Your MKO Journey - Where did it begin and where are you now?
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posted11/08/2018 04:16 AM (UTC)by
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Baraka_MK
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Member Since
04/13/2002 02:05 AM (UTC)
Hi guys. Remember me? it's been a long time since I've been a regular here, but for probably about a decade, this place used to be like a second home for me. I have a lot of fond memories of this place and made a lot of great friends here (a few of whom I'm still very close with today). Anyway, I thought it'd be an interesting idea for us all to share our own personal MKO stories, starting with how we all wound up here, and ending where with we are in our lives now.

NOTE: This is going to be a really long story. Some details are fuzzy, so as more of you chip in, maybe we can all help to paint a better picture of the early days of this website.

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My story goes way back to the MK5.org days, back when the message boards were on Gamers.com. I even still use the same avatar on here now that I did all the way back then (which over the years had led to a whole lot of people thinking I'm Jamaican).

I remember finding this website sometime after Mortal Kombat 4's home console release. It came out on June 23rd, 1998, and I'm pretty sure MK5.org officially launched on Christmas Day of that same year. I'm not sure how much later I discovered the site, but it was probably in the summer of 1999 or so. I remember being a forum lurker for months before I finally decided to sign up. I originally was going to go by the username Reptile_MK, since Reptile at the time was my favorite character. But I think there was already someone with the name Reptile-MK, so I opted for Baraka_MK instead. (Bet most of ya didn't know THAT!)

I didn't have a lot of friends in my teenage years. Both of my best friends from my childhood had moved away right before I started middle school, so I guess after that, I was pretty reluctant to make new friends. This was around the time my family got our first computer, and I was slowly beginning to discover the wonder of the Internet.

I realize now just how long and detailed this story is going to get, so I apologize for that, but maybe for some of you it'll be a trip down memory lane. I don't remember my first MK5.org post, but I remember many of the friends I made in those early days. I felt like I had found a place where I belonged again, and I wanted to really embrace it and become a part of it.

I had become a regular user and active member of a thriving community. I like to think of this time period as being the "The Golden Age", or "The FatSatan Era". Those of you who remember FatSatan no doubt recall just how creative and influential he was to the website and to MK as a whole. Heck, even the MK Emoticons that are still used on this website today were actually created by him. He was an immensely talented and amusing guy from The Netherlands who gave so much to this website and sparked a great period of creativity. Creative content and ideas and passion for Mortal Kombat flourished throughout the forums back in those days.

FatSatan had his own rag-tag crew on MK5.org, and it included members like Brandogg (AKA BrandonBooth), McDaniel, ACJBizar, kryptondog, The_Purple_Bunny (formerly known as Rokko) and dominojr. Somehow those guys wound up liking me enough to include me in their group. It was really Brandogg that took me under his wing. I never really understood why, considering I was a few years younger than the rest of them and a whole lot more of a goody-two-shoes. Whatever the reason may have been, I was always really grateful for it. I had a group of friends again. We even had our own secret Gamers.com message board, but to be honest, I can't even remember the name of it anymore. I know the crew had created a lot content, including a few message boards, and even a couple websites, like The Infernet, Outworld, and AWOS (A World of Spam). ACJ and Brandogg even helped me create my very own video game website some years later, The Gamecube Corner, but they pulled the plug on it almost as soon as it hit the ground.

After a few good years, FatSatan vanished. I have no idea what ever happened to him. I considered him to be a good friend, and then one day he was gone. I know it wasn't that he died, but I guess he decided it was time to move on to bigger and better things. Over time, the rest of his crew gradually began to follow. I lost touch with Brandogg, which still to this day bums me out. Dominojr had graduated high school and moved on with his life. ACJ and kryptondog stuck around for a while, but I lost touch with them too. I actually recently was reunited with McDaniel on Twitter, so that's pretty cool. Anyway, enough about that. Back to MY story.

As I was saying, I had become a regular and respected member (Don't laugh, Mick!) of MK5.org. However, I really ended up making a name for myself by writing Mortal Kombat themed parody songs. It all started with a user, I think his name was MKCHAMPION, who made a thread about doing parody songs for MK characters. I took the idea and ran with it. I was a 13 or 14 year old with a whole lot of time to kill, so I looked up some song lyrics and used my love of Mortal Kombat to craft my first ever parody song. I parodied Eminem's The Real Slim Shady into The Real Quan Chi. Users loved it and wanted more. I had a blast writing it and was eager to create new songs.

Having learned what I did from FatSatan and Friends, I decided to create my own gamers.com message board. I called it The Mortal Kombat Parody Federation. MKPF for short. Using my best MS Paint skills, I created my own wrestling-inspired MK Parody Federation championship belts, and challenged anyone to beat me in parody contests. It was a great time in my life, and I think many of us had a lot of fun with it. Overall, I had created probably about 8 or 10 MK parody songs in total, and had won the championship a few times. It was really rewarding to see other people contribute and create parody songs of their own. (For the record, I no longer have any of these songs or belts. As I got a bit older, I went through that awkward stage where I felt embarrassed about my teenage years and I regrettably deleted all of it.)

Then, one day, Gamers.com abruptly closed all of their message boards. I think? Maybe we had known beforehand that it was coming. I really don't recall. I don't recall the message boards ever going down for MK5.org, but perhaps by that time they had rolled out a new version of the website with their own message boards. This was a long time ago, so details are fuzzy. At some point MK5.org transitioned into Mortal Kombat Online and we got a whole new site layout. (Though I think there was a different version before this current one, but man, I don't know!)

Eventually I had become a moderator on the MK5.org forums, the youngest ever by the way! I had pushed for it really hard for a long time. I recall Brandogg encouraging me to get to know Scott-Howell and DArqueBishop to help my chances, so I did. I'm sure I annoyed DAB more than enough for any one lifetime, but Scott-Howell and I actually became very close friends. He secretly made me a part of the behind-the-scenes action of MKO. So yes, I knew a lot of cool things straight from the MK team before any of you did. I think it's finally safe for me to brag about that now. It was really cool to be on the inside and "in the know". Anyway MKO had become a significant part of my life, but eventually that turned into a bit of a problem, as it was beginning to take up way too much of my life.

I had become a mainstay at the #mortalkombat IRC channel, and was probably the most active and talkative member. Again, no life, lol. I had so many great talks there and met so many interesting people. It's crazy to see how different things have become here over the years, but even crazier to think of how much time has passed.

Eventually, after many years at MKO, I made a dramatic farewell post declaring that I would be leaving MKO forever. Of course, I knew that wouldn't be the case, but I really needed to take a long break and wanted to find more productive things to do with my time. So I went away. I'm sure I came back a few times for extended stays after that, but things were relatively on and off from there on out, and I didn't frequent the forums much at all. It was hard to distance myself from MKO, but I did. Then eventually I became embarrassed of this past. My girlfriend of many years still doesn't really know about it, or certainly at least not the extent of it. Now I find myself embracing it and missing it. Funny how it works like that, huh? Ultimately, I am very grateful for my experiences here and the many friendships I made. You guys were some of the best friends I've ever had. Thank you. Nothin' but love! <3

I suppose it's time for a proper shout-out to my friends from the days of old MKO, but no doubt some of you I'll forget to include, so please don't take it personally. Though I doubt many of these users will ever see this message anyway, but hey, fingers crossed! In no particular order:

CaTigeReptile (A dear old friend!)
MKMaster (my best online friend!)
foahchon (still a close friend, who I was just talking to tonight!)
JoeTaco AKA WayneStatic (I can't remember his previous username)
GuiltyByDesign (still a close friend of mine! <3)
Chan_Ming (the online love of my life! Sort of. In my dreams! lol)
Snowflake (a sweet chat moderator in the early days)
DaMo (The LEGEND!)
Smoke_Rulz
Artanix (The Face-Grinder!)
~Crow~
RedScorpio
Canaanite
ElderGodSmack
DECEPTION
TonyTheTiger
Ninja_Mime (I miss you, man!)
Even Total-MK (you son of a...!) wink
]{0MBAT (Reunited recently on Twitter! Check out his YouTube videos!)
ShoeUnited
Poasty
Mimik
Shinnokxz
-Rijo-
Murdoink
Garrett (kryptondog's brother whose username I can't remember)
MKJohn
Jade
outworld222
DeathScepter
d_collard (a moderator when I first started)

All of you guys are awesome and are very much appreciated. Thanks for the memories.

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So what's BMK up to these days? Well, I suppose not all that much. I graduated from UCLA a couple years back with a degree in English. I'm now working towards a career in... jesus, I don't know what. Writing of some kind? Still working that out.

