Fatality

In the Mortal Kombat series of fighting games, a Fatality is a special finishing move that can be used against one's opponent at the end of the final match. When the announcer says "Finish Him" (or "Finish Her" if the opponent is female), the player can choose to kill him or her through a fatality move.

Unlike special moves, a fatality may require certain distances and quick button sequences in order to achieve the desired result. For example, in Mortal Kombat 3, one of Sub-Zero's fatalities requires that he stands close to the opponent and quickly execute Block, Block, Run, Block, Run. Every character has their own special fatality that must be performed at a certain distance from the opponent. The number of fatalities varies depending on the game; while characters in Mortal Kombat and Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance had only one, Mortal Kombat 3 and its updates featured as many as four.

Fatality-style finishing moves have also appeared in other fighting games such as Killer Instinct, though they are not named as such.

The beginning
With Street Fighter II dominating arcades, Mortal Kombat co-creators Ed Boon and John Tobias wanted to create a fighting game that retained Street Fighter ' s gameplay without being a complete copy. Originally, the project revolved around actor Jean Claude Van Damme; this idea was eventually dropped and Mortal Kombat was born.

Tobias and Boon started Street Fighter II's system and retained many of its conventions (fireball-style projectile attacks, one on one matches, minigames, etc.), but tweaked others (the block button, special endurance matches, juggling, etc.). The most notable additions were graphic blood and fatality finishing moves. Traditional fighting games ends with the loser knocked unconscious and the victor posing for the players; characters never died during a match. The idea of a fatality proved very popular with fans.

Reaction
Mortal Kombat attracted numerous fans because it featured blood and the ability to perform fatalities. The new feature addition helped make Mortal Kombat a successful game franchise that challenged the supremacy of Street Fighter II.

The fatality concept caused considerable controversy, and many parents disapproved of the violence and the brutal endings of the game, deeming it disturbing.

The newly-founded ESRB gave Mortal Kombat a rating of MA 15+, deeming the game too violent for audiences under the age of 15. It's worth noting that, in the United States, the ESRB has no legal standing to prevent the sale of video games to minors, and therefore many people under the suggested age were able to play the game. Arcade owners were asked to monitor the ages of players, although few did.

Mortal Kombat II added some extras when it came to fatalities. The characters were given two fatalities each, and the fatalities were more violent. Many angry parents and protestors wrote letters and complained about the content of the game, but since the ESRB had already rated the games, nothing came of the protests.

Many parents feared that the introduction of fatalities would influence children to murder, and to teach them that it was okay to kill their enemies at school if they were threatened.

After the crash of the arcade market, Mortal Kombat can no longer be found in arcades; new releases are targeted at the home console and PC markets.

Variations

 * Animality - This finisher allows the player to morph into an animal and maul or eat their opponent alive. This style of fatality debuted in Mortal Kombat 3. Some say the precursor to the Animality was Liu Kang's Dragon Fatality from Mortal Kombat II, in which he turned into a dragon and ate the upper half of his opponent.
 * Brutality - Introduced in Mortal Kombat Trilogy and the SNES and Sega Genesis ports of Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3, this finisher allowed players to perform a combo which 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. Many felt the pay-off was lacking with the only result being a fiery explosion where the victim disappears and an unrealistic amount of bone and flesh are sent flying and covering most of the screen. In some versions, the bone and flesh flies completely offscreen. This finisher didn't appear in another game until Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks, in which it wasn't explicitly used as a finisher, but rather as a power-up.
 * Multality - Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks also features multalities, which are fatalities performed on multiple enemies at one time.
 * Babality - The defeated characters turns into a baby, sitting on the floor and wearing a miniature version of their adult clothing and accessories and/or a diaper (nappy). In some versions, the sound effect of a baby crying plays, along with a lullaby, and the word "Babality" is spelt out by colored building blocks that fall from the top of the screen.Shao Kahn then announces (Albeit unusually and unnervingly gentle) "Babality!!"
 * Friendship - The fighter will make a peace offering, such as Sub-Zero using his powers to make a snowman, or Johnny Cage offering a signed photo of himself.
 * Hara-Kiri - (See below)

Stage Fatalities
Stage fatalities brought a new level of environment interaction within the series. A stage fatality occurs when a player uses a part of the stage or map to execute a fatality 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 razor-sharp spikes, or to be run over by a subway train. Stage fatalities are present in the series from Mortal Kombat through Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks, with the only exception being Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance.

Mortal Kombat: Deception features more stage fatalities than any previous Mortal Kombat game. Renamed "Death Traps", there are more stages that allow death by stage interaction than not. No longer is a special button combination required as the opponent only needs to be either standing or hit in a particular spot on the stage. Unlike previous stage fatalities, "Death Traps" can be initiated anytime during a round and only require the opponent be hit into them.

Hara Kiri
The newest kind of fatality is the Hara Kiri. The Hara Kiri (which is Japanese for a certain type of suicide, and literally means belly cut) is a move in which the player kills his/herself upon defeat at the end of the last match, rather than be finished off by his opponent. The Hara Kiri made its debut in Deception and seems to be a popular feature with the fans. It is unknown whether or not the Hara Kiri will remain in future Mortal Kombat games.

Although it was called a fatality in-game, the first example of a suicidal finishing move in Mortal Kombat was Cyrax's "self-destruct" move from Mortal Kombat 3 and Mortal Kombat Gold; Cyrax, a cyborg, enters a code on to his arm panel and moments later explodes along with his opponent in a manner reminiscient of the ending of the first Predator movie.

External link

 * GameFAQs Mortal Kombat codes, move lists and fatalities