THE PIT UNDERGROUND NEWSLETTER ISSUE #1 GG: 212DU VOL #1

1 INTRODU," ",11' . 'C'W ·''1''''1"',? '0''N' I gotta make this quick my little Kombatants, before the KOUBA'!' programmers get wind of my intentions. What follows is the complete expose on Mortal Kombat, the wicked arcade game "Yo'''' " ·..N'..,..·T;'·E..'..:·.' N"'::prT' 'S' that will stand the video game world on its head. Right now, Acclaim is working on bringing this gut-busting, chi- 10 Most Asked ropractic-spine-twisting game to Super NES, Game Boy, Sega CD, Genesis and Game Gear systems, and I've got the inside Questions about track on what's going on. Mortal Kombat • Want to know what moves are going be in it? READ ON. • Want to know if it's true to the arcade? READ ON. • Want to know who died and made me the boy genius on what Acclaim's doing, when no one else can get the Building the straight poop on M.K.? Perfect Beast READ THIS: I WORK HERE! I hang out with the people who are producing the game. I eat lunch with them. We play soft- ball together. Are you getting all this? They tell me things, I tell you. It's that simple and it shouldn't be Profiles too tough for you to figure out that I could lose my job over this. in Kombat Anyway, that's why I'm stressing. Now that you know I'm eminently qualified for the task, read on and find out just what's happening with the number one arcade slice-em and dice-em sensation. Just do me one favor? Don't tell anyone Mortal Monday. you heard from me, o.k.? Call me eccentric, but I happen to like to be able to eat on regular basis and my job lets September 13TH me do just that. Sit down, pay attention and read on. Here comes Mortal Kombat. KOMBAT KODE NAME: ABACABB QUICK-KICKS

S",pe>'NES NAME: MORTAL KOMBAT first to hear about these Mortal Kombat Kit just for hot new controllers) . being the bird of early, SYSTEMS: SUPER NES, man. It has a poster, spe- GENESIS, GAME BOY, GAME CHARACTERS: The 16-Bit cial Mortal Kombat tips, GEAR and SEGA CD games feat~re ALL OF 'EM. rub on tattoos, and more. CONTROL: Will work with any MOVES: ALL OF 'EM and more. WHY: If you have to ask, controller out there, then don't even bother! including Sega's 6-button WHEN: MORTAL MONDAY - controller and Acclaim's September 13th! But don't new Dual Turbo Wireless delay( go order yours today Remote System (you're the and plck up a way cool ' A martial arts ------T------Once a member of I superstar, Cage the super-secret e uses his tal- White Lotus I AGE: 24 REAL NAME: JOHN ents on the big HEIGHT: 5'10" Society, Liu Kang CARLTON I screen. He WEIGHT: 185 left the organi- AGE: 29 /::IA!R; BLA CK I:t.ElY.!::!.I. 6'1" e~tered the BROW N zation in order I .EYf..S.; YI'.IilllliI.; 2 00 tournament LEGAL STATUS: to represent the HAIR: BROWN I purely for the CITIZEN OF THE Shaolin temples EYES: BLUE PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC I LEGAL STATUS: publicity it OF CHINA at the tourna- CITIZEN OF THE would generate BIRTHPLACE: HONAN ment. He has I UNITED STATES around the PROVINCE, CHINA entered the OF AMERICA QCCUPATlON: SHAOLIN I BIRTHPLACE: world. He is a MONK, FISHERMAN tournament VENICE, CALIFORNIA formidable foe expressly to I OCCUPATION: ACTOR with limber ~ -.defeat Tsung. I - I limbs and quick reflexes. ------_KAND _ ------A mercenary, . .1-I ------thug, e~or~~on- A member of a AGE: 26 AGE: 35 ist, thief - I top special HEIGHT: 6' HEIGHT: 5'10" WEIGHT: 205 lives a life of I WEIGHT: 140 forces unit that HAIR: BLACK HAIR: BLONDE was tracking crime and injus- I ~BLUE EYf..S..:1. BROWN, 1 Kano's Black INFRA-RED (BUILT INTO tice and is a LEGAL STATUS: METAL IMPLANT) devoted member of I CITIZEN OF THE UNIT- Dragon. Ambushed ED STATES OF LEGAL STATUS: the Black Dragon. I by Tsung's armY, DEPORTED FROM AMERICA JAPAN, WANTED CRIMI- He has entered BIRTHPLACE: AUSTIN, Sonya was forced NAL IN 35 COUNTRIES the tournament in I TEXAS to fight in the OCCUPATION: LIEU- BIRTHPLACE: order to gain I tournament to UNKNOWN TENANT IN THE U.S. QJ~.k!.!PATION: access to and I ARMY, MEMBER OF A save the lives CRIMINAL MEMBER OF SPECIAL PARA- of her captured loot Shang MILITARY FORCE THE BLACK DRAGON comrades. ORGANIZATION r----__ Tsung's palace. I