I'm in a serious long-term relationship with a lovely woman I fully intend to marry. She's my best friend now and the best part of my life. If not for her, I'd probably still be here bugging all of you fine people!

I currently run my own movie website called 5 Minute Movie Guy, which I hope you'll check out. I'm always up for a movie debate or discussion. https://5minutemovieguy.com/ I'm also really active on Twitter with it, so if you use Twitter, go ahead and give me a follow @5MinuteMovieGuy and send me a message and I'll be more than happy to follow back. I recently got back in touch with McDaniel, ]{0MBAT, and Murdoink through Twitter. You could be next!

I'm planning on writing some books at some point, but I haven't really gotten around to it yet. (Says every English major ever.)

I'd LOVE to go to Kombat Kon one of these years. I'm really excited it's a thing that exists. Doesn't look like I'll make it this year, however. I've still never even been on an airplane, and being all the way in Los Angeles, I kind of feel like I should let the convention grow a little before taking a trip all the way to Chicago. I want it to be LEGIT when I get there.

I absolutely loved MK9 and consider it to be the greatest MK game to date. Seriously, it was a dream come true for me. I can't believe how great it all turned out and how well it got things back on track for MK, even if it does end up killing nearly everyone in the end. (Only like what? 6 characters survived?) I had really hoped they would have taken those few remaining characters and given similar treatment to MK4 through MK: Deception, to really give all of those new characters a second chance. The roster would have still been big enough for it to work, and it would have allowed the MK team to strengthen some of those one-and-done characters.

I enjoyed Mortal Kombat X, and even bought an Xbox One just to play it, but in some ways I felt a little let down by it. The ending of the story mode kind of killed it for me, and perhaps I should have saved that for last. Didn't see much of a point in doing single player towers after I had finished the story and saw how everything actually ends anyway. As cool as the story mode was (for the most part), it kind of undermines the story by giving you a definitive answer of what happened, as opposed to presenting you with all of the possibilities of what may have happened if this character or what character won.

Well, that's about it. Thanks for reading. I hope to see some good comments that evoke even more nostalgia. Until next time, you can always find me at 5minutemovieguy.com!

Love, BMK <3 XOXOXO
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Detox
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About Me

You work with what you got...not what you hope for.

08/08/2017 01:09 AM (UTC)
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I enjoyed reading your post. Very cool to see how positively you look back on your time here.

Me personally, I've been around since...I think pre-MK Deception. Started off as a lurker, but, thought enough of the community to make the jump and join. I've been the most active, as far as contributing something constructive, the last couple of years.

I can't say I've reached out to a lot of people here. I choose to just stick to discussions on the board and that's about it. Despite that, I never felt any less a part of the community.

I do miss some of the more constructive contributors like Temp, Shadaloo, Razor, Cyborg, etc. But, guys like Coltess, Killswitch, Warbro, Mick, Poasty(rarely), help fill in the gaps.

I keep coming here because despite the community being a bit toxic at times, I still enjoy this place and ultimately, still believe in it.

Can't wait for the inevitable wave around E3 next year. MKXI should be a good time.
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McDaniel
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Creator of John the MK Janitor.

08/10/2017 06:03 PM (UTC)
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Hey everybody!

So Baraka_MK posted some fun information about the old days of MK5.org (It will always be that for me) And I thought I would post some memories as well! Also thank you for the kind words. You were always one of the fun ones to talk with! Wait a minute... You're NOT Jamaican?!?! :-b

I don’t think I was as popular as some of the other guys in our group so some if not most of you may not know who I am, but hopefully you know about one of my contributions to the MK community back then with “John the MK Janitor.” *John's original look. (If the picture looks low res then you might need to upgrade your PC as this originally was created in 6D.) Here's a link for those interested in seeing the official and original website I made. John the MKJanitor original website Some may remember me as Shao_Kahn from when I first started. I too was just a wee lad in my early teens back when MK5.org was at it’s peak of popularity during the gap between MK4 and MKDA. Like Baraka MK said in his post, there was a group of us that met on the Gamers.com message board and in the Mortal Kombat IRC chat room.

I was a very shy, awkward pimple faced over weight teen who had no friends in real life and found peace from the world while I was interacting with all my online friends about my favorite game of all time, Mortal Kombat! I would say that without the people like Baraka_MK, and Fatsatan, Brandon Booth (LKW) Dominojr, Krypto, CaTigeRept1le, Tabmok99, and too many others to name, I don’t know that I would still be alive. That was the hardest time of my life and I had all these awesome people to help distract me from real life.

I also don’t really know how I was able to get in with the crew, but I believe it was Brandon Booth(LKW) who was part of that. I remember wanting to make a fake MK character just for fun and it was really a joke how it all came about. I made this horrible picture in paintbrush of a MK ninja and colored him like Rain and boasted about it being 6D instead of 3D saying that most modern computers at the time were unable to show it in its full resolution. SOMEHOW that sparked months and months of John the MK Janitor pictures/flash games/ cannon and non cannon story lines, and best of all, even more fake fun characters created by our crew: Balzax the cat, Toke ( Reptile parody of a pot head) and many more.There were 2 Mopologoy games made about John and the other characters which you can learn more about at Fragile-minds.com

Those were some of my favorite times. We even had a private IRC chat we used to all hang out in at the same time as we hung out in the Mortal Kombat IRC chat. My one and only regret from that time was not getting to know more about all the different programs everyone was using to make all their content as I really missed out on a lot of career paths from just being too young to really understand how that stuff would become useful for a career.

It's not till recently that it dawned on me that like 3 or 4 people I talk to on twitter actually live in the same state as me (Florida) and the world is not as large to me now as it was then.
Thank you all who ever took time to listen to my young and probably unfunny jokes, for the "Stick it in, McDaniel" laughs, and to all those who made multiple games, videos, and pictures of what was at the time, a joke, into something that helped me be part of an awesome bunch of people who got me though my worst times in life, Honestly I wouldn't be here without you all.

These days I'm married to my beautiful wife Rhiannon (I finally stuck it in!) and I'm pretty active in the MK world on Twitter. I work at the corp offices for the number one major grocery store in Florida and just enjoy Mortal Kombat games casually and more so watch a ton of Youtube stuff and twitter. Side note: All fans of Mortal Kombat should check out Tabmok99's youtube channel. This guy has the best knowledge and humor for all things Mortal Kombat history related! Also, quick shout out to Darquebishop. Back in those days I was a young teen who used to try to sometimes get a reaction out of him in the IRC chat.I always looked at him as a dad who was always there kind of keeping an eye on us to make sure we didnt get out of line. He was patient with me and only on occasion did he have to tell me that I was crossing the line. I don't know if he knew I would do it on purpose sometimes just to see if he was watching or just to get a reaction out of him. It was so fun. And I have to say that he was always fair and never treated me any worse than I deserved. When i got a bit older I wasnt as bad. I even hooked him up with the Jeffery Meeks contact for one of the fight night chats due to someone I was friends with at the time from the MK Conquest tv show. (It was filmed about an hour or so from where i live. ) So, thanks dad for keeping me in line!
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Knightmare
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About Me

Scott Howell - Co-founder
scott@mortalkombatonline.com

Mortal Kombat Online - The Ultimate Mortal Kombat Experience

08/11/2017 12:48 AM (UTC)
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Wait, a minute. So Baraka_MK is not really Jamaican?

So BMK has asked me to post in here. I'm not sure how much more I can add than I have not already said in the past. But I can at least give a bit of a different perspective on things being here since day one. For those that don't know, I am one of the original co-founders of the website here, better known too many as MK5.org. I was only fifteen when Joey (CCShadow) and I opened its doors on Christmas Day 1998. Nearly 20 years later a lot has changed obviously. Some good, some bad. But it's been quite a ride.

Short version of how I came to be involved with the site and MK. I got my first computer in my early teens and at the time was obsessed with Mortal Kombat. I first fell in love with MK when I was about 13. My cousin had a copy of the Sega Genesis version of MK1 and I was fascinated. I begged my parents for the game. I didn't have a Sega Genesis, but whatever year that was they bought me a Game Gear with Mortal Kombat. My friend Josh and I would play it all the time. I loved the storyline and would trace pictures of the characters. As I got a little bit older I would make on my computer a fake video game magazine called "Fighters Edge" and I would make my own strategy guides for the game, print them, and hand them out to my friends at school. Sometime later MK4 was staging to be released and I remember in some video game magazine they did a write-up on MK4.com which was the official MK Website at the time. I decided right then, I wanted to make my own MK website. My parents got me a computer, I signed up for a free AngelFire website account and "Shao Kahn's Realm" was born.

