The Mortal Kombat franchise has been in existence for almost 32 years and the trail of blood that the fatalities have left behind is enormous. Liu Kang, Scorpion, Sub-Zero, Johnny Cage and a huge number of characters have been part of a saga that has always stood out for being different from the rest of the fighting genre.
Its strong tendency towards gore territory is distinctive, as is a title that anyone who reads it is clear is misspelled. A “C” should replace the classic Kombat “K”but everything made sense a few decades ago within NetherRealm Studios for its main creators.
John Tobias, father of Mortal Kombat, revealed that they had great difficulties choosing the name for their project, as they encountered several legal obstacles. “The 'K' in Kombat came about during the trademark process when naming the game. Actually we liked Mortal Combat as a name, but could not pass the legal process. So we changed the 'C' to a 'K', and the rest is history,” the developer noted in an interview.
However, the charismatic Ed Boon was much more specific and claimed that the reason behind this change was “just to be different. Just to make it look unique or something.” In addition, he revealed that Steve Ritchie, veteran pinball designer and voice actor for Shao Kahn, was the one who suggested the exchange of letters. As they chatted in his office, Ritchie noted the variety of title ideas for the play that were jotted down on a whiteboard.
At that moment the light bulb went on “and he said, 'Why don't you call him Mortal Kombat?' And I said, 'Oh my God, that's it!'” Boon clarified. The nicest thing about it is that he himself pointed out that the developer has a habit of writing the word correctly.
“What's really strange is that what we usually do is write it the way it should be. Then someone on the team will always say, 'Shouldn't it be written with a K?' 'Oh, you're right, you're right.' So we corrected it. We didn't try to do it. [a propósito]but someone will notice at some point in the game.
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