Here’s a recently discovered image of the very first drawing of
#MortalKombat
’s dragon icon. I designed the icon as both a symbol of our game and its fictional tournament… (thread)
#MK30
Funny story…
@noobde
and I wanted to theme the ‘ninjas’ w fire and ice to differentiate them. So, when Ed had the idea for the rope/spear silly me wasn’t crazy about it because it wasn’t ‘fire’ themed. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Changed my mind pretty quick once we had it working in the game.
Mortal Kombat will be 30 years old in 2022. But 2021 marks 30 years since we actually BEGAN working on the game. To celebrate, it seemed like a fun idea to share some behind-the-scenes stuff. This clip shows how we created Scorpion’s iconic (GET OVER HERE!) spear move. (1 of 9)
Mortal Kombat on a CRT is glorious. The appearance of more colors is achieved with some smart color choices, some pixel artistry with a command of the inherent distortion of the video signal and just the natural vibrancy and brightness of the CRT.
#mortalkombat30th
30yrs ago today,
@noobde
and I watched the first players ever to play Mortal Kombat drop tokens into our game at Times Square Arcade on Clark and Broadway in Chicago…
This is one of those tokens. Pulled from the coin box for good luck…
#MK30
(1/5)
Funny thing is, I just realized that Smoke/Jade as secret characters in
#MortalKombat
2 may have been part of an elaborate joke on me by
@noobde
... (thread)
I was playing Mortal Kombat II the other day and had just noticed this creepy farmer dude on the far left of The Living Forest stage.
Does this guy have a name, please confirm...
@noobde
@therealsaibot
Thank you!
It may have started as a glitch (Ed may remember better), but we made a conscious choice to leave it this way to reinforce Liu Kang’s noble motivations...
Something I (and others) always wondered about - the screen doesn't darken for Liu Kang's Fatality in MK1. Was this a conscious choice to set him apart from the other characters and reflect the purity of his motivations?
@therealsaibot
@noobde
Here is a PSA for old skool MK fans out there. Watch out for hucksters making false claims and telling tall tales about their association w the franchise 25+ years ago (1/7)...
Congratulations to
@NetherRealm
Studios’ Chief Creative Officer and Mortal Kombat,
@noobde
for being our 25th
#DICEAwards
Hall of Fame Inductee! 🏆
Learn more @
Side Note: I almost tossed the dragon icon sketch aside when I was at home working on it at my drafting table and my sister mistook the dragon for a seahorse ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Shang Tsung never chose anyone to compete in the tournament. As host, he only extended the invitations. Chosen warriors from each realm were preordained by the Elder Gods. So how did Shang become host? It was complicated... (thread)
@therealsaibot
There's a discussion on the lore of Mortal Kombat in regards to the "invitation" of earth's warriors.
Can you offer any knowledge?
#MortalKombat
Here’s my earliest icon doodle recently found by
@youngsaibot
while poking around an old sketchbook in my office. The eventual icon design was an attempt at replicating the yin yang symbol, which represented balancing of the furies- a core part of MK’s early fiction. (9/9)
The inspiration for the dragon icon’s design started when John Vogel saw a golden dragon statue on the desk of Midway’s general manager, Ken Fedesna. John borrowed it to digitize for use in our game’s backgrounds. Here’s a frame from that footage… (5/9)
His transformation into a dragon in MKII was meant to convey an abandonment of those principles as he sought revenge against Shang Tsung for the slaughtering of his Shaolin brothers.
The equipment upgrade that happened for MK2 had nothing to do with MK1’s success. We didn’t just run out and buy a pricier camera because we fell into cash... (thread)
The image comes from fellow MK artist John Vogel’s video taped footage used to digitize my pencil drawing. We traced over the digitized image with pixels for use in the game… (2/9)
#Kabal
has always been an underrated
#MortalKombat
character. His backstory and dev were just as rich as some of the series best characters.
Here’s some love for fans of the nomad (thread 1/9)...
#MortalKombat
has always trafficked in rumors and mystery. But, our choices behind character ‘deaths’ in the early games were always calculated...
Not the end of match Fatality kind of deaths. I’m talking about the not returning in a sequel fiction altering kind... (thread)
Created that MK comic while still living w my folks in the home I grew up in. Was a 22yo kid hoping to make some kind of impact on something.
Inks by super talented Andrew Kudelka. Flattered by the post 🙏
The inspiration to use a dragon as the fictional tournament’s symbol came from “Dragon Attack,” which was in contention as our game’s title before
@noobde
and I changed it to “Mortal Kombat.” Here’s my rough marker sketch of the marquee logo… (3/9)
Lots of questions about both
#Kitana
and
#Mileena
.
They go together like peanut butter & jelly.
#MortalKombat
is the bread that holds them together...
