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Mortal Kombat is a worldwide phenomenon,
making a revolution
in the fighting game industry until mid 90’s.
Then it stepped down from the throne, during its transition into 3D,
only to return with a blast in 2011!
Join MKSecrets,
and let's make a review of the history of the title,
that changed our childhood, our future, and the world of fighting games forever!
The release of MK3 in April 1995 started the Year of Mortal Kombat. The Plan: Mortal Kombat everywhere...
...and everywhere it was...
In August 1995
Mortal Kombat: The Movie
premiered on the big screen and conquered the hearths of the fans.
The movie remained at the top
of the box office for three whole weeks
and was the second highest opening for August,
earning 122 millions worldwide!
With a budget of about 20 million dollars
the creators wanted to make a movie,
that delivers a story driven characters,
great visual effects,
and breathtaking action with a cast of true martial artists.
Shooting locations in Thailand were chosen,
to represent the vision the writers had for Shang Tsung’s island.
The story of the movie,
is derived from the original game
and shows the events of the tenth Mortal Kombat tournament.
Its outcome will decide the fate of the earth.
Selected characters from the first two games appear, and mostly retain their original story.
Several actors were considered for this part,
including Van Dam, but he turned it down to star on Street Fighter.
Brandon Lee was originally cast,
but died during an accident while filming The Crow.
The actress who was originally cast in the role,
broke her wrist during a martial arts practice and had to be replaced.
Wilson performed all required stunts, including fight scenes.
Sonya’s partner - Jax,
also makes a few brief appearances.
A battle between Sonya
and Jade, was originally part of the script, but was never shot.
Christopher Lambert’s portrayal of the character,
is one of the most memorable parts of the movie.
Scripted, but never filmed,
was a scene where one of the fallen fighters is buried in the Garden of Statues,
underneath the statue of the great Kung Lao.
Unlike the games,
the movie has a PG13 rating
and it does not include
excessive violence or blood.
Three different suits were created in order to bring the four armed Shokan to life.
Even though there were noticeable design flaws,
Goro was very well received by the fans
and participates in some of the most iconic scenes of the movie.
The film ends with a scene, that was originally not part of the script...
...the arrival of a new enemy...
A massive wave of merchandizing,
and additional projects accompanied the release of the movie.
Action figures,
The Ultimate Guide (TUG),
two novels,
followed by a third one in 1996,
an official magazine,
three audio albums,
a sticker album,
trading cards, clothing...
...and this
was not everything...
Mortal Kombat: The Journey Begins was released on VHS and Laser Disc
several months before the feature film and is it's official prequel.
This 54 minutes long animated movie uses not only standard
2D animation, but also motion capture
and CGI
to tell the origins of the key characters of the franchise.
Four of the fight scenes are made entirely in 3D,
making this movie one of the pioneers in using this technology.
However, this came at the price of ugly looking fighting sequences.
These scenes tell the stories of
Goro's childhood and family,
Shang Tsung’s corruption of the Mortal Kombat tournament,
the fall of the Great Kung Lao,
and the rivalry between Scorpion and Sub-Zero.
The animated movie ends at the beginning of the tournament,
presenting all participants with a short bio,
leading directly into the feature film.
The live action movie was very well received, but The Journey Begins
had a different fate.
It received mostly bad reviews, which criticized the poorly done animation
and the lack of character development, and was quickly forgotten by the fans.
The Mortal Kombat Blu-Ray,
which was released in 2011,
featured The Journey Begins as one of the Special Features.
Shortly after the release of the feature film
a martial art theatrical stage show
called, Mortal Kombat: The Live Tour
started.
The plot revolved around
the protectors of the Earth,
who must retrieve the sixth and final Dragon amulet
in order to stop Shao Kahn’s invasion.
The show’s premiere
was at Radio City Music Hall in New York,
on September 14, 1995
followed by a 200 cities road trip.
Similar to the movie,
the Live Tour did not have any blood or Fatalities.
Instead, it focused on
choreographed martial art moves,
music, and laser effects.
A lot of characters appeared in the show.
Kerri Hoskins - the actress who portrayed Sonya in the third game,
reprised her role for the Live Tour.
Another noticeable staff member
is the actor who played Shang Tsung in the film.
He is one of the fight coordinators
of the show.
Tickets were advertised and put in various gaming magazines to promote The Live Tour.
The show ended
in 1996.
It left a lot of fans disappointed, mostly due to the missing violence.
In the autumn of 1996,
an updated version of Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3, called Mortal Kombat Trilogy
was released exclusively to home systems.
The goal with this game, was to create the biggest Mortal Kombat title ever,
bringing back all characters and backgrounds from the previous games.
Mortal Kombat Trilogy, was initially released for Sony PlayStation
and Nintendo 64.
The PlayStation version was ported to Sega Saturn and PC,
in 1997.
Four hand held versions of the game were also manufactured.
The Nintendo 64 version, was developed by Midway, and suffered from poor sound quality
and missing characters, due to the limited storage space on the cartridge.
Avalanche Software developed the PlayStation Version.
The number of the playable characters was significantly increased
and additional fighters were added next to those, who were already in Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3.
Noob Saibot -
the black ninja, returns as a playable character
with his own set of special moves and finishers.
He is a member of the Brothers of the Shadow,
that is worshipping Shinnok - a fallen elder God.
In the eyes of the fans, Noob Saibot
will forever remain the most broken character a Mortal Kombat game has ever seen.
The purple ninja Rain, is also a playable character.
