Finish Him!

Mortal Kombat was one of the first game franchise I fell in love with. Although Street Fighter 2 was very popular at the time, I wasn't a big enough fan of the genre to completely enjoy it. I think the all-time great games converts non-genre fans into fans. Games like Resident Evil for example turned countless gamers into survival horror fans. Mortal Kombat was the game that made me get into beat-em-up games even though I sucked at playing them. There were several reasons why Mortal Kombat resonates with me so much as a young gamer.

1. The comic book influence

I was a comic book nerd before becoming video games so comic books influenced a lot of my collecting habits. Stuff like variant covers that permeates into the DVD and video game market all stems from the comic book market I believe. Mortal Kombat co-creator John Tobias was an inspiring comic book artist who created rich backstory for each Mortal Kombat combatants. It was fascinating to learn about Scorpion and Sub-Zero origins through the comic book panels included with the game. It draws you into the characters and the world before you even pick up the controller to play. 

2. The Van Damme factor

The 80s action movie genre was all about beefcakes, namely Schwarzenegger and Stallone. Then you have the lower tier action stars like Chuck Norris, Seagal and Jean Claude Van Damme (JCVD). Somehow me and a bunch of friends always gravitated towards JCVD more than any of these action stars. Van Damme was leaner and more agile than his peers, he could actually do splits and flying kicks. JCVD later bridges the gap between Hollywood and Hong Kong movies which led to an entire new obsession for me. But also I think we were just a bunch of horny teenagers and JCVD movies always had sex scenes compared with other action movies lol. Anyway, Mortal Kombat famously have a JCVD type of character in Johnny Cage, arguably still one of the face of the MK franchise. 

3. The Hong Kong movie influence

HK movies influenced a lot of the design on the original Mortal Kombat. The plot was more or less Bruce Lee's Enter the Dragon and the background music on Select Your Fighter is distinctly oriental. You could say the series began to lost its appeal once it started to stray from its eastern influence in MK3. I was just getting into the HK cinema obsession when Mortal Kombat appeared. It was like a weird fusion of all my favourite things in one. 

So imagine as a young boy my only option of playing Mortal Kombat was on the Gameboy. The monochrome version lacking the Johnny Cage character in the roster! I remember buying this game at the video shop next to my tuition center on the street behind the arcades that I frequented to play SF2. The Gameboy version of Mortal Kombat played like it was on molasses. It's always a love hate relationship when it comes to handheld gaming for me and MK is a prime example of that.

How I Got the SNES

I remember thinking I had no chance of ever owning a Super Nintendo. After all, as a kid living with your parents and playing it without them finding out is practically impossible. But somehow I managed it when the opportunity simply just presented itself.

During  Form Two, one of my classmate had a Super Nintendo system which he bought in the Netherlands when his father was stationed there briefly. This was a PAL system of course when most of the system you could buy locally here were either Japanese or American system. He only had one game that came bundled with the system which was the legendary Super Mario World, quite possibly the best bundled game even till today. So without the means of online shopping back in 1995, owning a Super Nintendo with just one game isn't very entertaining after awhile. He was desperate to sell the whole thing and in this lukewarm market I gladly took it off his hands for $12 if my memory is correct. I remember packing the Super Nintendo into my schoolbag and happily carrying it home that day without my parents noticing.

I'm not sure if everyone would agree with the rationale of paying $12 for a console which you simply have no feasible means of buying games for at that time. But the way I saw it I was plucking $12 down just to play Super Mario World, anything else afterwards would be a bonus. I was definitely not disappointed and managed to finished it numerous times with nothing else left to play. If you were wondering how I did it, I moved an unused television set into my room and waited for my parents to go to bed before playing it late at night.

Many years later, I re-discovered this SNES along with 5 games which I gathered over the course of time. When opening the box which I kept everything, I certainly was surprised because I must have bought these games much later and only played most of them sparingly.

Against the Odds

Where do I begin with the Super Nintendo (SNES) ?

I supposed I can't talk about the SNES without talking about my first ever system, the Gameboy. You could say the Gameboy is my first handheld and the SNES is my first console although my experience with both systems are remarkably different. So much so that I practically forgotten I had the system tucked under my window all these years!

I can't remember when exactly I got the SNES but it must be sometime after 1994. Why 1994? Because that's when Nintendo introduced the SNES peripheral called the Super Gameboy. It was a device that allows you to play Gameboy games on the SNES using this cartridge adaptor. I was immediately smitten by the idea of such a device, the ability to play handheld games on the television screen was pretty revolutionary back in 1994. Even more so when Nintendo released Donkey Kong 94 for the Gameboy as a showcase for what the Super Gameboy can really do.

The only problem was my strict parents would never entertain the idea of having a home console seeing how bad my grades were. In fact if you take away the SNES, the Gameboy was my only game system throughout my childhood until I graduated from university.

Sad but I suppose that's what makes this a great story - how I got a home console and keep it a secret despite strict parenting