Check out our other episodes! UMK3 - kzfaq.info/get/bejne/hMifbMeXnrnZc6M.html MK9 - kzfaq.info/get/bejne/oJNiZcWVu9-VYqc.html MK Armageddon - kzfaq.info/get/bejne/rdiie69i0LDQZ2Q.html Special Thanks to Shock, Summoning and Konqrr for helping me with this video. I also want to thank Ded for his legendary forum presence over the years to make a lot of this info possible.

“Im going to call this MK1 to avoid confusion” 3 years later and now we have a game actually called MK1

Ahhh, yes, the game that got my first grade teacher to take away my red crayon!

Oh yeah, I remember the "no throw" rule. I was playing Street Fighter II as a kid against this adult Zangief player and he'd would get REALLY mad if I threw him. "Throws are cheap! Only Zangief can throw!" he'd argue. "If you throw me, you have to let me throw me back!" I allowed this ONCE when I threw him with my Chun-Li. In return, he threw me back with Zangief's Spinning Piledriver. It was a wrap after that. After that, I would always argue with him and anyone else that whined that throws weren't cheap and tell them to stop blocking all day if they didn't want to be thrown. It got really nasty, but I held by this rule. I liked throwing and I'll be damned if I'm not allowed to do it because you want to block all damn day.

Calling it MK1 to avoid confusion has aged hilariously.

"I'm going to call this game MK1 to avoid confusion." Me in 2023: HA!

30:00 “Mustard and myself“ I’ve been watching 30 mins thinking that he was Mustard

Imagine getting hit in a modern fighting game like 5 or 6 times and taking 80% damage

"I'm gonna call this game 'MK1' to avoid confusion." Hahahahahahahaha

2:05 "Im gonna call this game MK1, to avoid any confusion" oh if only he knew...

Sonya has been top tier since the early 90s wtf

"We're going to call this one MK1" Me:😬

Calling this MK1 aged like milk.

Best MK series on KZfaq! All that you mentioned about the arcade scene is true. I first began as a SF2 player and people HATED being thrown and that carried over into MK. I would jab throw loop in SF2 and not care. People used to punch the screen, threaten me, want to actually fight. I was 12 years old and 20+ year old men wanted to kill me lol. I grew up in the North East of the US in NJ. Like you mentioned in this video, this area was huge for arcades. At my local arcade we had 3-5 cabinets of all the most popular fighters and on any given weekend there would be 50-100 people playing on them and waiting their turn at a chance to compete. There weren't any real tournaments thrown though until UMK3. At my arcade I would dominate those events. Among my friends we had players who specialized in specific games. We had a Tekken 2 guy, Virtua Fighter 2, Sam Sho, and Street Fighter. At that time there was no real internet, so knowing all the finishers and combos was not an easy task. So to support our gaming habbit we used to walk across the street to the library and type up and print out all the fatalities, babalites and friendships and sell them in the arcade. It was only a few cents per copy but we would sell them for a dollar each to the large crowds. It was the perfect way to keep playing the games that we loved. Those times were really special and a great experience in my life personally. I am really fortunate to have experienced them. Great video! I can't wait for the next one.

Wow, Sonya being broke in a mk game. Haven’t seen that one before

so that's where that tip in MK11 came from that says blocking will get you nowhere

I love how the Krypt in MK11 beautifully recreates Shang Tsung's island, and it's amazing to see MK1 stages now and know the exact location! The level with the statues blows my mind after being a fan for 27 years.

This is why i fucking love british people. Its 6am and this is the perfect video to listen to at work. Thanks guys

I couldn't of ever imagined MK1 being remotely competitive. I love these videos.

Man the flashbacks. The non-throw rules. the quarter on the machine '"I've got next" rule, the "punch you in the head" rule...

