The Making of Mortal Kombat | Jordan H.J.

[@BestWayKilla]

This video confirms a suspicion that I've long held: that it was John Tobias who was instrumental to the look, feel, and overall identity of Mortal Kombat, and the series was never the same without him, particularly the story, and in the more recent games, all with their own story mode, that absence is felt the hardest.

[@JordanHJ]

Definitely

[@mimidf7505]

Ed Boon is a programmer. He doesnt have a creative bone in his body.

[@siddharthsen7035]

@@mimidf7505 well said

[@FreneticZetetic]

Absolutely. The two in tandem were essential IMHO, but Tobias absolutely set the tone, look, and feel for the first three games. The guy was an amazing mind and artist!

[@tomwells8093]

Yeah even when all the other staff, actors, etc. were talking about making the game. They all say its Tobias game. Boon did some programming but he was also in charge of the money, like a producer. They used to ask him for cash to go get lunch lol. He definitely helped but its not as if he was instrumental in the slightest to get MK built and all the ideas they came up with.

[@MrCalverino]

I was an 8yr old kid in 92' when I 1st saw this game at our local grocery store. OMG it was the game to have Christmas 93'

[@jeremykegley1669]

I didn't even play Mortal Kombat 1 till it came to Sega Genesis in 93'! I did play MK II in Arcade's when it came out in 93'!

[@JTGemini3]

Same here, but it was in a bowling alley where I first saw it. Some dude was playing it as Kano and did the heart rip fatality. It was the best thing I had ever seen in a videogame as an 8 year old.

[@MrCalverino]

@@JTGemini3 Kano is my favorite player in the 1st one because I am a die hard terminator fan and he definitely looks the part. There was this older guy that used to beat the game with Kano. Dude made me love Kano and forget about everyone else I swear lol

[@MrDj-rl2ef]

Sure was !!!!! It’s now 2021 and I have midway mk1,2,3 life dream !

[@DreadWing7777]

I was 15 years old in 1992 when MK1 came out, I first saw the game in a Burger King that year, I've been hooked ever since.

[@Albert8044]

Elizabeth Malecki playing the role as Sonya Blade, her outfit was something commonly seen at gym's and fitness clubs the aerobics leotard worn over tights during the 90's it was quite a cool trend then as fitness fashion has definitely come and go over the decade's. Still in the evolution of Sonya Blade MK outfits, my top favorite is definitely her MK1 original.

[@opo3628]

I remember hearing somewhere that Sonya's classic outfit was derived from Liz's actual gym attire, with production giving her accessories like the headband and bracers to make her look more like a fighter.

[@Albert8044]

And a kung fu sash worn and wrapped around her waist and leotard.

[@ikazuchioni]

I was already a Street Fighter fan when MK was released. It blew my mind when I first saw Scorpion in the arcades! I love the fact that it's so different from SF.

[@shikarbabulall3897]

It's a more darker version of Street Fighter with more realistic photo captured graphics , story is good compare to SF though the moves were all the same except for the special move and projectiles also SF had better gameplay.

[@ladynikkie]

I was more blown away when I saw his finishing move for the first time.

[@BrothaKyo]

"Some finishing moves were crossing the line" Welp, 27 years later, nothing is off the table it seems.

[@zenup1099]

Maybe at the time it was too gorey.

[@skynviews6507]

I would have said the same thing but than theres miley cyrus nasty a$$ so anything possible now

[@youraveragejoe2]

29yrs later. With the 30th anniversary let's see what netherealm has up their sleeve.

[@reecord2]

I love how much fun it looks like they're having when they were recording the moves.

[@theultrawarrior7448]

Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat will always be the best! The first time I saw these arcades I felt this incomparable euphoria for a game.

[@waterproof4403]

The nostalgia ❤

[@theultrawarrior7448]

No, no game then was better then.

[@JordanHJ]

They are true classics

[@troyyingst4693]

I would absolutely love if you continued doing MK games for this series. These mini docs are fantastic.

[@JordanHJ]

Thank you! I may do another one in the future, at the minute I'm looking at lesser known games

[@troyyingst4693]

@@JordanHJ Awesome! I love how comprehensive these are. Can't wait to see more.

[@Matthewjs33]

​@@troyyingst4693I second that motion.

