Hi guys I am new here and for my first post I thought I would tell you the story of my introduction for Mortal Kombat.
Mortal Kombat memoirs of a gamer
Growing up as I did in the 80’s/90’s games were a huge huge part of my childhood. My friends and I were huge StreetFighter 2 fans and my best friend had a copy of it for the Super Nintendo. We played the hell out of that game. It was a fun game that was great to play with your friends. At my school at lunch time you were able to go into the town to get something to eat which most of the students did. There was a video store called good news video which had a StreetFighter II arcade machine this was usually pretty busy there was most of the time 2 guys at the machine and a line of about 10 people waiting for there turn. I was one of the top players along with 2 other guys called Paul Lamberton and a guy named Gareth who apart from our games of StreetFighter had nothing else to do with each other at school. Gareth was the top dog with myself an Paul fighting for 2nd spot each of us would occasional knock Gareth of the top but he would always be back. One particular day it was quiet at Good News Video and one of my friends Scoot came in and said they have this new game at a chip shop called Lebos. Lebos was one of the most popular places for the kids to get there lunch at my school. Scott said it was like Street Fighter but was even better and everyone was playing it.
Lebos was pretty much across the road from good news video and Scott was not kidding the place was packed. There had to have been about 30 people there just for the game as well as the people buying there lunch. Lebos was busy most of the time but this was crazy we couldn’t even get in it was that busy. I was amazed by MK that day without even playing it all I could see was people playing it through the window but that was not what caught my eye. I was and still am a huge Van Damme fan and the guy on the side of the cabinet looked just like him one of my friends was convinced it was him I wasn’t so sure but there was some part of me that hoped it was. Unfortunately we all had to get back to school so we decided to head back now and tomorrow at lunch time we would run as soon as the bell go’s straight to lebos for our first taste of Mortal Kombat
So the next day while on the bus to school we decided that we would wait till each of us got to the front of the school and then make our way down for some Mortal Kombat. A great concern my friend Scott Simpson who was in drama class before lunch the problem here was it was at the very far end of the school so me made sure he knew he had to hurry his ass up which he did. When we got to Lebos we were shocked that there was already a pretty big line. There were 3 of us Scott Steven and my self. Steven and I waited in line for MK while Scott went and got lunch. I could not wait for my turn people were cheering and shouting at the game screen. It was weird how excited for a game I was considering I never really knew anything about it just what me and my friends had imagined it would be.
It was finally my turn I step up with my 50 pence to play the game my opponent was a guy who was probably in 5th or 6th year at school so he would have been about 16 or 17. I put my money in and was blown away at how real the people looked. I picked Jonny Cage of course my opponent Sub Zero. To say I got my ass handed to me was a bit of a understatement the guy I was playing turns out was already somewhat of a expert and he just kept freezing then uppercutting me. I did however manage to get a uppercut in of my own and though it was so cool 2nd round I again got beaten without getting much offence in and when I was hit for the final; time and my opponent was told to finish me I was franticly hitting all the buttons hopeful I could get out of the daze then it happened. He ripped my damn head off I have to be honest here at first I didn’t even notice the blood while I was playing the game I was just so focused on the fight.
I could not believe what I had just seen. I asked the guy how he did it but he obviously could not be bothered with a kid and just said it was a secret. Steven who was up next saw what happened to me and picked Sub Zero hoping he could do to the older kid what he had done to me but while he did a bit better than I did the end result was the same he got his head ripped off. So that was our first taste of Mortal Kombat and while I really did not get to experience much I loved it. Unfortunately Lebos was busy and the line as always was huge so that was the only game I got to play that lunch time but we went back every day for the next few weeks perhaps longer. I eventually got pretty good at the game with my chosen guy being Jonny Cage. A local newsagents had a magazine that had a MK guide in it and rather than buy the magazine we went in with a pen and bit of paper and wrote down some special moves and fatalities.
I asked the guy at our local game store if Mortal Kombat was ever coming out for the Super Nintendo. He said yes it was but for some reason kept telling me the Amiga version would be best. As a kid I had it made with the MK home versions I and Steven had it for the SNES and a couple of other friends had the Mega Drive version another buddy had the Amiga version and my cousin even had it on the Master System. The only time our MK sessions were interrupted were by school................... yeah right Ben Linge had it for the old Game Boy and while he would never let any one else play it there was usually at least 5 of us round him to watch. I don’t know if it was because it was the version that I had but I preferred the Super Nintendo even without the blood and fatalities. Now I appreciate the Mega Drive version but at the time it was always the Super Nintendo I preferred. I remember the cheat codes for the Mega Drive version which made it easier to fight Reptile something I only managed a couple of times on the Super Nintendo. While I still loved Street Fighter thee was just something special about Mortal Kombat each character had more of an identity than they did in Street Fighter. And over time Mortal Kombat would become my favourite fighting series.
So that was it my memories of the first Mortal Kombat game hope you enjoyed it and that it did not put the sleeper hold on you guys.
