Press Gang and Lock Stock for me. We never got Gamesmaster in Australia, we had our own utterly embarrassing 90s gaming TV shows.
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DF Retro: Mortal Kombat - The Legend, The Arcade Tech, The Console Ports
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I uploaded another tidbit that wasn't in the episode itself but I subbed this clip for John waaaayyyy back when the idea first was presented to make a full MK retrospective (and man back then we figured we'd do 1-2-3 in one episode!!).
In Norway, Mortal Kombat's nordic release was promoted via the quite horrid sitcom Mot I Brøstet, which featured 3 grown men living together acting like children most of the time. One of the episodes features a subplot of Henry (played by legendary Norwegian comedian Arve Opsahl) wanting to beat the younger crew at Nintendo. He does this by getting up at night practicing games. As you can see in the clip, he is fully decked from head to toe in Nintendo garb.
The original clip is much longer (I only uploaded the MK portion), and the credits of the episode shows Unsaco provided all Nintendo related material to the show. Unsaco is the official Nintendo publisher in Norway.
In Norway, Mortal Kombat's nordic release was promoted via the quite horrid sitcom Mot I Brøstet, which featured 3 grown men living together acting like children most of the time. One of the episodes features a subplot of Henry (played by legendary Norwegian comedian Arve Opsahl) wanting to beat the younger crew at Nintendo. He does this by getting up at night practicing games. As you can see in the clip, he is fully decked from head to toe in Nintendo garb.
The original clip is much longer (I only uploaded the MK portion), and the credits of the episode shows Unsaco provided all Nintendo related material to the show. Unsaco is the official Nintendo publisher in Norway.
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That video was..certainly something lol. And yeah I was hoping to see MK2 and 3 in this but perhaps John will be nice enough to do a 'part 2' with MK2, 3, UMK3.
I remember discovering how to trigger audio glitch with the Genesis version on accident where the sound test would play random sounds for a minute. Can't remember how to do it anymore.
My brother went to the console launch of MK in Australia, it was a public thing and I think he spoke someone from Sega there who gave him the blood code. So we had it on launch day! Also vividly recall the special moves (and blood code) being written down on the crappy blue foldout "manual" :/
I love how I keep running into you in these threads ;)
I would love to see if there's a way to compile/convert the Sega CD version into a cartridge format, including the voice samples and attract mode "FMV". Keep the music from the cart version though 8)
It really did work pretty well, but I do recall having the 6 button shortly after the game came out, if not at launch (if it was available). But in 2P games I never felt hamstrung by playing with the 3B pad.
I love how I keep running into you in these threads ;)
Yup great episode.
I wonder if a df retro episode on earthworm jim would be good. Back then my friends kept telling me the snes version was better than the genesis.
They were wrong...
You take that back. The Zone was a national treasure!
Edit: I don't know if Audi shared the whole thread here already or just the above tweet, but this whole thread is wonderful:
Thank you so much to Dark1x and Audi for such an incredible episode, all interesting information and legit surprised about how much stuff I didn't know about the series!
If I can share a tidbit or two that some people might not find interesting, about the background of the arcade game:
The two kids in that poster are Josh and Zach Sharpe. Not exactly well known in the realm of video/arcade games, but their father is Roger Sharpe, most famously known as "The man who saved pinball". Prior to working at Williams in charge of licensing (and Bally/Midway, I think) he designed some of his own pinball machines. Josh is now CFO at Raw Thrills (arcade company founded by Eugene Jarvis, creator of Robotron) and Zach is head of marketing at Stern Pinball.
Famed pinball designer Steve Ritchie was instrumental in the game's name, suggesting spelling combat with a "k". He also voiced Shao Kahn in MK2 and I think MK3.
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Great video! I thought Mortal Kombat would have way more ports to newer systems like PS4, Xbox One, and Switch. Another port that comes to mind that was recently released is the Mortal Kombat Arcade1Up Cabinet that includes Mortal Kombat. I am curious how that version compares to the other ports.
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You take that back. The Zone was a national treasure!
Edit: I don't know if Audi shared the whole thread here already or just the above tweet, but this whole thread is wonderful:
Thank you so much to Dark1x and Audi for such an incredible episode, all interesting information and legit surprised about how much stuff I didn't know about the series!
