Censorship Was Right for First Mortal Kombat, Not Needed Now

Ed Boon, the man who created the Mortal Kombat franchise and still works on its development, has said that when the first game in the fighting franchise was released on the SNES, it was right for the publisher to censor the game and take out all the blood.

Ed Boon told Eurogamer that, “The controversy with the game originally was because there was no rating system in place, and people were objecting to the fact that a game that was as violent as it is, did not have a rating.”

He added, “I agree with that idea. The rating system is great. The censorship with the SNES version was a response to that. Nintendo felt like they had an obligation to not offer something like this to a system that’s played by many young players.”

The establishment of a self-enforcing rating system means that all buyers are able to see, at a glance, what kind of content a video game delivers, and they can make an informed purchasing decision.

This means that there's no actual need for censors to take some games of shelves, as sometimes still happens in Australia, where Mortal Kombat will not be available, but also in Germany, China and some Middle Eastern countries.

Boon also expressed a level of amazement at the fact that Mortal Kombat is still going strong and there are fans that have followed the franchise since launch that are still exciting about picking their favorite fighter in order to complete some matches.

Mortal Kombat was on the brink of oblivion when publisher Midway went under, but Warner Bros. saw the potential of the series and stepped in to acquire it.

The new game in the series, which is now out, is described as going back to main ideas that powered it, with quick, flowing gameplay, bloody Fatalities and a new backstory for the characters.