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October 8th, 2016 
Carl Williams 
Where were you on October 8th in 1992? More than likely, if you were an arcade gamer, you were amongst other fans crowded around this new one on one fighting game called Mortal Kombat. What set Mortal Kombat apart from the competition? What made gamers HAVE to put in quarters to be the next one to discover the secret “finishing move”? Digitized graphics certainly helped but also the fact that maybe Street Fighter II was not everyone’s cup of tea. The biggest draw I remember from back then for this game was definitely the finishing moves. What was memorable for you?
My early exposure to Mortal Kombat
I was more of a lurker when Midway’s fighter hit the scene. It was clear there were various moves accomplished by button combinations with joystick motions. I was a fan of Street Fighter II and Mortal Kombat was just so different. I was also stringent with my money – knowing that in arcades the fun only lasted as long as you had quarters in your pocket.
Digitized graphics set the bar high
The direction Midway went was just so different from what else was available. Sure, we had already seen Pit Fighter (not impressed) but this was different, this was taking Street Fighter (king of the arcades at the time) head on – even though the floors did not have any line scrolls to them. Mortal Kombat brought digitized graphics that worked and some interesting voice samples. The bellowing “FINISH HIM” could be heard around the arcade room.
Marketing mattered
While not perfect, Mortal Kombat did some things right such as marketing. The word of mouth that was generated by fans discussing fatalities and how to do them worked in Midway’s favor. Sure there were flaws but they were easily overlooked at the time due to the uniqueness of the proceedings (even Street Fighter II is not perfect guys).
What was your favorite character to play with? I preferred Sub-Zero and that freeze shot of his.
Mortal Kombat has seen a ton of releases across many platforms, eBay and Amazon have most of them available – even a few surprises.
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Oh my $hit….!.!.!. I loved this game in the arcade! I remember going to the cheep dollar show here in MI when I was like 12-13 and seeing this game for the first time. Either that or the “Tilt” arcade in lakeside mall I can’t remember which one it was at first. Only using motions for the controls that I knew from street fighter I was freezing fools with Sub Zero. Never knew it was going to blow up so massively at the time even though it was in one of its own classes. That and primal rage around that time I believe.