If I can share a tidbit or two that some people might not find interesting, about the background of the arcade game:
The two kids in that poster are Josh and Zach Sharpe. Not exactly well known in the realm of video/arcade games, but their father is Roger Sharpe, most famously known as "The man who saved pinball". Prior to working at Williams in charge of licensing (and Bally/Midway, I think) he designed some of his own pinball machines. Josh is now CFO at Raw Thrills (arcade company founded by Eugene Jarvis, creator of Robotron) and Zach is head of marketing at Stern Pinball.
Famed pinball designer Steve Ritchie was instrumental in the game's name, suggesting spelling combat with a "k". He also voiced Shao Kahn in MK2 and I think MK3.
Ha, good stuff..and I had always just assumed it was Boon's idea to spell 'Kombat' with a K, interesting that it was the pinball guy.
There was a lot of cross-pollination at Midway/Williams etc. Sound guy Dan Forden (Toasty!) worked on both Mortal Kombat and a large number of pinball titles, and Boon himself was the voice of Rudy in the Funhouse pinball machine:
I always loved the look the sprites in the original Mortal Kombat. I thought they had a "photorealistic" quality that was somewhat lost in the sequels (MK2 looked more cartoony, at least in my memory).
This episode of DF made me wonder how a modern game using rotoscoped sprites from real footage might look, and if that might be a worthwhile thing to explore.
This episode of DF made me wonder how a modern game using rotoscoped sprites from real footage might look, and if that might be a worthwhile thing to explore.
Fantastic episode. I was particularly fascinated by the Game Gear version.
The Sega CD version made me wonder about something. It sounded like that version is not actually using any extra hardware features except for the CD audio. Made me wonder if someone could hack up a Mega Drive version out of it with the CD audio ripped out. To basically create a better version without load times.
I'd also second the earlier sentiment of getting into Virtua Fighter with DF Retro.
The Sega CD version made me wonder about something. It sounded like that version is not actually using any extra hardware features except for the CD audio. Made me wonder if someone could hack up a Mega Drive version out of it with the CD audio ripped out. To basically create a better version without load times.
I'd also second the earlier sentiment of getting into Virtua Fighter with DF Retro.
I honestly don't think so. Sega CD hardware added an enhanced color palette which we know was used in this port, as well as sprite scaling capabilities which might also have been used. It wouldn't be a straight port with redbook audio.
The Sega CD version was my first one I owned back in the 90s. Such a good port. Bummed to hear about the Other Ocean version being so bad, I just picked up a PC key of the Arcade Kollection for $2.50 and removed GFWL support to get it to work. It might have not passed the DF test but it seemed to be okay by my standards.
Not that I expect there to be much in the way of differences between them, but it just seemed odd to me to be so inclusive of at least mentioning other ports on concurrent generational hardware, and not mention that the included port in MK Deception wasn't just available on the PS2. It also was released on the Xbox, though only in the "Kollector's Editions". At least, that's what's included in my Mileena variant.
I forgot about the color palette. Then it probably wouldn't work. I guess I mostly wonder if the improved animations would work in the normal Mega Drive or if some SEGA CD trickery is going on there.
My theory, based on things the developers have said, is that they were working on a compression system which would be used in Mortal Kombat II but was not ready for the MK1 port. My guess is that this was ready to use in the Sega CD version and was implemented.
Also, the Genesis cart was pretty small I think so there were probably cuts there as well.
Yeah, this is kind of the fault of the production cycle. I finished the last 10 minutes super late on Saturday night after working six days in a row and, by that point, I had a feeling I would miss things. I wasn't clear if it was available in the Xbox version.
Ah, I see. Thanks for the response.
If you ever get around to looking at MK2 it will be quite interesting I think.
No harm, no foul. Even with the infrequent silly minutiae like this, DF Retro is still one of the best things on the Internet. Keep up the great work.
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Yeah I actually remember seeing that pinball machine, man I miss the golden era of Williams/Midway. Everything they did, be it pinball or arcade games was 90's over the top attention grabbing stuff, I loved it.There was a lot of cross-pollination at Midway/Williams etc. Sound guy Dan Forden (Toasty!) worked on both Mortal Kombat and a large number of pinball titles, and Boon himself was the voice of Rudy in the Funhouse pinball machine:
Say, was there any truth to NEC or Turbo Technologies or whatever courting a TG16 port back in the day?
