My favorite memory of Mortal Kombat was playing MK2 in a 7-11 with my buddies at 2am when the clerk (who had a computer and sold printouts of the special moves and fatalities to the neighborhood kids) came over and asked if we saw which way that guy went... we didn't know wtf he was talking about. Turns out the place got robbed at gunpoint just then, but we were so engrossed in the game we didn't notice!

I spent much of my childhood in Arcades and more specifically playing the Mortal Kombat games everyday. I could have bought multiple mk cabinets with all the quarters I dumped in as a child. The mystery surrounding the various secrets and fatalities were incredible and this was before the internet was everywhere so new info was passed on through word of mouth or by reading gaming magazines. One of the best feelings was pulling off a new fatality no one had seen yet with a huge group of kids huddled around the cabinet cheering you on and lining up quarters to go next. God damn I'm old.. But at least I got to experience all that first hand as it was happening in the early 90s. Truly a magical time.

The fact that this game is 30 now is what is "so real it hurts"

Ed Boon cites the old 80's computer game Barbarian/Death Sword as a huge influence on Mortal Kombat. So there had been some extreme violence in games before then. Decapitating an opponent and seeing the goblin kick the head was brutal for the mid-late 80's, C64 version of that was amazing for 8 bit.

I'll never forget first seeing the original Mortal Kombat arcade in the lobby of a movie theater as I was leaving. I stopped, walked over, and looked at it in amazement.

Speaking of the 1st MK in the arcades, those twangy synth sounds / the sountrack is instantly recognizable and it's what stood out to me as a kid. Being a popular quartermuncher, the operators must've turned up the enemy a.i all the way up, it was brutally hard so I enjoyed it mostly secondhand watching.

One of my favorite series of all time and a dominant recurring title in my collection including over 50 physical titles and several digital ones, too. First played at 8 years old, last played at 38.

MK2 is the first game I remember pre-ordering. I was going nuts for the arrival of the home port, eventually picking it up at Babbages and staying up late playing with my friends. It was so much fun as a kid.

Crazy Kitana's 10,030 years old. Bod doesnt look a day over 10,029.

We rented the arcade in my local mall for two hours before opening on my twelfth birthday. That was the first time I saw it. Awesome day

30 Years...Long Live MK.

Mortal Kombat Trilogy still my favorite in the series. I thought MK9 was extremely well done. Obviously MKII being close to my heart since that was one of the ones I played the most on my Genesis.

My favorite memory was playing MK4 on the n64. When I was a kid.

Pat you said it before but I don't think here, is that the game looked so violent to people when it came out in part because the characters were digitized from real people so when you ripped someones head off it looked almost like a real picture of a decapitation. Boy were they mad at this game back in the day lol

Mortal Kombat turning 30 makes me want to cry. I was a young teenager when MK came out. I had both MK for my genesis and snes because the snes didn't have blood. It's sad that super street fighter kept getting better with each release of the game

Pitfighter introduced me to the digitised graphics, saw Mortal Kombat, but only played the console version which got me interested. Then I got Mortal Kombat 2 for my SNES and bloody loved it. Nice change from my normal SF2 addiction.

Mortal Monday is immortalized in my mind...as is MK.

The first two MK's, particularly the second, had a top tier atmosphere for the time. Genuinely dark and foreboding in a way many other games tried to be but were not. Best story of any fighter as well, 1-8 were a great ride.

I love this podcast Ian so indifferent some times but when he's on he's on and pat gets so annoyed cause his ears are blown out genuinely annoyed keeps looking over lmaooo

Thanks for the great podcast as always guys !

Ian’s feeling ancient - I felt that. Three decades is really testing my might.. But both your recounts - Double Flawless.

I think Ultimate MK Trilogy was the best of the oldies. I think the run and combo functions significantly enhanced the series and absolutely didn't "break" it. What an absolute ripping game!

We had Putt Putt in Erie. It was like the hood version of miniature golf. i loved it.

MK II on snes is probably my favorite fighting game. I literally sunk hundreds of hours in that game. It was an amazing port.

They did release the Mortal Kombat Arcade Kollection a few years back. It was 1, 2, and ultimate 3 I believe. I'd prefer they release a set with at least up to 8 or 9 though

Happy birthday mortal kombat!

Glad I was born in 1992,I love being a millenial;not many people make fun of that era of people

Would hang around the arcade version hoping to see someone pull off a new Fatality. MK2 really was the bees 🐝 knees in terms of good clean family fun ☠️🔥

My favourite memory of mk1 is when I lived in my small hometown and there was some summer tourist kid that came every summer. I crushed him the vast majority of times. City slickers I tells ya.

From a gameplay and presentation standpoint, the 3 most recent MKs are the high points of the series. Netherrealm has turned MK into a proper competitive fighting game by now. Before, the only other title in the series that qualified for that was UMK3. MK2 will probably always be my favorite aesthetic-wise though.

