Mortal Kombat
1990's Era Game
Class of 2021 Inductee
Mortal Kombat is a 1992 fighting game developed and published by Midway. It is the first entry in the Mortal Kombat series and was subsequently released by Acclaim Entertainment for nearly every home platform at that time. The game focuses on several characters of various intentions who enter a martial arts tournament with worldly consequences. It introduced many key aspects of the Mortal Kombat series, including the unique five-button control scheme and gory finishing moves called Fatalities.
Mortal Kombat is considered by critics to be one of the greatest video games ever made. It spawned numerous sequels and spin-offs, beginning with Mortal Kombat II in 1993. Both games were the subject of a film adaptation in 1995. However, it also sparked much controversy for its depiction of extreme violence and gore using realistic digitized graphics and, along with the home releases of Night Trap and Lethal Enforcers, prompted the formation of the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB), a U.S. government-backed organization that set descriptor ratings for video games.
Wikipedia Link:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mortal_Kombat_(1992_video_game)
Primary Credits:
Publisher: Midway
Designers: Ed Boon, John Tobias
Programmer: Ed Boon
Artists: John Tobias, John Vogel
Composer: Dan Forden
Arcade Museum Article:
Accolades:
Electronic Gaming Monthly awarded Mortal Kombat “Most Controversial Game of 1993”.
In 1996, GamesMaster listed the arcade version 81st in their “Top 100 Games of All Time.”
In 1995, Flux magazine rated the arcade version 5th on its “Top 100 Video Games.”
In 2004, readers of Retro Gamer voted Mortal Kombat as the 55th top retro game.
CraveOnline ranked it second of the top ten 2D fighters of all time.
In 2011, Complex ranked the first Mortal Kombat as the 12th best fighting game of all time.
Time Magazine named it one of the 100 greatest video games of all time.
In 2013, the first Mortal Kombat was ranked as the best arcade game of the 1990s by Complex.
