Hey, what’s going on, everybody? For Dot Esports, I’m a writer, and you’re reading some Mortal Kombat 1 news.
MK co-creator Ed Boon ended up facing a fatality of spice during a new sponsored episode of Hot Ones, the show with hot questions and even hotter wings, sitting across a table from host Sean Evans.
In the sponsored segment with a truncated lineup of hot sauces much quicker than what Evans usually does while interviewing celebrities, Boon talked about everything from narrative in a fighting game to how much game development has changed in his 30-plus years in the industry.
But for most MK players, the highlight of the episode will be the long-anticipated reveal of the Jean-Claude Van Damme skin for Johnny Cage, something that has been in the pipeline since the franchise’s inception.
Van Damme’s likeness can be seen at about 5:52 of the episode, and it’s quite literally just the action movie star’s appearance from his heyday in cinema, all while using Cage’s moveset. So, basically, it’s a Hollywood actor playing the character that is a Hollywood actor.
“When we made the very first game, our original intention was to make Van Damme: The Arcade Game,” Boon said. “We actually wanted to see the words ‘Van Damme’ up there. And again, Bloodsport was big, and Universal Soldier. So, we called his people and were like, you know, ‘we want to make a game based on Van Damme,’ and I don’t know if he declined or it just never got to him or something like that. But again, this was a couple of 20-year-old kids wanted to make a video game, I could see how Van Damme would go ‘no, no, we’re not doing this.”
Boon said he tried “a couple of times going back and forth with him,” but “this time we hit the lottery, and we got him, and we actually have his voice,” and the gaming legend called it a “full-circle moment” for himself.
As for the wings, Boon struggled a bit, admitting he was “a little nervous” about the heat and that he’s at the “lowest end” of the spicy food tolerance spectrum. He did all right, all things considered, and represented himself and the franchise well.
Mortal Kombat 1 launches in early access on Sept. 14, and worldwide on Sept. 19.
