In 1992, before the arcade version of Mortal Kombat came out, the actors of the game's characters worked up sweat at a small health club in Chicago. That's what Elizabeth Malecki, a former fitness instructor who played Sonya Blade in Mortal Kombat, told me. During that time, she performed actions for the characters in the game with several friends, changing the history of the game forever.
At first, developer Midway wanted to make Mortal Kombat a competitor to Street Fighter, but Mortal Kombat had some features that Street Fighter didn't have, such as live-action gigs that rivaled the violent elements of the best action movies of its time. In terms of gameplay tone and look, Mortal Kombat is completely different from Street Fighter.
But for the action actors of the Mortal Kombat characters, their friendship has lasted for a long time.
"The story goes back to when I was 13 years old. One day, one of my classmates brought a double knuckle stick. Richard Divizio, who played Kano in Mortal Kombat, said, "He tossed the double knuckle stick around like Bruce Lee did." I asked him, 'How did you learn these movements?' I remember we were almost in 8th grade. He replied, 'Oh, I learned Kung Fu from a guy named Danny.' Danny is Pesina. ”
<h3>The Soul of Kung Fu</h3>
In a sense, martial arts expert Daniel Pesina was one of the main masterminds behind Mortal Kombat, not only suggesting that Midway have the characters use martial arts moves, but also performing the actions of several characters such as Sub-Zero, Reptile, Scorpion, and Johnny Cage. Pesina is about 10 years older than Divizio and a group of others, becoming their martial arts instructor in his teens and playing Dungeons & Dragons together. Years later, Pesina worked for the same health club as Mallei and became a fitness instructor.
In 1991, Pesina, Divizio, and Ho-Sung Pak (the action actors of Shang Tsung and Liu Kang in Mortal Kombat) were involved in the film teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze. Pak served as stunt coordinator, while Divizio and Pesina made cameo roles in the film. Several of them soon began performing action for the Mortal Kombat characters.
Daniel Pesina (right)
Pesina was the first to work on the Mortal Kombat project , in a warehouse in Midway , where he spent 3 days (3 hours a day) performing martial arts moves against a blank wall. By studying Pesina's performance videos, John Tobias, co-creator of Mortal Kombat, has a clearer idea of which actions to design in the game, and the production of Mortal Kombat has also been fully launched.
But in the beginning, Midway plans to invite famous action superstar Jean-Claude Van Damme to perform the action, and all the others are tasked with planning the actions of the characters in the game.
"The bosses thought it was a good idea to give the game to Shange Winton." Pesina said, "This makes Rich (Divizo), me and Carlos (the action actor of the Mortal Kombat character Raiden) a little sad, because we have a lot of ideas, and the game is not our share... But the collaboration was clearly not discussed, so we went back to the game and performed the action for the characters. ”
The actor plays the role in the game
Like Shange Winton, Pesina and others appreciate Chinese martial arts. According to Pesina, he learned Chinese martial arts from an early age and later became a martial arts instructor, trying to promote the creativity of Chinese martial arts through games. For this reason, when John Tobia proposed adding ninja characters to the game, Pesina disagreed. Pesina wants to add unprecedented content to the game, such as Lin Kuei, a Chinese organization that existed before the emergence of Japanese ninjas.
"No one has done anything like this in the past, and Lin Kui has never appeared in any movie." Pesina said, "I think it would be cool to have them in the game because it's the first time. We wanted to create a game for players and geeks, so it was necessary to have these characters. John needs to read books to study Lin Kui, I won't lend him my books, we still have some differences of opinion... As a geek and martial arts artist, I really contributed a lot of ideas to Mortal Kombat that other games would have. ”
The developers and action actors of Mortal Kombat love kung fu, action movies and comics, and that's one of the reasons the game is full of violent scenes — violence in the game isn't unusual for this group of people, as they grew up watching movies like Raiders of the Lost Ark, Demon Haunting Chinatown, and Lee Three-Legged Terror Shaking Hell's Gate.
In 1993, works such as Mortal Kombat and the FMV game Night Trap sparked public condemnation, calling for the regulation of violence, pornography and other elements in the game, and thus giving birth to the entertainment software rating committee ESRB.
<h3>"I'm not going to play Wonder Woman"</h3>
In the era of Midway's Mortal Kombat, motion capture technology was not yet mature, with actors performing in front of a blank background wall, and then the developers digitized their movements. The actors individualize the roles they play and "invent" different special skills. Some of the most impressive character lines, such as Scorpions' "Get over here!" Etc., it is also the improvisation of the actors during the performance.
