• Legacy of Mortal Kombat

    Legacy of Mortal Kombat

    Nachiket Mhatre, Apr 16, 2011 1000 hrs IST

    A look at the evolution of Mortal Kombat

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In the next few hours, I'll get my paws on the much awaited re-visioning of the Mortal Kombat franchise. But before one reads about the upcoming game, it is necessary to get acquainted with the legacy behind a franchise that can be traced back to the roots of PC gaming. Not many gaming franchises go back almost a decade, and Mortal Kombat has weathered the ravages of time wrought upon the gaming industry. It has seen generations of hardware change and, like the gaming equivalent of Madonna, evolved with the times as well.  So it's time for a recap of what eventually transpired into the meaner, gorier, Kratos fueled avatar of Mortal Kombat.



After the great videogame bust of 1983, the console game industry was in shambles. And that being the only one of its kind at the time, the game industry as a whole was dying a slow death. A steady decline brought upon by a calculated circumspection, a boring brand of political correctness and, at times, a deliberate lack of innovation entailed by corporatisation of the industry.

This institutional inertia that held back innovation led to the resurgence of a brand of cottage industry - independent game development houses formed by programmers and designers, who were true gamers working out of their basements for the love of the game and not just buoyed by blind corporate greed. Game development houses like id Software and Apogee are what shaped the gaming industry that we know of today and the very hardware that makes it all possible.



The Mortal Kombat franchise was spawned from the same legacy of cottage development houses, with just four people, including a programmer (Ed Boon), two designers (John Tobias and John Vogel) and a sound guy (Dan Forden), creating a legacy that would redefine the crowded fighting genre. The original Mortal Kombat was one of the reasons why videogame classification bodies like Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) were conceived.

I have been a Mortal Kombat nut from the beginning and I remember the first wave of the series - Mortal Kombat and the two sequels with the original storyline - mainly for their gameplay depth and balance, and for the brutal legacy of fatalities, the infernal and extremely gory finishing moves that gave the shivers to the parents, teachers and senators alike. The fluidity and the photorealistic appeal of the digitised sprites based on real actors were in stark contrast to the animated graphics of its rivals.

The series faltered for the first time with Mortal Kombat 4. In its quest to switch over to 3D, the game lost the gameplay depth and the precise balance that made the series what it was. The first big mistake made Ed Boon and company go back to the drawing board and spawn the second wave of consoles exclusive Mortal Kombat titles that focused on gameplay innovations with storylines that deviated from the original mythos. It is here that the series experimented further with 3D, varied fighting styles and adventure spin-offs. That is, until the franchise committed another folly.

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Discussion Board
(3) Comments
abubakar
,jos, on Nov 23, 2011 10:17 PM
goodThe series faltered for the first time with Mortal Kombat 4. In its quest to switch over to 3D, the game lost the gameplay depth and the precise balance that made the series what it was. The first big mistake made Ed Boon and company go back to the drawing board and spawn the second wave of consoles exclusive Mortal Kombat titles that focused on gameplay innovations with storylines that deviated from the original mythos. It is here that the series experimented further with 3D, varied fighting styles and adventure spin-offs. That is, until the franchise committed another folly.
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Johnny Murderou
,Parts Unknown, Wisconsin, on Apr 16, 2011 04:01 PM
You're uninformed and you can't write. The videogame industry was saved by independent development houses? Ever hear of a little company called "Nintendo"? And I think you're the only person in the world who thinks the original Mortal Kombat games were marvels of balance and depth. And yeah, I can see where MK vs. DCU was a disappointment, but this sentence: "Like any crossover game, this one was also a cheap copout capitalising on the DC fanboys to go for the game just by the virtue of the roster, with little or no regard for any genuine gameplay and design effort. " A. There have been plenty of crossover games that weren't "cheap copouts," from Robocop vs. Terminator to Battletoads vs. Double Dragon to the Marvel vs. Capcom to Super Smash Brothers to Kingdom Hearts. B. I can only assume you meant "cash-in" instead of "cop-out," since "cop-out" makes no sense in this context. C. Maybe a little harsh on MK vs. DCU? "little or no regard for any genuine gameplay and design effort." I'm sure the team who spent two years of their lives putting this thing together might take issue with that sentence. Yeah, they dialed back the blood and fatalities, but it still played better than any of the 3D MKs. Anyway, you suck. Don't write anymore. Videogame "journalism" has enough problems without you.
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Asb
,Tvm, on Apr 20, 2011 02:55 PM
Well Nachiket, All I can say is from the title, I expected a little bit more information on the whole MK franchise. 2d to 3d was not the only transition MK made. You could have also talked about MK mythologies which was a Sub-Zero only game or MK Special forces (Sonya ,Jax) where they tried to bring in adventure elements. And maybe even a brief mention of the movies and the final MK Web series. Dont get me wrong mate, just that I feel the article could have included more info. (Probably because me being a hardcore MK fan, wanted to read pages and pages about the game :D) Cheers
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