This is, by far, the best soundtrack of all the games in MK series. Tense, tetric, weird time signatures, dark atmosphere. Wonderful

"Choose your fighter" is a masterpiece! 🧡🧡🧡

The first 2 MKs had a mix of dark fantasy and oriental inspired magic that was seemingly lost afterwards. I wish they could have maintained that, starting MK3 on wards it began to get too much into sci fi and its original asian inspired martial arts themes were lost.

Dan Forden its a monster composer

Mortal Kombat has to be one of the greatest games in the world in my opinion.

The courtyard song... just amazing

I was watching Bloodsport yesterday and i got all the vibes of this soundtrack... Mortal Kombat was originally supposed to be a Bloodsport videogame, but well, it never happened... And i'm happy for that.

This was the soundtrack to my 1992. I was a freshman in high school and the arcade at Brown University had an MK machine. I must have pumped $75-$100 into it that year.

Composed the hell out of those FINISH HIM/HER sequences. Lol

0:09 Goosebumps

Mk is great. I love it. Its part of nineties culture. The thing of its era. Long live, mk!

*Excellent!* *Forden WINS!* *FLAWLESS VICTORY*

You can clearly tell Dan either was watching a lot of Bloodsport while composing the music for Mortal Kombat, or this was Ed's vision (which is what I'm thinking the latter was more like it). I cannot believe it's been over 30 years since this game came out in the Arcades and this soundtrack aged like fine wine. I'm not just talking about sonically/musically wise, but I'm talking about just engineering (like mastering and mixing) and production wise. It sounds so good, clean and pleasing to hear. It sounds better than even most modern video game music that came out in the last 10 years. I can honestly say Dan Forden's mixing and mastering is much better than most of these audio engineers/music producers in mainstream music of today let alone his old music composition for the old MK games knocks a lot of music coming out today into the pits. Mortal Kombat's music isn't the same without Dan's musical touches. It just sounds like generic creepy cinematic music.

This is for all the diehard fans

I listen to this LOUD at 5:00 AM every morning to start my day .. My neighbors do too

I was less than six years old when I first saw this game in action and at first, it terrified me to see "actual people" being beheaded, spine ripped and so on, but as I kept watching the older kids playing this, I got a mix of terror and excitement while watching the fights. Sure, it looks "very old" to newer folk, but back then this was like "holy shit it's unreal".

Mortal Kombat Arcade machine had an FM chip like the mega drive.

29:36 when I get my university degree

Los que crecimos en Latinoamérica con estas instrumentales en las maquinitas, esta ingeniería musical es epica, Toluca México.

Brings back so many memories. These games were my life in high school. I would come home from school after having a rough day dealing with assholes and pop in this game and listen to Wu Tang Clan while chilling with my friends. No matter what day I had these games always cheered me up.

Still amazes me how much the Finish Him theme for Warrior's Shrine has going for it. Like you will never hear that much of it during normal gameplay but Dan put so much work into it.

Jesus the Warrior Shrine track seemed like it would never end.

Holy fuck, The Palace Gates "Finish Him" bit is a fucking journey.

I remember being 6 when this game dropped, and everybody was in uproar because they never seen anything like subzero ripping somebody’s head and spine off and out, not even in video games, just in general. Nowadays, people get mad if the fatalities aren’t gruesome or shocking enough. 😅

Player select theme is 🔥

Yoooooooo that joint startin at 3:00 smaaaacks!!😂. The courtyard

kids will never know the feeling of dropping quarters and having the whole arcade stop what theyre doing and watch people play MK with the theme BLASTING. when youre done theres about 20-30 people watching you play… it was insane. Mk was a game changer…,

Soon as the FATALITY part shows up, that's when the player knows that this title is a game changer.

THE game that dawned the ESRB. It was a very, very shocking game back in 1992 (even though it looks dated compared to recent games). But for this, every major franchise, such as Mario, Sonic, or Pokémon, all start somewhere, and this was a good beginning for Mortal Kombat. Such a DAMN shame Nintendo was scared at putting gore in the SNES version! The Genesis didn't quite match Super NES in graphics/sound, but at least it has the blood with the famous cheat (A, B, A, C, A, B, B), but I say do Down, Up, Left, Left, A, Right, Down for a better code.

This is one of those games where the more you play it, the more you wish you were friends with the creators.

THANKS TO ALL THOSE WHO WORK SO HARD TO KEEP THIS WONDERFUL GAME MK IN BUSINESS SINCE FIGHTING GAMES BECAME A LEGACY IN HOME ENT.

The original MK Trilogy still has the best soundtrack to this day.

Esse Dan Forden merecia uma estátua bicho, merece ser lembrado em todo jogo que lancarem do MK...essa trilha é uma das melhores que existem ora jogo. Eternamente gratos pelo seu trablaho Mr. Dan!

Seriously though I hear this and I’m 11 again pumping every quarter I can find into these machines

I came for The Courtyard 3:01 to be honest...

I just can’t get into the newer mk games, the first two are my go to mk games, I did enjoy ultimate mk3 but something about the first one and this music soundtrack while standing there waiting to play made me so freaking nervous hands sweaty like possible death was coming 😂

continue? and game over hit so hard ngl

I love the title screen music to mk 1

Man, there are some tracks in every game i would totally dig hearing renditioned with all the new Ableton, vsts, sound tones, synthesizers, orchestra sound banks, or in full orchestra

Dan Forden still the best.

this is the best fucking soundtrack to a fighting game period... nothing tops this

That ending at 27:53 sounds like death itself. Like... bruh it's over RIP.

