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Originally...
Originally, creators Ed Boon and John Tobias wanted to create an action game featuring a digitized version of martial arts film star Jean-Claude Van Damme. However, Van Damme was already in negotiations with another company for a video game that ultimately was never released. Van Damme's likeness remained in the form of playable character Johnny Cage (with whom he shares his name's initials, JC), Mortal Kombat was reportedly developed in 10 months from 1991 to 1992.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M -
Actors...
Mortal Kombat included seven playable characters, The game was developed with digitized sprites based on actors. The protagonist of the game is the Shaolin martial artist Liu Kang, played by Ho Sung Pak, who enters the tournament to defeat antagonist Shang Tsung, the main antagonist and final boss (also played by Sung Pak). Elizabeth Malecki played the Special Forces agent Sonya Blade, who is pursuing the Black Dragon mercenary Kano (played by Richard Divizio). Carlos Pesina played Raiden... -
Mortal Combat released
Mortal Kombat is a 1992 fighting-game developed and published by Midway for arcades. In 1993, home versions were released by Acclaim Entertainment. -
More Graphics!!
The original Mortal Kombat was developed with digitized sprites based on actors, as opposed to animated cartoon graphics. Mortal Kombat 4 brought the series into 3D, replacing the digitized fighters of previous games with polygon models. More so than other fighting games at the time, Mortal Kombat was famous for re-coloring certain sprites to appear as different characters. This was most prominent with the series' various ninja/assassin characters. -
16 bits....
The Game Gear version was similar to the Game Boy version, but with major improvements, (color, faster gameplay, and tighter control). Like its 16-bit counterpart, the game was censored unless a cheat code had been entered. It lacked Kano and Reptile and had only two arenas. A Sega Master System port based on this version was also released. -
Music and more!!
Mortal Kombat: The Album, an album by The Immortals featuring techno songs, was released in May 1994. It features two themes for the game, "Techno Syndrome" and "Hypnotic House". "Techno Syndrome" was adapted for the 1995 movie soundtrack and incorporated the familiar "Mortal Kombat!" yell from the Mortal Monday commercials. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mortal_Kombat_%28video_game%29 -
Noah Wilson
On November 22, 1997, 13-year-old Noah Wilson died when his friend Yancy stabbed him in the chest with a kitchen knife. The mother of Noah, Andrea Wilson, alleges that her son was stabbed to death because of his obsession with the Midway game Mortal Kombat. She alleges that Yancy S. was so obsessed with the game, that the child thought he was actually the character Cyrax. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mortal_Kombat -
Premium Packs
With the release of Mortal Kombat: Deception "Premium Pack" in 2004, both the Xbox and PlayStation 2 received ports of the game as bonus content. While it was promoted as "arcade perfect", there were some sound issues and sped up gameplay. -
Forbes
In 2008, Forbes called Mortal Kombat one of the "most loved arcade games" that was "king of the arcade" in its day. As of this article, the arcade machines of the original title go from a few hundred dollars to $2,500. -
Warner Bros. Release
On August 31, 2011, Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment released an Arcade Collection consisting of Mortal Kombat, Mortal Kombat II, and Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 as a downloadable title for PlayStation Network, Xbox LIVE Arcade, and PC. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mortal_Kombat_%28video_game%29