The co-creator of Mortal Kombat explains how he came up with the game’s iconic logo and how it was all but scrapped because it looked like a seahorse.
upon twitterJohn Tobias unveiled the original hand-drawn logo he created for the first Mortal Kombat game…and delved into the background.
“This is a recently discovered image of the first drawing of the dragon icon for #MortalKombat,” he revealed. “I designed this icon as a symbol for both a game and a fictional tournament.”
Here is an image of the first drawing recently discovered. # Mortal Kombat‘s dragon icon. I designed this icon as a symbol for both a game and a fictional tournament… (thread) #MK30 pic.twitter.com/vVIDr4K9aP
— John Tobias (@therealsaibot) September 22, 2022
Tobias’ original pencil drawing was digitized by both Tobias himself and Mortal Kombat artist John Vogel, and pixel traced the digitized image. why dragon? Well, Tobias explained that it’s all because of the game’s original name.
“The inspiration for using a dragon as a symbol for a fictional tournament came from a previously contested game title, ‘Dragon Attack’. [Ed Boon] We changed it to Mortal Kombat,” he revealed. “Here’s a rough marker sketch of the marquee logo.”
The inspiration for using a dragon as a symbol for a fictional tournament came from “Dragon Attack”, which was previously contested as the game’s title. @noobde Changed to “Mortal Kombat”. Here’s a rough his marker his sketch of the marquee logo… (3/9) pic.twitter.com/g3UY2X2boX
— John Tobias (@therealsaibot) September 22, 2022
Apparently the name “Dragon Attack” came from Ed Boone’s love of the Queen song of the same name, which was eventually changed to Mortal Kombat as we know it today. Still, the logo stuck, and the design emerged when Mortal Kombat artist John Vogel saw a golden dragon statue on the desk of Midway Games general his manager Ken Fedesna. .
“The design inspiration for the Dragon Icon began when John Vogel saw a golden dragon statue on the desk of Midway General Manager Ken Feddeson,” says Tobias. “John borrowed it and digitized it for use in the background of the game.”
When Tobias saw the dragon statue, he incorporated it into the design of the game’s coin operation cabinet, which soon inspired the game’s logo itself.
“I was thinking of creating an icon to represent a fictional tournament, but I was also thinking of branding the game with a symbol…like the ‘S’ for Superman or the bat symbol for Batman. “I used the dragon from the sketch on the side panel of the cabinet to convey the look of the dragon icon as a symbol.”
I was thinking of creating an icon to represent a fictitious tournament, but I was also thinking of branding the game with a symbol such as Superman’s “S” or Batman’s bat symbol. I used the dragon from the cabinet side panel sketch to convey the look of the dragon icon as a symbol… (7/9) pic.twitter.com/EV2NNQaXDg
— John Tobias (@therealsaibot) September 22, 2022
Interestingly, the logo was pointing to the left of both When Until Mortal Kombat II. At this point, with the console release of the game, I had to choose between them for trademark purposes.
“We chose to go right and have been ever since,” he confirmed.
“The final icon design was an attempt to recreate the yin-yang symbol of anger balance, a core part of MK’s early fiction,” continues Tobias.
Amazingly, the entire logo was nearly scrapped after Tobias’ sister mistook the design for a seahorse. Thankfully the team stuck with it. The Mortal Kombat logo has become his one of the most iconic in gaming history.
Want to know more about Mortal Kombat? Find out where Mortal Kombat sits on the top 10 best fighting games and how Johnny Cage himself teased Mortal Kombat 12.
Ryan Leston is IGN’s entertainment journalist and film critic.you can follow him twitter.
