STACK #126 Apr 2016

GAMES

FEATURE

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To celebrate the release of Mortal Kombat X this month, we've thrown together a fun Mortal Kombat two-pager that you will either find mildly entertaining, or if you don't know the franchise, it will positively bore the arse off of you.

1 Work began on Mortal Kombat in 1991. The intention was to base a game on Jean- Claude Van Damme, with the Belgian actor in the starring role. 2 There were only four members in the original development team. Ed Boon did the programming, John Tobias and John Vogel handled the graphics, while Dan Forden was responsible for the sound. 3 Mortal Kombat was completed in only eight months.

4 Before they settled on Mortal Kombat , early names for the game included Dragon Attack, Fatality, Death Blow and Kumite . 5 Inspiration for the game came from Tsui Hark's Zu Warriors and The Swordsman , and John Carpenter's Big Trouble in Little China. 6 While heavily influenced by Street Fighter 2 , the devs implemented the use

of digitised actors for characters instead of animations. The point of difference on release was startling. 7 The digitised characters were initially played by the developers' friends and families. This progressed to Chicago- based actors. 8 Mortal Kombat was first unleashed to arcades in 1992. 9 Kung Lao's hat is modelled off Oddjob in Goldfinger (1964). 10 When ported to Super Nintendo Entertainment

11 The original Mortal Kombat was instrumental in the establishment of the Entertainment Software Rating Board in the US. Along with Time Killers and Night Trap , the game also prompted the Australian government to establish the Commonwealth Classification Act on March 1, 1995. In 2011, the rebooted Mortal Kombat was also refused classification but later achieved an R18+ rating when Warner Interactive appealed the decision. 12 Despite the questionable quality of the film adaptation, Mortal Kombat still took $122 million at the box office in 1995. 13 The soundtrack to the film went platinum in just two weeks. 14 The role of Johnny Cage was originally given to Brandon Lee, prior to his death while filming The Crow (1994). 15 Before a scheduling clash prevented it, director Steven Spielberg, a fan of the

System, the gore was censored and many of the fatalities were removed to become 'finishing moves'. SEGA opted to tone down its version too, although by entering the cheat code “ABACABB”, the gore was unlocked.

APRIL 2015 JB Hi-Fi www.jbhifi.com.au

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