According to NetherRealm Studios' Ed Boon, the Mortal Kombat co-creator says an HD remake of the original game was in the works, but was unfortunately canceled.
Over the weekend, Mortal Kombat's co-creator Ed Boon took to his Twitter account to reveal an image of an ill-fated HD remake of the very first entry in the popular run of fighting games. However, the NetherRealm Studios creative director didn't clarify whether or not the still of a high resolution version of both Liu Kang and Sonya Blade—two of our top characters in the franchise—was an actual screenshot from the unfinished project, or if it was merely a conceptual design.
Apparently there's a story behind why the Mortal Kombat HD edition was never finished, but Boon fails to share why it never came to be. Nevertheless, with one of the prominent minds behind the series tweeting an image of the game, it bears questioning if fans should keep hope alive for the upscaled iteration's possible rejuvenation.
A quick visit to the Mortal Kombat Arcade Kollection's Wikipedia page clarifies that the poorly reviewed compilation for the PlayStation Network and Xbox Live Arcade was created from some of the scrapped materials of the ambitious HD Arcade Kollection. Plus, in May of 2014, a NeoGAF user going by the name “Slamtastic” posted pictures explaining that the game was supposed to be remade with updated actors and backgrounds like the ones seen in Boon's tweet above, but it became a generic port instead.
[HTML1]
Taking the above details into consideration, since the high definition version has been common knowledge for quite some time before Boon's recent divulgence, it's possible that his tweet about the game could be testing the waters for the project's resurgence. After all, not only would MK fans surely jump at the chance to play a cleaner-looking version of the 2D fighter, the NetherRealm director is known for using social media to make cryptic announcements involving the series, such as his enticement with a Kombat Pack 2 DLC teaser for Mortal Kombat X.
Should it actually be in some form of development, fans shouldn't expect to play the Mortal Kombat HD edition for a while, considering Warner Bros. Interactive has confirmed its commitment to Mortal Kombat X for the foreseeable future with more DLC being released through 2016. At any rate, the hi-res picture Ed Boon released will definitely make most, if not all would-be Kombatants wish for the venture's revival.
Would you have been interested in playing a high definition remake of the initial Mortal Kombat title? Why do you think the game never came to fruition?
In the meantime, Mortal Kombat fans can get their fighting game gore fix by way of Mortal Kombat X, available now for PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, as well as iOS and Android devices.
Source: Ed Boon – Twitter (via Game Informer, GameSpot)