Fig. 1. Atari’s concept art for Capcom’s original Street Fighter arcade cabinet, with pressure-sensitive pads to register the strength of the player’s blows.

Fig. 2. Large, cartoonish sprites in Street Fighter II, featuring Ryu launching his “palm power” Hadōken fireball as one of his special moves.

Fig. 3. Five-button control interface for Midway’s Mortal Kombat. Author’s photo.

Fig. 4. As an elevated arena, “The Pit” in Mortal Kombat justifies the game’s 2D horizontal gameplay while also allowing players to execute the series’ first “stage fatality” with a simple uppercut, as illustrated here.

Fig. 5. Hidden fighter Reptile appears at random before a round in Mortal Kombat, providing hints about the multiple steps needed to trigger a match against him.

Fig. 6. Fight choreographer Daniel Pesina (as Scorpion) and Ho-Sung Pak (as Liu Kang) pose during the motion-capture process on Mortal Kombat II. Photo courtesy of Daniel Pesina.

Figs. 7–8. In one of the gorier Mortal Kombat II fatalities, Kung Lao splits Jax down the middle with his razor-rimmed hat, showcasing how digitized character sprites are augmented with hand-drawn blood and gore animation.

Figs. 7–8. In one of the gorier Mortal Kombat II fatalities, Kung Lao splits Jax down the middle with his razor-rimmed hat, showcasing how digitized character sprites are augmented with hand-drawn blood and gore animation.

Figs. 9–10. Lightning (James Pax) shoots electricity from his hands in Big Trouble in Little China, an inspiration for Mortal Kombat’s Raiden.

Figs. 9–10. Lightning (James Pax) shoots electricity from his hands in Big Trouble in Little China, an inspiration for Mortal Kombat’s Raiden.

Figs. 11–12. One of the Three Storms blows up like a balloon and explodes in Big Trouble in Little China, much like Kitana’s Kiss of Death fatality in Mortal Kombat II.

Figs. 11–12. One of the Three Storms blows up like a balloon and explodes in Big Trouble in Little China, much like Kitana’s Kiss of Death fatality in Mortal Kombat II.

Figs. 13–14. Frank Dux (Jean-Claude Van Damme) proves unexpectedly talented at playing Karate Champ on his way to compete in the Kumite in Bloodsport.

Figs. 13–14. Frank Dux (Jean-Claude Van Damme) proves unexpectedly talented at playing Karate Champ on his way to compete in the Kumite in Bloodsport.

Fig. 15. Simple pixilated sprites, featuring photorealistic images of Asian stereotypes, in the “Chinatown Assault” level of the rail-shooter Lethal Enforcers.

Fig. 16. Front cover of the SEGA Genesis port of Mortal Kombat II, one of the final games rated MA-17 by the VRC and released to overlap with the newly implemented ESRB system in September 1994. Author’s collection.

Fig. 17. “Daniel Pesina, who starred as Johnny Cage™ in Mortal Kombat™ has switched to BloodStorm,” reads the EGM2 (July 1994) magazine contest ad for one of the Mortal Kombat clone games. Courtesy of Incredible Technologies and EGM Media.

Fig. 18. Mortal Kombat 4 eschews pixilated sprites for polygonal character textures, solely modeled on live actors’ movements instead of photographed images.

Fig. 19. The game camera zooms in for a mid-round close-up of internal damage from Kung Lao’s hat in an “X-ray move” in Mortal Kombat X.