I remember as a little kid getting in trouble by my parents because I would unlock the Blood code on Sega genesis 😂 my parents would tell me "NO BLOOD!" 🤣

Awesome vid! In my area’s arcades, throws and cornering were “illegal” in MK2. If you accidentally threw someone, you’d have to let your opponent give you a free hit, combo, or throw. If you were cornering someone, you’d have to stop mid-sequence and back out of the corner to let them out. Saw physical fights break out in some arcades over these things haha.

"I'm going to call this game *MK1* to avoid confusion." Aged like butter milk lol.

I didn't know about those Goro cheese tactics, but when I was a kid I discovered Shang Tsung absolutely cannot defeat you if you just keep doing low kicks. He walks into them until you win. At least on the Mega Drive version

I remember a kid unplugged the arcade when he lost at a video rental spot I use to go to

You guys somehow only make good content. I gotta ring the bell. Your meta videos are insane

Wasn't ed boon actually trying to make this game after the movie "bloodsport"?

Mortal Kombat + intro music = permanently embedded into my ultimate frisbee/snowboard playlist.

"I'm going to call this game mk1 to avoid confusion" rings different in 2023

Ah yes, MK1. The only game with this name in the series. I'm glad there's still no confusion as to which game is called Mortal Kombat 1.

"I'm going to call the game MK1 to avoid confusion." Welp, can't do that anymore.

Calling this Mk1 didn’t age well lol

The good old days of MK1, the beginning of the greatest fighting game series of all time. Fantastic work like always. Keep it up with the breakdowns!

I was a part of the Broward county (Florida) arcade scene in the 90’s (literally an arcade rat.) Spending all my time in front of fighting game cabinets. All the iterations of SF 2, and especially MK 1 !! This is such a comprehensive look at what went on back then. “I remember my friends and I would leave an arcade, if the cabinet was later than rev. 3, because it limited our air juggle combos so severely.” Ahh nostalgia. In my area sub zero was considered the most formidable fighter. The fast rising punches that could be done infinitely in the corners with Cage or Raider were called “Flea Punches” in our local slang. And were as you’ve shown often used within long combos. Great upload, and a slice of often overlooked history..

It's funny to hear a younger person who came up after the arcade scene talk about it. I have to be honest I was an arcade rat around this time, and I've never heard about the "throwback" rule. Throws were perfectly acceptable in any arcade I attended and I attended a lot of them. I lived in Atlanta at this time, and it seemed Atlanta had a strong MK scene back in the days. I would play at Gamewarp arcade all the way back in 1992. It was on of the few the stayed open until 2 am

The only time I've ever been escorted off of the premises of a business by the police was at a Mortal Kombat tournament.

I literally screamed inside when I saw this video was up, I LOVE the MK meta videos so much, great stuff guys.

I had no idea that some of the combos displayed in this vid even existed. We had an arcade scene for MK, MK2 & MK3/UMK3 in my town back in the early 90's, but watching this makes me realize how basic we all played. 😂😂😂 Great vid guys! ❤

These kind of videos take an EXTREME amount of time and effort. Ketchup and Mustard go out of their way to make this great content and I am more than happy to have been a part of MK history since the beginning. Much love!

So many memories with the first Mortal Kombat. I used to play it on Commodore Amiga, don't laugh, and it was a blast. What an amazing job again Ketchup and I thank you for it and for all the memories.

"I'm going to call this game 'MK1' to avoid confusion" Welp. That's now a dated statement lol

Yeah man. The beginning of everything in my childhood

Man, I can't believe you guys were able to get an early version of MK1 4 years before launch, and be able to break down what the meta would be so far ahead in the future. Really next-level stuff.

"I'm going to call this game MK 1 to avoid confusion" 2:00

I remember those days of not allowing certain techniques or exploits like keeping people trapped in the corner. That was serious business back then.

I am rewatching this and I find it funny that it would actually have to be called “The original Mortal Kombat” or “MK92” or something like that

Great video man, made me super nostalgic for the arcade scene I frequented back in the 90's. I remember the arcade being packed whenever a new MK came out and waiting forever just to get a shot to play.