I taught myself how to write HTML by looking at the source code of other MK fansites like MK on the Net, TRMK, Kingdom MK, Bluestar's MK, Mortal Kombat Dominion, and MK Cyber Arena.

My first website was short lived. I hyperlinked images from Ed Boon's website for his MK Trilogy Nitro edition parody. Ed Boon created an actual "shit list" of MK Sites stealing his images and yours truly made the list. I was horrified and embarrassed. I literately was receiving hate mail from MK Fans. I had no clue anybody even knew my site existed. I took the images off and wrote Ed Boon an email and apologized. He never wrote back but he took my link off his site. smile


So anyway, at some point after that I decided to give it another go. I was determined to redeem myself and I honestly made the goal to someday make the world's largest MK site. First I needed a partner. I frequented at the time the GamePro.com chat room and this is where I met CCShadow. We both went by Shao Kahn, which is why we started talking to each to each other. We both had separate MK sites. I shared my vision with him and we combined our two fan sites - and then our server crashed. We decided at that point to start over. I determined if we were going to be the top MK site we had to do two things. One - have discussion. Two - have the best domain.

We registered the domain that would take us to the top - MK5.NET.

And somehow WhiteRat of MK NIghtmares ended up with it. So we went with plan two.

We registered the domain that would take us to the top - MK5.ORG

We ironically later purchased MKNightmares.com from WhiteRat.(Who bought it back from us later.)

I believe the site flourished because I put together a great team like D'ArqueBishop, ]{0MBAT, Mick and others. The domain, and little bit of hard work helped too. The site really started to take off when I wrote an email to Dan Amrich, then known as Dan Elektro of GamePro magazine. I asked him to include our website in a column he wrote. He actually agreed! (And gave me a gift of all past GamePro's with MK on the cover in mint condition, his personal collection). Being printed in Gamepro ( I think we got printed in there twice) just tickled me. We also got mentioned in the official U.S. PlayStation Magazine.

Shortly after that our traffic just went crazy. We were all very fortunate. Midway Games eventually took notice and they invited us to Midway Press Events and to several E3 Expos.

Meeting Ed Boon and the team was an achievement of a lifetime goal of mine and thanks to MKO and its community it became possible. I constantly tell people when they ask for advise that if you are determined and have the will power, you can do whatever you want in life.

To be honest though, it wasn't meeting Ed Boon that satisfies me today with this website. I truly, truly enjoy posts like this and I absolutely love our community and the people I have met through it. Like BMK, I have so many close friends from the website. Many of the original staff have been to each others weddings and we all keep in touch. Even just a year ago I met up again with ]{0MBAT and his wife and had them over for dinner. There are countless others I keep in touch with on Facebook.

All things kind of come to an end though. The glory days of MKO teetered off eventually as we grew older and I'm sorry for that. In 2006 I believe is when I stepped down as our original webmaster. There was a lot more to that decision at the time that I've never shared publically. Basically, we had all received a special press gift from Midway and the MK team that only a few organizations got. I was still pretty young then and stupid. I was living in an apartment at the time and was having financial issues. I sold the gift to my arch nemesis Total-MK. (I'd consider TMK a friend now - though I don't know if he even knows that gift contributed to me stepping down). Midway found out and banned me from future events. It wasn't really a permanent punishment, but shortly after I met my wife Lindsey and it was my time to move on. I apologized to the team - we've moved on. I mean it was over ten years ago. I was young and stupid. We all make dumb mistakes. I am still in contact with some of the MK team members. Some closer than others.

So flash forward - I'm grown up now. I'm 34 and have a wife named Lindsey. We've been married nearly nine years. I have three children. Jackson (9), Josette (4), & Lincoln (1). I work full time for a very large pharma company doing customer service. I also work part time at my church and do all their web design and media. This site taught me a lot. I learned to be a better writer and communicator thanks to this site and I'm determined its helped grow the skills I use every day in my job.

I don't really play MK anymore , nor video games for that matter. But MK will always have a close place in my heart. In fact, next year in the Fall, during the same weekend as Kombat Kon in Chicago, us MKO staff will be holding a special 20th anniversary reunion. It will be open to the entire MKO community and I really hope you can make it.

Last, I mentioned earlier I ended up on Ed Boon's shit list when I made my first MK Site. Years later I got to tell Ed Boon this story in person over lunch with my team. He couldn't believe it and laughed for a long time. From ashes to glory. Dreams can come true. smile

Love you guys. Keep the discussion going. smile

Scott Howell



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tabmok99
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About Me

For the most in-depth, in-detail, Mortal Kombat lore analysis vids, there's only one source:


https://www.youtube.com/tabmok99

08/11/2017 02:43 AM (UTC)
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Hey guys,

I wanted to come in and share my story, especially since a couple of people mentioned me already. I thought I would talk about my interest in MK and my involvement with MK5.org since—for me at least—the two go hand-in-hand.

I’ve been a fan of the MK series since the beginning—1992, when the first Mortal Kombat game was released for the home systems. I had seen the commercials with the famous “Mortal Kombat!” scream (which would later make it into the official Mortal Kombat theme song). I had seen it in the gaming magazines. I was dimly aware of it, but when my friends fnally rented a copy of it for their Sega Genesis I got a chance to see first-hand what all the hype was about. And it was amazing! They even knew the blood code—ABACABB. I later got a copy of it for my Super Nintendo. It didn’t have the same blood and gore, with the blood having been replaced with gray sweat. But I didn’t care. I finally had a chance to sit down and practice and get good. And beat the game with every character and learn their endings.

When Mortal Kombat II came around to the arcades, it was an amazing time. Better graphics than the original, and I mean MUCH better. Huge improvement. The story was amazing. I became obsessed. I made documents on computer with all the special moves, I collected all the MK memorabilia I could—comics, magazines, strategy guides, action figures, trading cards, you name it. I pre-ordered MKII when it came out on home systems and got so much swag—3 posters, a phone card, and a copy of the Pit II newsletter.

When MK3 came out to the arcades, I really started to build up my skills. I could beat the game using Sheeva or Smoke. Being a teenager and attracting crowds of people my own age and also older was a pretty amazing feeling. It was also around this time the movie came out, and the animated video on VHS (The Journey Begins). I started asking stores for display posters, boxes, etc. and getting them. I had a pretty amazing collection built up too.

Around the time of MK Trilogy’s release I got dial-up internet. It was amazing because there were hundreds of MK fan sites. From little ones like Saturn245, to big ones like rat.org (I actually read about this one in a strategy guide). Plus official sites like MortalKombat.com (maintained by Threshold Entertainment), Midway.com, Ed Boon’s personal site (Noob Saibot’s Outworld—later, noob.com), and even BradyGames who published the official card game. There were moves lists, fake pics, fan fiction, fan art, and just so much awesome stuff everywhere you looked. And that was just the World Wide Web (WWW). The Internet was bigger than that—there were the newgroups (alt.games.mk), there were IRC channels, and the email addresses of the game developers. It was heaven!

With MK4, they released the trailer online. The Internet was actually getting stuff that the magazines couldn’t get their hands on! When the mags did finally publish screenshots from the trailer, it wasn’t nearly as good as having seen it in action. The writing was on the wall—print was a dying medium. But that’s a discussion for another day.

From 1992 to 1997 was five years and we got tons of MK games. But with MK4 going 3D it was a sign that more changes were being brought about. No more digitized actors. The thing that set MK apart—the photorealistic sprites—no longer existed, meaning it lost its competitive edge. A lot of fans departed around this time. I personally was a loyal fan and setting up my website—the Kombat Pavilion—which aimed to cover everything the other fansites overlooked: the miscellaneous stuff, the rare stuff, the details that I found fascinating. I hoped my visitors did too.

The next five years were the dark ages for MK. MK: Gold was a decent upgrade to MK4 (even if it was a Dreamcast-exclusive and even if the first release was way too buggy). With the release of MK: Annihilation in theaters, MK: Special Forces for the Playstation, and the disastrous MK: Federation of Martial Arts (FOMA) webseries, you can’t blame fans if they got the impression that—at the exact same time—the people behind the games as well as the people behind the movies were determined to bleed the franchise dry or forgot what it made it special in the first place. I myself found solace around this time in a couple things: the pirated 8-bit MK games I could get online and play on my NES (using a Famicom adapter), the #mortalkombat chatroom on IRC, the usenet discussion board, and the community at MK5.org.

