Posts Tagged ‘mortal kombat’
Brutality: The History of Mortal Kombat 4 and Other Media
Oops! Last ep was posted stating that we talked about Mortal Kombat 4 and we didn’t get to it. This time around it’s a shorter show, but Fred and Jam pack in the fourth and final arcade iteration along with MK’s transition into many other media including movies, television, and even music. There are a bunch of audio clips so we’re going to give credit where credit’s due in order of appearance:
- Goodbye (Demo Version) – Gravity Kills
- Burn – Sister Machine Gun
- Juke Joint Jezebel (Metropolis Mix) – KMFDM
- Lover – Lords of Acid
- Techno Syndrome (Mortal Kombat) – The Immortals
- Utah Saints Take On The Theme From Mortal Kombat – Utah Saints
- Halcyon and On and On – Orbital
- Fire – Scooter
- Meglomaniac – KMFDM
- Encounter the Ultimate (Theme From Mortal Kombat Annihilation) – The Immortals
Mercy: The History of MK3, UMK3, MK Trilogy, and Spin-Offs
Fred and Jam delve back into the history of Mortal Kombat with Mortal Kombat 3 and its many iterations including Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 (UMK3) and Mortal Kombat Trilogy on consoles. Finally they reluctantly delve into the awful spin-offs of Mortal Kombat Mythologies: Sub-Zero and Mortal Kombat: Special Forces.
Two Mortal Kombat Documentaries
As promised, below are two documentaries found on the bonus discs of premium editions of Deception and Armageddon. The first is a brief (only six minutes) documentary of the Mortal Kombat franchise, produced by Midway, and found on the Deception bonus disc along with an arcade port of the original arcade game by Digital Eclipse. The second is a much longer documentary on the history of the fatality and plenty of stories from the staff. This was also produced by Midway and included in the bonus disc of Armageddon along with another Digital Eclipse port of Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3. Enjoy!
The History of Mortal Kombat (Part 1)
This week Fred and Jam are heading all the way back to 1992 when an intended Street Fighter II clone starring Jean-Claude Van Damme resulted in one of the most violent and popular fighters of all time. In this episode we delve into the history, development, release, home console releases, and of course inevitable violence discussions spawned from the first title and it’s inevitable sequel.
This is part 1 of a multi-part series on the franchise.
Closing Song: Encounter the Ultimate (Mortal Kombat Theme) by The Immortals off the Mortal Kombat Annihilation Soundtrack
Podcast: Gameboy Top 10
As is per usual for us here at GH101, 40 games enter (20 from each host), and 10 leave. It’s nostalgic, it’s arbitrary, we may annoy due to the lack of Pokemon, but it’s our official Top 10 Gameboy games.
Podcast: Community PS2 Top 10s and Mailbag
We asked you all for community PS2 top 10 lists and boy did you oblige. In a massive push of lists that takes nearly 2 hours to read off Fred and Jam delve deep into the many games PS2 owners love. It’s a widespread list and a great celebration of Sony’s sophomore console. As a result we’ve pushed a few of the scheduled game nights, but a friendly reminder to get started on Kingdom Hearts if you haven’t already for August’s 2-part game club.
The points totals document can be found here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1RuNTDd8ZXTQcvXQJu0wbmZMMZBYJ136qRPK2FoWzgi4/edit?usp=sharing
Podcast: Playstation 2 Top 10
40 games enter – 20 from each cohost – and only a fourth emerge in the coveted Top 10. We have various debate mechanics, odd conversations, and personal bias to get this unique take on a traditional topic. Don’t agree with us? Of course not. Please send us your own top 10 for the community episode in 2 weeks.
Watch Right Now: Kombat Kids
Fellow All Games personality and extremely freaking talented friend of the show Ted Bracewell has created magic. It’s called Kombat Kids and as you may have guessed, it’s Mortal Kombat in animated kid form. I can’t tell you enough how great this show is and it features voices of many fellow podcast friends and guests. Drop what you’re doing and watch it now.
Now & Then: Mortal Kombat 3
Switching It Up
A lot happened both in the talent pool of Mortal Kombat players and in the game design overall between the release of Mortal Kombat II and Mortal Kombat 3 (MK3). For starters there was a mass exodus of on screen talent due to royalty disputes, so almost no one from the original two games returned for the third release. In addition, Boon and his team were trying to turn Mortal Kombat into a viable fighting game with things no one had ever seen before and mechanics that could compete with the massive rush of fighters in arcades. The game was completely Americanized, with all hints of Eastern influence including symbols, locales, and the soundtrack completely absent without a trace and instead replaced by urban stages, 90s hip-hop soundtracks, and cyborgs replaced the signature ninjas. These locations were now composed of pre-rendered 3D backgrounds and the character sprites were almost totally digitized as opposed to the digitized/hand drawn hybrid of the previous games. Along with it came an overhaul of the controls, including combos and a “run” button to address rightful claims that defensive players ruled the previous title. It’s all one giant 90s metaphor but that doesn’t change the fact that MK3 (and it’s update Ultimate MK3 or UMK3) stands as the moment I felt the series went into the mainstream fighter territory. Couple this with the fact that it was on just about every console that existed at the time, still dominated arcades, and had more content than rival Street Fighter II could ever dream to do with its iterations and I see why it’s creator Ed Boon’s favorite. Mortal Kombat 3 definitely upped the ante.
Podcast: Test Your Might
This week Fred and Jam are throwing around fighters of the 90s (that aren’t Street Fighter II or Tekken, we did a show for those already). In the 1990s, the fighter genre was the most popular type of game available (like First Person Shooters today), and among those that have withstood the test of time there were plenty of others that played the field. From Mortal Kombat to Soulcalibur you had plenty of arcades (and home ports) to drink your quarters in arcades.
Gaming History 101 