I'd like to know this too. The Turbo could probably do an OK version as it has a nice color palette. Though...it might be tough on a Hucard unless they took the SF2 route.
Man that brought back memories, I played the hell out of the Game gear version of MK1, the best part about that game is that there is a blood code for it as well (2,1,2 down, up.... Now entering kombat!). I even played the hell out of the game boy version, that one was unique because you could actually play the game as Goro, something the other home version of the games didn't allow, also it would change the names of the characters, I think shang tsung was renamed eddie (Up, left, select, A (press all of the buttons at the same time after you see the end)after you beat the game).
I am surprised that they didn't mention how MK SegaCD played somewhat different. In that version you could chain/juggle a Scorpion jump kick into a spear-throw, which made him pretty ridiculously powerful. I am kinda curious if the gameplay/physics got altered in other ways.
The SegaCD version really does not look as good as I remember -- it really just seems like the Genesis version with better audio.
The SegaCD version really does not look as good as I remember -- it really just seems like the Genesis version with better audio.
The animation is hugely improved, though. Night and day. Plus, Goro's Lair looks good on Sega CD and ugly on Genesis. It's not a massive upgrade overall but it's much more refined, I think.
I wonder what you think of what I talked about in my thread regarding a modern digitization technique for mortal Kombat 12
I think a return to real people, real actors, real costumes. (there's also a movie coming up.......if it's quality and overseen in any way by NRS why not use them), real would be a great differentiation in the modern age.
A next gen MK 12, with ReEngine + / Fox Engine + / Decima engine + style Photogrammetic details.
And now that John Tobias appears to have returned to the fold... What better time to make MK tangible.
I think a return to real people, real actors, real costumes. (there's also a movie coming up.......if it's quality and overseen in any way by NRS why not use them), real would be a great differentiation in the modern age.
A next gen MK 12, with ReEngine + / Fox Engine + / Decima engine + style Photogrammetic details.
And now that John Tobias appears to have returned to the fold... What better time to make MK tangible.
Great video, but it irked me how he realized he'd been pronouncing "Pesina" wrong 15 minutes into the video and just left the wrong one untouched instead of re-recording those bits.
But I'm sure you were told that in your thread already.
MK has dozens of unlockable costumes for each character. You can't do that with digitized actors.
But I'm sure you were told that in your thread already.
Wow, I didn't even realize this. It's amazing how things slip by even when you think you've caught it all.
That might actually be down to the fact that the voice over was recorded in 10 different chunks on different days. So, someone, it never clicked that I got it wrong earlier. Must have heard it in another video and just naturally changed pronunciation?
Great video! There's something about the original's art design that aged better for me than the sequels.
MK 11 sold 10 million plus copies, I'm sure they could find a way, to make make multiple costumes, they certainly have the money.
And they don't need to hit the overkill of MK 11's wardrobe.
It really could have done with a strong edit, there was a lot of stuff that barely looked different from each other.
To be fair though, I met Pesina twice in real life and he's said his name in 2 different ways!
That was a seriously good video.
They all are, TBH. I feel bad for not having subscribed earlier.
They all are, TBH. I feel bad for not having subscribed earlier.
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I said this in that other thread, I think if you go with a real people digitized art direction it's a really big risk. I actually would I'd love to see it done on next gen with the graphics tech we have now..but man to me it's either gonna look fantastic or awful..there's no in between with that method.
Can I just say thanks to Dark1x for making this video? I loved it so much, for a variety of reasons. First, it's OG MK. Second, it's such a product of its time, I love the nostalgia of it. That early 90s time period is fast becoming my new favorite, because it has such a mix of old and new. Hard to describe, but 70s and 80s just seemed...old. 90s had a lot of invention, innovation, optimism and edge. It's old but some aspects still feel fresh.
The other thing, MK although such a product of its time is still super relevant today. It's really cool to see MK11 on top of the sales charts, getting great critical reception to boot. And with the new live-action and animated movies coming up, it's a pretty great time.
Hope you get to MK II!
The other thing, MK although such a product of its time is still super relevant today. It's really cool to see MK11 on top of the sales charts, getting great critical reception to boot. And with the new live-action and animated movies coming up, it's a pretty great time.
Hope you get to MK II!