I love that mortal kombat commercial to this day it is a dream of mine to recreate it somehow

We need a Mk 1-4 compilation disk or a mk remastered...change my mind

I know you guys are "klassic" Mortal Kombat players, but at this point in time MK1 through 3 are already available everywhere, they made all those arcade collections and stuff! What the fans actually want right now are those very PS2 games you skipped, fans would go nuts for a collection including MK Deadly Alliance, Deception, and Armageddon, which are great in their own right, they featured a lot of cool extra modes (most memorably Konquest and Puzzle in MKD and Motor Kombat in MKA), and they were never released past their original release, beside ports on portable consoles and I guess Armageddon on Wii. Also you gotta remember that a lot of us grew up with THOSE. Deadly Alliance marked the 10th anniversary of the franchise, people who were 10 then are 30 now.

Ian said exactly what I was thinking... 30 years ago... dam I'm old 😅

I stood in line for 30 minutes to play Mortal Kombat II at a movie theater when it came out.

Will never forget Mortal Monday! Remember when gaming was exciting? Pepridge farms remembers.

I’m disappointed there’s no retro collection. I’ve played the modern ones for the story mode, but I don’t really like fighting games that much anymore. But I’d buy a retro collection and it wouldn’t distract me from dumping micro transactions into the new game because I don’t play those anyway.

Trilogy on PSX remains my favorite of the series. I never had the PlayStation, but my buddy did and we rented Trilogy every week for months after it came out. I was so disappointed with MKII on the SNES with the grey blood…again, my buddy had the Genesis so I’d have to go over there for my blood fix.

I remember Mortal Monday and Sonic Tuesday. Both games were hyped up with advertisements on TV and Magazines for months before release.

Like Pat a fellow Jersey boy I first played Mortal Kombat at Tbowl in Wayne, NJ. First time I played MKII was at Skaters World. MKIII at fun n games at willowbrook mall.

My mom was grossed out when she saw Lui Kang transform into a dragon and bites his opponent in half. We (my brothers and I) freaked out excitingly!

My favourite PC game Darklands turns 30 this year. 30 years since my first big concert, Metallica in 1992 and they've sucked the last 30 years. - Trying to license Darklands to do a limited CD-ROM release but doubt it will happen. :(

IAN!! I think you’ll appreciate this.. I was 15 when mortal kombat come out and when I was 16 me and one of my best friends took acid and played mortal kombat with 3D glasses on…….best game ever!!!😂

I don't remember the first time I saw it but it obviously made a massive impression since it looked "real" at the time. Almost every weekend after was pocket of $5 worth of quarters getting spent on the game. That led me to the internet, IRC and creating FAQs due to all of the moves and secrets. Mortal Monday was very memorable but it was still disappointing getting the SNES version and trying to be OK with the changes. I did rent the Genesis version as well but hated the graphics and sound. Neither satisfied the arcade itch so I just keep playing it there until part 2.

Kano ripping the heart out and licking it. Sub zero ripping the spine out. Big crowds of ten and 11 year olds waiting to play it. I also recall Raiden being one of the three uber goons who could fly and stuff in Big Trouble in Little China type character. And playing as Scorpion....

I was 14 years old. Played the first MK game at a local arcade for the first time.

Ian which Putt-Putt did you go to. The one on Union rd. or the one on Sheridan Drive?

MK3 was my jam.

When the second and somewhat later then the third game was new, we would walk from my good friend's house to the arcade, bout half a mile or so, and watch people who had discovered the many secrets layered throughout, many times seeing a new Fatality or Babality and being in disbelief of the fact that all characters had them to be discovered. At the time this was fuckin mind blowing amounts of content for one game to us. To me this game topped Street Fighter in every way.. Not until Tekken really took off did I find a near equal fighter.

Rented it day one from the local Safeway. Memorized that blood code when it came out in gamepro

To me, Ian is eternally 28.

Long live MK, the best fighting game series! 2023 they will be announcing something, just a shame we couldn't get a klassic kollection at least for this year but it's all good. MK just hits different. My first memory as a 9 year old kid seeing MK for the first time seeing Sub rip off Kano's head in a move theatre but they had MK separate from SF, TMNT etc lol.😂😂 With the home ports technically both Sega and Nin censored, but Sega some how found a loophole and put in the "Secret blood code" so people preferred MK 1 one Sega Genesis. However, Nintendo said F it and the MK 2 and MK 3 versions destroyed the Sega versions. Also the controller for SNES fits so much better for MK than the Genesis controller which fits better for SF honestly. I recommend watching MK Legends Snowblind, awesome freaking movie! Plus, MK literally created the ESRB system lol, I remember the Congress hearings for MK, Doom and Nighttrap but obviously MK was the worst with the violence tearing off heads and hearts etc. Good times.

Saw Mortal Kombat and here I am 👀

I would love it if they would release arcade perfect ports on the Switch, whether for the anniversary or otherwise.

Just to add a bit more context about violent games that predate Mortal Kombat. Back in 1988 Splatterhouse arcade was hugely violent and controversial, I seem to remember arcades having 13+ stickers on them. Also, not to forget Pit Fighter which used a very similar photo capture violent style to MK. Honestly Mortal Kombat wasn't especially more violent than what had come before, it just did it really well and was the first violent game that many parents and anti gaming politicians took notice of.