[@JordanHJ]

What do you think of my more recent ones?

[@Dit1284]

This was pretty interesting. I'm anxious for you to do a Making of Mortal Kombat 2

[@JordanHJ]

Cheers!

[@ricflomusic]

Loved this doc, thank you!

[@JordanHJ]

You're welcome, thanks for watching :)

[@mekkimaru2365]

In the office next door - were two LEGENDARY eyebrows. The rest, is history

[@JordanHJ]

Lmao

[@ClbnaVGM]

From the beginning of midway games, you can notice the"adult oriented" productions when you look at games like NARC. Gritty, dirty, nothing to do with the comical cartoonesque animesque SF2 world. Again Im amazed by the early dev sketches, prototypes and documentation like that. Flawless...video ! :)

[@johnmoreno5965]

I was in 4 th grade when that game came out! Me and everybody played it

[@JordanHJ]

Nice

[@RJ-cq8dd]

Great time to be alive, having arcade perfect gameplay on my Raspberry Pi...mk1-umk3 are all still very fun to play.

[@JordanHJ]

Yeah, emulation has come a long way

[@JeremiahB444]

Why doesn’t this have more views? Great work man 😁

[@JordanHJ]

Cheers :)

[@Xannyphantom905]

Midway is dearly missed

[@waterproof4403]

The nostalgia ❤

[@greenflame8398]

Awesome video. Man, I remember "Mortal Monday." This game was so huge that even Nintendo licensed it.

[@JordanHJ]

Thank you!

[@homerosu353]

This channel needs more attention

[@JordanHJ]

Thank you!

[@DonHartig3D]

Excellent documentary. Thanks.

[@JordanHJ]

Cheers :)

[@aec9184]

The graphics in MK1 are the best. Only the fatalities where kinda weak but the characters and setting were great. I like these graphics vs what they got now. The characters look real compared to the cartoon looking they have now.

[@JordanHJ]

Yeah, I loved that style

[@DannyCasino]

I grew up on narc pit fighter and Mortal Kombat...growing up in the late 80s early 90s was Awesome...

[@JordanHJ]

Nice :)

[@Swiffland25]

The magic has MK1 forever to me!The characters and their graphics are outstanding forever.Big fat sounds,much more "realistic" sprites than all the sequels. It is hard and a fuck**ing bloody nightmare.🙏

[@markocoric9233]

Yes nothing beats the original first mk for me best in the series dark atmosphere and best costumes for scorpion and sub zero mk1 forever

[@Aragorn7884]

Good vid 🤩 ...perhaps Soul Edge/Blade next?🥰

[@JordanHJ]

Good suggestion!

[@mattvoiceman]

I have the Arcade 1up cabinet and finally fulfilled my destiny.

[@joeymontanye1338]

Old Mortal kombat games are still classic fighting of awesomeness. I still liked mk1 on Sega genesis and mortal kombat Trilogy on PlayStation 1 Wished Ed boon and rest of kombat company should of turned and remake a new mortal kombat Ultimate Trilogy arcade machine with all mk1 mk2 mk3 and trilogy fighters and play as all ninjas and new hidden characters.

[@planetaryashes]

I remember playing deadly alliances when I was young on the ps2, but it’s awesome to understand the story and development that we all know today, such an awesome journey they went through to make this awesome fighting game.

[@TehDarkOn3]

There was an old fan submission story with a grainy photo of "Ermac" in an old issue of EGM about how a player encountered this character on a red ninja suit that absolutely destroyed him. While grainy, the picture looked pretty convincing and I'm still not completely convinced that Ermac wasn't ever in MK1.

[@JordanHJ]

So many mad legends

[@opo3628]

Bro, it's kinda sad that in 2023 you're fooled by that. It was 100% a doctored image submitted by a hoaxer. Ermac *never* existed as a character in the original MK.

[@deathcold_longplaysua4846]

I'm still playing classic Mortal Kombat games and have tons of fun. That is how cool and awsome those games is.

[@JordanHJ]

They are very awesome!

[@Terminatorfan-2016]

Even though the arcade version is a must have and the best, when it came to home consoles, it was this very game that made me turn to Sega Genesis and leave behind Super NES.

[@audioduran8235]

I like this better then watching the 2nd movie of mk

[@JordanHJ]

Well, that's not too high of a standard haha

[@Postposterous]

The camera loves you. Yea - I'm wild, too!!