"We worked together on the special skills of the characters, and mine was handstanding." Malecki said. Unlike the rest of the Mortal Kombat action cast, Malecki is not a martial arts expert, but with her background in dance and fitness, her performances are still great. "People call that move leg grab, which I thought of when I was dancing... We brainstormed about the character's special skills, and later Dan invented the Kiss of Death. ”
"Kiss of death"
Sonya Blade's "Kiss of Death" is probably one of the most memorable specials in Mortal Kombat.
Even when there is no shooting assignment, Pesina usually stays in Midway to assist her colleagues with filming. Every action actor thinks they are the creator, not just the performer.
According to Pesina, John Tobias wasn't in a hurry to make suggestions before filming the ninja character's moves. But one day, Tobias suddenly proposed adding a character to the game who used a lasso like a cowboy. "You know, I'm not going to play Wonder Woman." Pesina told him.
Later Pesina also came up with an idea. Pesina had read a book about the ancient Chinese weapon "rope dart" — which was tied to one end of a rope and was often used to pull enemies off their horses — and he thought it should be used in games, and Divizio was there.
"I said Dan, when you pull the rope back, you should say ' Get over here! and use a hook punch or a kill." Divizio recalls, "But when I said 'come here,' it was really loud, like you hear in the game. Although I don't voice the character, I invented that phrase. ”
Divizio also pointed out that the "heart-digging" action of his character Kano was a tribute to a similar scene in the movie Raiders of the Lost Ark 2: Raiders of the Magic Realm, while Scorpion's secret skull face was inspired by another movie, Jason and the Argonauts.
Given the situation at the time, the action actors had to work closely together. Midway is a relatively small studio; Mortal Kombat isn't animated like some other games of its time, and everything on the screen was shot by a team of five... Interestingly, though, each actor seems to have chosen the role he suited best.
"If you hang out with Rich (Divizio), I'm sure when you talk to Rich, you'll think he's Kano." "Raiden is the same, my brother (Carlos Pesina) is more mysterious than I am and more suited to play him in terms of age," Pesina said. ”
This is the biggest difference between Mortal Kombat and other games of its time: live-action performances, where players will not only see these actors in the game, but also be able to see them perform seemingly impossible actions.
During the production of Mortal Kombat, the team of action actors had some problems – according to Pesina, the action actor team had purchased a cheaper but too small Sub-Zero prop suit, and then because the clothes were torn, they had to sew it with a pin (the safety pin was too small). Mortal Kombat may not be as complete as Street Fighter, but players don't seem to mind its flaws.
<h3>Twenty-five years later, the impact is still there</h3>
In 1992, the post-release boom of Mortal Kombat swept the arcade. The game seems to appeal in particular to those who don't mind intense violence scenes, and the five actors who play the game's roles suddenly make a name for themselves.
"We had no idea how popular the game really was." Malecki told me, "When we first signed at the McCormick Showgrounds, I couldn't believe my eyes. Many small children and young people stood there, lining up for hours or even all day... It was a scene I will never forget because I didn't feel so special, but those people asked me for autographs. ”
Their lives were also changed by Mortal Kombat. Pak broke into Hollywood and appeared in several films, including "Drunken Fist 2" starring Jackie Chan. Others went on to work on the Mortal Kombat series and other games. Carlos Pesina currently serves as the lead animator for NetherRealm— a new studio founded by Mortal Kombat co-creator Ed Boon after Midway's bankruptcy.
It's been 25 years since Mortal Kombat came out, but in September, the Kombat Kon event in Illinois attracted mortal Kombat players from around the world, many of whom still want to meet Malecki, one of the actors in the original productions.
But Malecki still had regrets in his heart. "I want to have a positive impact on girls and want them to stay healthy and confident." Malecki said, "I tried to find an opportunity to talk to the children at school, but the principal and teachers disagreed because they thought Mortal Kombat was a violent game. ”
"I want to tell the children that it's good to stay healthy and learn martial arts and other habits. It was one of the things I wanted to do, but I never got a chance. A lot of kids think I'm important, in fact I never think so, but if there's a chance, I want to make a positive impact for girls. ”
In a sense, Mortal Kombat inspired young girls who, before the game, saw no female characters in almost any game. Today, 25 years later, Mortal Kombat is no longer a game or competitor that imitates Street Fighter, but has come out of its own way.
Compared to most games, Mortal Kombat is a more personal piece. While the violent elements of Mortal Kombat have sparked a lot of controversy, the game's influence will endure for a long time as it brings players closer than ever to a dream of truly being in a video game.
This article is compiled from: usgamer.net
原文标题：《Get Over Here: Meeting the Faces of Mortal Kombat, 25 Years Later》
Originally written by Caty McCarthy
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