I was also being given the shaft at Geocities, which I was using to host the Kombat Pavilion at the time. Scott Howell, who I knew from alt.games.mk as well as IRC, offered me webspace at MK5.org. We didn’t know it at the time, but we set a trend—the Kombat Pavilion was the first Network Site, to be later joined by MK Warehouse, the Unofficial MK3 movie site, and others. But back then, I was the only one—and I was thrilled that he helped my solve my hosting problems. I also noticed he had been making a few typos on the site and decided to return the favor by offering my services as an editor, for free.

With the release of MK: Deadly Alliance in 2002, Midway had offered MK5.org the opportunity of a lifetime, and in turn Scott offered it to me—the chance to go to E3, meet Ed Boon, and cover the fifth installment of MK as a Correspondent for MK5.org. Going to E3 was a lifelong dream of mine ever since I saw pictures in the old gaming magazines. Of course I said yes. I would go on to meet D’Arque Bishop, who I also knew from the IRC channel and usenet, who I had a huge amount of respect for, and we covered the game together at the E3 convention.

MK5.org’s presence at E3 continued to grow. We covered the release of MK: Tournament Edition on the Game Boy Advance in 2003, and Scott Howell managed to join D’Arque Bishop and I. (Soon we would be joined by CCShadow, and Mobster4Christ.) Midway’s relationship with MK5.org would also continue to grow. The following year, 2004, Midway gave us a heads up that we may want to consider changing our name. We got the hint—the name mk5.org may not make sense anymore, as the sixth installment was right around the corner. We became Mortal Kombat Online, and almost immediately received a teaser image of Baraka from the game. We broke the news and were the first site to receive to receive this picture.

I would remain with MK Online and cover the games all the way until MK vs. DC Universe. And not just at E3—I also went to events like Midway Gamer’s Day, went to Midway’s headquarters a few times to handle the Fight Night chats (where the developers came into the IRC channel—which belonged to MK Online at this point), Comic Con, and even Game Stars Live all the way in London. There, I captured and posted the first video of Noob-Smoke in action.

Also worth mentioning is that in 2004, I revamped The Kombat Pavilion. I was inspired by the sprite comics posted by The Shirt Ninja and joined in, making my own. I was also inspired by the animations posted by users like Flash-Crash and others. I decided that these things shouldn’t just be posted randomly to discussion boards and then disappear without a trace, months or even weeks later. They should be given a permanent home. I made the Kombat Pavilion a place to store all these wonderful fan creations. I also teamed up with some of the most creative minds in the MK community—like in 2006, when I joined forces with Bezou, the comedic and musical genius, to create the Konquest of the Kamidogu series. In 2007, I also partnered with JimboLimbo to create the Shujinko Game, a 16-bit RPG following the aftermath of Mortal Kombat: Armageddon.

So my involvement was in covering the games in my official capacity as a correspondent for MKO, but also dabbling a little bit in the fan creations while also making a space to collect them on the Kombat Pavilion.

Well, life got busy and I couldn’t keep up with the Internet activities. I didn’t take the Kombat Pavilion down, but I did put it on a hiatus and stopped updating it for a while. I couldn’t partake in any of the events going on, either. I covered MK 2011 a little bit before its release, but wasn’t nearly as involved as I had been.

But, just last year I made my return. I decided to try my hand at YouTube videos (thanks McDaniel for the shout-out here!). I used my collection of magazines, books, comics, pirate cartridges, etc. to try and make some interesting stuff. I still like to talk about the stuff that other people aren’t. Just like I always did with the Kombat Pavilion, I try to make my channel about what I think the other channels are missing. I also have resumed attending events, such as Retro World Expo and Kombat-Kon, where I got a chance to meet the cast and crew of the games, and I even got a chance to meet some of the cast and crew behind the movie(s) as well whey had an anniversary event at the Chinese Theatre a few months ago. It feels great to be back!

So now you know all about me, how I got into MK, my affiliation with MK Online (going back to when it was mk5.org), the Kombat Pavilion, and some of my creations like the comics, animations, and stuff I made, and my ongoing involvement with MK as it stands today! Some peeps mentioned my YouTube channel so feel free to check it out as I try to cover interesting MK topics and always mention at least one fact about MK you didn't know before.

What’s your story?
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Shinnokxz
08/11/2017 05:14 AM (UTC)
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I started sneaking onto our family computer and visiting BBS systems using a Prodigy.net frontend/GUI at around 7 or 8 years old. I think this was shortly before FF7 came out. 1997, somewhere around there? Anyways, I remember because I posted a very popular and understandably incomprehensible topic trashing the game of which I never played, nor had the system to play it. Yes, a troll is born. Eventually I learned how to break out of Prodigy's little intranet and start viewing the raw web. From there I found mk.hotweird.com and segasages.com, which kind of helped burn my obsession with Mortal Kombat (among other games) and all of its zany easter eggs, secret codes, and references. mk.hotweird.com was, of course, TRMK before its eventual title. I hadn't quite figured out newsgroups yet but that site was my window into alt.games.mk and #mk3, with new moves and fatalities discovered during the MK4 road tour. Since online interaction was such a fascination to me, obviously I would end up amongst others in CGI based "cool kids" web-based chat rooms which, I'm sure, police and/or pedophiles posing as children also inhabited.

My first experience with building websites also began around this time with a free web tool called Expage.

https://web.archive.org/web/19991006130543/expage.com/page/shinnokpage

There ya go. No further elaboration needed on that, though my family and friends though it was rad and we all had a mire of different sites between us.

My first discovery of MK5.org is foggy but, at the time I don't ever recall TRMK having forums, so one would have had eventually found mk5.org. I do believe it was a year or two before the first "Scorpion blows up statues with fire" MK:DA teaser came out, and when it actually did, my mk5.org puberty hit.

(At this point, here's what I thought was totally bitchin' at the time in terms of web design: https://web.archive.org/web/20031207175124/http://corysplace.silius.net:80/ )

Eventually I acquainted myself to the #mortalkombat chat, which was full of names already that have been mentioned and laid about this topic. And also, like some of these other names, I had an itch to make a virtual foot print in the sands of MK Internet history. I came up with an idea, that even in some ways to the day I thought was a good concept, of attempting to make a "Worknman's" website which helped puzzle together, or at least centralize and index, the myth and murmurs of a possible MK3 movie, since like many of the games, was shrouded in rumor and hearsay.

So my campy Angelfire HTML skills delivered the world this:

https://web.archive.org/web/20040403111037/http://mk3movie.mortalkombatonline.com:80/ (which isn't really the 'first version', which doesn't really exist out there anymore other than on my archives on a server somewhere in the cat room)

That being said, that was the first version that was designed after I had generously been picked up by Scott Howell(and probably others who had a part of the decision) I liked scouring the web for weird MK3 rumors, but eventually, as anyone with two brain cells could rub together could deduce, futility kind if whooped you hard after spending two or three years arriving to the same mixed up but similar rumor from a site rehashing the same stuff over and over.

Note: I've got to hand it to ]{0mbat for helping with some of the only awesome content of that site, namely the Linden Ashby Soap interview which to this day gets a bunch of video views. He also sent me the MK Movie Guided Tour disc (or whatever it was called) which was really neat. Also a shout out to ACJ whom I wasn't particular personally friendly with or knew a lot about personally, but he was a big help with CSS and PHP questions. Also to the MK5.org management in general for keeping my networked site around and hosted to the day, even though its database was shut down. I think it's because I moved to Wordpress which requires almost weekly security updates at this point, which at this point, my waning interest caused me to severely neglect. Or maybe they just deleted the database data because it was trash, and kept the site up for shits. Either way, no harm done. Murdoink was cool as we both were brought onto MKO at the same time. Even though he had a cooler, more popular networks site I secretly was jealous of at the time.

I moderated in #mortalkombat but don't recall doing much in terms of impact (helped sit there at a MK Fight Night once, though) When I disappeared into life so did my @. Chan Ming was cool, Crow was kind of a prat. He was like chatting with an old lady AI I thought. That is, until one night, for some reason, I talked everyone into tuning into a Jazz playoff game, including him, and he mentioned the Jazz playing well, so he ended up being cool after that comment. I also thought Mick was particularly rude when he first came about, but after I've returned just recently in the last year or so, his sense of humor has definitely grown outside of his own eyeballs.

