Mortal Kombat Controversy
Blood code politics
The 1992-1993 controversy over Mortal Kombat's fatalities that led to congressional hearings and the creation of the ESRB, highlighting the Sega vs Nintendo approaches to violence.
The Mortal Kombat controversy erupted when the arcade fighter’s home conversions sparked debates over violence in games. The contrast between Sega’s uncensored version (with blood code) and Nintendo’s sanitised port became a central exhibit in 1993 congressional hearings that led to the ESRB’s creation.
Fast facts
- Game: Mortal Kombat (1992)
- Content: Fatalities, blood, gore
- Sega version: Blood code ABACABB
- Nintendo version: Sweat instead of blood
- Result: Congressional hearings, ESRB
What it cost Nintendo
⚠ The “Nintendo looked responsible” reading does not survive its own mail. The grey sweat was Nintendo’s instruction to its licensee — the company “made Acclaim Entertainment… take the frequent red blood spray that accompanied blows and fatalities in the original arcade game and convert it into gray sweat” — and the public did not thank it for it. Howard Lincoln:
Instead of getting a lot of letters back from parents praising our position, we got a huge amount of criticism — not only by gamers, but even by parents saying that we had set ourselves up to be censors. [They claimed] that wasn’t our job, and that they were offended by that.
The numbers said the same thing. In the two months after Mortal Monday, “three million Mortal Kombat games sold, breaking sales records for 16-bit games, and the more violent Sega version outsold the Nintendo version two to one.”
And it changed Nintendo’s policy. Lincoln again: “[Nintendo was] hurt in the marketplace by Mortal Kombat, [it] continues to have internal guidelines… but in the main I don’t think we’ll put ourselves in another Mortal Kombat situation, and we’ll be much more selective on what battles we do fight.”
Note the sequence: the request came before the outcry. Nintendo, “apprehensive about mounting concern over the violence in video games, insisted that the licensee release a watered-down version” — a pre-emptive call that then cost it twice.
The blood code
| Platform | Content |
|---|---|
| Arcade | Full blood and fatalities |
| Sega Genesis | Blood code “ABACABB” enabled gore |
| SNES | Grey “sweat,” toned-down fatalities |
The Political Response
| Stage | Event |
|---|---|
| Media coverage | News reports on violent content |
| Congressional attention | Senators take notice |
| Hearings | December 1993 |
| Industry response | ESRB created 1994 |
Nintendo vs Sega
| Company | Approach | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Nintendo | Family-friendly censorship, ordered of its licensee | Accused of censorship by its own customers; outsold two to one |
| Sega | Blood code plus its own age rating | Outsold Nintendo two to one, and said so in the hearing room |
The controversy highlighted different corporate philosophies toward content.
Legacy
Mortal Kombat became the poster child for video game violence debates. Its controversy directly created the rating system still used today, and “Mortal Kombat” remains shorthand for the question of violent content in games.