Mortal Kombat: Deception

We've been discussing Mortal Kombat all week, from its arcade history to elaborate examinations of individual characters. How do you end such a celebration? Why, with a 20 MINUTE video compiling every single finishing move the grisly series has served up since its inception in 1992. Many hours were spent performing these bastards, so please watch it 10 or 12 times.

After several years of meandering sequels, Mortal Kombat is finally going back to its roots. Just as Street Fighter IV reinvigorated Capcom’s flagging franchise, this year’s new Mortal Kombat hopes to kick-start a brand new chapter for the spine-tearing series. To ensure a successful reboot, developer NetherRealm has wisely chosen to focus on the three original games for inspiration; those three titles gripped arcades, sold millions on consoles and spawned TV shows, movies and comics, so it’s no surprise to see devs mimicking the glory days of the initial trilogy.

But before it erupted into a gaming powerhouse, Mortal Kombat was just one of countless Street Fighter II knockoffs itching for a chance in the spotlight. We’ll spend the most time on this title, then touch on how 2 and 3 set the stage for this year’s edition. Let’s begin in 1992 with…

Liu Kang might be the nominal “hero” of Mortal Kombat, but to fans, the yowling Bruce Lee clone has never really been the star. That honor is instead shared between a pair of palette-swapped badasses whose bloody moves and ever-evolving feud instantly defined Mortal Kombat as a franchise – and continued to do so for 19 years.

Scorpion and Sub-Zero began as more or less the same character, with only their different special moves and shared supernatural-revenge backstory to set them apart. They’ve since become much more, however, and with next week’s sequel/reboot about to knock them both back to square one, let’s take a look at how far they’ve come since the first time we saw them...

Nothing looks like it or plays like it. Love it, hate it or simply fear it like Nintendo execs did in the early '90s, there's no denying that Mortal Kombat changed the world of videogames forever. Here are ten Mortal Moments you won't see anywhere else. Shang Tsung's Kintaro fatality The hardest of all MK2 fatalities. The technique involves holding the Low Punch button for the entire duration of the last round, then releasing it in the unlikely event of a victory. If somebody managed to do