Currently, I'm with my girl of three years. I live with animals- three snakes, two cats, and two guinea pigs. I'm a systems administrator for a petroleum service and construction company and am Filemaker consultant for various other companies. I enjoy drinking beer and playing basketball, preferably in tandem.

You'll find me around the chat room today because I enjoy the memories and nostalgia, and was surprised how many people drop in from the past and carry on for a a bit.

http://imgur.com/a/3lSuv

confusedconfusedconfusedconfused
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JiminyCroquet
08/11/2017 09:04 PM (UTC)
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Mimik here, I was lucky enough to have a small arcade by my house that somehow managed to get an MK1 machine when they were first being shipped out, and I was hooked on my first play. This was all before I had internet access, but it's where it all started. Fast forward a couple of years, and it's MK3 time with the movie about to hit theaters. I was Mortal Kombat everything at this point, and saw an Axcess magazine on the shelf with an MK cover story featuring Bridget Wilson and the upcoming movie as well as a website to check out. So off to thethreshold.net to sign up for their forums as loaded. That's where I initially ended up finding the chat room. I just stuck around there talking about whatever. When thethreshold.net closed down a little while later, I pretty much abandoned MK forums altogether, except coming here on special occasions, but kept going back to the chat room because it was full of people and I was a dumb teenager with nothing better to do. I'll get some special mentions out of the way and wrap things up.

When I first got into chat, Nosaj-Samoht was running it, and he had some weird fascination with dung beetles, which explains my avatar for those of you wondering why I have a bug touching the poop.

Back then, Scott Howell was going by knightmare or something silly like that, so it was fun sending people to MK Nightmares and blaming him for having a goofy name. Like I said, dumb teenager, but it's been cool as hell being along for the ride and watching MKO grow to eventually buy out the site I'd send people to as a joke.

DArqueBishop has got to be the most level headed person I've ever seen on the internet, and I mean that in the best way possible. Even when we were all young and got a little too vitriolic, he'd be civil and calm things down fairly without just tossing up a massive ban wave. I don't think the chat would be as chill as it is without his influence.

Mick does more site stuff than I would have initially thought. The fight league thing is just the one I'm most familiar with. It's a cool time waster.

BMK has always been one of those people I could carry on a conversation spanning years with. Like, we'd talk about something, and one or the other would disappear for months, but we'd pick right back up where we left off as soon as we caught each other online again.

Poasty is my spirit animal. We've got nearly the same taste in everything, even Australian matriarchs.

DECEPTION has always been awesome. He's got the only unboxing vids that I'll actually watch and he's super nice to everyone.

Shoe is always on the other foot.

CaTigeReptile is literally the only person on the planet I can talk for hours to about China's warring states period. We like different factions, but mutual hatred of Shu is the best thing ever.

Damo is always good for a laugh. He's the guy I remember most from when I first joined because he was always online when I was.

Mime is my favourite movie tie-in.

MKM is around somewhere, too.

There are a bunch that just don't come around any more whether it's due to time or just lack of interest. I've got some of them on Facebook, and it's really nice to see that they're doing well.

Bronzie is doing well.

Jade has kids.

GBD always has my favourite status updates.

Last, but not least, Sp00n is my permanent nerd crush.

I know I'm missing a lot of people, but I pretty much just kept it to those who left the largest impression. And I think that brings us up to current. I'm still pretty much a chat exclusive. In fact, I had to do some digging to find my user and pass on here and the only reason I did that is because BMK is love. While the chatroom isn't as active as it was back in the day when it seemed like there were Fight Nights every other week, it's still got a lot of life left in it and it keeps me entertained through the work week.
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RammSPOOn
08/12/2017 08:05 AM (UTC)
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Holy ship my password still works AND I REMEMBERED IT.

Sooooo I'm RammSPOOn on the forums but in the chat I was RivetSPOOn and Tsura before that.

Ugh I don't even remember it all. MK4 was coming out (unbeknownst to me), my older sister got hitched.... my brother in law's BFF brought over MK1 for SNES and let me keep it, and that was that. I think I was fresh out of 6th grade, I started making my own characters all based on Scorpion and Sub-Zero, wrote a whole Mary Sue, drew pictures, made OC ninjas with my new friends from junior high, wrote more... And then the internet was upon me. Chat rooms galore, mostly for Sailor Moon, but eventually I found MK websites. I remember discovering a chat room here or there, mostly Java because I had NFI what IRC was. Got to know Nosaj, {k}nightmare (Scott), ]{0MBAT, and a few other names I barely recalled (c. 1997). MK Annihilation was going to be coming out, I remember... I think it was 1998 (freshman year) I met Chris Casamassa after stalking him for a year or two via interwebs.

At some point I found MK5.org and signed up, but after my experience on the Anime chat rooms and forums and everyone assuming I was a dude, I decided to roll with it and actively pretended that's who I was. Girls were not treated well at the time, so I got a lot less creeps that way. A few smart people figured it out or we grew close enough that I told them the truth, but at some point with my regularity to the chatroom it became a running joke that I was a gay guy, regardless of my true sex being common knowledge.

By the way, BMK, I don't remember if we ever told you. YES I'M A GIRL. YOU WERE RIGHT ALL ALONG.

I made a lot of good buddies in the room and on the forum over the years, but being an angry!depressed young adult I ended up burning quite a few bridges or having them burned on me. Others were simply abandoned, but eventually a few got rebuilt or rediscovered. If you're one of the burned ones, for whatever it's worth though I'm sure you don't care anymore, I'm truly sorry for anything I put you through. I had a lot of emotional crap to work through and it took a long time.

Anyway. Senior year with Deadly Alliance was announced, I entered the fan art contest and "won" but they didn't put half the winning entries into the Krypt, and that included (excluded...) mine.But whatever, I got the game for free. After some contract back and forth because I was under age. High school graduation came and went (2002), I learned to drive, and started community college. About a year later I asked ]{ and DaB if I could try to meet up with them at E3, and they agreed. After driving to LA all alone, meeting some new friends from Anime Expo, and then getting into my first car accident, I wasn't able to make it. Plus I couldn't find what room they were at because it wasn't under the name I was asking for... XD

But I did meet them the next year! After getting into yet another, much worse, car accident. This second one ended up with my door panel in the trunk of my car. My parents came to get me; Dad drove the car home and Mom, in their car, took me the rest of the way to E3 so I could finally meet the guys. It was so cool to finally put faces to names. I got to meet M4C, ]{. Scott/{k}, DAB, CCShadow.... And Total-MK. Who posted my photo on his website and outted me for real. XD

After that, the winter Midway Gamer's thing was announced for San Diego, and M4C and Scott were going to be there, and they let me tag along. And I wasn't allowed into the open bar because I was only 19 at the time. Much to the surprise of one guy 10 years my senior flirting with me. That was an awkward night. X)

2005 rolled around and I went to school still and had a summer job, so I fell off the face of the internet for stretches at a time because I was so exhausted. Still was big into MK media, loved when Conquest came out, got into the Fight Night thing for a while... I don't really remember when I left for good. I more or less moved on to other hobbies but I still followed MK updates. 2007 I started staffing for local anime conventions and expanded my social circle to people I could actually meet in person once in a while. Sold my art at said conventions (or at least attempted to) for about 7 years before I gave up the ghost, and not long after that I just about gave up art altogether.

After changing my major for the second time, I ended up studying Japanese and aiming for teaching English in Japan. Translated a Japanese blog for about a year, eventually graduated community college and transferred to a CalState. Got into my first and only serious relationship at 28/29 but he turned out to be an abusive two-timing psychopath and dumped me for not spending every spare moment on him. Graduated Uni shortly after that, and a year later I was off to Japan!! Taught EFL there for two years, loved it, made great friends, made some memories and shed lots of tears when good-byes were had. Came back because I was getting sick and the local doctors had no idea what to do. Not a week after I was back in the States, my grandmother had a stroke, died a month later, and we spent the better part of 2016 emptying her house and selling it before we could finally focus on moving out of CA to AZ.

And that's where I am now. Been here since April, got a new job, promoted very quickly. Trying to meet people but yay for small towns. :/

So I guess it's time for the shout-outs. In no particular order:
]{0MBAT, D'Arque, Scott*, Mobster4Christ, Joe, ACJ, BMK, Murdoink, kryptodog, Quirk*, Crow, Jonin, Chan-Ming*, Jade*, Snowflakes*, Ashley*, STEROLIZER, DECEPTION, JoeydaBastad, about a dozen or more I know I"m forgetting the names of but I still remember you, and probably the most influential of all and the longest known, Mimik*.

