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This article concerns the fighting game series and media tie-ins. For the first entry in the series, see Mortal Kombat (video Game) . For the movie based on the series, see Mortal Kombat (film) . ''Mortal Kombat'' (commonly abbreviated '''''MK''''') is a popular series of Fighting Games created by Midway . It is especially noted for its Digitized Sprites (which differentiated it from its contemporaries' hand-drawn sprites), and its mix of bloody and brutal action; its graphic Fatality killing moves led to the founding of the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB). OVERVIEW The original ''Mortal Kombat'' was developed as a reaction to the popular Capcom fighting game '' Street Fighter II '', 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 garner publicity for the game. Although highly controversial, the mix of realism and violence propelled ''Mortal Kombat'' to widespread renown. Throughout the series, the game was noted for its simplicity of controls and the exotic special moves it featured, as well as a tendency to replace a Hard C sound in its lexicon with a k - hence the name ''Mortal Kombat''. LEGACY Midway created five sequels for the arcade and home systems, each one bloodier, more brutal, and stranger than the last. '''', will wrap up the current story continuity and feature almost all the characters that have appeared in the series. Finishing Move s in later games included the Animality (turning into animal to violently finish off the opponent), the Brutality (decimating an opponent into pieces with a long combination of hits or '' Combo ''), the Friendship (offering one's opponent a token of friendship), and the Babality (transforming the opponent into a baby). The Babality and Friendship moves were created as a jokey non-violent finishing move, a swipe at the US Congressional Investigation for Violence in Videogames who came down harshly on the ''Mortal Kombat'' games. Purists, fonder of the earlier style, were upset by the introduction of such finishing moves, yet ''Mortal Kombat'''s "purely violent" and dark gameplay was once again implemented after the release of ''Mortal Kombat 4''. GAMES IN SERIES Fighting games '' is the latest game in the series.]]
Non-fighting games
EASTER EGGS AND SECRETS ''Mortal Kombat'' was among the first titles in the fighting game genre to include Secret Character s, secret games, and other Easter Eggs . ''Mortal Kombat 3'', for example, included a hidden game of '' Galaxian ''. Many extras in the series have only been accessible through very challenging, demanding, and sometimes coincidental requirements. In the 1992 original, by executing a Fatality when fighting on The Pit stage (the bridge) without taking any damage or pressing the block button in the winning round, the player could fight Reptile, a merge between the Sub-Zero and Scorpion characters... providing certain shadows happened to be flying by the moon in the background. In ''Mortal Kombat II'', Reptile would be developed into a full character with his own special moves and would be available from the outset. The Sega Genesis games had some unique eggs: in one, a headshot of President of Probe Software Fergus McGovern flew in front of the moon in ''Mortal Kombat'''s Pit stage, while in a second, Raiden could perform a "Fergality" by pressing Back, Back, Back, Block during a fatality on the Portal stage. It was pioneering ideas like these that has made ''Mortal Kombat'' one of the most memorable of the genre. Another Easter egg actually came about from a rumored glitch. In the original arcade version of the first ''Mortal Kombat'', a rumor stated that the game would sometimes present problems due to a bug and mix two characters together. This would usually be two of the ninja characters, resulting in a Ninja in a semi-red suit. The computer would display his name as "ERMAC", short for "error macro." As word spread, people thought they had found a secret character. In the game audits, ERMACS will appear on one of the pages, possibly being a stat to either show how many times a player encountered a secret character or a glitch. That wasn't the case, yet in '' Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 '', it was decided to make an actual Ermac character. Also, glitch characters occurred should the player accomplish the ''very'' difficult feat of reaching Reptile in Endurance mode. Once Reptile was defeated, the second character would jump down. As Reptile used a special green colour palette, the following fighter (a normal fighter) would be a jumble of the character's original colors plus Reptile's green colors. However, one of the most fascinating elements of ''Mortal Kombat'' was completely unplanned and out of the programmers' hands. Following the release of ''Mortal Kombat II'', a myth culture was created around the game. The most famous one is the Goro myth. In the first game, Goro was a four-armed monster that acted as a Miniboss to the game's main Boss , Shang Tsung . Many fans were convinced that Goro was hidden somewhere in ''Mortal Kombat II'' and many were obsessed with finding him. Alas, these rumors were later confirmed as untrue. Some Easter eggs originated from private jokes between members of the ''Mortal Kombat'' development team. The best-known example is "Toasty," which began in ''Mortal Kombat II.'' Developers fell into the habit of yelling the victory cry "Toasted!" (and later, "Toasty!") during the testing phase of development. This joke found its way into the game in the form of a small image of sound designer will not appear. BOSSES AND SUB-BOSSES ''Mortal Kombat'' featured two Bosses . One was a sub-boss (whom you'd have to face before challenging the main boss of the game). The sub-boss of the game was a four armed Shokan warrior named Goro , a half-human, half-dragon beast. Upon Goro's defeat, the player faced the game's main boss, Shang Tsung . Future ''Mortal Kombat'' sequels would continue to use sub-bosses. While most sub-bosses were unplayable monsters like another Shokan, a as a sub-boss, and the traditional "non-playable monster" was Onaga , the game's boss character. Here is the list of bosses and sub-bosses for the Mortal Kombat series:
CONTRIBUTING CULTURAL MATERIAL The ''Mortal Kombat'' mythology borrows heavily from multiple sources, primarily (but not limited to) Asia n cultures, religions and Martial Art s. Examples include the following:
MOVIES AND TELEVISION ''Mortal Kombat'' was adapted into two major '', is said to be in pre-production as confirmed officially, and may be released by the end of 2006. The franchise also sparked two ''. PLOT CONTINUITY One interesting aspect of the ''Mortal Kombat'' series' plot is that every single game features a different ending for every character. Because many endings in a single game will contradict each other, only one or a few per game are considered Canon , and the true endings are never known until the next game is released. The result is that when a new ''Mortal Kombat'' game is released, fans speculate about which ending (or endings) are real. Nearly every game's canon ending involves the good guys emerging triumphant over evil, though this trend was broken with the release of '''' had failed to prevent Shang Tsung and Quan Chi from resurrecting the Dragon King's army. MORTAL KOMBAT CROSSOVERS Characters from the ''Mortal Kombat'' series have sometimes appeared in other video games as secret characters, particularly other Midway games. Examples of this include:
''Mortal Kombat'' has also been the focus of several extremely popular game modifications, including hacks to the original Mortal Kombat PC games (''MK2: Kintaro's Vulgar Version''), and the integration of console artwork and audio into other game engines, including but not limited to the original ''Quake'' and ''Unreal'' engines (''Mortal Kombat Quake TC''). A Fanmade version of '' Pong '' based on the ''Mortal Kombat'' series called '' Pong Kombat '' was released in 1994. The Mortal Kombat characters are also featured in the '' Trading Card Game '' '' Epic Battles '' which pits them against the '' Street Fighter '' characters (as well as upcoming characters from other fighting games). SIMILAR GAMES
SEE ALSO EXTERNAL LINKS Official Websites: Other Websites:
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