All Articles: Mortal Kombat

Have you gotten used to the fact that Freddy Krueger will be invading your Mortal Kombat nightmares in August? If not, perhaps Ed Boon can convince you. The Mortal Kombat creator sat down with Sid Shuman of the PlayStation.Blog to discuss his reasons behind bringing Freddy into the fight and who else was considered for the fourth DLC spot.

According to Boon, having a downloadable guest character was always in the cards and Freddy was just one of several names thrown around. Jason (who is owned by NetherRealm parent Warner Bros.) and Michael Myers (who isn’t) were also both considered:

PlayStation.Blog: So what is the inspiration for bringing Freddy Krueger to Mortal Kombat as a DLC character?

Boon: When we had the discussions about the DLC characters, we knew that we wanted to add a returning character, a new character, but also a guest character. That was one of the goals right from the beginning. A number of names were run by us: Jason, Michael Myers and all those guys. Freddy Kreuger, we felt, was the most instantly recognizable and he fits in with Mortal Kombat with his claws. It just seemed like the best fit.

While Boon and company are only adding Freddy to Mortal Kombat (for now), the original team at Midway actually considered creating a slasher-filled Mortal Kombat with all the biggest names in 80s horror:

PlayStation.Blog: Ten, 15 years ago when Mortal Kombat was early in its lifespan, did you ever fantasize about getting Freddy Krueger into MK?

Boon: Yeah, yeah. Over the years, we’ve certainly had a number of conversations about guest characters. At one point, we had a conversation about having a group — imagine Freddy, Jason, Michael Myers, Leatherface from Texas Chainsaw Massacre — of all these killers from the 80s and 90s flicks come in as a group of characters.

Wow. Ed Boon, I promise you, if you make a slasher fighting game I’ll buy ten copies.

You know what, I’m just going to take credit for this one.

A misreading of a tweet from series creator Ed Boon back in April first birthed the “Freddy Krueger in Mortal Kombat” rumor. It was quickly debunked, but apparently the team at NetherRealm thought it was a good idea as well. With a little help from parent company Warner Bros. (the conglomerate’s movie arm owns the rights to Krueger), the Dream Warrior will now do battle with a bunch of ninja warriors.

PS3 and Xbox 360 owners will be able to download Freddy Krueger on August 9. In keeping with the previous DLC characters, he will be priced at $4.99 (or 400 Microsoft Points). Check out the trailer above for a full look at Freddy and his new “two-gloved” fighting style as well as a pair of Fatalities that can only be described as awesome. I mean, a blood geyser straight out of the original Nightmare on Elm Street? Flawless Victory, NetherRealm.

Oh, and you’re welcome.