History VideoGame / MortalKombat1

->''"Test Your Might."''
->''"Fatality."''
-->-- '''The announcer'''

->''"GET OVER HERE!"''
-->-- '''Scorpion'''

->Attention:
->''The imperial court of immortals invites warriors of all styles to compete in a tournament of Mortal Kombat.''
->''The contest will be held on the island fortress of Shang Tsung located in the center of the Lost Sea.''
->''Grand prize: Your Continued Existence''
-->--The PC port's AttractMode story screen.

** One funny thing is that one of the cleaned-up SNES Fatalites, which involved Sub-Zero breaking his opponent's body into pieces after freezing him, was pretty brutal anyway. It was turned into one of his Fatalities in the second game.

** In a Mirror Match, both characters have the same palette, only one looks slightly darker than thr other. The only character who had a true palette swap was Sonya.

** In the SNES port of the first game, Nintendo edited out all the blood, replacing it with an unidentifiable opalescent fluid (that the manual called "sweat"); most of the [[FinishingMove Fatalities]] were also toned down to various degrees to fit Nintendo's censorship policies.[[note]]Raiden's lightning bolt disintegrated the opponent instead of making their head explode; Sub-Zero froze and shattered the opponent instead of ripping their head off; Kano had the same animation as his arcade counterpart, but just clawed his opponent's chest instead of pulling out the opponent's heart; while Johnny now just sloooowly kicked the opponent and made them fall down. Knocking someone into the pit had them clearly fall between the spikes instead of onto them.[[/note]] The Genesis port was similarly Bowdlerized[[note]]in fact, some of its Fatalities were ''even more'' watered-down than the SNES version: Sub-Zero just does a normal uppercut and Raiden's lightning bolt just knocks the opponent down[[/note]], but one could unlock the violence (and original Fatalities) with a special code. Sales of the SNES version tanked and the Genesis version was a success, so when the second game was ported, the blood and carnage was left intact.

** The Pit stage fatality wasn't actually counted as a Fatality (unless you pulled it off using Liu Kang's fatality.) And for that matter, the stage fatality of this game not requiring a character-specific button combo to perform.

* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: The only game in the series to have a score system.

* {{Mondegreen}}: Whatever Raiden is saying when he does his "Superman" move is anyone's guess.

* Mondegreen: Whatever Raiden is saying when he does his "Superman" move is anyone's guess.

* {{Bowdlerise}}: In the SNES port of the first game, Nintendo edited out all the blood, replacing it with an unidentifiable opalescent fluid ([[strike:sawdust]] sweat); the [[FinishingMove Fatalities]] were also toned down considerably to fit Nintendo's censorship policies. The Genesis port was similarly Bowdlerized, but one could unlock the violence with a special code. Sales of the SNES version tanked and the Genesis version was a success, so when the second game was ported, the blood and carnage was left intact.
** One funny thing is that one of the cleaned-up Fatalites, which involved Sub-Zero breaking his opponent's body into pieces after freezing him, was pretty brutal anyway. It was turned into one of his Fatalities in the second game.

* BloodierAndGorier: Compared to the more family-friendly games that then dominated the market.

* MirrorMatch: TropeNamer. Shang Tsung makes an evil clone of your character after you defeat the other fighters in one-on-one combat.

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* ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice: The Pit contains the first example of a stage fatality.

'''''Mortal Kombat''''' is a FightingGame released in arcades in 1992; it was later ported to the Genesis and Super NES, amongst other gaming platforms.

* CompositeCharacter: Reptile, who combines Sub-Zero's and Scorpion's moveset into one character. His color scheme (green) was even based on the combination of blue and yellow. He would gain his own moveset and an actual backstory in ''MortalKombatII''.

The basic storyline of the game was similar to other fighting games at the time: Mortal Kombat is a Shaolin martial arts tournament which has been corrupted by its grandmaster. The competitors in this tournament -- ''[[BruceLeeClone Liu Kang]]'', a Shaolin monk; ''[[DeadpanSnarker Johnny Cage]]'', a Hollywood action film star; ''[[ActionGirl Sonya Blade]]'', a United States Special Forces agent; ''[[SmugSnake Kano]]'', a mercenary/killer-for-hire; ''[[TheMentor Raiden]]'', the God of Thunder; ''[[EnsembleDarkhorse Scorpion]]'', the reborn specter of a murdered ninja; and ''[[AnIcePerson Sub-Zero]]'', an assassin for the Lin Kuei ninja clan -- will fight each other for the right to face the grandmaster, EvilSorcerer ''[[BigBad Shang Tsung]]'', and his champion ''[[TheDragon Goro]]'' for the title of Mortal Kombat's [[DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment champion]].

