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.