Mortal Kombat memoirs of a gamer
Growing up as I did in the 80’s/90’s games were a huge huge part of my childhood. My friends and I were huge StreetFighter 2 fans and my best friend had a copy of it for the Super Nintendo. We played the hell out of that game. It was a fun game that was great to play with your friends. At my school at lunch time you were able to go into the town to get something to eat which most of the students did. There was a video store called good news video which had a StreetFighter II arcade machine this was usually pretty busy there was most of the time 2 guys at the machine and a line of about 10 people waiting for there turn. I was one of the top players along with 2 other guys called Paul Lamberton and a guy named Gareth who apart from our games of StreetFighter had nothing else to do with each other at school. Gareth was the top dog with myself an Paul fighting for 2nd spot each of us would occasional knock Gareth of the top but he would always be back. One particular day it was quiet at Good News Video and one of my friends Scoot came in and said they have this new game at a chip shop called Lebos. Lebos was one of the most popular places for the kids to get there lunch at my school. Scott said it was like Street Fighter but was even better and everyone was playing it.
Lebos was pretty much across the road from good news video and Scott was not kidding the place was packed. There had to have been about 30 people there just for the game as well as the people buying there lunch. Lebos was busy most of the time but this was crazy we couldn’t even get in it was that busy. I was amazed by MK that day without even playing it all I could see was people playing it through the window but that was not what caught my eye. I was and still am a huge Van Damme fan and the guy on the side of the cabinet looked just like him one of my friends was convinced it was him I wasn’t so sure but there was some part of me that hoped it was. Unfortunately we all had to get back to school so we decided to head back now and tomorrow at lunch time we would run as soon as the bell go’s straight to lebos for our first taste of Mortal Kombat
So the next day while on the bus to school we decided that we would wait till each of us got to the front of the school and then make our way down for some Mortal Kombat. A great concern my friend Scott Simpson who was in drama class before lunch the problem here was it was at the very far end of the school so me made sure he knew he had to hurry his ass up which he did. When we got to Lebos we were shocked that there was already a pretty big line. There were 3 of us Scott Steven and my self. Steven and I waited in line for MK while Scott went and got lunch. I could not wait for my turn people were cheering and shouting at the game screen. It was weird how excited for a game I was considering I never really knew anything about it just what me and my friends had imagined it would be.
It was finally my turn I step up with my 50 pence to play the game my opponent was a guy who was probably in 5th or 6th year at school so he would have been about 16 or 17. I put my money in and was blown away at how real the people looked. I picked Jonny Cage of course my opponent Sub Zero. To say I got my ass handed to me was a bit of a understatement the guy I was playing turns out was already somewhat of a expert and he just kept freezing then uppercutting me. I did however manage to get a uppercut in of my own and though it was so cool 2nd round I again got beaten without getting much offence in and when I was hit for the final; time and my opponent was told to finish me I was franticly hitting all the buttons hopeful I could get out of the daze then it happened. He ripped my damn head off I have to be honest here at first I didn’t even notice the blood while I was playing the game I was just so focused on the fight.
I could not believe what I had just seen. I asked the guy how he did it but he obviously could not be bothered with a kid and just said it was a secret. Steven who was up next saw what happened to me and picked Sub Zero hoping he could do to the older kid what he had done to me but while he did a bit better than I did the end result was the same he got his head ripped off. So that was our first taste of Mortal Kombat and while I really did not get to experience much I loved it. Unfortunately Lebos was busy and the line as always was huge so that was the only game I got to play that lunch time but we went back every day for the next few weeks perhaps longer. I eventually got pretty good at the game with my chosen guy being Jonny Cage. A local newsagents had a magazine that had a MK guide in it and rather than buy the magazine we went in with a pen and bit of paper and wrote down some special moves and fatalities.
I asked the guy at our local game store if Mortal Kombat was ever coming out for the Super Nintendo. He said yes it was but for some reason kept telling me the Amiga version would be best. As a kid I had it made with the MK home versions I and Steven had it for the SNES and a couple of other friends had the Mega Drive version another buddy had the Amiga version and my cousin even had it on the Master System. The only time our MK sessions were interrupted were by school................... yeah right Ben Linge had it for the old Game Boy and while he would never let any one else play it there was usually at least 5 of us round him to watch. I don’t know if it was because it was the version that I had but I preferred the Super Nintendo even without the blood and fatalities. Now I appreciate the Mega Drive version but at the time it was always the Super Nintendo I preferred. I remember the cheat codes for the Mega Drive version which made it easier to fight Reptile something I only managed a couple of times on the Super Nintendo. While I still loved Street Fighter thee was just something special about Mortal Kombat each character had more of an identity than they did in Street Fighter. And over time Mortal Kombat would become my favourite fighting series.
So that was it my memories of the first Mortal Kombat game hope you enjoyed it and that it did not put the sleeper hold on you guys.