LAi •••• ~------Lr.------SUB-ZERO The actual name RAYDEN I r------_ and origin of The name Rayden is I REAL NAME: UNKNOWN this warrior is AGE: ETERNAL actually that of a AGE: 32 unknown, but HEIGHT: 7' mvst.Lc known as a I HEIGHT: 6'2" WEIGHT: 210 based on his uni- WEIGHT: 350 thunder warrior. HAIR: BLACK I HAIR: BLACK form, it is ~NONE He received a per- EYES: BROWN believed he LEGAL STATUS: sonal invitation I. LEGAL STATUS: NONE. MYSTIC- DOES HOWEVER, HE RESIDES belongs to the from Tsung himself I SOMEWHERE IN CHINA NOT APPLY Lin Kuei, a OCCUPATION: and took the form I BIRTHPLACE: THUNDER WARRIOR UNKNOWN legendary clan of of a human to com- I OCCUPATION: LIFE Chinese "ninja". pete in the tour- LONG MEMBER OF THE nament and defeat I L1N KUEI, A RARE CLAN OF CHINESE NINJA the demon Tsung. I ------~------SCO~PION I o A 2000 year-old In his former half-dragon, HEAL NAME: UNKNOWN I AGE; 2000 Goro has ~32 life, was I HEIGI:!T: S'2" ~6'2" defeated by Sub- I WEIGHT: 550 remained unde- WEIGHT: 210 HAIR: BLACK feated for the I:!AIR: BLACK Zero. Demons ~RED I last 500 years EVES: VARIES granted his tor- I LEGAL STATUS: lEGAL STATUS: mented soul the EARTH- NONE andt holds the SCORPION IS A I OUTWORLD- PRINCE REINCARNATED SPECTER opportunity for OF KUATAN title of Grand AND HAS NO LEGAL revenge, giving I 61BII:!PLAQ~ KUATAN, Champion. Goro STATUS. him a new body and I 4TH ASTRAL PLANE OF possesses mas- 6!~~IN SHOKAN, REALM OF " FORMER LlFE--UNKNOWN a Lin Kuei uniform I THE OUTWORLD. sive strength OCCUPATION; IN FORMER mocking Sub-Zero I OQCUPATioN: PRINCE and agility and LlFE- UNKNOWN OF KUATAN, RULER with its cowardly .\ :' all those who AS SCORPION~ A LOST I SUPREME OF ---::,/c- SOUL BENT ON REVENGE yellow color. I SHOKAN'S ARMIES have opposed him have been I destroyed. ". 1

