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00:09Welcome to MojoPlays, and today we'll show you 25 things you didn't know about Mortal Kombat.
00:17More than enough time for you and I to make our little journey.
00:23Before we begin we publish new videos all week long, so be sure to subscribe to MojoPlays
00:28and ring the bell to be notified about our latest videos.
00:32Mortal Kombat inspired the ESRB rating system.
00:36The excessively graphic finishing moves you know as Fatalities spawned intense public controversy
00:42with the original 1992 Mortal Kombat game and the following 1993 release of Mortal Kombat 2.
00:53It had governmental scrutiny at an all-time high.
00:57The game's shocking gore led to United States Senate hearings led by Senators Joe Lieberman and Erb Kohl in late
01:041993,
01:06focusing on the lack of a standardized content rating system for video games.
01:09To prevent potential government intervention and regulation, the gaming industry rapidly mobilized.
01:16This self-regulatory effort resulted in the formation of the Interactive Digital Software Association in 1994,
01:23which eventually evolved into the Entertainment Software Rating Board, otherwise known as the ESRB.
01:29They've since shaped how video games are marketed and purchased to this day,
01:33and it was all thanks to the initial shock reaction of Mortal Kombat's digitized blood.
01:44Scorpion was voiced by his creator.
01:46One of the most instantly recognizable and imitated catchphrases in all of fighting game history,
01:51Scorpion's iconic scratchy yell of,
01:54Get Over Here! was actually performed by Mortal Kombat co-creator and programmer, Ed Boon.
02:04This wasn't just a one-off performance either,
02:06as Boon continued to provide the voice for this specific, memorable line throughout numerous entries in the franchise,
02:13even though the character itself had different voice actors for his other dialogue and grunts in later games.
02:18It's so iconic that even people who haven't played Mortal Kombat can recognize it as Scorpion's signature spear move.
02:31The Fatality's Origins
02:33The infamous fatality mechanic, the gruesome, over-the-top finishing move that defined Mortal Kombat,
02:38and distinguished it from other fighting games,
02:40has a surprisingly simple inspiration from none other than its primary rival back in the day.
02:52According to co-creator Ed Boon,
02:54the fatality was directly inspired by the dizzy state in Capcom's Street Fighter 2.
02:59Boon liked the idea of a moment where the opponent was completely vulnerable,
03:03allowing players to land a guaranteed free hit.
03:06However, he disliked how the dizzy state could interrupt the flow of a match mid-game.
03:11Therefore, he and John Tobias decided to move it to the very end of the match,
03:15after the final FINISH THEM prompt.
03:18It quickly turned from a simple free hit into the unique, gory,
03:22and sometimes comical life-ending sequences that we know and love.
03:32Combat Codes
03:33Mortal Kombat 3 and its subsequent revisions included the combat code system,
03:38a novel way of adding hidden gameplay modifiers and fun easter eggs.
03:48These codes were sequences of six symbols that players could input on the Versus screen before a match began,
03:54granting effects ranging from random select to turning off blocking or even activating a slot machine mechanic for random reveals.
04:01To add to the uniqueness of the system, the codes were hidden in other media like the 1995 Mortal Kombat
04:07movie and its credits.
04:09You'd even find them in advertisements or in arcades and magazines.
04:19Famous actors
04:20The foundational aesthetic of the original 1992 Mortal Kombat game, defined by its realistic digitized sprites,
04:28was made possible by a small group of martial artists and actors.
04:31The primary cast was incredibly limited, with just five individuals bringing nearly the entire roster to life through motion capture.
04:44Ho Sung Pak played both the main protagonist Liu Kang and the sorcerer Shang Tsung.
04:50Elizabeth Malecki portrayed Sonya Blade,
04:53Richard Divizio played Kano,
04:55and Carlos Pesina brought the Thunder God Raiden to life.
04:58And lastly, Daniel Pesina, Carlos' brother, held the largest role,
05:03portraying Johnny Cage, Scorpion, Sub-Zero, and Reptile.
05:12Mortal Kombat Nitro
05:14In the early days of console gaming, censorship was a significant concern,
05:18especially for Nintendo, who enforced strict content standards.
05:22When Mortal Kombat was ported to the SNES, all its blood had been replaced with sweat,
05:27and fatalities were heavily toned down.
05:34Thanks to the immense commercial success of the uncensored Genesis version, however,
05:40and the growing public desire for the authentic arcade experience, this led to a shift.
05:44Midway developed Mortal Kombat 2, with the promise of uncensored violence across all platforms, including the SNES.
05:51There were plans for a re-release of the first game, tentatively titled Mortal Kombat Nitro.
05:57This version would have been a new cartridge for the SNES,
06:01restoring the red blood and original fatalities from the arcade version,
06:05alongside potentially new exclusive features.
