Mortal Kombat!!! That’s right, this earth-shattering yell deserves three exclamation points. The Mortal Kombat series is the most well known fighting game out there today. It was an innovative experience in the early 90′s that captivated all that played it. Ed Boon and company sought out to create a fighting game that bordered on too gory and just the right amount of violence, action, and vision to tell the world just what is this phenomenon all about anyways. And why were they so hip in changing their “C”‘s to “K”‘s. From the prestigious looking symbol that resembles a dragon, to the fun combo remembering maneuvers, this game had it all. As the announcement of a new Mortal Kombat 3 film is on the horizon. Let’s reflect, and check out the top moments of Mortal Kombat.
10. His name is Goro, and he has four ARMS!
Forget about Shang Tsung or Shao Kahn, when the first Mortal Kombat came out, everyone knew when they saw Goro. He instilled instant intimidation when you climbed up the mountain, and made your way to facing him in the MK tournament. This 2000 year old warrior was so impressive that he was close to winning the tenth MK tournament, until Liu Kang (and I guess Johnny Cage in MK: The Movie) defeated him and caused Goro to retreat back to the Outworld. Here is Goro’s ending to Mortal Kombat: Armageddon.
9. Mortal Kombat: Annihilation
Not the brightest moment of the MK franchise, but still one that had ladies and gentlemen flocking to the theaters to capture a glimpse of the sequel to the first Mortal Kombat and see what happened to their favorite characters in the saga. Here is the trailer to the film.
8. Toasty!
A zany little hidden sound clip that the creators at first didn’t think was going to catch on. Oh…but it did. When I did my first uppercut on Mortal Kombat 2, and saw a little portrait of a little dude’s mug shot, I was like, “Toasty? Wait, he did it again…cool!” Below is a two second sound clip of Dan Forden’s moment of fame.
7. Mortal Kombat! The soundtrack!
Mostly notorious for its “Techno-Syndrome 7” track, that was used as the first Mortal Kombat’s theme, the album went platinum quickly. This song was probably the best techno track of the 90’s. You could workout to it for sure.
6. Sub Zero… Unmasked
One of my personal favorite character in the MK series, Sub Zero was a blue clothed ninja, with the gift of projecting ice from his hands and fighting those who stepped up to the plate. A rebel…an outcast…and a no holds barred son of a gun. We found out…while looking at a copy of GamePro’s cover, on the local magazine rack at a nearby grocery store, that Sub Zero had been…UNMASKED. A pretty cool red scar was visible on his face. A great moment indeed.
5. The Death of Liu Kang
Truly a shocking, un-seeable, mind blowing moment in the Mortal Kombat universe. The fearless Shaolin monk was cheaply taken down by his archenemies Shang Tsung and Quan Chi (well…his archrival Shang Tsung, with the cowardly help by Quan Chi,) in the opening seconds of the video game, Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance. This was a shock (made you want to drop the controller in awe, didn’t it?) mainly because he was the hero for years in the series. With a swift kick to the face, and a fireball to the groin, his opponents went down like a rock.
4. Mortal Kombat 4. Making our way into 3D
Not only was this the debut Mortal Kombat game that made its way to 3D. It was also the last Mortal Kombat that was going to be playable on the arcade machine. This bit of news was more memorable to myself than the presents of 3D, mainly because Mortal Kombat was a arcade game that people flocked to. Either to play or to watch others playing. Buses with Mortal Kombat 4 loaded inside, was given to malls and other such venues…for the last time.
3. Fa-tal-ity!
The screen would turn ominously dimmer…and we knew something was up. Especially with the words, “Finish Him,” deeply uttered shortly before. What pursued next was a fighter killing another fighter in ways that would make Hannibal Lecter blush. Either it was ripping the head off the shoulders of a loosing adversary, or blowing a kiss of doom at them, one thing is for certain…we all remember fatalities.
2. Mortal Kombat 3…umm…Ultimate
The phenomenon that was Mortal Kombat 3, just proved to the world just how great Mortal Kombat could be. I remember when this game came out, there were people trying to remember how to pull off their favorite moves and fatalities. Just about every arcade machine was occupied with players trying to outlast those who they were fighting. Once you were defeated, it was someone else’s turn in line.
1. Mortal Kombat: The Movie
I actually heard of the news that Mortal Kombat was coming out with a movie on the radio. Well, the movie did come out, and the rest is history.
We all have our favorite moments in Mortal Kombat. Tell us some of your favorite moments in the game. Comment below. Registration is not required to post.
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For me it was fighting Reptile for the first time. Oh and watching Shang Tsung morph into other characters
The first time I ever did a Fatality (it was Smoke’s or Sub-Zero’s) was probably my favorite moment. Unfortunately, MK vs. DC took the “FATALITY” out of “Fatality”
R.I.P mortal kombat.
heres to hoping warner can bring the series back to life.
i would like to see a sequel to mortal kombat shaolin monks.
that was by far the best in the series, than another game like mortal kombat deception.
than another one like MK V DC, i liked what they added but hated what they took out.
