Sometimes I need to step back from my observations and just glaze over apart of myself that often I write about in my video game section. Yet Iwant to take a moment and explain that mortal kombat has always been an odd part of my life that has levels to it. Yes it’s a video game, a movie, a television show, comic book and even how I discovered my love for music. It’s been in the background of my life since forever. So let me explain the how and the why…
First of all my family has in the past had it’s ups and it’s downs. All families do and really my part in what happened was as a 9 year old kid. We moved rather fast from New York to Ocala, Florida and at the time I knew why but I couldn’t really understand it until many many years later. However back than I will start by saying I was “still kinda am” a Nintendo kid.
Yes originally I wanted Sonic over Mario but having an older sibling with a better understanding cattered to our first SNES and I fell in love. Castlevania iv, contra 3, street fighter 2, zelda 3, Mario kart, Mario paint, final fantasy 2, doom and even star fox all put me into my own little world. I was addicted but it was more the lore outside of all that I wanted to cater to the most. I love the styles of the villains, ya King Bowser, Dracula, Ganon, Red Falcon and so on. It was all amazing to me and the appeal was interesting.
My brother introduced me to mortal kombat and it was my sister who bought him it on Christmas. I was still more interested in street fighter 2 because the characters had more appeal to me. Thinking back while I love the Arcade version it wasn’t until later I had any interest in the game. It slowly happened not the characters on the main roster but the secrets and the mystery behind it that struck a cord with me. Lore thru magazines about things being hidden in video games made for the perfect storm of intrigue.
For weeks I tried different variations on how to play games. Pushing on walls, shooting things I didn’t think to shoot, learning to look outside the box. Taking cheat codes and learning that some could be layered for odd outcomes. All of this was the result of preforming two flawless victories and a Fatality or on snes Finishing Bonus on the pit stage in order to find a green Ninja named Reptile. It was amazing and mind blowing to me that something could be hidden IF you could look in the correct order.
I found two secret paths in star fox, one hidden room in Zelda, hidden paths in castlevania and countless codes. Later mortal kombat 2 would be released and it would open more doors. Lore I actually fell in love with. Stories that would spread rumors on things that eventually became real. The one thing mortal kombat did better than any of the games was hide stuff for people to find and double down on it with each release.
Eventually a film would be released, and a comic book series. The soundtrack alone introduced to me to music like fear factory, type o negative, kmfdm, scooter, and so many others. It would introduce me to a path of music that I had to hunt down because the radio didn’t play any of it. Opening more doors to my personality. At 38 years old my mother and I went to get tattoos and of course I made the decision to get the mk logo on my left arm. It’s in my blood now. Hell recently my father and I went to see the Mortal Kombat 2 film at a first showing on a Thursday and had a great time.
The impact is real and it continues to follow me every place I go.