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Developer: Midway
Publisher: Midway
Designer: Ed Boon, John Tobias (game)
Platform: Arcade Ported to Sega Master System, Game Gear, SNES, Game Boy, Mega Drive, Mega-CD, Amiga, DOS, TV game, PlayStation 2, Xbox, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360
Release date: 8 October 1992
Genre: Fighting game
Mode: Up to 2 players
Media/distribution: 3.5-inch diskettes
About:
Gameplay
Mortal Kombat is a fighting game in which players battle opponents in one-on-one matches. The player that depletes the opponent's health bar first wins the round and the first player to win two rounds wins the match. Players select one of seven characters. Whereas other fighting games had characters with considerable differences in speed, height, attacks, strength, jumping heights and distances, the playable characters in Mortal Kombat are virtually identical to one another with only minimal differences in their moves' range and speed. The game also distinguished itself from other fighting games of the time with its unique control scheme. The controls consist of five buttons arranged in an "X" pattern: four buttons for high and low punches and kicks with a block button at the center, as well as an eight-way joystick. Attacks can vary depending on the player's distance from the opponent. All player characters have a shared set of attacks performed by holding the joystick in various directions, such a leg sweep and the uppercut, which knocks enemies high into the air and causes a large amount of damage.
Sub-Zero performing his infamous "Spine Rip" on Scorpion, Ed Boon's favorite Fatality.
Mortal Kombat also featured unique ways in which special moves were performed. It was the first game to introduce special moves performed exclusively using the joystick. Most special moves were performed by tapping the joystick, sometimes ending with a button press. Unlike previous one-on-one fighting games, few moves required circular joystick movement. In an interview with Computer and Video Games, Ed Boon stated, "[...] since the beginning, one of the things that's separated us from other fighting games is the crazy moves we've put in it, like fireballs and all the magic moves, so to speak."[6] Another of the game's innovations was the Fatality, a finishing move executed against a beaten opponent to kill them in a gruesome fashion.
The game's blocking system also distinguished itself from other fighting games. Unlike Street Fighter characters take a small amount of damage from regular moves while blocking. However, the dedicated block button allows users to defend against attacks without retreating and blocking characters lose very little ground when struck, thus making counter attacks much easier after a successful block. Mortal Kombat also introduced the concept of "juggling", knocking an opponent into the air and following up with a combination of attacks while the enemy is still airborne and defenseless. The idea became so popular that it has spread to many other games.
In the single player game, players face each of the game's characters in a series of one-on-one matches against computer-controlled opponents, ending in a mirror match against the character that the player has selected. The player then must fight in a series of endurance matches featuring two opponents in each round. A second player can join in at any time to fight against the first player. Between certain levels, players can compete in a minigame called "Test Your Might" for bonus points, breaking blocks of various materials by filling a meter past a certain point through rapid button presses; the first material the player must break is wood, once broken, players progress onto stone, then to steel, ruby and finally, diamond, with each successive material requiring more of the meter to be filled up and thus awarding more points. Two players can compete in the minigame at once and the last two materials are only accessible through two-player mode. The minigame would return in various forms in Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance, Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks and Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe.
Plot
The game takes place in a fantasy setting, with most of the game's events occurring in the fictional realms of the Mortal Kombat series. The original takes place in Earthrealm, where a tournament is being held at Shang Tsung's Island, on which seven of its locations serve as stages in the game. The player receives information about the characters in biographies displayed during the attract mode. Additional information about the characters and their motivations for entering the tournament is received upon completion of the game with each character.
The original Mortal Kombat is the only game in the series to not have an introduction video explaining its plot. The story was fully explained in subsequent games, starting with Mortal Kombat II. The introduction to Mortal Kombat II explains that Shang Tsung was banished to Earthrealm 500 years ago and with the help of the monstrous Goro is able to seize control of the Mortal Kombat tournament in an attempt to doom the realm.
The storyline of the first Mortal Kombat was later adapted into Paul W. S. Anderson's film Mortal Kombat, including an animated prequel titled Mortal Kombat: The Journey Begins, released direct-to-video. An alternate climax for the first game would be featured on the adventure game Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks, which tells an alternate version of the events between the first and second Mortal Kombat tournaments.
Characters
Mortal Kombat character selection screen, showing Kano and Sub-Zero
Mortal Kombat included seven playable characters, all of which would eventually become trademark characters and appear in sequels. The game was developed with digitized sprites based on actors. The protagonist of the game is the Shaolin martial artist Liu Kang, played by Ho Sung Pak, who enters the tournament to defeat sorcerer Shang Tsung, the main antagonist and final boss (also played by Sung Pak).
Elizabeth Malecki played the Special Forces agent Sonya Blade, who is pursuing the Black Dragon mercenary Kano (played by Richard Divizio). Carlos Pesina played Raiden, the god of Thunder, while his brother Daniel Pesina played Hollywood movie star Johnny Cage and the Lin-Kuei warrior Sub-Zero as well as the game's two other ninja characters. The blue color of Sub-Zero's costume was changed to yellow to create the ninja specter Scorpion and to green for the game's secret character Reptile (though the costume used for motion capturing was actually red). Mortal Kombat would become famous for these palette swaps, and later games would continue it.
The four-armed Shokan warrior Goro serves as the sub boss of the game, being a half-human, half-dragon beast much stronger than the other characters, and unaffected by some of their manouveres. The character's stop motion model was created by Curt Chiarelli. When fighting on the Pit stage, the player could qualify to fight the secret character Reptile by meeting a special set of conditions. Goro, Shang Tsung, and Reptile were not playable in the original game, but would become playable in sequels. The Masked Guard in the Courtyard stage was portrayed by Mortal Kombat developer John Vogel.
Orginal System Requirements:
286 25 MHz CPU
2 MB RAM
20 MB HDD
512 KB VGA
4x CD-ROM
REPACK - System Requirements:
1. CPU 1.0 GHz
2. RAM 64 Mb
3. HDD 20 Mb
Interface:
1. English
Installation instruction:
1. Burn to CD/DVD or mount using a virtual drive (Alcohol 52% or Daemon Tools)
2. Install Game
3. Play |