06:08Unfortunately, this version never came to be.
06:15Language, Scorpion
06:17The 2005 spinoff Mortal Kombat Shaolin Monks was an action-adventure game that retold the events of Mortal Kombat 2
06:24from the perspective of Liu Kang and Kung Lao.
06:27You have defeated the sorcerer Shang Tsung.
06:30You have saved this realm as your forefathers did from his evil.
06:35You are Earthrealm's champion and hero.
06:38It features Scorpion as a boss and an unlockable character.
06:41We've briefly discussed his signature special attack, where he yells,
06:44get over here, or come here.
06:46Yet in Shaolin Monks, the developers added a subtle, but utterly hilarious detail for players who repeatedly spammed the move.
06:54When you do, Scorpion occasionally substitutes his classic line with profanity.
06:59It seems so out of place, considering how the series always relied on typically PG-rated dialogue for its special
07:06moves.
07:06Johnny Cage, lay it on me, Raiden. Bow, you idiot.
07:14Kitana and Stryker in the first game
07:16The creation process for the original Mortal Kombat involved several character concepts that were significantly altered or shelved before the
07:24final 1992 release.
07:30One prominent example is the cop Curtis Stryker, who was initially envisioned as the grounded, skeptical human observer in the
07:38otherworldly tournament.
07:39While he eventually debuted in Mortal Kombat 3 as a police officer, his role in the first game was instead
07:46filled by Sonya Blade, a member of the US Special Forces.
07:56It's a similar story for Kitana, who debuted in Mortal Kombat 2.
08:00She was also conceptualized with the first game, but they saved her for the sequel.
08:07Kitana wins
08:08There's also several characters who underwent name changes, like Michael Grimm, who eventually became Johnny Cage, or Gongoro, who eventually
08:17became Goro.
08:19Reptile was a hidden character.
08:21Reptile was the first ever secret character in a fighting game, and the method to access his bonus fight in
08:26the original Mortal Kombat was notoriously difficult and cryptic, becoming the stuff of arcade legend.
08:33He was not a playable character in this iteration, but a hidden enemy who was a green pallet swap of
08:38both Scorpion and Sub-Zero, utilizing both of their special moves.
08:47To fight him, players had to be on the pit stage, have the silhouette of the moon pass in the
08:52background, earn a double flawless victory, and perform a fatality, all without blocking in either round.
08:59Meeting these absurdly demanding criteria would transport the player to the bottom of the pit for a special match against
09:06the elusive ninja.
09:12Everyone is live action, except one.
09:16The original Mortal Kombat game stood out because of its use of digitized sprites, which involved filming actors in costume,
09:23and then converting those images into game assets, giving the cast a uniquely realistic appearance.
09:34However, the four-armed Shokan champion, Goro, could not be created using this process due to his non-human physiology.
09:43Instead, Goro was realized using stop-motion animation.
09:46Sculptor Kurt Chiarelli created a highly detailed clay model of the character.
09:52The developers then meticulously posed the model frame by frame, capturing hundreds of individual images to bring Goro to life.
10:06The Name
10:07Before the title of the franchise was finalized, the four-person development team was struggling to come up with a
10:13catchy and memorable name for the new fighting game.
10:15Ed Boon and John Tobias considered numerous ideas, including Ku Might, Dragon Attack, Death Blow, and even just Fatality.
10:25Flawless Vict-Fatality
10:26One afternoon, Steve Ritchie, a prominent pinball and game designer who was friends with Boon, visited their office.
10:33As he glanced over a drawing board where combat had been misspelled with a K, Ritchie spontaneously suggested combining it
10:39with Mortal.
10:40It instantly clicked with the developers and the rest is history, according to Ed Boon at least.
10:46You see, according to John Tobias, the name instead came about due to a legal issue while attempting to trademark
10:52Mortal Kombat with a C.
11:01The original Mortal Kombat arcade game was an incredibly ambitious project created under severe time and resource constraints.
11:14In 1991, Midway Games management tasked programmer Ed Boon and comic book artist John Tobias with creating a new fighting
11:22game to compete with Capcom's highly successful Street Fighter 2.
11:25They were given an intense deadline of just 10 months to conceive, develop, and finalize the game for an arcade
11:32release.
11:33Boon and Tobias recruited only two other members to complete the core development team.
11:37Artist John Vogel for graphics and backgrounds and sound designer Dan Forden, the man behind the toasty soundbite.
11:44Sub-Zero in every MK.
11:51While many other characters have been series staples and have returned for multiple games,
11:56Sub-Zero is the only playable character to have been included on the roster of every single main Mortal Kombat
12:02fighting game released since the 1992 original.
12:10Sub-Zero wins.
12:12The other regulars have occasionally missed an entry.
