Mortal Kombat is a brawler video game series started by Ed Boon and John Tobias in 1992 with the game Mortal Kombat. ¹⁾

Ed Boon, programmer, and John Tobias, a comic book artist, paired up to develop a fighting arcade game that would be ready in ten months. Artist John Vogel and sound designer Dan Forden joined Boon and Tobias' team. ²⁾

The games was based originally on Universal Soldier starring Jean Claude Van Damme. According to Tobias, the game began when Universal Soldier's creators approached Midway Games and asked them to develop a game based on the film. Later it has been rejected, but the inspiration has remained in creating Johnny Cage. ³⁾