Back before the days of online console gaming hours on end were spent at the local arcade. It was there where Mortal Kombat reached deep into my chest and, well, ripped my heart out… figuratively speaking, of course. It’s has almost been two decades since the original arcade smash-hit came out, and after many attempts at trying to recreate the magic of the first three Mortal Kombat games, NetherRealms Studios and Warner Brothers’ Games have finally done it, andthensome.
We here at Next Gen News were so excited about the release of the latest Mortal Kombat game that we decided to set-up an Official Mortal Kombat Champions’ Tournament, with help from our friends at Sam Film, here in Iceland… but, seriously, what is any gaming event without the gamers’ favorite beverage, Mountain Dew? We made sure that people had MORE than enough Mounain Dew–it certainly helped wash down the chicken kebabs, and meatballs provided by Gamla Vínhúsið (Old Wine House).
The evening kicked off at 20:00 on Tuesday the 19th of April with a free-for-all practice session: it was basically the perfect opportunity for kombatants to size each other up, and also try out some of the new characters that were not playable in the demo. The small room filled quickly with gamers of all ages; by 20:15 we had around fifty or sixty people in this little bar. Even those who weren’t competing had a chance to play the game enough to feel prepared for the tournament so, naturally, we let them join, too.
At 21:00 the tournament began, and the kontestants had peoples’ undivided attention. The entire bar was basically quiet except for the sounds of punches connecting, screams of agony, blood dripping to the ground, and of course the “Ooooohs!” and “Ahhhhs!” from the people watching.
Each fight was nail-bitingly exciting, and, although some people had to lose, there were no sore losers, even after being decapitated or even disemboweled, everyone still seemed strangely happy just being involved–though, some slightly happier than others because they didn’t exactly go home empty handed; we gave out a bunch of very cool Mortal Kombat shirts and Sub-Zero masks.
At the end of one intense hour it came down to two finalists; Hlíðar (pictured below: dark, coloured hair) playing on behalf of PlayStation 3 gamers, and Andri Snær (blonde hair) playing on behalf the the Xbox 360 community. They played one game on each console. If, at the end of those two games, it was still tied then the final game would be played on a console decided by a coin-toss (much like Test Your Luck). Hlíðar’s kombatant of choice was Smoke, and Andri Snær’s was Scorpion.
After playing two games the score was 1-1, so it ended up with a coin-toss after all. Xbox 360 it was, and although some people might think that it was unfair for Hlíðar, it was also Andri’s first time playing Mortal Kombat on the Xbox 360, too. The Xbox 360 did not get a demo of Mortal Kombat, so being the hardcore Mortal Kombat fan he is, so determined to win the title of the Icelandic Mortal Kombat Champion, Andri decided to rush down to his local game-shop, buy a PlayStation 3, and download the Mortal Kombat demo just so he could get a few hours of practice before the tournament. Now that’s determination!
It all paid off for Andri Snær that night; defeated Hlíðar, quite literally, by a hair in the third and final round of the evening. Though it was a painful loss we couldn’t let our runner-up go home empty handed; both kontestants got to take home a Mortal Kombat Press Kit, including a shirt, Sub-Zero Mask, DVD, an art booklet, and a case of Mountain Dew. Unfortunately for Hlíðar, the grand prize of the Kollector’s Edition and title of the Icelandic Mortal Kombat Champion went to Andri Snær. Well deserved victory.