* indicates bridges that got rebuilt.
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McDaniel
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About Me

Creator of John the MK Janitor.

08/12/2017 10:55 AM (UTC)
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Wow Scott, thanks for sharing this with us. Its fascinating to me to know that kind of behind the scenes stuff. Thank you Baraka_MK for reaching out to a bunch of us to come post in here. This is super fun to read all these stories from the past!
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SubScorpTile
08/14/2017 04:14 AM (UTC)
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I'm kind of disappointed to not see my name on any of your shout outs (I'm kidding). It's always funny whenever I randomly pop by on this site these days I see a thread like this and I can't believe the names that I see were around when I used to live on this page.

I joined in like 2000 or 2001 or something I was a kid and made some obviously, timeless friendships I still think back to how influential some of the people I met on here were and how crucial of a time in my life that was.

I'm 28 years old now and I wonder and hope everyone I used to speak with is doing great.

I was such a troll at times it was ridiculous how I acted on here.

I remember Scott-Howell announced he was leaving the site as the owner on the Hot Seat (a forum where I used to interview people from the site), if I'm not mistaken?

Mick-Lucifer ran the wrestling chat room on the IRC lol.


Good times.. there was a lot of value added from this site and I am thankful to all in this community who influenced me during a time when I was becoming a teenager.
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Coltess
08/14/2017 09:54 AM (UTC)
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"Oh... I shouldn't. Should I? Maybe. I don't know. Uh. Perhaps it'll be therapeutic? Close that chapter of my life? No, it'll drudge up the past. Still..."

-My brain as I've hovered over this thread for the last few days.



Let's jump into it. I'm Coltess (or coltess, damn I wish I had capitalized it) and I have (had?) a reputation on this site, and not a very good one. Perhaps it's time I look back on that and face it full on.

I joined MKO in either late 04 or early 05. It was in the wake of Deception, which I had gotten for Christmas. I was 11 years old. Suffice it to say, 11 year olds are not the best forum material. On top of that, I was a piss-poor typist, I had a massively inflated ego from being a fairly intelligent child- being praised by my school and parents, and to make it even worse I was that one kid in class who gets into politics first. The result was a Hellstorm upon this site of poorly written rants, pointless threads, and parroted social conservative talking points. I was awful.

This being my first forum, I knew none of the etiquette. My early posts were full of caps-lock, emoticons, and lacking in punctuation. I didn't expect disagreement, and when it came I retaliated with juvenile insults and flames. I was not accepting of difference, and I said some things back then I deeply regret today. I also deeply regret not knowing about trolls before hand. I fell for it hook line and sinker so frequently back then, resulting in even more flame wars, bigoted comments, chimps with guns, podiums, faked deaths, and *shudders* song lyric posts.

Despite all of that, I wasn't banned for it (I think my antics amused some). There was, however, my one time banishment. It was for pR0n. Yes indeedy dandy, the old pewter polish got me a temp ban from MKO in around 2006. It doesn't really matter, but I feel compelled to explain that event. I was in that period in a boy's life where -yadda, yadda, yadda. I had a love of one lesbian porn site in particular. I had a hidden folder on laptop with a bunch of dummy folders, but inside one was a note file with links to all my favorite vids. I'd then copy paste, blow my poppy paste, and then jump on to MKO. Well, you can guess what happened. I didn't properly copy another link and bam, y'all got some hot girl on girl action in the Drive-By for about 4 minutes. I tried to cover my tracks in the dumbest way possible, but I was gone.

This is going to sound really dumb being said on a forum devoted to a video game where four armed monster men beat the ever-living hell out of scantily clad women, robots, lizard-men, and a fat cop that looks like Colm Meany, but I really think MKO helped me grow as a person.

I lost my Dad in July of 2005. The worst thing that ever happened to me. Still kills me to think about it. I think I vented a lot of that pain and angst here, instead of in my real life. The fall-out from that and the 10 years following, I still hung around here and I managed to keep myself together when my whole life felt like it was coming apart at the seams. I was an utter asshole at those times, but please know that you guys may have saved my life.

MKO also helped me learn to be more accepting, more tolerant, and be less of an asshat. It helped me evolve as a person and see the fallacy and utter hilarity in vitriolic arguments.

Now to how my life has changed since then; in some ways entirely, in other ways not at all. In 2004/5 I was in the fifth grade. I graduated High School as a 6 term class president in 2012, I received my Bachelors in Anthropology in 2014, my Masters in 2016, and I'm currently in Law School.

Yes friends, the cockroach is trying to be a lawyer.

I ask you all to please forgive me for my past transgressions. For everything you all have done to improve my life, as well as me as a person, I thank you. I love you all, I love this place.
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Coltess
08/14/2017 10:03 AM (UTC)
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Ahem




How could I resist?
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[Killswitch]
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About Me

Shao Kahn did nothing wrong

08/14/2017 02:21 PM (UTC)
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You're a god damn legend, coltess. Those were some great and dark days.

Well, my story isn't as interesting as every one elses. Back in mid 2005 I was probably a 12 year old child wanting to play Mortal Kombat on the computer, so I ended up finding MKO instead. I don't know what really drew me to stay, but I'm glad I stuck through it. My 1st account I ever made went by the name of "scorpion_s2". You want to know what the "s2" of that name meant? It meant scorpion. Yes, the full name was scorpion_scorpion2. I don't know what I was thinking.

I was a little pesky kid who I'm sure was annoying a lot of people back in those days. I'm not gonna try to link it up right now but I think my first thread I every made was in Genreal Chat and I was asking for some cheat codes for GTA San Andreas. I don't even know why.

I've met great people here, though. Some I've linked to my Facebook and game consoles and we chat daily. Others have come and gone, but I'll always stay. I can't even believe I made it to Portal Guard status looking at how cringe I was in the past.
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Baraka_MK
08/14/2017 11:12 PM (UTC)
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Okay, I've been holding back on replying to allow others to comment, but now I'm going to reply to each and everyone one of you. Thanks for all of your deep and insightful comments! I encourage you to reach out to friends to get them to contribute as well. This thread seems to be bringing old MKO members back together in a way I never had expected, and I am so grateful to be a part of that. Seriously guys, you got me all teary-eyed with all of the love here, and I'm not one to really get emotional much. Anyway, I'm going to reply to you all in order of posting. A special thanks to all of you for taking the time to read my absurdly long post!


Detox, thanks for being the first to read and comment. I really would encourage you to check out the #mortalkombat chat. It gets a lot more activity, and I'm sure you'd be welcomed with open arms. However, I admire your dedication to keeping up the conversation on the forums. Took me a pretty good while before I ventured into the chat myself, as I was originally only interested in the forums (though in those days they were a lot more active). What really got me to reach out to the chat was trying to get to know the staff better to help my chances at becoming a forum moderator, which eventually did happen. Never did became a mod in the chat, though, while everyone else under the Sun seemed to get to be one at some point. Not sure what THAT was all about, haha, but it was brought up in a chat discussion the other night. Anyway, keep fighting the good fight, man! I, too, can't wait for MKXI. Mortal Kombat ELEVEN? I still can hardly wrap my head around that, haha.


McDaniel, old buddy, old pal. So glad to be back in touch with you. I also want to personally thank you for all of your help lately as I've tried to reach out to old MK fans. Your support and friendship have been greatly appreciated. I have to admit, I was really surprised by a lot of what you shared. I didn't know you were going through such a rough time, but I'm glad we were all able to help you through it. You were always a really cool dude to me. Correct me if I'm wrong here, but I think you were also one of the first of us to have a Mortal Kombat tattoo, no? I seem to have pretty vivid memories of John the Ninjanitor, and even your first posts about him. The whole "6D" thing was a great running joke, and I think some people were so inexperienced with the Internet back then that they may have actually believed it, hahaha. I wonder if there was ever anyone like, "SCREW YOU, MCDANIEL! I BOUGHT A BRAND NEW COMPUTER AND YOUR DRAWING STILL SUCKS!" Hahahaha. Oh man. Good times. You really did tap into something special by being one of the first to create your own character. I love how FatSatan and dominojr and the crew ran with it and made a whole lineup of characters to join him. You sparked a fictional alternate reality of MK, and that's pretty awesome. Still, among the many, John was always my favorite of them. Though I may be a bit biased since he and I share the same name.

