Ed Boon, Mortal Kombat’s Co-Creator, has explained how the difficulties involved in giving Raiden a hat actually resulted in the creation of the Thunder God’s iconic teleport maneuver. In honor of Mortal Kombat’s 30th anniversary, Ed Boon has taken to Twitter a few times in recent months to offer behind-the-scenes insights about the original game’s development. One such social media post from March saw the legendary developer detail the origin of Scorpion’s and Sub-Zero’s different fighting abilities.
The first Mortal Kombat entry hit arcades approximately 30 years ago in 1992. It didn’t take long for the violent series to migrate to consoles, where it garnered an even wider audience around the globe. Since then, Mortal Kombat has received several sequels and spinoffs, along with movie adaptations, web series, comics, and pretty much everything else in between. The franchise’s popularity continues to stand the test of time, too, with 2019’s Mortal Kombat 11 selling over 12 million copies within roughly two years of its release. But while fans remain eager to learn what sits on the horizon for the next major entry, Ed Boon is celebrating Mortal Kombat’s fascinating past.
In his latest celebratory post for Mortal Kombat’s 30th anniversary, Ed Boon walks fans through the challenges the original team faced while bringing Raiden to life. Martial Artist Carlos Pesina played the Thunder God and provided the necessary reference footage. There did exist one main issue, however – the Raiden hat kept falling off. Manually adjusting the hat seemed to work for a time, but the kip-ups (get-up motion) proved especially challenging. According to Boon, Mortal Kombat developers ultimately decided that Raiden’s designation as a Thunder God capable of controlling lightning meant he should beam himself back up instead of performing a special get-up move like other fighters. This decision begat Raiden’s iconic teleport animation, which the crew later added as a controllable move for gameplay.
That Raiden’s signature maneuver spawned from Carlos Pesina’s hat succumbing to gravity is nothing short of fascinating. It’s even more astounding that a simple get-up solution evolved from a beam animation to mid-battle teleportation options. Now one must wonder what inspired Raiden’s even more iconic Electric Fly attack.
As noted above, the ongoing celebration of the brand’s 30th anniversary continues to leave fans eager for news about Mortal Kombat 12, which developer NetherRealm Studios has yet to officially unveil. Rumors and supposed leaks about MK12 crop up every so often, though, hinting at the potential roster and story. Of course, Mortal Kombat faithful would do well to take any and all speculation with a grain of salt.
