Boon recounts SNES Mortal Kombat outcry

By Wesley Yin-Poole Published 21 April, 2011

"We hoped success would pay for development."

On the day of Mortal Kombat's UK launch, series creator Ed Boon has recounted the controversy that marred the very first game in the gory fighting series.

Mortal Kombat, which launched on the SNES and Mega Drive in 1993 after its arcade release, sparked a moral panic after politicians noticed its digitised, over-the-top violence, particularly in relation to its Fatalities.

Nintendo decided to censor the game, insisting that blood spurts be converted into grey sweat puffs and Fatalities be altered.

"The controversy with the game originally was because there was no rating system in place, and people were objecting to the fact that a game that was as violent as it is, did not have a rating," Boon recalls, nearly 20 years later.

"I agree with that idea. The rating system is great.

"The censorship with the SNES version was a response to that. Nintendo felt like they had an obligation to not offer something like this to a system that's played by many young players.

"But after we had the rating system in place, they felt, OK, if there's a rating on the box and people understand it's a violent game, then it's OK to sell it because it's intended for an older audience."

The game owes its existence to Capcom's Street Fighter, Boon revealed.

"Back then, in 1991/92, fighting games were one of the biggest categories of games that were out there. Street Fighter II was getting into its stride. We felt we wanted to do something that was an American-made fighting game with the latest technology, which was digitised graphics at the time.

"We felt we had something to contribute in that field."

It was a smart move. Mortal Kombat, published in arcades by now defunct company Midway and on home consoles by Acclaim Entertainment, went on to enjoy phenomenal success.

There have been countless sequels, spin-offs, crossovers and console ports. The series has even spawned Mortal Kombat movies and TV shows.

"I don't think anybody was expecting the level of success the game had," Boon said. "It would be arrogant of me to assume that something was going to perform this well. It was a big surprise to us.

"We hoped we would reach some level of success and pay for the development of the game. But I would have never have guessed that almost 20 years later we would still be making Mortal Kombat games."

Now, in 2011, Boon has just shipped a new, Unreal Engine 3-fuelled game in the series, simply called Mortal Kombat.

It was developed by NetherRealm Studios, created by Warner Bros. after Midway's demise.

Eurogamer's Mortal Kombat review smashed in a 7/10.

Picture of Wesley.

About Wesley Yin-Poole

Wesley is Eurogamer's news editor. He likes news, interviews, and more news. He also likes Street Fighter more than anyone can get him to shut up about it.

Read more articles from Wesley by visiting the Wesley Yin-Poole archive page.

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Comments (34) Latest comment 1 year ago

Comments for this article are now closed, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Brodie #1 1 year ago

    "The game owes its existence to Capcom's Street Fighter, Boon revealed."

    You don't say!

  • Eraysor #2 1 year ago

    "Fatalities be altered"

    Yarr! Nintendo secretly be pirates, arrrr!

    Also, the fact that this controversy was almost 20 years ago makes me feel very old.
    Edited by Eraysor at 21/04/11 @ 11:51

  • Gambit1977 #3 1 year ago

    Pitfighter was better ;)

  • CaptainQuint #4 1 year ago

    Ah I remember it well - having to listen to Megadrive owning dickheads at school claiming their version was the best because it had the gore.

    Bullshit. The SNES version was superior in every way. Or 'Arcade Perfect', as we used to say.

  • GiarcYekrub #5 1 year ago

    I could only do Scorpions Fatality ...Hold Block and press UP UP

  • photoboy #6 1 year ago

    Wasn't there a GameGenie code to turn all the gore back on in the SNES version?

  • Tonne #7 1 year ago

    i remember secret talk about a cheatcode that would enable the gore and fatalities in the snes version

    like Eraysor said all this makes me feel very old.

  • chrisola #8 1 year ago

    deserves an 8/10 easy EG

    Scoretality!

  • Kayin #9 1 year ago

    DULLARD.

    (Let's see who gets it)

  • spekkeh #10 1 year ago

    Nintendo Official Magazine had a great April fools joke back in the day where they said you had to weigh the SNES cartridge down with a few coins for a certain connection to be made and then enter a code, in order to switch on the gore.

    Sure fooled me. Yes I was that desperate.

  • SeesThroughAll #11 1 year ago

    @Kayin:

    Megadrive version all the way! :D

  • StolenGlory #12 1 year ago

    I remember getting bullied in school because of this. The big kid had the Megadrive with all the gore intact and I had the SNES (blatantly the better machine at the time) with the cutdown gore and snipped violence.

    Between random loss of dinner money and the occassional headlock I was relentlessly taunted for owning the inferior version of the game with my only comeback being 'At least we don't have that gay, blue hedgehog on OUR machine. No decent games will ever come of that'.

