Fatality (Mortal Kombat)

An example of Fatality from Mortal Kombat 1

Fatality is a gameplay feature in the Mortal Kombat fighting game series, in which the victor of the match's final round inflicts a brutal finishing move onto their defeated opponent. Prompted by the announcer saying "Finish Him" or "Finish Her", players have a short time window to execute a Fatality by entering specific commands while positioned at a specific distance from the opponent. The Fatality and its derivations are notable features of the Mortal Kombat series and have caused a large amount of controversy.

History

Further information: Controversies surrounding Mortal Kombat

The origins of the Fatality concept have been traced back to several violent Asian martial arts media. In The Street Fighter (1974), a Japanese martial arts film, Sonny Chiba performs x-ray fatality finishing moves, which at the time was seen as a gimmick to distinguish it from other martial arts films. In the Japanese shōnen manga and anime series Fist of the North Star, the protagonist Kenshiro performs gory fatalities in the form of finishing moves which consist of attacking pressure points that cause heads and bodies to explode. The Japanese seinen manga and anime series Riki-Oh (1988 debut), along with its Hong Kong martial arts film adaptation Story of Ricky (1991), featured gory fatalities in the form of finishing moves similar to those that later appeared in Mortal Kombat.

While creating Mortal Kombat, Ed Boon and John Tobias started with the idea of a Street Fighter II-style system and retained many of its conventions but tweaked others. The most notable additions were graphic blood effects, more brutal fighting techniques, and especially the fatal finishing moves (this was a novelty as the traditional fighting games ended with the loser simply knocked unconscious and the victor posing for the players). According to Boon, it started with an idea to enable the player to hit a dizzied opponent at the end of the match with a "free hit", and that idea "quickly evolved into something nasty." Tobias recalled it differently: "Our first idea was to use them as a finishing move for [the] final boss Shang Tsung, who was going to pull out his sword and behead his opponent. Then we thought, 'What if the player could do that to his opponent?'" Tobias stated that initially, no one at Midway expected players to find the Fatalities in the game. Tobias said: "When we watched players react to the Fatalities, we knew we had no choice but to give them more."

Gameplay

Much like special moves, a Fatality may require certain requirements to achieve the desired result. Usually, every character has their own special Fatality that must be performed at a certain distance from the opponent, the three distances are close (the finishing move would not work unless the player is right next to the opponent), sweep/mid (the player should stand a step or two away from the opponent, but still within the distance that a sweeping low kick should hit), and far (at least one jump's forward length away from the opponent).

Variations

Animality

This finisher allows the player to morph into an animal and maul their opponent. This style of Fatality debuted in Mortal Kombat 3. According to Boon, his team "listened to what the players said about MKII and the Animalities that they thought were in there but really were not. To answer all these rumors, [they] put Animalities in MKIII [sic]."

Babality

Introduced in Mortal Kombat II, Babality turns a defeated opponent into an infant version of the character. They returned in Mortal Kombat (2011) with distinct animations for each character.

Brutality

Introduced in Mortal Kombat Trilogy and the Super NES and Genesis versions of Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3, this finisher allowed players to perform a combo that would cause the opponent to explode. Brutalities were not very popular, as they were extremely difficult to accomplish, requiring the player to memorize and perform a special 11-hit combo. As of Mortal Kombat X, brutalities are featured as enhanced versions of specific moves that serve as finishing blows in the final round of a fight.

Faction Kill

Appearing only in Mortal Kombat X, the winning player performs a unique fatality about which faction that player is part of in the game. Each faction has a set of five unique faction kills; however, the player has to play continuously for one single faction to reveal every faction kill available to that particular faction, including one that is unlocked by a Faction War victory.

Hara-Kiri

The Hara-Kiri is a finishing move in which the losing player kills themselves at the end of a match, rather than be finished off by their opponent. Mortal Kombat: Deception is the only series installment to feature this finisher.

Heroic Brutality

Heroic Brutalities are finishing moves exclusive to the 2008 crossover game Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe. In addition to the MK characters' Fatalities being toned down therein to accommodate the game's "Teen" rating, the Heroic Brutalities represented the DC characters' moral code against killing. The censored finishers from both sides were considered a negative point of the game.

