April 23, 2021[94][95] produced by James Wan,[96][97] directed by Simon McQuoid[98] with a script written by Greg Russo and David Callaham.[99] A sequel is in development with McQuoid returning as director and Jeremy Slater set to write the screenplay.[100][101]

• Cole Young was introduced as the protagonist of the 2021 film and had not featured in a Mortal Kombat game at the time.

An animated prequel to 1995's Mortal Kombat film, titled Mortal Kombat: The Journey Begins, was released direct-to-video in the same year as the live-action film.[102] In 2020, a standalone animated film, Mortal Kombat Legends: Scorpion's Revenge, was released on digital and direct-to-video.[103] Its sequel, entitled Mortal Kombat Legends: Battle of the Realms, was released in August 2021.[104] A third film, Mortal Kombat Legends: Snow Blind was released on October 11, 2022.[105]

A number of Mortal Kombat comic books were based on the video game series, including the official Mortal Kombat and Mortal Kombat II comic, books created by Tobias and advertised in the attract modes on early versions of the first two games. In 1994, Malibu Comics launched a licensed Mortal Kombat comic book series, spawning two six-issue series (Blood and Thunder and Battlewave), along with several miniseries and one-shot special issues dedicated to specific characters, until its publication ended in August 1995. Two more comics were also made as tie-ins for Mortal Kombat 4 and Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe,[106] and a new miniseries titled Blood Ties was published prior to the release of Mortal Kombat X in 2015.

Jeff Rovin penned a novelization of the first Mortal Kombat game, which was published in 1995 in order to coincide with the release of the movie, though the novel did not follow the movie plot.[107] Novelizations of both Mortal Kombat movies were written by Martin Delrio and Jerome Preisler. Two paperback novels by C. Dean Andersson entitled Mortal Kombat: Reptile's World and Shango's Thunder were written but never published due to the publishing company not securing the rights from Midway.

Mortal Kombat: The Album, a techno album based on the first game, was created for Virgin America by Lords of Acid members Praga Khan and Oliver Adams as The Immortals in 1994.[108] Its iconic theme "Techno Syndrome", incorporating the "Mortal Kombat!" yell first shown in the Mortal Kombat commercial for home systems, was first released in 1993 as a single and was also used as a theme music for the Mortal Kombat film series. Each movie had their own soundtracks (including the hit and award-winning compilation album Mortal Kombat: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack), as had the second video game (Mortal Kombat II: Music from the Arcade Game Soundtrack). The 2011 video game saw the release of Mortal Kombat: Songs Inspired by the Warriors, a new soundtrack album featuring electronic music by various artists.

An animated series titled Mortal Kombat: Defenders of the Realm was released in 1996. It ran for one season.

In 1998, Mortal Kombat: Conquest was released. It lasted only one season.[102] In 2010, Warner Premiere ordered a web series inspired by the Rebirth short, titled Mortal Kombat: Legacy and also directed by Kevin Tancharoen.[109] The series' first season was released for free on YouTube starting in April 2011, promoted by Machinima.com,[110] and the second season arrived in 2013.[111]

In 2014, Blue Ribbon Content have been developing a live-action series that was to tie in with Mortal Kombat X for a planned 2016 release, titled Mortal Kombat: Generations. The series, however, was not released.[112][113]

A stage show titled Mortal Kombat: Live Tour was launched at the end of 1995, expanded to 1996, and featured Mortal Kombat characters in a theatrical display on stage.

The Mortal Kombat: Federation of Martial Arts was Threshold Entertainment's answer to the restrictions of the franchise involving the Midway Game Mortal Kombat. The challenge was to create a game that successfully promoted the video game without competing against it. The answer we developed was to use a stock market investing game model attached to an active online community to generate interest. The community discussion built every week leading to a big fight that would play out in installments over the weekend. This allowed players to essentially bet on their favorites by purchasing more stock prior to a fight and then hoping that their stock would go up in battle if their player won.

Brady Games produced the collectible card game Mortal Kombat Kard Game in 1996.[114] Score Entertainment's 2005 collectible card game Epic Battles also used some of the Mortal Kombat characters.

Mortal Kombat has been one of the most successful fighting game franchises in video game history, previously only trailing Bandai Namco's Tekken and Capcom's Street Fighter and Nintendo Super Smash Bros. As of 2021, it has surpassed Tekken, Street Fighter, and Super Smash Bros. in worldwide lifetime franchise sales. It generated more than $4 billion by the late 1990s[182] and $5 billion in total revenue by 2000.[183] A particularly successful game was Mortal Kombat II, which had unprecedented opening week sales figures never seen before in the video game industry, for the first time beating the box office numbers of summer hit films.[184] The Mortal Kombat games, however, have not been localized in Japan after the Super Famicom release of Mortal Kombat II, due to content guidelines against depictions of blood, gore and dismemberment (Tobias blaming their "very americanized" character design[185]).

Mortal Kombat games have sold more than 6 million units by 1994[186] and 26 million by 2007,[24] and the figure has exceeded 30 million by 2012.[187] As of 2021, the franchise had sold about 73 million units.[188][189][190]

The 2008 edition of Guinness World Records Gamer's Edition awarded the Mortal Kombat series with seven world records, including "most successful fighting game series".[191] The franchise holds ten world records in the 2011 Guinness World Records Gamer's Edition, including the "largest promotional campaign for a fighting video game" (Mortal Kombat 3), "highest grossing film based on a beat ‘em up video game" (Mortal Kombat 1996), and "most successful video game spin-off soundtrack album" (Mortal Kombat: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack).[192]

Numerous publications described it as one of the most important and also most violent series in the history of video games; in 2011, the staff of GameSpy wrote "its place in fighting game history is undeniable".[193] In 2009, GameTrailers ranked Mortal Kombat as the ninth top fighting game franchise[194] as well as the seventh bloodiest series of all time.[195] In 2012, Complex ranked Mortal Kombat as 37th best video game franchise overall, commenting on its "legendary status in video game history".[196] Mortal Kombat as a series was also ranked as the goriest video game ever by CraveOnline in 2009 and by G4tv.com in 2011;[197][198] including it on their list of the goriest games, Cheat Code Central commented that "Mortal Kombat had enough gore to simultaneously offend a nation and change gaming forever."[199]

Fighting games have been a popular genre among tournaments since the late 90s. Mortal Kombat has its place in some of the world's biggest fighting game tournaments including Evo and Combo Breaker, as well as many local and online tournaments around the world. Since the 2011 Mortal Kombat game was released, the game has been one of the most popular games at these events. Between 2014 and 2017, the game was mostly absent from the tournament scene, due to NetherRealm Studios being focused on their Injustice series as their top priority;[206] Mortal Kombat games returned to Combo Breaker in 2018.[207]

The series was subject of a major video game controversy[208] and several court cases, largely related to its extremely violent content, especially in relation to the original game which paved a way for the introduction of the ESRB (Entertainment Software Rating Board) game rating system in 1994 as well as the Australian Classification Board.[30][209][210][211][212] Various games in the series, as well as advertisements for them, have been censored or banned in a number of countries. According to SuperData Research CEO Joost van Dreunen, "Because of the obvious rift between gamers on the one hand and adult society on the other, Mortal Kombat set the tone for what constituted gamer culture."[213]

In Germany, every Mortal Kombat game was banned for ten years from its release until 2015. Mortal Kombat (2011) is also banned in South Korea, and was banned in Australia until February 2013. MK11 is banned in Indonesia, Japan, China and Ukraine.[214][215]