    I gleefully haven't retracted that insult and I am comfortable in the knowledge that I was mostly right too.
    Edited by StolenGlory at 21/04/11 @ 12:45

  • LFace #13 1 year ago

    CaptainQuaint - SNES had the visuals no argument about that, but the gameplay was far from "Arcade Perfect". Alas, the Megadrive was closer be it with much poorer visuals/speech. The moves and fluidity on SNES was nothing like Arcade - much too slidey (if thats a word) and screen height was tiny giving to increased length of jumps on characters so a lot of the "Combos" you could do on Arcade/Megadrive you simply could not on the SNES version.

    I owned both systems and went for Megadrive version and rented out the SNES one to test it soon after and I found the Megadrive far superior even with craptacular visuals and comical gore (Sub Zero's head rip for sure with its tiny swinging spine made me chortle all the time)

    Edit:- I See your DULLARD and raise you ABACABB
    Edited by LFace at 21/04/11 @ 12:48

  • Doctor_What #14 1 year ago

    This makes me feel old - my first industry job was at the place doing the conversion!

  • bratmandu #15 1 year ago

    God I remember this - we snes owners had to hang our heads in shame in the early nineties. Then MK2 had full on blood n guts so that made up for it! Damn, gettin old.

  • dllord #16 1 year ago

    MKII on the SNES was the best MK as it had all the gore!

  • RawNinjaKid #17 1 year ago

    LOL! I used to say: "MK on the snes was better. it had better, arcade perfect backgrounds and sound effects. And the death moves are more original than the arcade version!!

  • Rack #18 1 year ago

    Super Street Fighter II was best on the SNES because it was a good game!

  • kinky_mong #19 1 year ago

    @StolenGlory: You were wise beyond your years in your youth.

  • funkstar #20 1 year ago

    hey the megadrive version was kinda censored too, you still needed a code to unlock the gore... ABACABB if i remember correctly?

  • Silvergun-Blue #21 1 year ago

    TOASTY!!!

  • BBIAJ #22 1 year ago

    @Doctor_What:

    You worked at Probe Entertainment!?

    Kudos fella, I've enjoyed so many great games from them over the years on various platforms, they were a bastion of British talent.

  • Ryze #23 1 year ago

    @Rack


    Sorry! The MD version had a 40M/bit cart, the SNES had missing speech in its version of SSFII

  • Architect_z #24 1 year ago

    MK on the SNES = BEST GAME EVER!!!!!!!!!!!

  • Skeletor #25 1 year ago

    Back in 1993 the DOS version for PC was definitely the best one, very close to arcade perfect and completely uncensored. Too bad MK has never returned to the PC after the fourth part...
    Edited by Skeletor at 21/04/11 @ 15:06

  • 1-up #26 1 year ago

    Damn I miss those days...

  • Alex_976 #27 1 year ago

    The 32x version of mk2 was the best!

  • dirtysteve #28 1 year ago

    @CaptainQuint not a chance! MasterSystem for full blooded version!

  • Doctor_What #29 1 year ago

    @BBIAJ : I did my work experience there when I was 16! Since then I've made games that have been played by around 30m people, but it was another 11 years before I went back into a 'proper' studio doing boxed releases.

    It's nice that someone remembers Probe Software. Most of the guys I worked with there are still knocking around in the industry too :)

  • blackbriar101 #30 1 year ago

    Who remembers the amiga version of Mk2, purposely not doing a pit fatality so I didn't have to change disks, plus the fact the game announcer's lisp made him sound like Sam Rockwell in Gentleman Broncos. 'Sssscorpion here, Sssscorpion there'.

  • Gojiratron #31 1 year ago

    Ah, memories. Nothing like Eurogamer back then to keep me informed so I remember learning the Megadrive version's blood code from GamesMaster on tv. :D

    "Wasn't there a GameGenie code to turn all the gore back on in the SNES version?"

    If memory serves it just turned the "sweat" red.

    "Nintendo Official Magazine had a great April fools joke back in the day where they said you had to weigh the SNES cartridge down with a few coins for a certain connection to be made and then enter a code, in order to switch on the gore."

    I remember a friend of mine trying that. There was another rumour doing the rounds that involved pulling the cart out eeeeever-so-slightly as well if I recall.

  • cawley1 #32 1 year ago

    I guess if back in the day were now, Sega would have had exclusivity on the blood and fatalities for six months, after which Nintendo would offer them as DLC.

    Fake tips in mags, Game Genies and swapping disks to load up some new graphics... How much better were those days!

  • Quak #33 1 year ago

    > The game owes its existence to Capcom's Street Fighter, Boon revealed.

    Grass is green and the sky is blue, Boon revealed.

  • metalangel #34 1 year ago

    At the time my best friend had a SNES and was so insulted by Nintendo's attitude regarding MK that he traded the SNES and all the stuff he had for the more mature Genesis, you know, because Sega really respected their customers.

    We were 13, all 13 year olds are idiots. No doubt the CoD kiddies will have similar tales in 20-odd years' time.