Mortal Kombat 1: Kameo Fighters have always been the dream of creator Ed Boon

Last Thursday we were able to take a good look at the Mortal Kombat 1 and discover its new main mechanics: Kameo Fighters. They’re support characters that are able to jump into a fight at an instant to deal a flurry of attacks, help juggle an opponent, and even perform a Fatality. All of this is something that Ed Boon, co-creator of the franchise. acknowledged that he has been wanting to implement it in the series for some time.

“Kameos evolved from the basis of two ideas,” explained Boon in an interview with gamesradar+. “I had always wanted to do something with other characters being on the screen or assisting. Our design team came up with a cool idea – they wanted Sonya to have a drone that would follow her and help her. But I was pushing back on that. I thought that if we were going to come up with these assisted things, then everybody needs to use them because that would make it a lot more interesting. And then we just combined the two ideas by having that assist idea simply being characters. Once we got that going, we knew that we were onto something special.”

Violence in the series and its impact on the industry

In the same interview, Boon also reflects on the history of gore and violence in the franchise, a hallmark since its very origins three decades ago.

“”I think the objection to the violence Mortal Kombat portrayed in the beginning was because there was no ratings system,” recalls Boon. “People were asking: how can you do this in a video game? And just like the movie industry, and the music industry, they started putting labels on the stuff that you were buying. Once we got past that, there wasn’t much discussion of it. Our Fatalities are just so ridiculous, too. What’s interesting is that around 90% of the reaction that we get from a Fatality is laughter. Players will see something especially out there and say it’s absolutely ridiculous. So as long as people are laughing, then we feel like we’re in the right zone. Once someone starts saying they’re disturbed by what they see, then we’re like: ‘Okay! Let’s not do that.’”

But as it became clear during the gameplay we saw at the Summer Game Fest showcase, that moment has not yet arrived. In fact, YouTube videos circulate of medical experts reacting to these Fatalities and corroborating that, indeed, they are ridiculous, in terms of the reaction of the human body to the actions of the fighters.

Mortal Kombat 1 arrives on October 8 on PS5, Xbox Series, PC, and Nintendo Switch.

Source | Games Radar