Here’s a long deconstructive history on
#MortalKombat
’s most soap-operatic twinsies... (thread)
Lotsa Q’s about Goro... dude was no “jobber”
-MK~2000 - Liu Kang - W
-MK~1950 - Goro - W
-MK~1900 - Goro - W
-MK~1850 - Goro - W
-MK~1800 - Goro - W
-MK~1750 - Goro - W
-MK~1700 - Goro - W
-MK~1650 - Goro - W
-MK~1600 - Goro - W
-MK~1550 - Goro - W
-MK~1500 - GKL - W
... (1/3)
I had been thinking of creating an icon to represent the fictional tournament, but also to brand the game with a symbol… like Superman’s “S” or Batman’s bat symbol. I used the dragon from my cabinet side panel sketch to inform the look of the dragon icon as our symbol… (7/9)
I saw the dragon statue and thought of using an Asian inspired dragon design as part of our coin-op cabinet’s side panel art. Here are my sketches… (6/9)
Lotsa ppl asking about
#MortalKombat
tournament rules and rule breaking. Here’s an attempt to dispel confusion around this topic as it pertains to the first few games...
Now, pop a red pill and enter the rabbit hole... (thread)
This is something i never understood
Outworld won 9 tournaments in a row, yet earthrealm won only one and was declared winner and free, i hope you can explain the rules further
@therealsaibot
Old School
#MortalKombat
fans... here’s some recently rediscovered concept art for the MK1 coin-op cabinet!
The art includes a color marker comp and pencil sketch I did for the cabinet side...
Here is a scene from the Warner Archive release of Drunken Master 2(1994) with the original Cantonese audio mix. At first, I thought the audio was too low but upon further review is because it has more detail compared to the Laserdisc which is loud and lacks detail.
@noobde
was incredibly gracious in his AIAS Hall of Fame acceptance speech. I’m forever indebted to his talent and generosity…
Thanks Again Ed and Kongrats!!!!
I thought that Michael Grimm being Johnny Cage’s original name was MKHistory101. But, so many players today weren’t even born when the early games were released...
So, here’s a history lesson on how your favorite nut punching Hollywood action star came to be... (thread)
MKII artist extraordinaire Tony Goskie created and animated the creature. No real mystery... it was meant to be a dragon-type creature native to a realm swallowed by Kahn’s Outworld. Fun to see that fans are giving it a history of their own!
.
@therealsaibot
Can you shed some light on the mystery behind this creature from The Kombat Tomb (Mortal Kombat II)? What was the intention behind it? Pteradactyl? Dragon? Albatross? Phoenix? Roc?
Fans have come up with their own theories but I'd like to hear from you!
Here’s a MK FunFact as yet unheard.
The graffiti designs used in the old MK3 Kombat Kodes were commissioned by an ad agency. The artist they hired to create the symbols was named DZine. He and I were coincidentally a part of the same graffiti crew when we were teenaged ruffians.
This is an amazing MK3 pin set by
@TotalDebacleCo
. If you remember the Kombat Kode system from the '90s, you know exactly what these designs are!
Are there really only 5 of these made? Hot damn that is limited edition!
Up until MKII we used the icon facing both left and right. With Acclaim’s console releases, we had to pick one or the other for trademarking purposes. We chose facing right and it’s been that way ever since… (8/9)
Our intention was that MK3 Sub-Zero suffered the scar while escaping from the Lin Kuei cyber conversion. Not sure how it was explored in future games, but we purposely weren’t explicit w details to leave room for players to have fun hypothesizing.
.
@therealsaibot
In MK3, Sub-Zero appears unmasked - and with a scar. No in-game explanation was given at the time.
As you envisioned the story, how did he get that scar? Who gave it to him and went?
We have tolerated similar BS over the years and I feel petty for having to post about this in the current environment, but I see fans being suckered and at some point enough is enough.
(7/7)
The name “Dragon Attack” came from
@noobde
’s love for the band Queen and their song of the same title. I used the colors described in the lyrics of that song on our eventual coin-op cabinet design… (4/9)
I apologize for the roller coaster of fiction used to navigate character deaths/undeaths in those early games...
But, if I were the finger pointing type, I’d point my finger at 90’s Chicago MK players. They were the real deciders of who lived and who died ✌️(10/10)
Case in point ... There is a guy out there claiming that he created the MK dragon icon and calling himself “The original MK artist.” He is a liar and using the lie to hustle my artwork. He was literally selling prints of my artwork and signing his name on them. (3/7)...
The name was inspired by the Mongolian warlords Ghengis and Kublai Khan. And, although we never explicitly state it, much like the mongols our intention was that Kahn was a title. So, there could have been Kahn’s before Shao and there could be Kahns after (thread)...
Question for you
@therealsaibot
about Shao Kahn. Was his name inspired by anyone? Real life figures like Genhis Khan and Kublai Khan? Shere Khan from The Jungle Book? Khan from Star Trek? (2/2)
This is in response to a thread about whether
#SubZero
is a “ninja”. I can only speak to our treatment of the issue in the early
#MortalKombat
games...
I see your thread and raise you a thread... (thread)
That’s a good question I don’t think I’ve ever been asked directly. Since
#SubZero
has a big spotlight on himself at the moment, here’s a lil history on his history w the Lin Kuei and the book that inspired it... (thread)
To be clear-I designed the dragon icon and the cabinet. I’ve posted the pics he shared of my old color comp art/cabinet designs and pencil line art, which he has been in possession of after all these years because he never returned them. (5/7)...
