Thursday, October 13th, 2022

Ed Boon Talks 30 Years of Mortal Kombat

  

This month officially marks the 30th anniversary of the iconic Mortal Kombat franchise — the first memorably violent 2D fighting game originally launching October 8th, 1992 in arcades. Those who were frequent to arcades of the 90s will never forget the level of excitement that Mortal Kombat, throughout its many incarnations, brought to fighting game culture for decades to come. Mortal Kombat co-creator, Ed Boon, recently sat down with PlayStation.blog, Game Informer, and several other gaming outlets to reflect on the influential series that changed fighting games and the video game industry itself.
 

Before reading some commentary from PS.Blog's interview with Ed Boon, check out a special Mortal Kombat 30th anniversary video from WB Games (below).
 
 
In PS.blog's interview, Ed Boon was asked a variety of questions on the history of the Mortal Kombat series and his role during its early development. The interviewers followed up by asking the co-creator his thoughts on the modern fighting game scene, as well as his opinion on what pushes the evolution of the fighting genre forward. Directly below are some snippets from the full interview (which you can read in its entirety here).
 


 

PS.Blog:  The original arcade game came together in less than a year, right?

Ed Boon:  Yes, about eight months total. Yeah.
 
 
PS.Blog:  If you could travel back in time and give yourself one piece of advice while you were working on the original Mortal Kombat, what might it be?

Ed Boon:  Don’t work so many hours? When you’re in your twenties you have almost unlimited energy. But at the same time, I don’t think I would have listened to myself back then. We were so driven. We were so motivated to do something special. And with each new thing that we saw, that we put into the game, and seeing people react to it… that just charged us that much more so there was no, there was no stopping us at that point. We were self-motivated. We were just on a mission.
  
 
PSB:
  With Mortal Kombat turning 30, are you reflecting on your life and how it intersects with the series?

EB:  Not so much of my life, but certainly on my career making games. Mortal Kombat is kind of like different forms of school for me now. The arcade days were like grade school, and the 3D games were, you know, middle school or high school. 

And now the most recent games — Mortal Kombat 9, MKX, and MK11 — are kind of like college or graduate school. I think of my career as different chapters because it’s been so long. And we’ve been doing the games pretty consistently, over those 30 years, right? We didn’t stop and take a 10-year break and then come back.
  
 
PSB:  Do you get much of a chance to catch up with other folks like your peers in the fighting game development world?

EB:  Not very often. I’m a huge fan of the games. I love Tekken, I love Street Fighter and play those games every new version that comes out. The, you know, obviously the Guilty Gears and Samurai Showdowns and all that are great, I love them.

But a lot of them live and develop their games in Japan, and I’m not in Japan very often. So every once in a while, we’ll cross paths at maybe an E3 or something like that. But I don’t get that opportunity too often.
  
 
PSB:  What are your thoughts just more broadly on the fighting game scene now? Is it healthy?

EB:  I’m very positive. For instance, Mortal Kombat, Street Fighter, Tekken, I think are very mainstream games, right? They’re not niche games that a few people play. They have broad appeal, and they’re very different. 

I think all of them have realized that you can’t be too complex, or you need to have some layer that’s accessible to the general public that doesn’t count frames…. they have become aware of that but maintain the kind of deeper element that the hardcore players are really going to kind of devour. So I’m very excited over, especially, the next couple of years. We’re going to have a lot of high-profile big hitters coming to bat.
  
 
PSB:  What do you think pushes evolution in the fighting genre?

EB Technology does, obviously. Every game that comes out has new, better graphics. Online play is a big one, too. As games play better online, it just naturally creates a broader audience, a bigger scope of opponents to play against. And then, exposure: Events like EVO certainly are growing in popularity, and demonstrate what you can do with these games. So a lot of players become inspired by seeing professionals play.
  
 
PSB:  Street Fighter also has an anniversary this year, it’s turning 35. Going back in time, again to 1991. What was it like to see Street Fighter II for the very first time?

EBThe thing that struck me in Street Fighter II, was how big the characters were. For their time, they were huge on the screen. And that was a lot of fun, and really inspired us to make our characters even bigger on the screen. 

Arguably, you could say Karate Champ really started the genre. SFII pushed it into, you know, a phenomenon. Some people credit SFII and the fighting games that followed with saving arcades while they were really taking a dip. 
 

  

 
Pictured above is the official Mortal Kombat 30th anniversary logo. In addition to talking with PS.blog, Ed Boon also recently sat down with Polygon and Game Informer for similar interviews for Mortal Kombat's 30th anniversary.
You can read those full interviews via the links provided. Keep it here on Fighters Generation for more fighting game news.
~TFG Webmaster, Frank Joseph | @Fighters_Gen

 

 Sources:  Warner Bros GamesPlayStationPS.BlogGame Informer

Related News  |   May 2023
First Mortal Kombat 12 Teaser

Before any actual gameplay for Mortal Kombat 1 has been shown, outside of the gory Fatality sequences in the trailer (where the player isn't in control hence there is no gameplay)... a MK1 Kollector's Edition has already popped up at online...

Related News  |   May 2023
Mortal Kombat 1 Kollector's Edition

After several teasers that showed the hand of a clock passing the 12 and going straight to 1... NetherRealm Studios officially released the announcement trailer for "Mortal Kombat 1", a reboot of the series. While the first trailer shows no actual gameplay...

Related News  |   August 2022
Mortal Kombat Legends: Snow Blind Trailer

A first look at Mortal Kombat Legends: Snow Blind, the third animated feature by Warner Bros. Animation. The sequel to Scorpion's Revenge and Battle of the Realms follows the blind swordsman, Kenshi. After being blinded at the hands of Kano, Kenshi goes under the tutelage of an older Kuai-Liang for revenge on him. Watch the trailer!

Related News  |   October 2022
Street Fighter 6 Beta Videos

Now that Street Fighter 6's first online beta has concluded, many new players got a chance to try out the game and we've got a plethora of new footage and details to unpack. The majority of players who participated in the beta expressed an overwhelmingly positive...

Related News  |   September 2022
TEKKEN 8 Interview w/Harada

Before the big reveal of TEKKEN 8 earlier this week, IGN sat down with producer Katsuhiro Harada to talk about the highly-anticipated next installment of the TEKKEN franchise. There are some interesting takeaways from IGN's 90 minute interview, including Harada stating that "all models and everything from TEKKEN 7 have been totally discarded".
  Related TFG Links:  Mortal Kombat 11Mortal Kombat | TFG NEWS
      FOLLOW    ON:                            
  MORE NEWS CHARACTERS GAMES