We already brought you part one of our list of 15 things you probably did not know about Mortal Kombat, and now we’re back with part two! Check out eight more fascinating facts about the video game franchise that you definitely (probably) did not know below. You might be surprised by what you find out!
Number Eight: Every Character Was Portrayed by a Live Actor – Except One. The only character who wasn’t portrayed by a live actor was the big boss Goro. Goro was modeled after stop-motion photography of a clay figure.
Number Seven: Liu Kang Wasn’t Always Liu Kang. In fact, his original name was Minamoto Yoshitsune. However, the crew reportedly couldn’t “deal with the name,” so it was subsequently shortened to Liu Kang.
Number Six: It Was One of the Largest Video Game Launches at the Time. When Mortal Kombat launched, it was a really big deal. Just one year after it launched as an arcade game, it was made for four home gaming systems.
Number Five: The Game Differs Depending on the System It’s Played On. For example, the Nintendo version of the game didn’t have any blood in it – instead, it featured sweat. The Sega version of the game allowed players to have the blood show, but it required a special cheat code.
Number Four: The Cheat Code Is a Phil Collins Reference. The cheat code mentioned above that allows players to have the blood and gore show is “ABACABB.” ABACABB is an anagram of Abacab, which is a Genesis album from 1981.
Number Three: A Band Formed Solely to Make the Soundtrack. It’s true! Two Belgian musicians got together after Mortal Kombat was first released so they could create the soundtrack for it.
Number Two: It Caused Problems in the Government. Specifically, one senator had a problem with it. Senator Joseph Lieberman took an anti-violence stance toward video games in 1993 and spoke out about his distaste for Mortal Kombat.
Number One: It’s Responsible for the ESRB Rating. Because of the senator situation mentioned above, the Entertainment Software Rating Board was created to provide more information on games about the appropriate age ranges. We hope you enjoyed our list of 15 things you didn’t know about Mortal Kombat!