The wait for the Meta series is long, but my God it is ALWAYS worth it. Incredible work!

MK1 was great but MK2 was legendary, I was big on the arcades, we had the local wizard who got all the secrets from bulletin boards (early internet) and we all freaked out the day we saw Shang tsuns Kintaro fatality , good times, many happy memories

love the series and your commentary on the tournaments are top-notch. Keep up the great work. This is one of the best(if not the best) MK channels

Another great episode K&M, the nostalgia is real in this one. 🐉

"to avoid confusing i will call this game mk1" ...... in coming 2023 LOLOL

Mortal Kombat, MK II, MK3 ... game's of my childhood and till these days my favourite one. Fantastic video's. 👐

2:05 we’ll it took at least it wasn’t confusing for a couple years

Lovely work both in general and for the scene and its history! Can't wait for the meta of MK4.

These videos bring back a-lot of old memories thank you for your hard work

Absolutely love this series! Always get excited when that notification says another one has come out! Keep up the fantastic work, mate!

This video is pure gold. You did a fantastic job.

On the topic of throws, I always found that they had a seeming randomness to when they would come out. Because they relied upon a Low Punch input, you could attempt a throw only to find your Kombatant executing a jab. There was also no means to tech throws because of MK1's simplicity at the time.

Well worth the wait, fantastic breakdown as always!

As a passionate fan I'm mad at myself for not having discovered these videos before. This one was absolutely fascinating!

You guys are doing great work with these videos. Can't tell you how cool it is to be a massive MK nerd and to be able to learn more about the history of the game/s and why things are the way they are now. It's really so amazing. I actually didn't even know about MK1 being specifically inspired by Enter the Dragon. And I had no idea that the neutral game of MK1 was so interesting! Keep it up guys!

These are the highlight of the channel. I love when these come out

happy memories of playing mk at my local chip shop back in the day. Thanks for the videos

Great video! This game defined my childhood. Some of my best memories are from my local arcade lining up quarters in a real world king of the hill. Felt so good being able to stay on the machine and play for free when you won. Was a great incentive to practice and get better at the game. Figuring out, or accidentally pulling off a fatality was the most thrilling thing with the crowd of onlookers cheering and gasping. Good times indeed.

I had NO idea there were MK1 combos. I remember how everyone loves talking about how combos started in SF but this is just as important! Excellent video!

Little late to this but the reason throws were so taboo is likely coming off of the world warrior where reversals were yet introduced, tick setups were stupid easy and your only hope of escape was winning a 50/50 by throwing at the same time.

Thank you for these videos. The quality and production reminds me if a professional documentary. Its Unbeleivable to me the amount of history that these games had.

This series is actually so good. Amazing work as always bro

MK1 i think is one of the few first entries to a 90s fighting series that is still fun to play, at least to me. comboing slide after freeze into uppercut with bi han and then ripping their head off will always be a great time to me

The first three MK games are my favorite in terms of competitive fighting. Silly, maybe, but they’re still cool.

Incredible job. The amount of work and dedication you put into this really shows.

Love it... Great job. This brings so many memories from my childhood I wanna cry.

MK1 on SNES was the 2nd game I played religiously, 1st being Super Mario on NES - Back when I was like 3 or 4. I never knew that the MK series had blood, gore and fatalities - So when I played MK4 on PS1, being my 2nd MK game, I always thought that seeing all that violence was normal in a *fighting* game haha

Fun Fact: The color green from Reptile came out from the mix of blue and yellow. And Reptile in this game had both Scorp and Sub's moves combined.

Great history lesson there guys. Absolutely loved this episode. Thanks K&M :)

I love this kind of videos, amazing! Thanks!

I remember when I was a kid, and I had this on the Amiga A500.. one day I was just there, playing away, uppercutting everyone... and suddenly I was fighting a green guy at the bottom of the pit and absolutely freaked out wondering what it was, I died fast and never ever got it again, at the time it was so mysterious as there was no internet to google wtf just happened.

