Mortal Kombat = Enter the Dragon

Kung Pao

BANALITY
Let's face it, Boon and Tobias ripped off the coolest movie of all time and added a bunch of badass over the top elements in order to make the best fighting game(s) ever. They could never acknowledge the film's heavy contribution due to the royalties they'd need to pay. Let us examine.

Liu Kang = Lee, Shaolin monk and lawful good Mary Sue protagonist, shirtless in black pants

Johnny Cage = Roper, fast-living karate expert and smartmouth

Kurtis Stryker = Williams, African American military man who lives for the fight

Kano = O'Hara, mutilated-in-one-eye, wildhaired criminal gang leader and unarmed combatant

Shang Tsung = Han, holder of an island tournament with a sinister purpose and wielder of mystical abilities

Goro = Bolo, number one buttkicking extremely large tournament champion and right-hand man

Discuss.
 
I never realized the similarities outside of liu kang looking like bruce lee but thats pretty cool. They wanted to do Jean claude van damme the game and had already started work but that didnt work out so Jean Claude became Johnny Cage and they began making MK based on their favorite Kung fu flicks. Another thing Raiden is just like that dude out of big trouble in little china that old 80s kurt russell movie good flick.
 
I actually remember one of the tag lines for the MK movie being something to the effect of "It's 'Enter the Dragon' meets 'Star Wars'". But yeah, the influence is pretty obvious to anyone who ever saw "Enter the Dragon". As well as all the other movies that influenced the series. "Big Trouble in Little China" (Raiden), "Bloodsport" (Johnny Cage), "The Terminator" (Kano), "Predator" (the cyborg ninjas), "The Addams Family" (Quan Chi). OK, well, maybe not "The Addams Family".
 
Lol. I actually discussed this with my brother when they showed the movie on tv recently. We didn't compare the characters though. And we always say their inspiration stems from exploitation and old martial arts flicks.
 
Enter the dragon+Big trouble in little china= Mortal kombat. The inspiration had to come from somewhere right? I'm glad they blatantly ripped those movies off :)
 
Where'd that Predator and Quan Chi reference come from, I don't think those were in mind for the first game. If we're going to be anachronistic let's be accurate and suggest that they may in fact have gotten the idea for Predator-based fighting game characters from Fulgore.
 
Where'd that Predator and Quan Chi reference come from, I don't think those were in mind for the first game. If we're going to be anachronistic let's be accurate and suggest that they may in fact have gotten the idea for Predator-based fighting game characters from Fulgore.

I was speaking about the series in general, not just MK1 specifically. While it's possible they may have got the idea for the Predator-based fighting game characters from Fulgore, that's kinda like saying that Super Street Fighter II got the idea for Fei Long from Liu Kang. Both are partially based off the same source material. The Quan Chi thing was a joke though. 90's gaming mags made a habit of referring to him as an Uncle Fester lookalike.
 
Yes but then we'd have to confront another anachronism and face the fact that Super Street Fighter II came out after the debut of Liu Kang. Best to accept the fact that we both know we're being absurd and our avatars are both best monackled. To advance the discussion though, do you remember all the references in the magazines to Fei Long being a Liu Kang clone?
 
Where'd that Predator and Quan Chi reference come from, I don't think those were in mind for the first game. If we're going to be anachronistic let's be accurate and suggest that they may in fact have gotten the idea for Predator-based fighting game characters from Fulgore.

I don't know about Quan Chi, but concerning predator it's obvious IMO. The first predator was released in 1987, before MK 1

pred.jpg
 
To advance the discussion though, do you remember all the references in the magazines to Fei Long being a Liu Kang clone?

Oh sure, and shortly thereafter, Law being being a Fei Long clone. To me though, Fei Long = Bruce Lee the actor, while Liu Kang = Lee from "Enter the Dragon".
 
MK1 was combination of Enter the Dragon, Bloodsport and Big Trouble in Little China.

Shang Tsung held a tournament to find the best fighter in the world with the idea to take their soul. Just like Han in Enter the Dragon held a tournament to find recruits for his smuggling operation.

Johnny Cage was modeled after Jean-Claude Van Damme and Raiden after the lightning guy in Big Trouble.

This is what made MK1 endearing to me. It was a simple story that could be a Kung Fu B-Movie. When they introduced Outworld and made Raiden a goodie-two shoes who protected Earth instead of a pyscho that blew up heads, I thought the series went downhill.

I guess the story had to evolve to keep things interesting but I liked the simplicity and personality of the original fighters instead of the Sci-fi direction they ended up taking.
 
yeah some friends and i said this the other day at work talking about video games, i know working with people that you grew up with brings up all kinds of conversations.... like remember that time....lol
 
I don't know about Quan Chi, but concerning predator it's obvious IMO. The first predator was released in 1987, before MK 1
Was just pointing out that in addition to not relating to MKI, the Predator-as-fighter concept wasn't new at its MKIII inception.
 
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