[@shikarbabulall3897]

Raiden and Shang Sung were in 80's Big Trouble in little China movie

[@zenup1099]

Shang tsung. Not sung.

[@erino5528]

@@zenup1099 Yes but John Carpenter got the idea from the masters of death from Lone wolf and cub

[@DW3010]

INDEED! (See what I did there?)

[@RareBirdGames]

9:17 the guy mounting Raiden

[@JordanHJ]

lmao

[@ICONBADGTA]

The circle dragon logo was part of a clipart collection.... I think either Masterclips or art explosion one... It's in there, no joke!

[@TheRealRodent]

I played this at an arcade when it was first released in Rhyl, Wales while on Summer holidays. What was weird about it, was the machine was empty. Nobody was playing it at all but I got hooked. When I got back to school after Summer, none of the other kids believed me when I told them about this game that you could rip peoples' heads off and turn them into skeletons and stuff using fire breath. 6 months later, *everyone* was playing it.

[@JordanHJ]

Great memories

[@shikarbabulall3897]

I guess all in all everything starts of from Street Fighter 2

[@AndreEichstedt]

MORTAL KOMBAT is until Today my favorite Video Game Franchise ;-) Love the Story of the Video Game and how at got developed ;-) Until today it holds up and it was my first experience with the Franchise. Which Game or what was your first experience with Mortal Kombat???

[@JordanHJ]

My first experience was with the original, probably the Super Nintendo port. Either that, or the second one on the megadrive. Wasn't until years later I could play the arcade versions.

[@AndreEichstedt]

@@JordanHJ yes, here the same, played the Super Nintendo Version first and to be honest until today , I never played the ARCADE VERSION from MORTAL KOMBAT 1. I need to catch up on that ;-)

[@JordanHJ]

@@AndreEichstedt yeah, you'll love it! Hope you subscribe to the channel if you haven't already :)

[@AndreEichstedt]

@@JordanHJ thats done already ;-)

[@JordanHJ]

@@AndreEichstedt awesome :)

[@dubnationgaming]

MK this where the Best Fighting Game begins......its way different from Street Fighter only have supers & special moves while MK was Special moves & Fatalities...The Fatalities was a game changer made me play when i was a kid at the barbershop

[@JordanHJ]

MK is great

[@JediGamingX]

Can someone write the name of the guy who made the video about the original mk home port releases? He says the name 18:58 but i can't understand. Sounds like DA Frators. 🤔

[@JordanHJ]

DF Retro, aka Digital Foundry

[@JediGamingX]

@@JordanHJ just found it bud. Watching now, thank you 💪

[@JordanHJ]

No worries, they make good stuff

[@SuperSaiyanMaster2024]

My favorite game of all time

[@JordanHJ]

Nice

[@MrCalverino]

This is my favorite Liu Kang with Ho Sung Pak

[@fabiosogamer9926]

Great video

[@Najstefaniji]

Ed Boon & John Tobias = Boon Tobias = Noob Saibot :)

[@CrooklynKnight]

Very well done. Cool vid.

[@JordanHJ]

Thank you very much!

[@garrettedwardspears]

What is the footage at 17:54 from? I want to know and where can I find it.

[@JordanHJ]

Search Gamesmaster Mortal Kombat and you'll find it

[@fuzzydunlop1753]

9:12 damn homies got some moves, yeah shake that ass Kano 😂😂

[@youraveragejoe2]

That's Richard Divizio. He said he had fun playing Kano😂

[@shikarbabulall3897]

Even if he came out with the ideas before Street Fighter 2 which I highly doubt , he still made a darker copy of it so all in all it's a copy.

[@TheChosenOne1_]

shikar babulall I don't think it's a copy,all fighting games surely have something common and that's all right,being original is hard especially for fighting games.I'd like to see you create a fighting game without "copying" anything from the rest of the fighting games.

[@shikarbabulall3897]

@@TheChosenOne1_ martial art is an art its already there , there is no projectiles and spin kick like Chun li or Ken or Ryu .Street fighter was the 1st to have projectile and special moves yes it may have been inspired we all take inspiration but the project tiles and moves were original.