10. will there be 2 different versions of 5. When will it be available on CD systems? the game? We'll be seeing the "next level" of Mortal Kombat Mortal Kombat for the Super NES will be known as the about January of next year. Competition Edition, while the Genesis version will be the Tournament Edition with Mode A. Only the 4. will it have the secret character, ? most rad gamers will be able to access Mode A. If you can figure out how to get to him, you'll be slammin' and jammin' with Reptile. 9. Will the home version have variable difficulty levels? 3. Will it have "The pit" scene? Yes, the difficulty setting will be the same as the It would be the pits without it! Yes, you'll be able arcade game (you may not know it, but the arcade to uppercut some poor slob into the PIT. owner has access to a 5-point difficulty setting) . The Super NES game will also have a handicap setting 2: Will the home version have the finishing moves to allow two players of different skill to compete like the arcade? on an equal basis. If that doesn't activate your In Acclaim's effort to make the home game as excit- glands, the game will also have a HAND-TO-HAND mode, ing and action-packed as the arcade game, you will, where all the special moves will be disabled. be able to "FINISH HIM" or "HER" with Scorpion's Flame Thrower, Sonya's Kiss of Death, Lui Kang's a.will the graphics be intense? Helicopter Kick and more! ...•_- crIT'lS rs KOIlibai:: of the most Mortal kind, dudes! And as such, the most exalted and awaited answer And the number one Mortal Kambat question is is YES! The Genesis, Sega CD and the Super NES drum roll please! version of Mortal Kombat will all have incredibly detailed graphics! 1. When will Mortal Kombat be available? Prepare yourself for ... MORTAL MONDAY on September 7. Is a special controller being planned? 1ll That's the day Mortal Kombat hits the shelves of Mortal Kombat for Sega Genesis and Sega CD will be your favorite store. Anywhere in the world, in more compatible with the new 6-button controller and the than 50,000 stores, Mortal Kombat will be bustin' dovm standard,control pad. The Super NES game will take the door. ARE YOU PREPARED FOR MORTAL MONDAY? advantage of all 6 buttons and be compatible with any arcade stick currently available. It's a wrap! I have now stood before your micro- 6. Will you be able to control Goro and phones and bright lights to answer all your palm- ? sweat-inducing questions, and now have one of my No word yet, (but I've tapped the producers phone so own: What in the world are you waiting for? Go that if anything breaks, I'll know). reserve your copy of Mortal Kombat! Mortal Monday's coming September 13th.

. ., ~ < : ::. i' mu~' m ? ~,-~,~ .' B: ····U. ~'?:"'; I"L'" ... -:D. ',,,~,/'I''.N' ....; "Q~ ".. P. :'¥~"R:.".F· ..·'E,··C_w~'.- BEAST An Interview With the Creators of Mortal Kombat I'm not the most talented guy in the world, but by impersonating the voice of Acclaim's Vice President of Product Development, I was able to talk with John Tobias and Ed Boon at Williams/Bally/Midway, the two guys responsible for making Mortal Kombat the #1 arcade in the nation. Here are some excerpts:

Q: What's your background? Q: Why is the game so realistic? EB: I studied computer science at EB: Digitized graphics add a tremendous University of Illinois and joined the pin- amount of realism. They put the player into ball division of Williams right out of col- the world he's looking at. The perception lege·. and-worked- on games 'such as Taxi and F- is that d.i.gitized graphics is a new ~-. 14 Tomcat. technology, but in fact, it has been in development since 1985 and Narc, in 1988, JT: I went to the American Academy of Arts in was the first arcade game to use it. . During college, I did freelance comic book illustrations working on Ghost Q: How was Goro created? Busters and Planet of the Apes. After I grad- JT: We wanted a really mean look- uated, I was hired by vii11iams . ing guy who seemed unbeatable. So I drew up some sketches and we Q: What other video games did you work on? created a 12-inch stop-motion EB: After switching over into video games, I miniature-using wire armature and a worked on High Impact, Super High Impact and latex mold. By using stop-motion of course, Mortal Kombat. digitization and a blue screen, we 30hn Tobias filmed Goro frame by frame. JT: Before Mortal Kombat, I worked on Smash TV and To~al Carnage. Q: Who did the Mortal Kombat comic book? Q: Do you guys own any home video game systems? EB: John did. He designed the EB: I own both Super NES and Genesis. T'm currently into Super comic and wrote the storyline. Smash 1'V, and Super High Impact. JT: The comic has been a tremen- JT, have both systems too. dous success. It started out with me and Ed filling orders after Q: Where did the ·idea for Mortal Kombat work, but it got too big. come from? JT: We wanted a "good player vs. player" game and the idea sort of Q: will there be a Mortal Kombat 2? evolved from looking at and playing everything from Karate Champ to (The guys weren'~ saying. but based on Street Fighter. We had originally wanted to do a Jean Claude Van its popularity and instant success, it Damme game, but the idea turned into Mortal Kombat instead. seems logical that a Mortal Kombat 2 will appear somewhere on the horizon) .

