British gaming has sadly lost one of its icons of the early nineties with the sudden passing of Fergus McGovern. A co-founder of Probe Software in 1984; McGovern was part of the team responsible for porting Mortal Kombat and Mortal Kombat II to a variety of platforms, most notably the Sega Mega Drive.
Players of the Probe Sega ports and trivia hounds will remember McGovern from an exclusively added finishing move called a Fergality. The move, performed with Raiden, super-imposed McGovern's head over the opponent's sprite.
Gamesindustry.biz reports McGovern passed away suddenly over the weekend after a transatlantic flight, aged 50. The cause is believed to have stemmed from a cerebral blood clot. He is remembered fondly throughout the gaming industry and survived by his wife and three children.
Mike Tegan of Trickstar Games is but one of the many who've shared warm tributes, "Thanks for the great times in London-LA-Dublin and in Australia. Thanks for thumbing your nose at the establishment when needed. Thanks for always sticking up for the little guy and thank you for being my friend. My sincere condolences to Deanna, the kids and brother Kevin. RIP Mate!"
Probe was acquired by Acclaim Entertainment in 1995, continuing to develop games for home consoles, including Mortal Kombat II and Alien Trilogy for the Sony PlayStation. McGovern later co-founded mobile and toy developer Hotgen. On his early successes in the industry, McGovern is quoted, "To be honest, I achieved quite a lot when I was very young. We had seven Christmas number ones out of 10, and in 1995 I was given a lifetime achievement award. That's too young."