[@ratedr7845]

It's not a copy, it is its own thing, having similarities doesn't mean it's a copy

[@shikarbabulall3897]

@@ratedr7845 oh did u watch the actual documentary where the creators admitted to it?

[@ratedr7845]

@@shikarbabulall3897 yes I did, that's why I said what I said, they tried their hardest to stray from Street Fighter 2

[@kaisephbrownstone]

hey my grandmas cus and his friends are the creators/devs (btw i love the vid keep it up)

[@billie7799]

Amazing!!!

[@jd.3493]

Band of brothers’ Dexter Fletcher was the host of Gamemaster in the UK? No way!

[@JordanHJ]

Way!

[@dvvna]

SF and MK are the first games I know and loved. I was still in elementary school at the time. Many find it weird that a girl likes fighting games, but honestly I'm more interested in the story than anything 🤣

[@JordanHJ]

The story is actually quite fun!

[@scottkeeney5485]

Ed Boon and John Tobias created the New Midway Fighting Mortal Kombat in 1992 and After Street Fighter 2 the World Warrior (1991).

[@JordanHJ]

Mortal Kombat did come out after yes

[@typhoonth8689]

@@JordanHJ and the development cycle of The original Mortal Kombat was relatively short (5 to 7 months) and the game was made by merely 10 people. Realistic graphics and the ability to decapitate your defeated opponent make the game successful.

[@john-hu6tt]

More like Enter the dragon and big trouble in little china we're the very big inspirations to creating the game, and that came from ed boons own mouth in Mk history.

[@toofancyjr4700]

Good video! I really need to finish mine, lol

[@JordanHJ]

You can do it!

[@randylaffy7679]

Good video.

[@JordanHJ]

Thank you!

[@MrCalverino]

YESSSSSSS 🙌🏾

[@JordanHJ]

Hope you enjoy! Let me know what you think

[@MrCalverino]

@@JordanHJ Amazing as usual ✊🏾

[@markmondia9126]

The young Ed boon kinda reminds my of a young Ross from the tv show friends. Lol

[@JordanHJ]

I can see it!

[@NathanHassall]

I was 15 when mk1 hit the arcade and contrary to Tobias's theory that the backstory is what made this game popular it was actually the tight gameplay combined with the blood....at the arcade we didnt have time to figure out any backstory...frankly i couldn't care less and the deeper the developers got into "backstory" in later iterations the more asinine the franchise got.

[@IAMASELENATOR92]

in the early games they avoided the gore and eating off people's faces but eventually they added in people's faces being eaten 🤣

[@JordanHJ]

Yeah lol

[@lj5190]

I can't unsee the seahorse now. Dammit.

[@JordanHJ]

haha same

[@christiancordaway2181]

Yngwie J Malmsteen Rising Force...great Album...Easter egg

[@MM-ig1iv]

I'm 38 years old and haven't played the original in a long time...but i still to this day remember the blood code... lol. a b a c a b b

[@markocoric9233]

Next month I will have 38 yes i remember this first mk in arcades

[@JordanHJ]

nice

[@shikarbabulall3897]

Mortal kombat always follows the recipe of Street Fighter .In present day the went back to 2D after Street Fighter 4.Compare to Street fighter all the characters have the same moves only 2 special moves seperate them.

[@JordanHJ]

What do you mean?

[@shikarbabulall3897]

@@JordanHJ after Street Fighter 4 came out in 2.5D, Mortal Kombat there after went from 3D to 2.5D, as for the characters of MK from the begining all the characters had the same , upper cut , the same high and low punch , the same high and low kick , in the orignal ppl use to jump back and forth to play it, with street fighter each character had a totally unique way of fighting , all the moves were unique , example , Chun li and Blanka , Sagat and E Honda , it took a much longer time to create it becuase it was hand drawn and took alot more work , what made model kombat sucessful was the digitized graphics and the fatality, mortal kombat basically what I'm saying was always following the Street Fighter formula , it was a darker version of Street Fighter 2 , the story I have to admit was excellent and the presentation of the characters with digitized graphics like Raiden etc .

[@PJKP82]

18:05 What is *this*? :)

[@JordanHJ]

UK TV show

[@delbertgrady1949]

Friendship?? 9:12

[@Riskninjaz]

Big SF2 fan but Sheng long in street fighter 2??? 16:55

[@ThousanWhite]

9:19 hol up

[@thefonzkiss]

3:25 ninjas are Japanese not Chinese.

