Immortal: A Mortal Kombat postmortem

Of all the blood-sopping twists the Mortal Kombat franchise has taken over the years, none seemed quite as dramatic as those that befell its stars in 2008’s Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe. Instead being of the outlandishly brutal, cold-blooded death machines remembered from so many gamers’ childhoods, beloved menaces like Sub-Zero and Scorpion were fashioned as squeaky-clean comic-book heroes in a Teen-rated game. With this change, seemingly all the core elements that had once made the Mortal Kombat series an unrivaled cultural behemoth were abandoned.

“We knew we were making such a dramatic departure,” admits Ed Boon, co-creator of Mortal Kombat and creative director at the Chicago-based NetherRealm Studios. “I think Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe invigorated interest in a traditional Mortal Kombat. It worked in a lot of ways, but at the same time, when people didn’t see all the blood, gore, and fatalities, that created a void — a hunger for them. Players were insisting on it.”

Atonement came with the April release of Mortal Kombat, a game free of not only a number or subtitle, but also the baggage that comes with a franchise spanning nearly two decades. Mortal Kombat is a rare return to a series’ vaunted roots: it’s an accessible, entertaining fighter packed with violent acts and gore, yet it surprises with gameplay depth, long-lasting single-player modes, and arcade-like online battles. It also earned our Editors’ Choice award and topped the sales charts.

Home Is Where the Hurt Is

NetherRealm Studios — named after a particularly hellish area in the Mortal Kombat universe — saw its own share of change following the release of Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe. In 2009, its parent company, Midway Games, went bankrupt; Warner Bros. acquired most of its assets. This turn of events ended up being a blessing for fans, as the development team was reportedly told to focus more on quality over quantity for its next Mortal Kombat title.

Following multiple entries with 3D-combat elements, the team at NetherRealm felt it had to return the series to a 2D gameplay foundation. “Other than fatalities,” explains Boon, “that was the feature [fans most wanted back].” And while the past few Mortal Kombat games were popular, Boon says the genre was losing steam under the weight of overcomplicated 3D fighting experiences. Other famed fighting franchises — such as Samurai Showdown and Dragon Ball Z — hastened the genre’s decline with unrefined, convoluted offerings, a point that Boon acknowledges.

“Fighting games were becoming too complex. They were fun and great, but they were getting to the point where you had to practice on the game for weeks before you could become proficient at it,” Boon claims. “Players just don’t have that kind of patience for — or commitment to — spending so much time learning a game before you can become competitive with it.”

With the perspective set, the next priority was determining the tone of the experience. While the softer, Teen-rated appeal of Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe was met with a decent reception, NetherRealm­ decided to reach back and recapture the trademark grit that had made it a household name almost 20 years earlier, spawning a live-action movie franchise, a short-lived TV series, and a platinum-selling soundtrack. “With this reinvention of Mortal Kombat, we wanted to be darker and more violent, and get back to the roots of it and what the fans actually love about it,” asserts Steve Beran, art director at NetherRealm Studios.

Boon affirms it seemed time to approach the game’s signature action with a straighter face. “One of the goals that we set out with was to turn the dial a little closer toward the serious,” he says. Still, the vibe of the ninth core chapter in the Mortal Kombat series isn’t that of a funeral home — there’s still a healthy dose of humor, especially in the fake movie billboards and Johnny Cage’s quips. But nothing’s watered down, and that’s partially thanks to today’s gaming world. NetherRealm didn’t have to spend a lot of time thinking about what parents groups it might offend by revisiting the ultra-violence that made Mortal Kombat such a hot topic in the mid-’90s.

Back when the original Mortal Kombat started popping up in arcades, its boundries-pushing graphics represented something new and dangerous, and its popularity just increased further once it hit home consoles. In fact, Mortal Kombat was so controversial that it almost single-handedly prompted the Congressional hearings that eventually led to the ESRB’s founding in 1994.

“It’s night and day,” Boon declares of the change in atmosphere for games. “The biggest differences are, first, there was no ratings system back in the day, so people didn’t know what to do with Mortal Kombat or how to categorize or handle content like that. And second, there wasn’t as much competition. Right now, with Mortal Kombat coming out — it’s violent, but games like Gears of War, God of War, and a bunch of others are up there with us.”

1234NEXT