[above image courtesy of thenerdstash.com]
Finish Him! Flawless Victory! Babality! If you recognize all three of these phrases, you probably grew up in the nineties like I did. As with many, Mortal Kombat was a big part of my childhood, but to understand this, I’ll need to dial back to the beginnings of my infatuation with video games.
Me and my first chick, circa 1990
My relationship with gaming began in the early nineties. My parents were never big on weekly allowances or giving in to the materialistic wants that my brother and I shared. In fact, they would usually require us to complete a bunch of chores in order to unlock a few bucks and a trip to the toys aisle at the local Target. However, the one exception to this protocol came whenever my dad returned from an overseas work trip. He would almost always bring back a couple of items for my brother and me. Sometimes it would be a keychain with a metal frog that chirps. Other times a garment that I would never wear publicly and instead became PJs.
The year was probably 1992 and my dad had just returned from a long work trip to Asia. In his luggage was a large, mysterious gray box. I remember thinking that if that box was our gift, we’re probably in for a treat. I was stoked. As it turns out, inside that large box was a Family Computer with two controllers (we called it the Famicom). Neither my brother nor I had ever seen or heard of it. As such, I assumed it was a bootlegged version of the NES. It was not till years later that I learned it was Nintendo’s popular NES system made specifically for the Japanese market.
Family Computer, released in North America in 1985
I must’ve logged at least 100 hours on the Famicom in the following 6 months. It was incredibly addicting, mostly due to the multi-game cartridges… sometimes one cartridge would have 100 games on it!
It also brought out the worst in me. I broke at least two controllers out of pure rage. Which totally sucked because we’d have to wait for the next time my dad was going overseas to bring back a replacement controller.
I don’t remember the first time I played Mortal Kombat. However, the memories of playing the game are still incredibly vivid. It was the first game I played that employed such fluid human-like movements… and the most gory game I had played up to that point (with the exception of Duke Nukem). I played MK1 so much that I can still recite every character to this day. My favorite character, like many, was Scorpion. Yes I was that dude who overly abused the “Get Over Here!” followed by a crouching upper-cut combo. I also recall using Raiden and Johnny Cage fairly frequently to throw a hat or project a flying kick across the screen over and over again. Cheap I know. But oh so effective in pissing off and subsequently disorienting your opponent!
I studied this manual religiously.
I played MKII as well but was a much bigger fan of MKIII. I was obsessed with MKIII. Obsessed. I remember cajoling my parents to buy me a Mortal Kombat 3: Fighter’s Kompanion book lush with each character’s combos and fatality moves. My favorite character in MKIII was Kabal without a doubt. I remember executing multiple hit combos with Kabal and it was oh so satisfying! I also loved using Sektor for his heat-seeking missiles and Cyrax for his green webs that would pull the opponent in for an upper-cut. Gahh!! After MKIII, however, I faded from the franchise for many, many years… until last year when I received a call from my modeling agency about a client interested in featuring me in a video game…
Two of my favorite characters from MKIII
Who I thought I’d be playing
Now this was a first. Ever since I began modeling, my clients have been mostly in the fashion world with the exception of a few car commercials and the occasional liquor advert. Never something as cool as being featured in a video game! I remember hoping it would be for Blizzard, even though that doesn’t make much sense (I’m a Starcraft fanatic). Neither the video game nor the character was disclosed initially. All I was told was that a) the character is generally known to wear a mask and b) the company’s name, Netherrealm.
Needless to say, I was super excited when I saw Mortal Kombat featured front and center on Netherrealm’s website. When I looked up MK characters, I was nearly certain I would be playing Takeda Takahashi, since he was an Asian character with long-ish hair (I had fairly long hair at the time) and he had a mask. Boy was I wrong…
A few weeks later, I was on a flight to Netherrealm’s office in Chicago.
When I first stepped into the Netherrealm office, I was immediately transported back to my childhood years. There were all sorts of masks, posters, and other Mortal Kombat memorabilia hanging around the office. I was given a tour and introduced to some engineers on my way to the studio where I’d be working. It was not until I entered the studio, that I was asked if I was aware of the character I’d be playing.
The moment of truth…
“Sub-Zero.”
“You’re going to be playing Sub-Zero.”
GASP! WOW. NO….REALLY?? I was at once shocked, thrilled, and flattered. I mean, Sub-Zero and Scorpion are like Ryu/Ken… they’re the favorites, the faces of the franchise, holy cow! I was incredibly stoked.
The folks at Netherrealm were super friendly and hospitable. After I got my face scanned (the entire process took about an hour), I was given a chance to see some renderings and scenes of MK11. It was all very surreal. Unfortunately I didn’t get a chance to meet Ed Boon, as he was out of the office at the time. Like all Mortal Kombat fans, I can’t wait to play the game in April. I even downloaded MK XL on PS4 and am revisiting the good old days of trashing the controller after losing (adult style aka massive cursing).