He now has his own finishing moves,
which were missing from the home ports of the previous game.
Baraka and the God of thunder - Rayden
return as playable characters, after they were absent from the previous two games.
Human Smoke,
Shao Kahn, and Motaro
are three of the hidden playable characters in the Nintendo version.
All of them, appear as selectable fighters in the other versions of the game.
In addition
the PlayStation version of Mortal Kombat Trilogy and all its ports, offer several more characters.
The boss characters
Goro and Kintaro, are playable for the first time,
and classic variations of 4 fighters
expand the roster of the hidden warriors.
Both main versions
received an exclusive secret character.
For PlayStation this was Chameleon. A male ninja with no story line or ending.
He randomly morphs into the other 7 male ninjas and has control over
their special and finishing moves.
For Nintendo 64, a female version of the character, named Khameleon, with ''K'', was included.
She possesses the same abilities as her male counterpart
and switches randomly between the 3 female ninjas and uses their abilities.
Khameleon is the only female survivor of Reptile’s race.
One of the late additions is a fighter that was originally going to be the only
absent character from the game - Johnny Cage.
The images for this character were completely reshot with a new actor.
The Nintendo owners paid a high price, because Johnny Cage took the place of the
Unmasked Sub-Zero,
who can still be seen
on early pictures.
Before the release
of the PAL Platinum version of the game, several magazines published images
of another fighter who was supposed to be included.
A black and yellow ninja fighter, who according to the rumors, was developed
for one of the later revisions but was never finished.
Parts of him,
including his ending,
are rumored to still be present in one of the released editions.
Unfortunately,
the complete story about the existence of this character
remains a mystery even today.
Another character that was supposed to be included in the game,
but didn't make the final cut
was Tremor.
According to his original story he is a former warrior from the Lin Kuei and is
working for Shao Kahn.
His bio was falsely published in the instruction manual,
instead of Rain’s biography.
Impatient fans
had to wait a few more years for more details, about this mysterious ninja.
The gameplay was expanded by the inclusion of the Aggressor.
It fills during battle
and once activated, your character becomes faster
and does more damage for a short period of time.
Some of the characters received new special and finishing moves
in addition to their old ones, and Brutality -
the finisher that first appeared in the home versions of the previous game,
was added in this one as well.
Several aspects of the previous games were sacrificed
during the development
because of missing characters images.
These include the Stage Fatality of the Pit II arena,
and finishing moves of the classic characters.
Almost all arenas are included,
with the exception of several backgrounds
from the original Mortal Kombat.
Although good,
the graphics of Mortal Kombat Trilogy
are inferior when compared to the graphics of the arcade versions.
Very noticeable is the smaller size of the fighters,
which prevents the execution of quite a few previously possible combos.
Several different versions
of the game were released for the PlayStation,
with later revisions
trying to fix different gameplay issues, in order to bring
the game closer to the arcade version
of Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3.
Unfortunately,
this was never achieved
and one of the most important elements in the in the game - the run jab was not fixed.
Mortal Kombat Trilogy is also 33% faster than its predecessor.
Huge balance issues that revolve around the boss and the classic characters are present
even in the final revisions.
The Nintendo 64 version has completely different game mechanics.
To compensate for the missing characters this version also has more secrets,
several bonus games, and one exclusive game mode.
It also features the highly criticized and poorly made Fatalities for the two boss characters,
and a few changed backgrounds.
Despite all this, the game is played on tournaments even today
but with a lot of rules on the table.
Mortal Kombat Trilogy
was the most complete game of the series when it was originally released
and it marks the end of an entire era for the franchise.
As such, it holds a special place in the hearts of thousands of fans
who will never forget the very first time they were able to play
as their beloved boss character.
Sadly,
the game couldn’t reach the superior quality of gameplay,
visuals and sound,
offered by Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3
and will forever live in its shadow...
Mortal Kombat: Defenders of the Realm
premiered in September 1996
on the USA Network.
This animated show based on the franchise continued until December 1996
and ended after its 13th
and final episode.
The story revolves around a group of warriors, assembled by the God of thunder
to defend the Earth. The episodes follow the events of the movie
with story lines that try to further develop the characters and their backgrounds.
Liberty was taken on several occasions,
creating stories and characters
that were new to the franchise.
Targeting an even younger audience than the movie, Defenders of the Realm does not include
any blood or Fatalities and the violence is toned down to a grade
suitable for children.
The show received mostly negative reviews and is widely ignored by the fans.
However, there are several aspects that need to be mentioned.
One of the most iconic characters of franchise - Quan Chi,
made his debut
in Episode 8.
He has appeared in every game ever since and has become an important part of the story.
The 9th Episode
of Mortal Kombat: Defenders of the Realm
was part of a cross over.
Three other shows of the same network
participated with one episode each.
Street Fighter.
Savage Dragon.
And Wing Commander Academy.
The four episodes
tell the story of the Warrior King and the Orb of Power which travels through different dimensions
and can control the elements.
With its funny combat lines, choppy animations,
and targeted children audience,
Mortal Kombat: Defenders of the Realm
remains in history as one of the most bizarre things
that can come out of a bloody franchise such as Mortal Kombat.
Two years is a too short amount of time for the release of three games,
a feature film, an animated movie, a theatrical show, and an animated series.
By the end of 1996 the market was oversaturated with Mortal Kombat products,
some of which with questionable quality.
With the world of gaming rapidly shifting towards a new dimension,
it became clear that a change...
...was needed...