In the '80s and early '90s, I honestly don't recall video games being controversial or truly despised. Sure, I heard a few teachers or older folks fluff it off as a waste of time, or they didn't get what the fuss was about Nintendo. As a kid, I seem to recall it was a very innocent dislike (i.e. "Oh, you silly kids with your video games"), but when Mortal Kombat came out in 1995, I remember people suddenly hated the violence and such. I think that led to the TV/games rating system, or at least partly inspired it.

You could say Mortal Kombat was the Twisted Sister of the '90s, even if Tipper Gore wasn't involved. ;D

It no doubt played a huge part in it. The first real controversial video game was the arcade game Death Race released in 1976, but it would be years before video game controversy became a big issue(like it is today). Most of the games released in the '70s and '80s were for the most part basic, kid-friendly stuff. Mortal Kombat was sort of the catalyst that made violence in video game's become a major issue throughout the '90s and '00s.

It no doubt played a huge part in it. The first real controversial video game was the arcade game Death Race released in 1976, but it would be years before video game controversy became a big issue(like it is today). Most of the games released in the '70s and '80s were for the most part basic, kid-friendly stuff. Mortal Kombat was sort of the catalyst that made violence in video game's become a major issue throughout the '90s and '00s.

Wow, I've always been into pop cultural related things, and I didn't even know that. ;)

Since that was 4 years before Pac Man and about 6 before arcades really took off (c. 1982), did it just never catch on or become well-known enough to be widely controversial? If people hated MK in the easygoing Liberal '90s, I can only imagine how they would've viewed that twenty years earlier.

^ Then again, the '70s and the '90s have alot of parallels in that regard (look how many horror or sex movies were around in the '70s, that and heavy metal), so maybe it wouldn't be that much worse.

In the '80s and early '90s, I honestly don't recall video games being controversial or truly despised. Sure, I heard a few teachers or older folks fluff it off as a waste of time, or they didn't get what the fuss was about Nintendo. As a kid, I seem to recall it was a very innocent dislike (i.e. "Oh, you silly kids with your video games"), but when Mortal Kombat came out in 1995, I remember people suddenly hated the violence and such. I think that led to the TV/games rating system, or at least partly inspired it.

You could say Mortal Kombat was the Twisted Sister of the '90s, even if Tipper Gore wasn't involved. ;D


Actually, "Mortal Kombat" the video game was released in 1992.  It was the movie that was released in 1995

^I was about to offer that correction, the game was released in 1992.  I remember playing it a lot back in '92 and '93.  It was one of the first games that showed blood, guts and gore from what I remember.  Someone correct me if I'm wrong. 

It was the movie that was released in 1995, which sorta killed the hype of the game, probably because the movie was so lame.

I've heard of Death Race before, the 70s arcade.  It was supposedly pretty wicked.  They showed a clip of it once on a show dealing with video games, it had standard pole position graphics, not bad really for the times, and you try to run over and kill as many people as you can.  A tombstone would pop up over the dead corpse, and I think with point value.  It actually sounds very 70s, to have an video arcade that was evil like that show up.  This video game wasn't simply violent, the whole concept of this game was and still is just morbid.

When more and more gamers got older, I think there became a demand for less games that were very obviously target at 6 year olds.    

^I was about to offer that correction, the game was released in 1992.  I remember playing it a lot back in '92 and '93.  It was one of the first games that showed blood, guts and gore from what I remember.  Someone correct me if I'm wrong. 

It was the movie that was released in 1995, which sorta killed the hype of the game, probably because the movie was so lame.

I've heard of Death Race before, the 70s arcade.  It was supposedly pretty wicked.  They showed a clip of it once on a show dealing with video games, it had standard pole position graphics, not bad really for the times, and you try to run over and kill as many people as you can.  A tombstone would pop up over the dead corpse, and I think with point value.  It actually sounds very 70s, to have an video arcade that was evil like that show up.  This video game wasn't simply violent, the whole concept of this game was and still is just morbid.

When more and more gamers got older, I think there became a demand for less games that were very obviously target at 6 year olds.   