Not that
#MortalKombat
has ever been anything near a bastion of historical accuracy, but we did put some thought into the how/when of the Shirai Ryu...
Here’s a Sunday morning sermon for all of you apostles of lore... (thread)
@therealsaibot
makes sense since the definition of a "ninja" or shinobi is more of really an assassins using improvised weapons from farming tools, They were just rebel that fight with stealth & tricks. They weren't supposed to go confrontational against trained fighter like a samurai & etc.
Yup you’re correct ✅
And because I got nuthin better to do on a lazy cold n cloudy Saturday, here’s some little known history on
#MortalKombat
’s
#SubZero
bros... (thread)
@seanay
@therealsaibot
Subzero is from a race known as Cryomancers. His freezing ability is passed down through his family line as well, hence his younger brother also having the ability. Correct me if I'm wrong
@therealsaibot
!
This guy did do legit work on the old MK1 coin-op cab art. He did the finish blackline art and prepped screen films. He did a fine job of it too, but that’s the extent of what he did. All of his other MK related claims are bogus. (4/7)...
Had to get that out into the etherverse because there are lots of innaccurate stories being spread about the development of the early MK games that should be corrected.
And also I have more time to care about this kinda stuff than I have in the past ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Thanks for the Q.
#MortalKombat
’s
#Kano
was always more than a meathead foil for Sonya.
Here’s a look past his surface-level goonery at how he came to be... (thread)
@therealsaibot
Mr.Tobias could you please do a thread on Kano's creation?Origin of his name(has he a surname?),Cyber eye ,his original nationality, his original position in Black Dragon's hierarchy(does original BD have ties with yakusa?)and original relation with Sonya
Why would someone do this? I guess maybe they feel their true contributions alone wouldn’t get quite the same attention? Maybe they see others doing similar and see opportunity? (6/7)...
So, I kind of did a thing.
I know some hate it, but it's always had a special place in my heart. I really appreciated
@therealsaibot
's vision and what he did with this game.
Though it was intended as a home game, it is now immortalized in arcade form.
#mortalkombat
I don’t care if anyone makes a buck off of their association. I do care if they lie about what they contributed and dupe fans into believing they are something that they are not. (2/7)...
Like Kitana/Mileena,
#Scorpion
&
#SubZero
also make a pretty good PB&J. One completes the other. But, if we dig deeper with each, we can uncover individual story arcs...
Let’s sit Scorpion on the couch for a psychoanalysis of his path thru early
#MortalKombat
games (thread)
@therealsaibot
Thank you for this great insight in the early character/backstory development of these two great characters! I believe the backstory of these two 'sisters' is the deepest story in the game (though sub zero/scorpion's story comes close)
I can konfirm that
#mortalkombat
‘s resident Salvador Dali and legendary artist extraordinaire, Sir Tony Goskie, pixel animated
#Kabal
‘s pretty face.
I think I recall Tony was a Tim Burton fan so perhaps Large Marge influenced his visuals... only Tony knows...
Yes, Kano was invited to the tournament. But, an invitation to compete wasn’t meant to imply that a fighter had the best interests of their realm at heart. In fact, in MK1 Kano shows up to the tournament with the sole intention of looting Shang Tsung’s island... (1/2)
Great question... When creating
#MortalKombat
our multi-realm concept established the fabric of its universe.
Open your third eye if you have one and join me as I expose my inner dorkness of dimensions ... (Thread)
@therealsaibot
@tabmok99
@JavierZ343
The realms are parallel universes, right? So once merged, do the entire universes merge or just the single planets? Our realm has billions of galaxies, stars, and planets. Is the same true of Outworld? Though obviously the Netherrealm wouldn't, since it's suppose to be MK's Hell.
Good question.
#MortalKombat
’s Kintaro was never fully developed in his MK2 debut and his characterization suffered because of it.
Also, no Shokan was ever ‘evil.’ But, they were much more complicated than their beastly appearance would suggest... (thread)
So much fun drawing MK3 Sonya. I think the last drawing I did of that version of the character was the MK3 costume concept 25
Great cause! Get your bids in now!
Good news and bad news. Good news is I’ll answer the questions in a thread w everything u need to know about the inception of
#SonyaBlade
’s ring pulse. Bad news is... well, you’ll have to read to the end... (thread)
.
@therealsaibot
Can you clear up a little mystery around Sonya? Specifically the nature of her Ring Toss. Does this extend from some kind of inner chi power of hers? Or is it intended to be produced from a high-tech/mechanical device? Inquiring minds want to know!
Today I learned: Scorpion’s human identity, Hanzo Hasashi, is a direct reference to the legendary Japanese sword-maker Hattori Hanzo, later fictionalized in Quentin Tarantino’s Kill Bill movies.
30 years ago today… was a Sunday in Chicago. That evening, Jordan and the Bulls just won their second NBA title. The city was about to explode. And,
#MortalKombat
had just completed its first full week test…
#MK30