Mortal Kombat: Behind the scenes of Scorpion and subzero recordings | esports
2 min readEd Boon, co-creator of the Mortal Kombat series, released a video demonstrating the creative process and motion capture in the iconic Scorpion and Sub-Zero modes. Pictures released Thursday showed artist and actor Daniel Pesina dressed in a yellow ninja costume and receiving instructions from Boone and John Tobias. The publication is part of the celebrations of the 30th anniversary of the franchise launched in October 1992.
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Remember, this was very early in the project. The ninjas didn’t have names yet. I laugh to hear myself refer to Sub-Zero as “the cold guy” — Ed Boon explained.
In addition to the video, Boon also talked a little about the creative process, which was largely improvised in the photo studio. At the time, Scorpion and Sub-zero did not have names, but it was known that the two characters would share the animation, but switch color palette. One will be red like the actor’s clothes and the other will digitally change colors to blue. The maneuver was intended to save memory and also took place for budgetary reasons. In the video, you can see Boon referring to the scorpion with “The Ice Guy.”
– Palette Swap Ninja’s origin stemmed from a great story rivalry as much as from a technical solution we needed to fit the game into the limited space (memory) we had – continued.
Mortal Kombat: Behind the scenes of Scorpion Records and Subzero Records – Photo: Midway
Despite this, there was a gap of seven frames that brought more character to both ninjas. With this opportunity appearing in the registry group, the video shows the developers of the game and Pesina creating solutions between attempts.
One thing worth noting is how spontaneous our decisions should be, based on what we were seeing at that moment. John suggests that the scorpion turn its fists. I suggest Sub-Zero put his hand on his chest and rock back and forth. It all depends on what we see.”
At the end of the messages, Boon highlights how much source material ended up being outside of the final version of Mortal Kombat. The game released by Midway Games hit arcades in October 1992.
Mortal Kombat: Behind the scenes of Scorpion Records and Subzero Records – Photo: Midway
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