Mortal Kombat, like most video game origins, has seen numerous changes from it conceptions to its first release. One of the most notable changes seen to the game was its title before its release. The iconic dragon logo that is used even to this day has remained a constant from some of its earlier iterations, but the franchise’s name was one of the many things that would change behind the scenes before the world saw the release of the very first game in the franchise.
Mortal Kombat’s dragon symbol has become one of video games’ most recognizable logos through the 30-year history of the franchise. The logo has its own significance within the game’s own lore too, symbolizing the Mortal Kombat tournament itself, as well as the champion of the tournament as the dragon has come to represent the Elder Gods who preside over the competition. While the logo remains from the game’s early days as a concept, the name of the franchise itself differed, potentially even altering the name of the eponymous tournament with it.
The Mortal Kombat tournament has held an important role in the Mortal Kombat story in its early days, with the importance of the tournament itself as a backdrop seemingly disappearing in later games. While the tournament’s importance to the overall narrative of the franchise has wavered in its recent outings as slightly more than peripheral lore, its key role in gathering the game’s playable cast together almost makes it hard to imagine the franchise under another name. However, a recent post by one of its co-creators indicates that fans may have seen the series and its tournament take place under a different, less striking name.
Mortal Kombat’s Logo And Name Concepts Revealed
According to Mortal Kombat’s co-creator John Tobias on Twitter, the franchise’s logo has its roots tied back to the game’s original name. He states, “The inspiration to use a dragon as the fictional tournament’s symbol came from “Dragon Attack,” which was in contention as our game’s title before Ed Boon and I changed it to Mortal Kombat.” Tobias continued by stating that the name “came from Ed Boon’s love for the band Queen and their song of the same title.” While the original name came from a more outside source in pop culture, the game’s logo was more in-house.
When going over the origins of the Mortal Kombat dragon logo, Tobias stated, “The inspiration for the dragon icon’s design started when [writer and game designer] John Vogel saw a golden dragon statue on the desk of Midway’s general manager, Ken Fedesna.” Tobias also detailed how they had decided on the pose of the emblem by saying, “I had been thinking of creating an icon to represent the fictional tournament, but also to brand the game with a symbol… like Superman’s “S” or Batman’s bat symbol.”
With the franchise’s name now becoming such a recognizable part of the branding and identity of Mortal Kombat, it’s almost hard to imagine the series going under a different name and having the impact that it did. The logo being solidified helped to set the tone for the series going forward, something that fans of the series would see in the evolution of the logo and art in Mortal Kombat 2 and beyond. Despite the name changing from its conceptual stages, the logo and striking visuals have remained the same, becoming a standard for the Mortal Kombat franchise as it celebrates its 30th anniversary.