Kreate-A-Fatality

For Mortal Kombat: Armageddon, the Fatality concept was completely revised. This concept has been met with a mixed reaction, with some fans and critics preferring the more interactive nature and freedom of the Kreate-a-Fatality system and others missing the previous games' character-specific ending moves and alternatives to killing the opponent.

Stage Fatality

Stage Fatalities brought environmental interaction within the series, occurring when a player uses a part of the stage or map to execute a player. It is a finishing move that is not a standard character Fatality. Some examples of Stage Fatalities are having the victim fall into a pool of acid or a pit of spikes or being collided by a subway train.

Quitality

Quitalities, first introduced in Mortal Kombat X, occur when a player disconnects in the middle of an online match. This results in their character instantly dying, and their opponent is awarded a win. Examples of quitalities include the loser's head simultaneously exploding or the loser swiftly snapping their own neck.

Miscellaneous

• Fergality: The Mega Drive/Genesis version of Mortal Kombat II featured an exclusive finishing move that allowed Raiden to transform his opponent into Probe Ltd. employee Fergus McGovern, who worked on that port of the game. This finisher could only be performed on the Armory stage.
• Multality: Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks features Multalities, which are Fatalities performed on multiple common enemies at one time.
• Animalities and Brutalities were both rumored to be featured in MKII, but were only later added in MK3 and Mortal Kombat Trilogy, respectively. The rumored types of Fatalities that did not exist in any of the games included "Nudalities".

Notable Fatalities

In December 1994, GamePro conducted a reader poll to determine the most popular Fatalities from MKII. The results, published in March 1995, highlighted Jax's "Arm Rip", Sub-Zero's "Ice Grenade", and Shang Tsung's "Soul Stealer" as fan favorites. Years later, in November 2008, GamePro's Patrick Shaw ranked his "12 Lamest Fatalities" across various fighting games. Among those from the Mortal Kombat series were Liu Kang's "Death by Arcade Machine" from MK3 in twelfth place, The Flash's "Tornado Slam" from MKvsDCU in eleventh place, Jax's "Amazing Growing Man" from MK3 in ninth place, and Scorpion's and Rain's Animalities from UMK3 and MKT tied in eighth place. Other notable entries included Sindel's "Killer Hair" from MK3 in seventh place, Kano's "Stomach Pounce" from MKvsDCU in fifth place, the Babalities in third place, and Kano's "Ripping Out an Invisible Heart" from the censored Super NES version of the original game, which took the top spot as the lamest Fatality.

In May 2010, Dan Ryckert from Game Informer reviewed the Mortal Kombat series, categorizing Fatalities into the best, worst, and most confusing. The "best" included Liu Kang's "Dragon" from MKII, Sub-Zero's "Spine Rip" from the original MK, Reptile's "Head Snack" from MKII, Jade's "Head Gymnastics" from MKD, Sektor's "Compactor" from MK3, Jax's "Arm Pull" from MKII, Dairou's "Ribs to the Eyes" from MKD, and Sindel's "Scream" from MK3. Conversely, the "worst" included Liu Kang's "Cartwheel" from the original MK, Kano's "Knee Stomp" from MKvsDCU, Kitana's "Kiss of Death" from MKII, Kabal's "Inflating Head" and "Scary Face" from MK3, Rain's "Upside-Down Uppercut" from MKT, and Bo' Rai Cho's "Fart of Doom" from MKD. The most confusing Fatalities featured Liu Kang's "Arcade Machine" from MK3, Jax's "Giant Stomp" from MK3, Johnny Cage's "Three Head Punch" from MKII, Cyrax's "Self-Destruct" from MK3, Darrius' "Rearranger" from MKD, and Smoke's "Earth Detonation" from MK3.

