Characters in the early Mortal Kombat games play virtually identically to one another, with the only major differences being their special moves. Mortal Kombat 3 and its updates added a sixth 'run' button. The first two of them were played in the arcades with a joystick and five buttons: high punch, low punch, high kick, low kick, and block. The original three games and their updates, Mortal Kombat (1992), Mortal Kombat II (1993), Mortal Kombat 3 (1995), Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 (1995), and Mortal Kombat Trilogy (1996), were styled in a 2D fighting fashion.

Mortal Kombat II arcade cabinet's control board Entertainment and turned into NetherRealm Studios. Following Midway's bankruptcy, the Mortal Kombat development team was acquired by Warner Bros. Early games in this series were also noted for their realistic digitized sprites and an extensive use of palette swapping to create new characters. Controversies surrounding Mortal Kombat, in part, led to the creation of the ESRB video game rating system. The series has a reputation for high levels of graphic violence, including, most notably, its Fatalities (finishing moves allowing the player to finish off their defeated opponent). Mortal Kombat has become the most successful fighting franchise in the history of video games and one of the highest-grossing media franchises of all time.

Lawrence also produced the second movie, animated TV series, live-action TV series films, the first one million platinum-selling album and a live-action tour. Film producer Lawrence Kasanoff licensed the rights to the game in the early 1990s and produced the first hit movie ever made from a video game. The original game has spawned many sequels and spin-offs consisting of several action-adventure games, as well as a comic book series and a card game. Mortal Kombat was the first ever fighting game to introduce a secret fighter, reached if the player fulfilled a set of requirements. The development of the first game was originally based on an idea that Ed Boon and John Tobias had of making a video game starring Jean-Claude Van Damme, but as that idea fell through, a fantasy-themed fighting game was created instead, nonetheless paying homage to him with nut-cracking movie star character Johnny Cage, whose initials and personal style echo Van Damme's.

Mortal Kombat is an American media franchise centered on a series of video games, originally developed by Midway Games in 1992.

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