The original Mortal Kombat arcade game was released in 1992.
Midway Games developed Mortal Kombat as a fighting game intended to compete with Capcom’s Street Fighter II. The project was designed by Ed Boon and John Tobias, with Boon programming the game and Tobias leading much of its visual and story design. Its digitized actors, distinctive characters, and finishing moves helped separate it from other arcade fighters.
Mortal Kombat became especially famous for its Fatalities, which let the winning player perform a dramatic finishing move after the match. The game’s violence also attracted public controversy and contributed to later debates about video-game ratings in the United States.
The arcade release came before the home versions for systems such as the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, Sega Genesis, and Game Boy. Those ports differed in content and censorship, so the 1992 arcade version is the original release rather than a later console edition.