Since the original Mortal Kombat launched in arcades more than three decades ago, the fighting game series has been known for one aspect that sets it apart from other fighting games: its grotesque and over-the-top gore.
This has been at the center of controversy ever since. Still, it has also taught both Nintendo and creator Ed Boon one valuable lesson about the series that has gone on to sell more than 80 million copies globally.
Mortal Kombat Was Sanitized for the SNES
In an article in 2014, the BBC shed light on the impact the fighting game series has had on the entire gaming industry ever since the original Mortal Kombat saw the light of day in arcades in 1992. When the game was ported to the SNES and the Sega Genesis, the controversy surrounding the game and its brutal visuals took off.
Nintendo of America’s strict content policies forced Midway to clean up the game to make it more suitable for its younger audience. The arcade version of Mortal Kombat featured the bloody gameplay and gruesome fatalities the series has since been known for.
However, things looked different on the SNES. The blood was turned into gray “sweat,” and the fatalities were either completely removed or tamed down to be of a much less violent nature. Sega, having looser policies, went a different route.
While the official game was just as clean as the Nintendo port, players could use a cheat code to turn the blood and gore back on, including the fatalities the arcade game had been famous for.
No Gore, No Sales
Sega knew what it was doing by allowing this feature. It was a move that paid off. Word quickly spread that the Sega version of the game had “the blood code,” which turned out to be what players wanted. As stated by Blake Harris, author of Console Wars, the Sega version went on to outsell the SNES port five-to-one.
It taught the series’ creator, Ed Boon, something invaluable that he wouldn’t forget to this day. Blood and gore are what makes Mortal Kombat so unique. Remove the gore and sales drop. Nintendo learned this lesson itself, relented, and later allowed the original version of Mortal Kombat 2 to be released on its console, including the gory fatalities.
The fact that brutal visuals have become a mainstay in the series is still evident today. One of the latest Mortal Kombat 1 crossovers featuring The Boys’ Homelander even pays homage to a murder from the show.
If there is anything Ed Boon could have taken away from this, the blood-filled fights are an essential part of what makes the series successful. Everybody should be thankful that he has continued to make the games the brutal gore fest gamers love, despite the controversies.
What do you think of the gory fatalities in Mortal Kombat? Would you play the games if they didn’t have these iconic brutal visuals? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