The movie wasn't Lame, nor did it kill the hype.  "Mortal Kombat 3" the game was released around the time of the movie and that game was huge

Plus, the Movie grossed $70 Million (Domestically) which is very impressive

Believe it or not, "Mortal Kombat" is still to this day arguably the best Video Game Movie Adaptation

Yeah....

Decapitations and off the bloody moves, made it controversial.

I like to say that Mortal Kombat is the 90s equivalent of Grand Theft Auto.  A game that is so controversial, the violence gets more attention than the actual gameplay.  What is interesting is Grand Theft Auto came out in the 90s, but no one seemed to care until Grand Theft Auto III came out in 2001.  I guess people didn't really care until it became full blown 3D (it used to be a weird top-down game that was more 2D than 3D).

The funny thing is that Mortal Kombat was considered to be so "cool" at the time, but looking back at it now, the game really wasn't that great.  The controls are awkward and it is pretty clear that they relied on violence to sell the game, not necessarily gameplay.  Street Fighter II is way better (at least from the perspective of someone who was five at the time).  

The movie wasn't Lame, nor did it kill the hype.  "Mortal Kombat 3" the game was released around the time of the movie and that game was huge

Plus, the Movie grossed $70 Million (Domestically) which is very impressive

Believe it or not, "Mortal Kombat" is still to this day arguably the best Video Game Movie Adaptation


well there's no accounting for taste,....

a 5.0 rating (out of 10) by over 12,000 users on IMDB backs up my views of the film as being subpar, as well as a 2.9 rating for it's sequel. 

In the '80s and early '90s, I honestly don't recall video games being controversial or truly despised. Sure, I heard a few teachers or older folks fluff it off as a waste of time, or they didn't get what the fuss was about Nintendo. As a kid, I seem to recall it was a very innocent dislike (i.e. "Oh, you silly kids with your video games"), but when Mortal Kombat came out in 1995, I remember people suddenly hated the violence and such. I think that led to the TV/games rating system, or at least partly inspired it.

You could say Mortal Kombat was the Twisted Sister of the '90s, even if Tipper Gore wasn't involved. ;D


I agree, especially with the fatalities, blood and gore. I remember many parents became concerned and as a result videos games became 'rated' as we know the system today. The thing is that similarly violent, but not as graphics games such as Street Fighter and Double Dragon existed earlier.

Wow, I've always been into pop cultural related things, and I didn't even know that. ;)

Since that was 4 years before Pac Man and about 6 before arcades really took off (c. 1982), did it just never catch on or become well-known enough to be widely controversial? If people hated MK in the easygoing Liberal '90s, I can only imagine how they would've viewed that twenty years earlier.

^ Then again, the '70s and the '90s have alot of parallels in that regard (look how many horror or sex movies were around in the '70s, that and heavy metal), so maybe it wouldn't be that much worse.



Yeah, the controversy sourounding Death Race was fairly big at that time, but nothing compared to the controversy surrounding MK(or GTA much later on). My theory is that since video games weren't really taken all that seriously back in 1976(they were still seen as a fad at the time) the uproar around it wasn't that big and didn't last that long. On the other hand by 1992 video game's had well established themselves, and had a much wider appeal, thus more publicity.

Actually, "Mortal Kombat" the video game was released in 1992.  It was the movie that was released in 1995


My bad, I was indeed confusing the game with the movie (I was kinda tired when I typed that out the other night). ;)

Like I've mentioned before, I was heavily into gaming around '92, so I'm sure I read some articles about it and knew about it. It just wasn't really the sort of thing I'd have been into enough to want to buy (to this day, my favorites are more in the RPG/simple action categoy - Zelda, Mario, Metriod, etc).

It seems when any pop cultural phenomenon gets a movie, that usually means it's peaking, or actually, just starting to slide down in popularity. Once it completely reaches the point of everyone now knowing about it, it's like it almost becomes "safe" and mainstream. It was when the MK movie came out that I became more aware of it, and played the arcade games a bit (even up in 1995 and '96, arcades in the mall were pretty common).

IIRC, in both the arcade and Super Nintendo (regular Nintendo?) versions you had to know moves that weren't in the book to achieve the gory fatalities. Am I Wrong?  ???

mortal kombat was true piece of 90s pop culture. as a youngster at that time i remember everyone talking about that game.