While searching through the collaborations of my favorite two beatboxers (Daichi and Hikakin), I was transported back to my college days at their rendition of the Mortal Kombat theme song. My roommates and I would spend hours playing this game on our Nintendo 64 just waiting for the opportune time to show off the new "Fatalaty" we had learned from some other fan or an article we read in an issue of Nintendo Power. Remember, you couldn't just search the finishing move combos on the web (since it didn't exist). Everybody seemed to know 1 or 2 for most of the characters, but there seemed to always be more hidden; just waiting for someone to figure it out and be the ultimate MK master.
Since the web does exist now, just a few clicks brought me to dozens of videos showing all Fatalities for all characters of the most recent version: MK9. I spent 15 minutes watching through them, and I was conflicted. Part of me was truly impressed by both the creativity and graphic realism shown in each death sequence. The other part of me was disgusted with the gratuitous violence and needless gore. I don't think I would want my children playing this game, and yet I absolutely loved versions 1-3 from my younger days. And half the fun, I admit, was getting to the finishing moves. Now, they weren't as realistic, but they were just as graphic, with characters ripping off body parts, impaling their opponents on spikes and swords, and exploding blood and bones across the screen. I have always been a peaceful person, but I genuinely wanted to see Kung Lao take off his saw blade hat and split Sub Zero right down the middle.
In any case, as I contemplated the moral philosophy behind this phenomenon, I was reminded of something that has been left out of more recent versions of MK that I find a real shame. In MK3, in particular, in addition to 3 fatalities for each character (including the "stage uppercut fatality"), they also included Animalities, Babalities, and Friendships where the character when prompted with "Finish Him" had the option of turning into his or her spirit animal, changing their opponent into a baby version of him or herself, or making a silly gesture of friendship. Again, I was rewound back 20+ years to picture my friends getting annoyed that I just made Liu Kang make shadow puppets on the wall instead of setting Raiden on fire and watching his bones crumble beneath the flames (although I do admit that another one of my Liu Kang favs was crushing my opponent with a falling MK arcade cabinet).
My point is that I was inclined to use the non/less violent finishing sequences to counter the video game violence even as I was drawn in by it. I'm not sure exactly what that means, but I can only hope that my boys will have similar inclinations as they grow older and will no doubt be faced with similar situations.
Below: a video of ALL the finishing moves from MK3! Which one is your favorite?
Since the web does exist now, just a few clicks brought me to dozens of videos showing all Fatalities for all characters of the most recent version: MK9. I spent 15 minutes watching through them, and I was conflicted. Part of me was truly impressed by both the creativity and graphic realism shown in each death sequence. The other part of me was disgusted with the gratuitous violence and needless gore. I don't think I would want my children playing this game, and yet I absolutely loved versions 1-3 from my younger days. And half the fun, I admit, was getting to the finishing moves. Now, they weren't as realistic, but they were just as graphic, with characters ripping off body parts, impaling their opponents on spikes and swords, and exploding blood and bones across the screen. I have always been a peaceful person, but I genuinely wanted to see Kung Lao take off his saw blade hat and split Sub Zero right down the middle.
In any case, as I contemplated the moral philosophy behind this phenomenon, I was reminded of something that has been left out of more recent versions of MK that I find a real shame. In MK3, in particular, in addition to 3 fatalities for each character (including the "stage uppercut fatality"), they also included Animalities, Babalities, and Friendships where the character when prompted with "Finish Him" had the option of turning into his or her spirit animal, changing their opponent into a baby version of him or herself, or making a silly gesture of friendship. Again, I was rewound back 20+ years to picture my friends getting annoyed that I just made Liu Kang make shadow puppets on the wall instead of setting Raiden on fire and watching his bones crumble beneath the flames (although I do admit that another one of my Liu Kang favs was crushing my opponent with a falling MK arcade cabinet).
My point is that I was inclined to use the non/less violent finishing sequences to counter the video game violence even as I was drawn in by it. I'm not sure exactly what that means, but I can only hope that my boys will have similar inclinations as they grow older and will no doubt be faced with similar situations.
Below: a video of ALL the finishing moves from MK3! Which one is your favorite?
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