The Continue Music always shredded me. So coooool. I remember being transfixed by the severed heads on the spikes as young boy at the Arcade. Definitely a far cry from Street Fighter and Mario World. Humans leveled up when this game released.

1:49 LMFAO that scared the hell outta me 😂

22:27 the first time I fought Goro, that tune made the whole moment unforgettably scary.

I do not remember the game over/continue music going so hard. Unreal.

The warrior's shrine extended mix is fantastic 🤘👌

We all missin our childhood times…

Nostalgia pura!

I was maybe only 5 when this game crashed into the arcades. All the adults and big kids were crazy about the game. The game was ALWAYS crowded, the violence, the characters, the music and story were the coolest thing at the time. And boy was this game nice and LOUD. Then when it came to Sega Genesis, the soundtrack was reworked and somehow given the special treatment for that hardware. All the kids around my age were totally crazy about memorizing the blood code and finding all the secrets. At that time the Genesis version was a really good port. One of the only arcade to home ports of a beefy fighting game besides street fighter 2 that was worth anything. So many memories.

Dan Forden the GOD!

This sounds so good. Kudos to you for getting what appears to be an exact source copy. The music played on the emulators and Arcade1Up machines is so overly compressed and doesn't sound that good. I had an original 25" dedicated MK1 cabinet back in the day and this sounds exactly as it did when played through its speakers. Great job!

Whoever is performing a fatality at the warrior's shrine is either taking ages to do their fatality, or they have such a long fatality that it takes about 17 minutes to kill their opponent

I first came across this game in the arcades watching a guy kicking ass as Sub Zero. I remember being blown away by the graphics (hey this was the 90s) but it was when I saw him rip Liu Kang's head off that I knew I'd fallen in love.

I've been listening my whole life to the 'choose your fighter' song, and I JUST realized that the Fsus2 is a sus 2 chord, and not a regular F chord.

Mk1 to mk9 was the best music era

This brings back 30 yo memories

8-Ball Arcade, Chino Hils, CA. I'd come in there when it opened at 10am, and the owner would dial up the volume to 100 and when 3:02 The Courtyard would come on the building shook with the bass....and every uppercut. Greatest fighting game in the history of fighting games!

Absolutely love blasting the intro to “The Pit”!! 17:30

The music from this game that lives in my head rent free, ESPECIALLY the fighter select and Pit and the pit finisher music. Oh yeah the courtyard too. Lol

daamnn thanks for uploading this.. got goosebumps

Que epoca de mi Generacion X

I was born in 89' my older sister had this on game gear, some of my earliest memories.

Nothing, nothing can compare to the OG Mortal Kombat!

Flawless Soundtrack!

They should really modernize this for the new movie's sequel, for when the tournament starts! 🐉

TIL that the Palace Gates has a whole crazy section i had never ever heard before and as a huge Dan Forden fan i am pleasantly surprised. Super upload! ❤

„Continue“ ❤❤❤

Back when videogames weren't souless.

This is one of those themes you can get in the first second hearing it if you are a fan

MK1 was on a whole different level than MK2, MK3 and beyond.

The original theme isn't really the original theme, this is!

Probably my favorite Game Over track in a video game.

Magnifico amigo!

One and Two got a real creepy soundtrack...

This should be in the new movie!

00:09 two seconds of epicness

Choose your fighter needs a comeback!!! I don’t know if it’s just me but man that song always had me pumped going into a fight!! 🥹🔥

3:00 thats the best one

The first one is wild

Damn this music takes me back

@26:52 When your washer machine goes into spin cycle.

Luuu keenn!!!

Takes me back. Holy fuck lol.

The Warrior Shrine is so underrated

This helps me take on projects and deadlines.

Very atmospheric soundtrack!

Pit Bottom / Throne Room is the best

Soy de 1983 tengo 37 años Amen

Memories Ever!!!!

Que increible ni los MK actuales tienen esta banda de sonido... una autentetica joya

Waves and waves of chills

The rest of the Warrior Shrine is just PUA PUA PUA PUA PUA PUA PUA PUA

Que massa. Até favoritei o vídeo.

The music for BlackKnight 2000 is my absolute favorite work of his. Hearing the music and future voice of Shao Khan taunting me from the speakers thrilled me as a kid! I still hope to own the actual pinball table one day. He is my favorite western arcade game composer to this day. As good as MK1’s OST is, he went all out on MK2’s IMO. Just heard Goro’s Lair again...man, serious vibes from Bride of Pin-Bot. The original trilogy had some of the best music I’ve ever heard. Dan Forden is the man!

The Palace Gates , I love it!

Mortal kombat 1 es un juegaso. Me acuerdo estar embobado mirando los arcade y hasta el sonido era hermoso los soundtrack eran épicos. Un juego de 10 solo le faltaba en ese momento más personajes que lo mejoraron en mk2 un lujo y hasta hoy un lujo.

Flawless victory!!

I listen to the game over on loop when doing voodoo

Very good