Title: Mortal Kombat

Release Date: 1992

Developer: Midway Games

Class: Wide Release

Genre: Fighting

Maximum number of players: 2

Number of simultaneous players: 2

Game Controls:

• Joystick: 8-Way
• Total Buttons: 5
• Actions:
  High Punch
  Low Punch
  Block
  High Kick
  Low Kick

Overview:

A 1-on-1 fighting game featuring a cast of 7 different fighters. Mortal Kombat took ideas from Capcom's seminal "Street Fighter II - The World Warrior", such as the game's special moves and projectiles. It also introduced a cast of photo-realistic digitized fighters for players to fight either as or against.

Battles are fought over the best of 3 rounds. At the end of a round a voice instructs the winner to 'finish him' and players have only a couple of seconds to try and execute their character's 'fatality', which sees the winner killing the loser in a spectacular and grisly fashion.

Facts & Trivia:

Released in July 1992.

Mortal Kombat was renowned as the first fighting game to use digitized characters and blood (as opposed to the hand-animated, more cartoon-like graphics of competing games). Mortal Kombat was developed as a reaction to the popular Capcom game "Street Fighter II - The World Warrior", with simpler controls and digitized graphics. Some say the game's graphic violence was gratuitous, and was only included in order to generate a public outcry and controversy that would increase publicity for the game.

Although highly controversial, the mix of realism and violence propelled Mortal Kombat to the height of popularity. An example of the game's innovations was the Fatality, a special finishing move executed against a dying opponent to create an even more gruesome death. For example, one character would grasp a defeated, wobbling opponent by the head, then rip the head and spine out of the opponent's body, which then crumpled to the ground in a pool of blood. Another aspect of game-play that became a recurring element in games that followed was the so-called 'juggle', where a series of moves could be executed against an opponent who was kept in mid-air by the force of the attacks, and who hence had no defense against further attacks as long as the 'juggle' could be maintained.

The original concept of Mortal Kombat was modeled after the Jean-Claude Van Damme movie 'Bloodsport', which is a cult classic martial arts film. The character of Johnny Cage is directly modeled after Frank Dux, Van Damme's character in the movie. Johnny Cage's film-star motif is an obvious link to this. Cage also wears the same costume (plus shoes) that Van Damme's character wore in the final battle of the movie. Cage's splits punch was originally seen in Bloodsport during the fight against the Sumo wrestler. Since Midway was unable to get Van Damme for this game, they kept the same kumite/martial arts movie concept and added the Kombat story.

Mortal Kombat was the first video game to have an official release date countdown in U.S./U.K. and Australia. This momentous day was known as 'Mortal Monday'.

For more facts and trivia check out www.arcade-history.com and www.arcade-museum.com

Game Ports:

Sega Mega Drive (1992)
Nintendo Super Famicom (1993 - Developed by Sculptured Software)
Nintendo Game Boy (1993) : Cage was taken out (but Kano was left in).
Sega Master System (1993)
Sega Game Gear (1993) : Kano was taken out (but Cage was left).
Sega Mega-CD (1993)
Sony PlayStation 2 (2004, "Mortal Kombat Deception Premium Pack")
Microsoft XBOX (2004, "Mortal Kombat Deception Premium Pack")
Sony PSP (2005, "Midway Arcade Treasures - Extended Play")

Commodore Amiga (1993)
PC [MS-DOS, 3.5''] (1993)
PC [MS Windows, CD-ROM] (2006, "Midway Arcade Treasures Deluxe Edition")

Mortal Kombat TV Game (2004 - Jakk's Pacific)
Mobile Phones (2004)

Tips & Tricks / More info:

* Bonus Points : Test your might appears after every 3rd win in a 1P game. In 2P it appears after every 5th Battle.
Breaking Wood : Break the WOOD tapping the punch and kick buttons till the meter fills up then block.
Breaking Stone : Break the STONE after breakin the WOOD.
Breaking Steel : Break the STEEL after breakin the STONE.
Breaking Ruby : Break the RUBY after breakin the STEEL.
Breaking Diamond : Break the DIAMOND after breakin the RUBY.
Fatality : Perform the characters finishing move.
Flawless Victory : Beat your opponent without getting hit.
Double Flawless : Beat your opponent without getting hit 2 rounds in a row.

* Defeat Reptile (Rev 3.0+ only) : The shadows indicate that Reptile is available as an opponent. To fight him, win with a double flawless and fatality, without using block in the entire match.

For more tips and tricks check out www.arcade-history.com and www.arcade-museum.com