Mortal xornbe t;" © 1.997. Ni dway Mdnu[acluring Company. A11 r l qht.s reserved. N:i nt.endo , Super N I n! cndo I nt.c r t a I nmcnt. nvat cm and Oamc nov al o t cq I suer-eo II edeme r ks 01 Nint ondo 01 America. secc • Oenesl.s and Oemc Gear are t radcma rks 01: Segd tcnt e rp r t ses , t.t d . Ar-cnatv and Acc l eim" a ro di vt sions and t radcmar-ke or Acc l a lm rcnt e rue t mnent.. tnc . (\) 1~9] Acclaim Entertainment, Inc. All rights reserved. Hold on to jl 'shing moves and che~/ e never- before/: e act.u- al Mo arts expe I the hot t/' Morti '. Kand di sri Con ow, sho ting skill egion of 10 es· and gentlem arriors do exist e sneak-

,,~_. __ A • _2~~k_Fic~_~

P<">' ·"~-'~E(r,'1I~~ .' A,'.,0,,-." ..Rr"'r'.-E!i~'~. -·,,'.0",,'.,.'....~;; '-S"~':~~I'~~-, ,.."w •...; F";·I §Y- ~ '"", ~"" 'tJp . '~,;" .&, Everyone and their brother wants Mortal Kombat because it it the BADDESTgame ever. Acclaim is launching this game into the stratosphere with cool commercials, giant 6-foot Goro standees in stores that you'll want to rip-off they're so cool and more. Heck, go into a movie theater 'in August and September .@Ddyou'll . see our Mortal Kombat ad on the screen. Dat,!s right, bbyz, on da '·;·:'§:il.ver, .,sc:r::een. This game is so hod, wEl:'should' ve used flame ,resisi:~nt 'packaging. Which brings me to my point: Mortal Kombat 'i's 'gonna fly off the shelves. That's no joke. You wait, you lose, 'Ii 'becaus~ MORTAMONDAYL -- September 13th -- is going to be the bigge~t .' day in video game history! To beat the rush and your

ifJlI'Eii'IJIIDmUI10I U. lII•.••' . neighoor; 'do youself a favor and RESERVEYOURCOpy of Mortal .•••• ••• .--tua. _ . .•.• ::.:::.:-=-. ;:::;:;: -:;:: -.::- -..::- .= ":"...':" Kombat! And get thiswhen you reserve early, some stores will give COMING MORllll MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 13" WHEREVER VIDEO GAMES ARE SOlDI . you a Collector Edition Kombat Kit with special MK items you SUPfRNINIEHOOGAMEOOn GENES";'; G~MEGEA'; can't get anywhere but in the kit! Don't be kicked to the curb. ~=.~.:::;"""'"'''' ~~~~!~ RESERVEYOURCOPYOF MORTAKOMBAL ANDT PRESERVYOURE REPUTATION!

.._.91. . ;. "'\~ .... :

HUOAMlN S9NIUdS V90lVUVS tien: AN 'Al?g .:Io3~SAo t~~#lIlA/IUd .•. '0311.';[ A03.rpn,;[ tL OIVd ~9VlSOd'sn nVUHlna iUiDI'»Vl'