I too regret having not learned anything about programming back in those days. Some of those guys have gone on to use that experience to start careers in web design and such, and I wish I would have had the foresight to have learned with them. I know they would have been more than willing to lend a helping hand. Once Gamers.com shut down, it effectively ended the Mortal Kombat Parody Federation for me, and after that I didn't really pursue other creative outlets with MKO. It was cool to be around it, but I wish I had gotten more involved and learned more from it. Regardless, I'm really happy for where you've ended up. You seem to be doing quite well, and I am proud of you and happy to have been on this journey with you, amigo!


Scott, thanks so much for posting and for not getting too upset that I revealed our little secret, haha. Though, in fairness, I think that's what prompted you to reveal your own secret, so maybe it's best for the truth to finally come out. I know you've shared your story before, but it's kind of nice to revisit it after some time has passed, huh? Personally I had a whole lot of memories flood back. I don't think I ever had any idea about this "Fighter's Edge", but that's awesome! Obviously I was later to the game than you were, so reading about pre-MK5.org stuff is pretty fascinating to me. I loved the Ed Boon story. The good ol' days of hotlinking, haha! Also your Dan Elektro story is super cool. Seems like a really nice guy. I can't believe he gave you all that from his own personal collection! Also, the whole TMK thing was unfortunate. I remember when it happened, but it seems it was the right time for you to move on anyway. I can't believe you've been married nearly a decade already! Hopefully I'll get to see you next year at Kombat Kon. I'd really love to be there and get to finally meet you and so many others in person. (Haha, just don't expect me to be this talkative in real life, guys!)


]{0MBAT, thanks for coming in and sharing so much. As someone who's an even bigger MK fan than Scott Howell, it's really awesome to hear your story and see your perspective. First of all, I can't believe Mortal Kombat phone cards were actually a thing, hahaha. You still have yours, by chance? And the Pit II newsletter? Maybe you can link us some pics if you still have them (and I'm sure you do, knowing you!) Ah, man, your post makes me miss arcades. Wasn't that just the greatest feeling? Playing in an arcade and having a crowd of people gather around just to watch you because you're so good? That was just the best! Haha, I remember being a young kid, maybe 8 or 9 years old, just destroying much older teenagers and adults in the arcades at Mortal Kombat. They never saw it coming! Such a great and rewarding feeling! The last time I ever experienced that was actually playing Crazy Taxi at Disneyland’s Starcade back in high school. I had rented the game from Blockbuster, probably the ported version on the Gamecube, and had gotten really good at it. Played it there and after about 20 minutes, I noticed I had a massive crowd surrounding me just to watch. Too cool. Haven’t seen a whole lot of arcades since then, to be honest. Seems like you really got the most out of your time with MKO, perhaps moreso than anyone! A lot of this stuff I wasn’t even aware of, such as the Kamidogu Series and the Shujinko Game. If you got links, I’d love to check them out!
I had kind of forgotten about the dark age of MK after MK4. Things really weren’t look so great for the series at that point, and yet it was then that MK fandom seemed stronger than ever. We were also so accustomed to getting a new MK game every couple years that the gap from MK4 to MK:DA felt like a really long time. However, I think being able to share our ideas and create together helped us through those times. Then of course, MK:DA ended up being quite awesome, so it was well worth the wait.

Anyway, I love what you’re doing with your YouTube channel. You give a lot of insight into things that only a superfan like you would know, and I think it’s really cool you’re sharing all of it with us. Keep up the good work and quality videos. Once I start making YouTube videos of my own, maybe one day we can work out some kind of MK collaboration. Thanks again for your comment!


Shinnokxz, you were around a lot earlier than I would have thought. I can’t believe you were involved in the MK scene at such a young age, and even had your own MK site by the age of 10. Crazy! I love how you chose to share the various stages of your websites over the years. I remember them (apart from the first one), so it was a nice little trip down memory lane. I forgot you were a Jazz fan. I actually went to a Lakers game in Kobe’s final season to see him play one last time. It was a game against the Jazz. I remember right before my dad and I were about to leave, I saw on Twitter that the official Laker’s page just announced Kobe would not be playing, but of course we still went. He wasn’t even there. Last chance to see Kobe and he wasn’t even in the building. While that kind of sucked, and the game was pitiful, the Asian guy sitting next to us had it a lot worse. Dude flew all the way from Japan so he could finally see Kobe play in person before he retired, and he wasn’t even there. Can you imagine?! If only I had went to Kobe’s FINAL Jazz game. Haha, man. I was actually going to buy tickets for it because prices went through the roof, but my dad talked me out of it because he knew someone who had season tickets and could get us a good deal. .... Thanks Dad! *eye roll*


MIMIK! Thanks for commenting! Man, Nosaj... that’s a name I haven’t heard in a long time. I wonder what that guy’s up to! I definitely do not recall his dung beetle obsession though. That’s just weird and disgusting. Yeah, shout out to DAB for holding it down, even if I feel like he did pick on me far too much. I’ve grateful for our friendship and your kind words. “BMK is love?” Awwww! :’D I’m glad to see you’re one of the few who still hangs around the chatroom.


SPOOn, you ARE a girl! I knew it!! But I did forget that you used to go by Tsura. Oh man, LA traffic is the worst, huh? Glad you were unharmed in both accidents. It saddens me to hear you gave up art completely. I hope you’ll take it back up again one day. It’s awesome you got to teach abroad in Japan. Must have been a pretty awesome experience. Sorry to hear about your grandmother! Also, I’m glad I’m not the only one that remembers Snowflake. I feel like she’s been forgotten over time.


SST! Sorry I forgot to mention you, buddy! Been a long time! Great to hear from you. Yeah, it’s crazy how much MKO was such a big part of so many of our lives. Though, I don’t recall you being much of a troll, but I won’t contest it.


Coltess, thanks for still commenting despite your reluctance. So happy to see you’re in law school! My girlfriend’s currently pushing me to go to law school, but I’m a bit hesitant. It’s funny how looking back at everyone, I remember them all so fondly and have apparently forgotten all of the bad things. It’s cool hearing about how much MKO has helped you, and you seem to be doing very well today, so that’s really wonderful. I knew some of us would inevitably amount to something ;) Haha. <3


[killswitch], it seems you may a great start at MKO, haha. GTA:SA was the greatest. A little disconcerting you were playing it at the age of 12, but then again I was playing MK at the age of 6, so I guess it’s not much different. I do recall your old username, and apparently it was more brilliant than I ever realized, haha.
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DRFATALITY
08/18/2017 12:25 AM (UTC)
0
Just logged on MKO in God knows how long lol and came across this thread.Glad to see old faces still alive and doing well!MKO will always be special to me
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tabmok99
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About Me

For the most in-depth, in-detail, Mortal Kombat lore analysis vids, there's only one source:


https://www.youtube.com/tabmok99

08/19/2017 04:33 AM (UTC)
0
Hey,

So I do have links to some of this stuff. I don't know where my phone cards are. But I do remember looking at the instructions and following them carefully to make calls. It worked - they had the right number of minutes on them! I also remember hearing that there's a pretty big international population in the U.S. that would buy phone cards regularly to call their home country. It was an inconvenience to make international calls that way, but usually a lot cheaper than relying on the phone company.

Anyway, I can't believe you've never seen some of this stuff before! Of course I'll give the links out.

Here's the Pit 1 and Pit II newsletter:
The Pit
The Pit II

Here's Konquest of the Kamidogu, a collaboration between me and Bezou:

KotK (8 parts)

And here's The Shujinko Game, the collaboration between me and JimboLimbo:

The Shujinko Game

Maybe one of these days I'll stream that game! There is a playthrough on YouTube where this guy Lawrence237 runs through the whole thing. But, you might prefer to play it yourself, which you can do at the link above.
And to RammSPOOn - meeting you was awesome. I still have that MK Deception GameCrazy shirt you gave me. And recently it just started fitting again!
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Total-MK
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About Me
[ Webmaster: Total Mortal Kombat | E-Mail Me ]


-- choose your destiny --
08/20/2017 02:01 AM (UTC)
0
Greetings! *Quan Chi Voice*
You master has returned haha!

So BMK and Scott Hasked me to post here about my Journey with MKO. It's been a bumpy ride most know, there have been little dramas here and there and some big ones too. But those days are in the past (hopefully)

So my ride with MKO starts at MK5.org I think most of us OG's remember the site as mk5.org, I remember the site been a hive of activity, my site which was very basic in layout design with basic HTML layout and using the Comic Sans font haha! My site has always struggled with a high tech web design. I am not about that my focus in content. But the thing that always drew me to MKO was the E3 trips. E3 fascinated me from the time I first heard about it I dreamed about going there and hangn' out with the MK Team (Mission Accomplished!) Around this time I found out that MKO had a chatroom #mortalkombat for those who know me best I was a big hang out in the IRC Chatroom as I had been using IRC for years even before my time at MKO. I was once even a IRC Op for a while hehe!

