Ed Boon explains where the idea for Mortal Kombat's fatalities came from

Did you know that the first Mortal Kombat didn't have fatalities planned from the start? Series co-creator Ed Boon reveals that hte idea came to them during development, which you can read about below.

“We didn’t have fatalities in mind when we started the first Mortal Kombat game. Oddly, the idea for fatalities came from the dizzy feature that was in another popular fighting game. I personally loved getting my opponent dizzy because it was really fun getting a free hit that you knew they couldn’t block.

I hated it when someone would get me dizzy, because I knew there was nothing I could do and I had to just sit there and take my punishment. So, we decided to move that portion of the game to the end of the match, where the winner was already determined. That’s why the loser goes into a ‘dizzy’ animation and the winner gets a free hit at the end. We had that in the game for quite some time when we just thought, ‘Wouldn't it be cool if you could do something really devastating to the other guy as the final blow?’ That's how fatalities were born.”