Mortal Kombat

Mortal Kombat is a side-scrolling fighting game created in 1992 by the four person company Midway Games and released initially as an arcade. Thanks to its huge success, the game was ported to many other home platforms, computers and consoles.

The game is famous for its use of digitized actors instead of bitmap graphics like Street Fighter II, and also for the violence and copious amounts of blood. It was originally planned to feature a digitized version of martial arts star Jean-Claude Van Damme. When that plan fell through, the developers decided to add Johnny Cage, a parody on Van Damme.

Mortal Kombat is a fight game that was created to be realistic. The characters, which have some basis in Chinese mythology, each have special fight and ending moves.

The launch of Mortal Kombat for the Super NES, Genesis and Game Gear by Acclaim Entertainment in 1993, was one of the largest video game launches of the time. The date September 13, 1993, was called the "Mortal Monday". In 1994 the game was also ported to Amiga, DOS and other home computers.

The love of the game has led to many sequels, movies still quoted over a decade later, and comics. Mortal Kombat is still popular enough that the tournaments are featured on television.