In February 2011, UGO Entertainment's K. Thor Jensen ranked the top fifty "Most Gruesome Finishing Moves Ever" in video games, with several Fatalities from the Mortal Kombat series making the list. These included Sub-Zero's "Spine Rip" from the original MK in fiftieth place, Johnny Cage's "Triple Uppercut" from MKII in forty-fifth place, The Joker's "Last Joke" from MKvsDCU in fortieth place, Kung Lao's "Hat Slice" from MKII in thirty-fifth place, Johnny Cage's "Nutbuster" from MKSM in twenty-ninth place, the "Pit" Fatality from the original MK in twenty-second place, Sektor's "Iron Clamp" from MK3 in fifteenth place, Dairou's "Ribeyes" from MKD in fifth place, and Smoke's "Armageddon" from MK3 in second place. In April 2014, Prima Games's Robert Workman compiled a list of the top fifty Fatalities from the Mortal Kombat series. The top ten included Baraka's "Lifting Stab" from MKII, Noob Saibot's "Make a Wish" from MK9, Kitana's "Kiss of Death" from MKII, Johnny Cage's "Nut Buster" from MKSM, Ermac's "Mind Over Splatter" from MK9, the "Pit" Fatality from the original MK, Dairou's "Eye Stab" from MKD, Kung Lao's "Blade Drag" from MK9, Kano's "Heart Rip" from the original MK, and Sub-Zero's "Beheading, Complete with Spine" from the original MK.

In May 2020, Gavin Jasper of Den of Geek chose his three best Fatalities from the original MK to MK11. Fatalities from the original MK included: Kano's "Heart Rip", Scorpion's "Toasty", and Sub-Zero's "Spine Rip"; from MKII: Mileena's "Devourer", Baraka's "Blade Elevation", and Kung Lao's "Hat Splitter"; from MK3/UMK3/MKT: Sektor's "Compactor", Shang Tsung's "Soul Steal", and Scorpion's "Hell Hand"; from MK4/MKG: Raiden's "Overload", Reiko's "Throwing Stars", and Quan Chi's "Leg Beatdown"; from MKDA: Kano's "Organ Robbery", Kenshi's "Telekinetic Destruction", and Kung Lao's "Splitting Headache"; from MKD/MKU: Goro's "Limb Tear", Havik's "Arm Feast", and Sub-Zero's "Leg Shatter"; from MKSM: "The Tearing Down of Kintaro", Johnny Cage's "Crotch Destroyer", and Scorpion's "Judgment Day"; from MKvsDCU: The Joker's "Cards", Scorpion's "Trip to Hell", and The Joker's "Gun"; from MK9: Kung Lao's "Hat Trick", Sheeva's "Lend a Hand", and Noob Saibot's "Make a Wish"; from MKX: Quan Chi's "Mind Game", Mileena's "Tasty Treat", and Cassie Cage's "Selfie"; lastly from MK11: Terminator's "Target Terminated", D'Vorah's "New Species", and Johnny Cage's "Who Hired This Guy?".

In October 2022, Justin Clark of GameSpot celebrated the 30th anniversary of the series by selecting the ten best and worst Fatalities in Mortal Kombat history. Among the best were Sub-Zero's "Spine Rip" from the original MK, Kung Lao's "Hat Split" from MKII, Shang Tsung's Kintaro transformation from MKII, Quan Chi's "Shake a Leg" from MK4, Sub-Zero's "Pitch" from MKD, Scorpion's "Nether Gate" from MK9, Ermac's "Inner Workings" from MKX, Cassie Cage's "Selfie" from MKX, Shang Tsung's "Kondemned to the Damned" from MK11, and D'Vorah's "New Species" from MK11. The worst included Liu Kang's "Cartwheel Uppercut" from the original MK, Jade's "Shaky Staff" from UMK3, Classic Sub-Zero's "Blackout" from UMK3, Quan Chi's "Neck Stretch" from MKDA, Scorpion's "Only a Flesh Wound" from MKDA, Ashrah's "Voodoo Doll" from MKD, all Fatalities from MKA, Kano's "Stomp, Drop, and Roll" from MKvsDCU, Cassie Cage's "I <3 You" from MK11, and Skarlet's "Heart Condition" from MK11.