[@JordanHJ]

The idea of Mortal Kombat specifically revolves around a Chinese version of a ninja, hence the Lin Kuei. Yes it's fictional, it was the idea

[@itchyisvegeta]

@@JordanHJ According to Daniel Pesina at a convention panel, Chinese Ninja are not fictional, just not well known. Originally Lin Kuei was a clan of Japanese Ninja, but Pesina recommended Chinese Ninja to make it less generic. Also, Scorpion was originally to have a lasso instead of a spear, and Scorpion and Sub Zero were originally brothers.

[@fuzzydunlop1753]

Well then Fonzie, if you want to get nitpicky then I should also mention that the plural of ninja is also just ninja, there's no such word as 'ninjas'.

[@Sekusamu]

Haha... he said, koo-might!

[@JordanHJ]

kooooo might!

[@Sekusamu]

@@JordanHJ In fact, I don't think it's a big deal. It's more funny than anything else. You could make a blooper reel of yourself mispronouncing things, just for the giggles.

[@JordanHJ]

@@Sekusamu I'll probably do a video about mistakes and things like that across all my videos at some point in the future! Hope you liked the video anyway, and possibly subscribed!

[@Sekusamu]

@@JordanHJ Mortal Kombat came out when I was 28 years old, so this brings back memories. Thank you for making this video, and please make more.

[@JordanHJ]

Thank you, I certainly will, just released a new one on Smash Bros - KZbin algorithm doesn't seem to like it but I think it turned out well!

[@mohitsurkar6700]

❤️

[@JordanHJ]

:)

[@rocznik83]

Name of the actress who plays Sonya is pronounced "Mah-letz-kee".

[@doomdoomerson6524]

...glenn plant???

[@818zane]

MK is the reason where everyone got the word noob from!.... which means you suck, inexperience rookie! Lol! (Noob saibot) not sure the reason why it became to be ..... if people did not know how to play with this character or just dislike playing as this character?

[@dracocorvinos9391]

No. Newbie.

[@JordanHJ]

Yeah, Newbie

[@__loafy__]

Tsui Hark is pronounced "Choy Hok". get it right gweilo

[@__loafy__]

Also ninja's are Japanese, not Chinese. smh

[@JordanHJ]

The concept for the characters was 'Chinese Ninjas'. It's a fictional game

[@__loafy__]

@@JordanHJ Oh. That makes it not stupid anymore. Thanks.

[@JordanHJ]

No worries!

[@IlokanoWarrior]

Loafy - Chinese and Japanese Martial Arts are closely related. It's also widely known Karate first came to Japan from their territory of Okinawa, and Okinawa has heavy influences from China. It's also more fitting to say the arts of spying and deception, and assassination were developed in China while the whole concept of the Ninja Warrior was perfected in Japan.

[@afrolund80]

I'm not subscribed. And KZbin recommended this video to me.

[@JordanHJ]

I hope you do subscribe! :)

[@afrolund80]

@@JordanHJ Deal!

[@JordanHJ]

Thank you!

[@donkique956]

Inch worm eyebrows Tobias.

[@vanessatrotter69]

👑👑👑👑💵💵💵💵🖤🖤

[@Tonyv124]

Funny how van damme did the s.f movie not mk

[@Tennessee1981]

Most characters, we're Big Trouble in Little China! Shang Sung and especially Raiden

[@JordanHJ]

In terms of the costume design sure

[@barrymaaslow3480]

"Chinese ninja"...LOLOLOL!

[@mikhaila.5288]

Toasty.

[@shikarbabulall3897]

Today at present day Street Fighter 5 rules, Mortal kombat had to turn into polygon, were Street fighter has better moves and is more fluid.

[@opo3628]

"Mortal kombat had to turn into polygon"

[@shikarbabulall3897]

@@opo3628 The only thing that made Mortal Kombat popular at over Street fighter 2 is its realistic graphics , it was a copy made more violent with more realistic graphics , Street fighter had the better game play each fighter had unique fighting moves , in present day like Street fighter they had to go with computer art , created not with a live like actors portraying characters , comprehendo?

[@mickmook1317]

MK today is great but the story is lacking.

[@JordanHJ]

Possibly