The full story wasn't finalized until [[RetCanon after the film adaptation was made]] -- which turned the game's basic plot into something more complex. The Mortal Kombat tournament is a balancing device put in place by the Elder Gods; it acts as an "arbitrator" of sorts, giving realms with interests in another realm a chance to compete for the right to invade. Under the rules set forth by the Elder Gods, one realm must win ten consecutive Mortal Kombat tournaments in order to have the opportunity to invade another. Shang Tsung competed in -- and won -- the Mortal Kombat tournament generations prior, but was later dethroned by the Great Kung Lao, a high-ranking Shaolin monk. At the following tournament, Shang Tsung had a plan: he entered a four-armed monster from Outworld named [[MultiArmedAndDangerous Goro]] into the tournament. Goro proceeded to kill the Great Kung Lao, which allowed Shang Tsung to take control of the tournament. All of this was done at the command of Outworld's emperor, [[TheManBehindTheMan Shao Kahn]], who has plans for conquering Earthrealm. At the time of the events of the game, Shang Tsung has been overseeing the tournament for five hundred years, and Goro has won eight more consecutive tournaments (bringing the total to nine). The Mortal Kombat tournament depicted in this game is the tenth tournament Outworld must win before Shao Kahn gains passage to Earthrealm, which makes it the deciding battle: Earthrealm must defeat Goro and Shang Tsung or face destruction via Outworld's invasion.

''Mortal Kombat'' is known for being one of the ''most famous'' games to use digitized actors (the ''first'' was ''VideoGame/PitFighter''). The game also stood out at the time of its release due to the (semi-)realistic depictions of blood and violence -- especially with its infamous [[FinishingMove Fatalities]]. This is the only game in the series to use a score system. It also featured an Easter Egg in the form of a "bonus" battle: by meeting certain requirements, a player could face [[SecretCharacter Reptile]], a PaletteSwap of Scorpion and Sub-Zero who has a mix of both ninjas' powers.

!!This game provides examples of:

* {{Wuxia}}: Compared to the more FantasyKitchenSink elements of later games, this one most aesthetically resembles a Chinese martial arts movie. ''Film/EnterTheDragon'', to be exact. TheMovie runs with this, and is damn near a remake of said movie, albeit with magic and ninja included.

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* TitleScream: That theme song from the movie? [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SDOAZ3KAdyU Sega CD owners]] [[AdaptationDisplacement got an early taste of it]].

->'''Test Your Might'''
->'''Fatality'''
-->--''The announcer''

->'''GET OVER HERE!'''
-->--''Scorpion''

* WholePlotReference: The story features a shaolin monk competing alongside a colorful cast of other fighters in a martial arts tournament held by the BigBad, who is responsible for the death of the monk's sibling. Point for point, the basic story is modeled after Film/EnterTheDragon.
* {{Wuxia}}: Compared to the more FantasyKitchenSink elements of later games, this one most aesthetically resembles a Chinese martial arts movie. EnterTheDragon, to be exact. TheMovie runs with this, and is damn near a remake of said movie, albeit with magic and ninja included.

* ActingForTwo: Dan Pesina as Johnny Cage and the ninjas and Ho Sung Pak as Liu Kang and the elderly Shang Tsung (before they rejuvenated the character in ''[=MK2=]'').

''Mortal Kombat'' is known for being one of the ''most famous'' games to use digitized actors (the ''first'' was ''VideoGame/{{Pit-Fighter}}''). The game also stood out at the time of its release due to the (semi-)realistic depictions of blood and violence -- especially with its infamous [[FinishingMove Fatalities]]. This is the only game in the series to use a score system. It also featured an Easter Egg in the form of a "bonus" battle: by meeting certain requirements, a player could face [[SecretCharacter Reptile]], a PaletteSwap of Scorpion and Sub-Zero who has a mix of both ninjas' powers.

''Mortal Kombat'' is known for being one of the ''most famous'' games to use digitized actors (the ''first'' was ''VideoGame/{{Pit-Fighter}}''). The game also stood out at the time of its release due to the (semi-)realistic depictions of blood and violence -- especially with its infamous [[FinishingMove Fatalities]]. This is the only game in the series to used a score system. It also featured an Easter Egg in the form of a "bonus" battle: by meeting certain requirements, a player could face [[SecretCharacter Reptile]], a PaletteSwap of Scorpion and Sub-Zero who has a mix of both ninjas' powers.