It's difficult to not call Mortal Kombat a rite of passage: it was a daring and vicious display of violence, combined with all the trademarks of kung-fu films. It had a deep love for its central bloodshed; an unapologetic force of nature that spoke to the counter-culture crowd of the early 1990's. It might be easier to list things that didn't change with the release of Mortal Kombat, as the repercussions it had on the industry are still being felt today. Parents were mortified by the horrific violence and worse yet the arcade machine was available in the open to anyone with a quarter. The game was stupendously violent, with the spurts of blood that came out after each hit being amplified by the use of fatalities as brutal finishing moves: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w37YG5nRbJM But perhaps Mortal Kombat's biggest claim to fame is that it was one of the sparks that lead to the formation of the ESRB, the Entertainment Software Rating Board. It was among a sea of games during the 90's, including Night Trap and Doom, that were so controversial that the industry decided that it needed a system not unlike the MPAA for film.
