Mortal Kombat

About Mortal Kombat

Mortal Kombat is a 1992 fighting game developed and published by Midway for arcades. It is the first main installment in the Mortal Kombat franchise, and was subsequently released by Acclaim Entertainment for nearly every home platform of the time. The game presents a martial arts tournament in which ten characters (including a choice of seven player characters) contend with the fate of Earth at stake. It introduced many key aspects of the Mortal Kombat series, including the unique five-button control scheme and gory finishing moves called Fatalities.

Mortal Kombat includes seven playable characters, each with their own unique Fatality and all of whom would eventually become trademark characters and appear in several sequels. The game was developed with digitized sprites based on real actors.

Ho-Sung Pak plays Liu Kang, a former member of the secret White Lotus Society who enters the tournament representing the Shaolin temples. He is tasked by Raiden to win the tournament and save Earthrealm. Originally envisioned as a monk, Pak refused to shave his head for the role, leading Kang's final design to more closely resemble actor Bruce Lee.

Elizabeth Malecki plays the Special Forces agent Sonya Blade, who enters in pursuit of the dangerous Black Dragon organization. Her team is captured and held hostage by Shang Tsung, forcing Sonya to participate in the tournament. Sonya was inspired by actress Cynthia Rothrock.