I absolutely love these videos, keep up the good work man.

I played a ridiculous amount of MK1 when I was 5 years old. Don't remember ever demanding anyone not to throw or anything like that. I guess that as 5 year old children, we didn't realize some things were incredibly cheap. Also, playing on PC changed the rules quite a bit. You'd have to share a keyboard with the other player and that made room for some strange tricks. My older brother would hold down, back and block together to flood the keyboard handler, completely disabling the other player's ability to throw.

I don't know if is only me but it seems that MK1 has better graphics than MK2 and MK3, models look cleaner to me.

Really enjoy this kind of video's, thanks K&M

It's kinda cool to see how the concepts in these early games grew to make the modern stuff, like juggles and what not.

I’ve never played or seen MK1...those combos do crazy damage LMAO

It is AMAZING you guys managed to make pull this off, I mean... getting so much information and compile it in such an understandable manner about this game, which I had No idea had this much crazy stuff.... Thank you so much for putting up such quality content as the true MK fans U R, and for true MK Fans ;).... PS: U guys R only missing MK2 and 4 now.... I wonder if it will happen, since MK2 is my favorite out of the classic 3

MK1 02:01 well that didn’t age well

Sonya privilege was born in 92.

Old school salt is real hahaha Either way, man am I glad to find this video. I was always curious about old school MK meta info since records of it are not easy to find at all and your channel was able to satisfy that itch. Kudos to you man.

Love that classic MK is getting some exposure. I get my friends to play the classics with me as much as possible lmao

I think my favorite OG character is Raiden. I like the thunder gimmicks and his teleport had that cool sounding vorpal noise. And of course, the torpedo. He's also the character I've memorized every move and fatality for by heart. He's my main in Mk2 and Mk4 Hes my #2 in Mk9 and in tag, him and my boy Kabal wrecked tag ladders. I very much thank Raiden for getting me to top 100 in Tag Ladder. He's my boy in MkX too If Kabal wasn't in any of the other Mortal Kombat games. I'd always pick Raiden as my main. He is without a doubt my second favorite MK character.

Great video. i played this and sf2 a little in the arcade back in the day and religiously on the snes when they came out. I never knew it had this kind of meta. I thought it pretty basic and everything was win by special move & uppercut Anyway, a nice bit of nostalgia watching this and i just gained a greater appreciation for the game. Thankyou so much.

Great video! I was a teenager when Mortal Kombat hit the arcades. We all thought Street Fighter II was finished. lol Can't wait for your Mortal Kombat II video!

this was the very first video game I ever played...and it's no wonder I became such a fierce competitor...I was watching people get their heads ripped off at like age 6 lol...dad would wake me up in the middle of the night & wed play. Remember when he did a fatality on me with scorpion & fucking BLEW MY MIND. Kinda traumatized me lol...I wouldn't stop until I won. Definitely thank MK & my dad for all the memories. Super hype to watch this as I was a kid, I didn't know about free-form combos from any iteration in the series till Trilogy. So I'm very very very fascinated. Doing good work here man. Thanks so much. Make sure you archive these videos brother. P.S. SCREW TEST YOUR MIGHT (my 6yo self)

I thought I knew a lot about MK being part of the original scene. But damn, if this isn't a good informational video. Actually learned a few new things. Great job.

Remember first getting this game as a kid. First time i turned it on and heard the music i couldn't believe i was playing it in my own house. I don't think any game was bigger.

This was great, the depth got a sub out of me. Keep up the great work!

Man the meta is strong with the first MK game :))

Cheers guys your meta videos are extremly good....and i love the way you commentate with passion

If you can rage flip a Midway arcade cabinet you are a beast. Those suckers are ridiculously heavy; I've moved several into (and out of) my basement. I remember playing this in the arcade as a kid and being intimidated by older teens who were dominating the machine. Just putting your quarter on the glass to say you were going to step up and fight was a big deal.

Thanks, you’ve made this old grump feel young again =)