Mortal Kombat has a
special place in the hearts of many gamers worldwide. Its various
ways to decapitate or disembowel a person disturbed parents and
delighted kids. With each sequel, the creators attempted to outdo
the previous game, though after Mortal Kombat 2, that became pretty
much impossible. Even though Mortal Kombat 3 is probably my favorite
of the series, it clearly leaned more on goofiness and re-used
animations, and not much effort was made to visualize the gore, as
illustrated by fatalities in which severed hands ended up floating
next to severed torsos.
Still, the designers must’ve known they had to find a new source of
shock material to keep the fans happy. Regular finishing moves just
weren’t cutting it anymore. So they introduced Animalities.
Ergo Nightwolf,
having just transformed himself into a wolf to put the finishing
touch on Jax. Hey, watch where you put that nose, mister. At this
point you’d probably expect a brutal disemboweling. Well, you’d
almost be right.
AGK! In some kind
of jealous fit of pelvic rage, Nightwolf murders Jax’s defenseless
groin! Man, look at the blood fly.
Nightwolf wins,
yes, but at what cost? This was one of those moments that really
made parents, teachers and politicians alike look away nauseously
and briefly cup their testicles. And it wasn’t like Nightwolf was
the only one doing it. Remember what I said about re-used
animations? Well...
Jax, Sub-Zero and
Kung Lao all join in on the crotch-rending mania, with Kung Lao
occasionally going for all-out savage bestiality. Yeah, that was
probably the original name for “Animalities” to begin with. After
MK3 came a series of rehashes which, while it worked really well for
the Street Fighter 2 series, kind of made the Mortal Kombat
franchise bleed to death. It’s good to know that the games won back
their popularity with the release of the latest 3D versions. And as
far as I can tell, there’s no more mauling of groins. Thank heavens.
Who knows what that could lead to in the long run?
