Mortal Kombat
IT HAS BEGUN!
It's amazing I have been playing a game series for almost thirty years. Even though Mortal Kombat is celebrating 30 years on October 8 2022, I would have been playing for about 28 years. Still, for it to be hitting 30 year after all the numerous setbacks and controversies is still an amazing feat. As I have been a fan of the franchise for pretty much all its life. I thought I would look back at the series in tribute to its 30th birthday.
NOW ENTERING KOMBAT
My first foray into MK was its first game, on the Sega Mega Drive. I got it as a gift, and played it and enjoyed it. What I didn't know at the time (which is pretty common knowledge now) it had a blood code. ABACABB (get over here!) is a code I remember as clear as my phone number, and with this code it showed me what MK really had to offer. Which was blood, violence and fatalities! Even though I didn’t know all the button combinations, I still had fun, with the few moves I could pull off.
What added to the fun for me, was playing the game with others. We all enjoyed the game, and had fun spending hours playing it. Trying the best we could to stay on a winning streak. As well as proving our button mashing skills at each test your might. Which is why it stuck around in my memory for a long time, and why I was still playing it many years after it was released. To say I was a fan, was an understatement.
As the game continued to come out, it was a thing I was aware of. However, I didnt really own any games for a few years. As friends had the games, and we would share, or play together, so I didn’t feel like I was missing out. Which is I didn’t really get really into the series of games till about Mortal Kombat Deception, which some hate, but as it brought me back into the franchise I adore it. Since then I have the gotten every single game in the series, and have enjoyed most of them.
30 years later I now know, me starting on the Mega Drive wasn’t maybe the best version. As I now know, the arcade original is where it’s at. It is better than the weird Super Nintendo port. I have then since learned to love both versions. The one I grew up with, and the one that is the essence of the series. Mainly due to the fact both have different sprite sizes and sound qualities. As well having slight different graphics too. But when I think about MK1 I think of the mega drive version first.
YOUR SOUL IS MINE
Of course, you don’t get to 30 years without diversifying your portfolio. MK has spun off into other media; movies, TV shows, YouTube series and comics, not everything it did was a winner. I have already covered two of the moves on Re-Rewind (MKA MK21) one I like for trying and one not for trying to much.
However, as I was a child when the franchise was kicking off, so I enjoyed the cartoon, Defenders of the Realm when it aired. Watching it as an adult though, I can see how much it kind of butchered the series to make it kid friendly. Which is a shame, but still at least they took a risk and it didn't pay off. Which is kind of a theme with the TV shows in the 90s. They wanted a show, but didnt want to commit to what made the series great. Which of course was the violence. If we’re not seeing blood and heads being ripped off, what are we doing?
PREPARE TO DIE!
The controversy that follows Mortal Kombat will also being something that keeps it in history as long as video games exist. As l lot people like to say that it was part of the reason we have ratings on games. Which now as an adult I kind of see why it’s important to have. However, I don’t blame this on MK at all. As I am very aware now and back when I was a little kid, this isn’t real. It should not be copied and done in real life. It’s a cartoon essentially. Which is when people say the graphics of the game at the time were so realistic, I kinda laugh, because I never thought it did. Sure, I might be thinking with my 2022 brain, but I know even back then I never thought anything looked realistic.
Sadly not everyone realise what they see on screen doesn’t mean it’s real. Which is why MK has been banded in serval places or heavily censored. Which is a shame, but I objectively can understand why it has to happen. Which why it has been always been brought up in the argument of violent video games, and studies on the subject. People like to say it gives players a lot of aggression once they have finished the game. As someone who plays a lot of different kind of games I get aggression when playing a lot different stuff, not just the violent ones.
It’s a damm shame when people who go out and do terrible acts of violence decided to use MK and other games as the reason why they went out and commit violence. I just hate that some people have to tarnish something name, because of something they’ve done and think it will wash. Only good thing is, as its 30 years and MK has continued to battle these controversies and still able to stay afloat.
FINISH HIM!
Back in the day there were two camps when you thought of fighting games. You were either Street Fighter or Mortal Kombat. As time has gone on, as much as I like Street Fighter, I have always been on MK’s side. I know there have been many other fighters that have come and gone, the only franchise I play and own consistently is Mortal Kombat. I liked it because of the violence, but I’ve stuck around because of the convoluting story. It’s constantly changing the game play, and of course it’s really colourful cast of characters. Where else can you have a blind man fight a man with four arms?
For me I’ll be a fan of Mortal Kombat for a very long time. I’ll most likely buy multiple re-releases of older games to play them on more contemporary hardware. While also supporting the franchise, and look forward to new film adaptations. For me it’s a part of my gaming DNA, it’s a game that made me in the gamer I am. Without it I wouldn’t have a fighting series I would stick to. To all the MK fans out there, lets wish it a happy 30th birthday and lets what has changed at the 40th.
FABES WINS! FATALITY!