12:15For instance, his rival Scorpion was famously absent from the original arcade version of Mortal Kombat 3,
12:20and the franchise hero Liu Kang was an unlockable character in Mortal Kombat Deception and was even fully excluded from
12:27Mortal Kombat Deadly Alliance.
12:29With the developers sometimes cutting characters that died in the story, it's impressive that Sub-Zero got to stay for
12:34every title.
12:43Johnny Cage in Guile.
12:45The inclusion of Jean-Claude Van Damme as a DLC skin for Johnny Cage in Mortal Kombat 1 is actually
12:51a full circle moment for the franchise.
12:53I was kidding about the muscles. You are ripped.
12:56The original Mortal Kombat was initially conceived as a video game adaptation of Van Damme's 1988 movie Bloodsport.
13:03When that deal fell through, the developers salvaged the core idea and created Johnny Cage, a narcissistic action star, as
13:11their homage to the Belgian martial artist.
13:17This wasn't Van Damme's first connection to a fighting game, however.
13:20Years before the official MK1 collaboration, Van Damme played the iconic American airman Colonel Guile in the 1994 live-action
13:29Street Fighter movie,
13:31a franchise that Mortal Kombat would both compete with and be inspired by.
13:40Horn Buckle.
13:41In the background of the iconic Pit 2 stage in Mortal Kombat 2, eagle-eyed players could spot two figures
13:47fighting on a narrow ledge far below.
13:50One figure clearly resembled Liu Kang, but the other was an orange flaming entity.
13:55Players quickly dubbed the Liu Kang look-alike Horn Buckle.
13:58The name originated from one of the hints that Jade offered when she appeared as a secret character,
14:04which cryptically read, quote,
14:06Horn Buckle who?
14:11While the flaming opponent, eventually named Blaze, did become playable in Mortal Kombat Deadly Alliance,
14:17Horn Buckle was ultimately confirmed to be a mere pallet-swapped sprite of Liu Kang.
14:25Forgotten Spin-Offs.
14:27Beyond the main fighting game series, Mortal Kombat attempted to expand its universe into different genres with varying levels of
14:33success,
14:34many of which are now largely forgotten by the mainstream audience.
14:37The first spin-off was Mortal Kombat Mythology Sub-Zero,
14:41a side-scrolling action-platformer that served as a prequel to the main series.
14:51While ambitious in its storytelling, it became infamous among fans for its frustrating, clunky controls,
14:57and poor, executed, live-action, full-motion video cutscenes.
15:01Its failure led to the cancellation of the proposed Mythologies series.
15:05The developers tried again in 2000 with Mortal Kombat Special Forces,
15:08an even more poorly received 3D action game starring Jax.
15:12Sorry to burst your bubble, Kano, but the only thing you're gonna lord over is a porcelain thrown in a
15:194x4 room.
15:20Midway had stopped attempting spin-offs until the successful Mortal Kombat Shaolin Monks in 2005.
15:27NBA Jam.
15:28In 1994, Midway Games released NBA Jam Tournament Edition,
15:33an updated version of their massively successful over-the-top basketball arcade game.
15:43Midway decided to include an unexpected but welcome cross-promotion with its other smash hit, Mortal Kombat.
15:50By inputting specific codes, players could unlock 4 characters from the fighting game,
15:54Raiden, Sub-Zero, Scorpion, and Reptile, as playable basketball players,
15:59complete with their Mortal Kombat 2 select screen images.
16:02The game even included occasional background advertisements for Mortal Kombat.
16:06As the cherry on top, the game even allowed you to perform a fatality on your opponent.
16:18Cabal's Cut Cameo.
16:20The 2000 spinoff Mortal Kombat Special Forces was a disastrous release,
16:25and had been drastically scaled back from its original concept,
16:28which included co-op and a story centered on both Jax and Sonya.
16:33Kano, you're gonna pay for this.
16:36In the final, rushed product, Sonya was completely absent, and the game's plot suffered significantly.
16:42Years after its release, leaked beta footage revealed a major piece of Cut content involving Cabal.
16:48His debut in Mortal Kombat 3 established him as a former member of the Black Dragon Crime Syndicate before his
16:54facial injury.
16:55Special Forces was intended to show his departure from the group, but that, along with Sonya as a playable character,
17:01got completely scrapped.
17:09Belt Lock
17:10Mortal Kombat Gold was the exclusive Dreamcast port of Mortal Kombat 4, released in 1999,
17:17and its main selling point was the addition of several fan-favorite returning characters, including Kitana, Mileena, and Cyrax.
17:24After experiencing the flashbacks in my fight against Shinnok, I realize that my existence is unnecessary unless I can fully
17:33recover my human psyche.
17:34However, the developers also planned to introduce a brand new character named Belok.