MK:A is the "best" bad-good movie 🥰🤣

My favorite port of Mortal Kombat was Snes, Game Gear and Sega CD

interesting, but I would never say "mature" when it comes to Mortal Kombat. It's about the progression of technology. Because especially in the 90s there always was an import scene and teens were importing Hong Kong films and seeing even wilder stuff than what the games portrayed, much like Big Trouble Little China that too was influenced with what going on at the time.

I worked at midway home entertainment just as they were shifting away from the arcades and moving to console. my nickname was Ricky Kombat that time. All I did was play the arcades, I’m surprised I didn’t get fired! Now I work for a AAA, and sold your uncle Frank a battery L O L I’ve got a picture of us on Instagram

Growing up in the 90s i only played mortal kombat as a party game when id go over to a cousins house or theyd come to my house for family parties like everyother week i dont know it was kinda boring for me to play mortal kombat in single player mode

I loved the SNES version, but was totally caught off guard with the blood censoring.

YES, Pat is right the 2nd game is the best in the series. And Barbarian on PC was the maturing of games for me... when did that come out? 1987, decapitation!

Alright, Ian, you may have just sold me on patreon!!!

MK3 Ultimate is the official best MK game. CYRAX FOR LIFE DOG

Putt Putt Fun and Games? oh I just got hit by a nostalgia cannon lol

Street fighter 2 to this day still amazes me and how differently all of characters play and how evenly balance the gameplay was regardless of who you chose if you knew how to use them because I saw a guy with zangief destroy Ryu and usually in my playthroughs of the game zingy was pretty easy to defeat when fighting against the computer opponent. Because all you had to do was just stand there and jump kick but when I saw somebody who knew what they were doing they destroyed the crap out of Ryu and that's when I knew this was one of the most well-balanced will made fighting games of all times because you could basically with enough skill beat the game with anybody and nobody was overpowered by anybody else

Nintendo leaned a lesson in the 90ies that Tommy Tallarico still haven't learned a few decades later.

Will never forget the blood code. And real players bought the Sega CD version.

Always a Kevin LOL.

To me very bad memories. See in school I was never relay into games like Madon NFL and Mortal Kombat. So thing's like No blood in the SNES version of Mortal Kombat had no meaning to me. My view of CDs was an disk that was read by a laser. Because of viewing shows like Movie Magic, The Next Step, Bylond 2000, Mr Wizard's World and This Old House I didn't see The CD the way they did. So I was OK with the SNES not having an CD-ROM drive since I knew about the tech issues at the time. I knew how the copyright law worked so I knew that the 2 versions of addian were not the same. I saw towth SEGA ads since comparing 2D performers and 3D racers tells us nothing. I also didn't see thing's like 16 Bit as having any meaning as the latter relees of Donkey Kong Country proved. Once they found out that I just didn't care about what they did the bulling got worse. It got so bad that we needed the long arm of the law to put about 80% of the SEGA kids in jail for 1 week to just end the bulling. That last 20% was on my side since they knew the truth as I did. Most of that 20% got an SNES because they preferred the SNES version of Mortal Kombat because of the controller.

They learned a lesson but they then repeated same kid friendly only policy for many years of GTA and COD being the main casual masses buy them in their millions but Nintendo having none of it on their machines. Apart from Chinatown wars on the DS...

Killer Instinct > Street Fighter II > Mortal Kombat

My first memory of MK was not a good one. Saw an MK2 cabinet at my local bowling alley, put in $0.50 (my life savings at that point), and then the CPU opponent completely whipped my ass. Made me hate arcades for a long time.

ToastyYyY! 😁😁

Sucks it took so long to get a close arcade perfect home console port or mk1 and mk2 until the 6th gen gaming era. Mk2 will forever be my favorite game out of the series. Mk4 was a huge blunder and decline of the series instead of 3. Had mk4 used art style sprites, it would've been better game in the series.

Pit fighter was earlier with digitized graphics, but that game is so lame.

Still a missed opportunity to add someone like Satan to the roster. Imagine the possibilities!

The SNES version was atrocious. The input lag made it unplayable.

I fell off when 4 came out...I hated the 3d dodging mechanic an it just looked awful, but the one on Xbox 360/ps3 brought me back. On a side note....BRING BACK THE CO OP TOWERS YOU ASSHOLES!!!😁

...the Genesis version of MK1 sounds like trash? First time I've heard that one.

I've tried a number of times since the first game to become a fan but i can never get into it. STREET FIGHTER FTW.

MK2 sucks because of the bullshit AI. Could have been so much better...

The run and combos in 3 made it feel cheap. Like unfair. I don't think I played another mortal komabt till trilogy on playstation . That's when I knew playstation was better than Saturn. I was a ride or die sega fsnboy until plating mk on ps1

Mortal Kombat 2 the best ever!!! MK 3 wow just lazy fatalities 👎👎