25 years. That is how long it has been since the release of Mortal Kombat, the unforgettable fighting classic that captivated young people and scandalized both parents and politicians. One technical detail that immediately set Mortal Kombat apart from the rest was the use of motion capture. On more than one occasion, short clips showing the original actors participating in capture sessions have surfaced, but this time we have nearly an hour of video in more than acceptable quality for the era.
A franchise that changed gaming
Counting the games of the initial saga, remakes, spin-offs and other special editions, the total number of titles under the Mortal Kombat franchise amounts to 22. The last of them is Mortal Kombat XL, which saw the light in March 2016. We have no idea what the future holds for Earthrealm and its allies, but what we can do is explore its past, and nothing better than returning to the source. Mortal Kombat stormed the arcades in 1992, and from there everything changed. Its irruption into the market caused so much noise that even the United States Senate intervened, leading to the creation of the Entertainment Software Rating Board in 1994. However, one particular reason we remember the first Mortal Kombat very well is the motion capture.
Inside the motion capture sessions
No, these are not animated GIFs or videos lasting a couple of seconds. What we have here are extended capture sessions in which the development team tries to obtain historic moves such as the uppercut, the blocks, and the gestures when taking damage. The process was tedious, demanding multiple takes with minimal corrections between one and another, but in no case we noticed frustration or annoyance on the part of the actors. One of the most important moments appears near the eight-minute mark in the Scorpion video, when Ed Boon suggests that he should have a special move, based on "a rope and an arrow or whatever"... and we already know what that became.
Several of the videos were uploaded by the YouTube channel "Arquivo Mortal Kombat", where you will find extra material of all kinds, including live-action commercials, live interviews by Fox network with players and parents about the "Mortal Kombat scandal", soundtracks, some "behind the scenes" belonging to the movie, and much more. It is definitely worth a look, whether you are a fan of the saga or not.