MK games are suppose to be rated M on the edge of M just tipping AO not teen.
MK is famous for its brutality and gore, take that away and its got nothing.
oh what fond memories this article bring…
My fav moment was the first time i saw Liu Kang’s Dragon fatality in MK 2. shock, bliss, awe.. and some resentment since i was on the receiving end. Warner pleeeease resurrect MK!!
Mortal Kombat is probably the best fighting game franchise out there. Watching Scorpion throw his spear into the gut of an enemy and yell “GET OVER HERE!!!” never gets old.
I do feel that Mortal kombat has some of the best characters in gaming. I mean everyone loves Sub Zero and scorpian, Liu Kang, Johnny cage well maybe not him. Gotta add that the first movie was pretty good too, which is odd as most gaming movies suck. FINISH HIM!!!
FRIENDSHIP!!!!
Friendship?
Fatality should have been number one. I loved the first movie, but the real reason Mortal Kombat got anywhere was because of those finisher moves.
@ mrcommenter
I agree, Fatalities were what gave Mortal Kombat its own style, or mostly…they emphasized the emphasis on blood and gore even more anyway. But I guess the thinking was that the movie showed how big the franchise really was so that’s why it’s #1
I mainly agree with the list, but… Although the soundtrack of the MK movie was great and I really loved the song, it got beaten down by one other techno (or more industrial) song: Hell March from Command & Conquer Red Alert! That one totally blew my mind and probably affected my taste of music for years.
in the early 90′s I grew up in a very small town, we didn’t have a local arcade. and there was no internet where we lived. During the summer at our county fair, the amusment company had a arcade they brought. Nobody from my school had ever heard of MK, we all were playing street fighter. When a friend and I noticed the MK machine we decided too try it out.
I still remember it like it was yesterday. I was subzero my best friend liu kang. we were on the level that had shang tsung sitting in the chair, not the one with monks, I ended up winning and thought the match was over. street fighter never had a finish him segment. so im like ok ill just go up and freeze him. well somehow I ended up pressing HP instead of LP and the movement combination for sub’s fatality.
When we both saw my fighter rip off my friend’s head with spinal cord intact we were laughing hysterically and instantly the street figher game was abandoned by everybody. Everyone wanted to know how I ripped off the guys head. I had no idea I just randomly pressed buttons.
As a fan of MK i loved the game, but no matter how many times we played it again, nothing brought back that first moment of a fatality.
I also remember a few matches after that, 2 other friends were playing and one of them had accidentally pulled off raiden’s fatality. was awesome.
I would give my life for MK!!! Greatest memory is the arcade machine with Raiden on the side. Back in the day I saw Raiden from afar and new the latest MK was here, I ran to it and gave it all my coins.
I would give my life for MK!!! Greatest memory is the arcade machine with Raiden on the side. Back in the day I saw Raiden from afar and knew the latest MK was here, I ran to it and gave it all my coins.
I remember losing to Scorpion the first time I played MK as a kid in the arcade and he set me on fire. Scared the living out of me.
Test your might
i actually hated MK3 because things with the characters changed too much, i dont think scorpion was even in it. then UMK3 made it alot better.
Mortal Kombat Annihilation horrendous movie, fantastic music
1. TOASTY2. Hit that start button3. SMOKE.
Mortal Kombat Annihilation horrendous movie, fantastic music
Tobias and Boon are the creators of MK. Noob Saibot Boon Tobias backwards is the greatest character in Ultimate MK3. 2 facts of life.
“The Mortal Kombat series is the most well known fighting game out there today.”
Whoever wrote that line is a moron. I love Mortal Kombat; however, Street Fighter 2 (not 1) is the most well-known fightimg game out there today, and that’s twenty years after it came out.
Idiots.
Agree Daryl, as great as MK was it has never been as good as the SF series. MK is dead, and SF is making an amazing comeback to popularity, even over the 3d fighters that people preferred.
LONG LIVE STREET FIGHTER! I mean Mortal Kombat o_o
@ Daryl,
Wow, we are in disagreement all day, but I can’t help it how you go out with saying something and really have no true valid point behind it.
Ask anyone on the street and they’ll tell you they know Mortal Kombat and Street Fighter. Also one more insult to anyone and your comments will most likely get monitored. You may not care but I want to keep it clean.
I never said that most everyone is unaware of Mortal Kombat in favor of Street Fighter. The writer of this article, however, is saying that the Mortal Kombat series has some kind of popularity or quality edge over the Street Figher series when that is not only purely subjective, but probably statistically incorrect.
i was playing deadly alience when i fought shang sung as liu kang my sister started crying when liu kang died she loves him
Mortal Kombat 2 made me feel a lot better about having a SNES though.