17:39Belok was designed as an imposing demonic entity, and was even featured in early promotional materials and screenshots for the
17:46game.
17:47He was fully designed, modeled, and was intended to be part of the final roster.
17:51Unfortunately, due to significant time constraints, the developers were forced to cut Belok from the game.
17:58You are in no position to demand anything. I could kill you with a mere thought.
18:04But we had a deal.
18:06Big Trouble in Little China
18:08Mortal Kombat co-creator John Tobias has openly discussed the influence of John Carpenter's 1986 film,
18:15Big Trouble in Little China, on the aesthetic and premise of the game.
18:18The film's unique mashup of a grounded western world with a bizarre mythological eastern underworld resonated deeply with the developers.
18:25This influence is most apparent in the designs of two key Mortal Kombat characters.
18:37The Thunder God Raiden was directly modeled after the film's trio of elemental assassins, the Three Storms.
18:43Additionally, the main antagonist of the game, the shape-shifting sorcerer Shang Tsung, bears a striking resemblance to the film's
18:50villain, Lo Pan.
18:53Empty. Merrying. I need you, Merrying.
18:59Scorpion in Sub-Zero's actor was fired.
19:02Daniel Piscina, who played the original live-action motion capture roles for Sub-Zero, Scorpion, Reptile, and Johnny Cage in
19:08the first two Mortal Kombat games, actually got fired.
19:11His association with the franchise came to an abrupt end before Mortal Kombat 3.
19:21The reason for his termination was his participation in an advertisement for a rival fighting game.
19:27Piscina performed promotional work for the game Bloodstorm, which was positioned in arcades as a potential Mortal Kombat killer.
19:33To Midway's displeasure, he was featured in the ad wearing his iconic Johnny Cage costume.
19:38He was replaced by the actor and martial artist John Turk, who took over the roles of the ninjas.
19:49Saturday morning, Quan Chi.
19:51Despite making his formal fighting game debut in Mortal Kombat 4 and his prequel appearance in Mortal Kombat Mythology Sub
19:57-Zero, both in the fall of 1997,
20:00his true debut was in the short-lived animated series Mortal Kombat Defenders of the Realm.
20:06The answer to our quest lies there.
20:13In the eighth episode, titled The Secret of Quan Chi, released in late 1996,
20:19the character was featured as the main antagonist, a villain of the week whose primary goal was exploiting the power
20:25of the elemental gods.
20:32MK Legacy's cancelled third season.
20:35The web series Mortal Kombat Legacy, known for its gritty interpretation of the character's backstories,
20:40ended its second season in a dramatic cliffhanger, leaving fans anticipating a continuation.
20:51Show me what you got.
20:53While a third season was indeed planned and actively moving forward, it ended up getting cancelled.
20:58That third season was intended to be a tie-in and lead-up to the 2015 release of Mortal Kombat
21:04X.
21:04The development of the show was so closely aligned with the game that a leaked casting call for the third
21:09season was the source of the very first public details about several new characters in Mortal Kombat X.
21:15It leaked descriptions of characters like Aaron Black and Devorah before the game was even out.
21:28Mortal Kombat's own band.
21:31Following the initial unexpected success of the Mortal Kombat arcade game, musicians Maurice Angelin and Olivier Adams,
21:38both already members of the electronic group Lords of Acid, were approached to create an official album to accompany the
21:44phenomenon.
21:50They branched off to form the group The Immortals specifically for this project.
21:55Their resulting album, Mortal Kombat The Album, featured the iconic track Techno Syndrome, which is instantly recognizable as the theme
22:03music for the franchise.
22:04Their music was not only used extensively in marketing and subsequent sequels, but also served as the primary driving soundtrack
22:11for the 1995 live action movie.
22:17And lastly, Cannon Terminator.
22:24The first couple of Mortal Kombat games actually had prologue comics written for them,
22:29and one of them involves Sonya Blade's longtime nemesis, Kano.
22:34When Kano escapes from Sonya and the Special Forces,
22:37his escape route takes him onto Shang Tsung's boat, headed for the Deadly Tournament Island.
22:42During his transit, he has a brief but telling encounter with the movie star Johnny Cage.
22:46Kano roughs up Cage, and demands that he utter the famous line,
22:50I'll be back.
22:51Then you choose termination.
22:53Johnny Cage simply, and somewhat annoyed, replies that the line isn't from his movie.
22:58This seemingly innocuous reference has a massive implication for the Mortal Kombat universe's lore,
23:03considering multiple Terminator characters would end up featuring as DLC in the games.
23:09It's even further emphasized by a direct mention of Arnold Schwarzenegger in Johnny Cage's Mortal Kombat 4 ending.
23:21Which of these Mortal Kombat facts surprised you the most?
23:24Let us know in the comments, and be sure to subscribe to MojoPlays.
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