This is where I met folks like BMK, Scott H, Scott B, CCS, Acj, Garret, TPB, MuRdOInK and other MKO staff I may be forgetting. This was a chance to talk live to these guys. I got along with most people in the chat, I am sure I rubbed a few people the wrong way but not everyone can handle the TMK style. I kinda regret the way I would flaunt my Op status in the chat by making the Chanserv op me with wacky quotes from pop culture movies and TV, looking back I could see that must of pissed a lot of you off, I just thought it was a fun way to embrace those pop culture moments and practice my script commands on the server.

As time went on MK would have Fight Night live chats with the MK Team, not many know this but the first time I spoke to Ed Boon in a live environment was through MKO. Scott B was running around preparing to start the chat with the 1,000s pf people that were waiting to shoot questions at Ed and the rest of the team, we were in a secret lobby (us ops) so Scott could talk to Ed directly without the rest of the channel dominating. This was when I seized the moment!

Total-MK "Hi Ed!"
EdBoon "Hi"

OMG! He noticed me! lol Sounds kinda lame I know BUT this is where it started, this is where I got the bug of meeting and interviewing people from the MK Team, and it wouldn't of happened if it wasn't for MKO! TBH, When mk5.org changed the title at first I thought it was cool (cause it matched MK:Deception's MK first time online at the time) so it made sense. But I kinda miss the days of mk5.org. The wait between MK4 and MKDA was 5 years long and it was nerve racking. I remember thinking this might be the end of MK if they just throw in the towel now that arcades were dead. But MK is to strong for that!

Anyway It's been a wild ride on MKO, some of you probably hate me and that is OK, I am cool with it. I am very outspoken and it rubs people the wrong way but in life I have always taken the road of speaking out if I believe I have been wronged in anyway. And Some of you respect me, and I appreciate that!

In closing I have to say that MKO has another thing that even through all the fights and arguments I can't argue with and that is that tabmok99 is one of the biggest MK fans EVER. I met Justin at E3 in 2006 and he was such a cool dude we had so much fun chatting about MK some of those chats were even with Steve Beran and Dan Forden (Toasty!!!) Justin is a hardcore MK fan. I consider myself hardcore and a few others. Justin has put so much content into MKO and made the site great. If you havn't checked out his YouTube videos make sure you do, as A fellow youtuber they are really great and very informative! Justin has also gone out of his way to help people in the community get rare items and such. I remember I recorded every single MK Conquest off TV here in Australia, but missed 1 episode (because they played it on new years eve I didn't think they would do that!) And Justin sent me Episode 8 to complete my VHS Set! BTW I still have it Justin! ;)

It will be great to see Justin at Kombat Kon this year in 1 months time! I am flying my Australian Butt all the way to Chicago to meet the guys I have been killing in the MK games for so many years...hope they are not mad at me. lol. It's going to be a blast. So thanks again MKO for the good times. Hopefully I might see some MKOers at KK!

-TotalMK furious

MK and Team MKO / Daves MK at E3 2006.
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SubMan799
08/20/2017 09:13 AM (UTC)
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The OGs of the OGs in here.

Cheers guys! I have so much nostalgia for this website. Thanks for the memories
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.
08/20/2017 05:52 PM (UTC)
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It's been quite a few years since I've been a regular user, and well over a year since I've posted at all.

I first joined in June of 2003, at the age of 12. Now, 14 years later, I've graduated college with a Bachelor's Degree in music composition and intend to take Dan Forden's jo-- er, continue my career in the gaming industry.

Back in my early years, MKO was my major outlet for sharing my music. I was one of the few users who actually shared music in the Fan Submission section of the site, and I even rearranged a fellow's user's song. There were indeed some good times here on this site.

Perhaps my favorite moments were the Kreate-A-Kharacter competitions. I entered twice (I think), but my first entry, Persephone, actually managed to get to 3rd place. Users actually liked her, though there were others who felt she was very flawed. All in all, I enjoyed creating her and seeing other created fighters. It was a blast to behold such wonderful talent from so many.

I don't know if I'll ever become a regular user again, I honestly doubt it, but I cannot deny that for years this place was home for me.
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MKMaster
08/24/2017 12:45 AM (UTC)
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Hey guys =)

This site, and the people in it, have been huge for me as I've grown up. Truth be told, I got started in the MK community with TRMK.org. In fact, it used to be called MK Realm back then. In 2002, my family got internet service (dial-up). Surfing the web was an entirely new thing to me, and the only thing I could really think of, in regards to how to use the net, was that websites needed to end in ".com". So, the first thing I can recall typing into a search engine is "mortalkombatstuff.com".

Of course, that didn't work, so I kept trying different things to feed my hunger for MK content. Eventually, I learned to drop the ".com" after every thing I typed, haha. That eventually took me to MK Realm. My mom was moderately strict at the time, and I had to get permission to register for the site so I could participate in the forums. She relented and I was able to make an account and start the journey. Eventually I expanded and found this place. My memory could be fuzzy, but I can slightly recall there being a bit of a feud between MK Realm and MK5.org, as if the MKO'ers were "nerds" and the TRMK'ers were the "cool guys". Anyway, I never bought into that and eventually expanded scope by going to TRMK, MKO, MKW, the Pavilion, MK Bible, and there was even a site called MK Revolution.

My time posting on the message boards slowly died off and I spent most of my time in the IRC chat. That's where I really got to know a lot of the people from MKO. Being new to the internet, and being new to being able to communicate with so many people, it was a very formative time. I think that time period is why I'm so into computers and tech now. Because I was such a n00b, and you could argue I still am, it was nice to get to learn from other people who were already in the know. I can remember brutalforcekhameleon giving me a hard time because I couldn't figure out how to open a ROM with ZSNES, lol. ]{'s tutorial showed me how to make sprite comics, and I even made a thread here asking for help on how to host an image so that I could share it; photobucket came in handy. Lately I've been spending more time in the chat room, and I'll still chime in with tech questions every now and then for something that's giving me trouble.

I was about 12 when I really got into the community and started to recognize people by their usernames. Even though we're all pretty close to the same age, I viewed my time here as getting to hang out with the 'older kids', which was incredible.

Nostalgia is something that's a huge part of me, and to quote a friend of mine: "probably to a fault." Moreover, I feel like I have a weird concept of time. To me, 2003 wasn't that long ago. It feels like it was only 5 years ago. So it's a shock to me when I hear about people buying houses, having kids, doing the adult thing pretty hard. That whole time was just incredible to me. But I'm very happy this site is still here, and the IRC chat is still up, and the same names are still around. It's like being home, to add some cheese into this post.

So, when I see stuff like old MKO E3 photos.

Well.













But!

I'm very happy for what has remained. The site, the chat, the people, and it seems like everyone is growing. As for where I am now, I'm 25 and a college graduate. However, I'm back in school again for a degree in Computer Science and I have a job where I install home theater systems. Not married yet, but will be soon.





Be there for one another, you're a family now.

*vanish*
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Reptile1112
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About Me

You will die mortal. TOASTY Speed Metal will never die.

08/25/2017 06:03 AM (UTC)
0
I think I joined in the like 99 or 2000? I know it was already MK5.org by that time. How exciting those times were. When a render was released for a character, it was huge. I've never stopped coming here. It's the internet, this site is here, and you have to use the internet everyday, I suppose. It's my home page still. It's weird to think I've spent most of my life on this site (not like every waking moment type thing, but you get it). I've never posted too much, I tend to be quiet IRL and let my music do the talking for me. Figured I'd translate that here.

Loved Mortal Kombat when I got into it in like...95 when I was 4/5. Loved it when I joined the site. Love it now, and despite the site being slow on traffic, I still love this site.

I miss when Deception was either coming out or was already out, I think 2005 or 2006? And the general forums were just a mess. Mods and users were fighting daily. That was some ridiculous stuff. I personally have never seen another forum fight like that before.

Thanks for making this place my internet home for years. Here's to many more.
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Baraka_MK
08/28/2017 09:56 AM (UTC)
0
You guys brought back so many memories for me, including more personal MK stories I didn't mention, dating long before my time at MKO. The first time I ever played MK was at a local pizza place. They had a Mortal Kombat arcade cabinet and I quickly fell in love. I remember I had to stand on a chair just to play it, haha. Johnny Cage was visible on the side of the cabinet and it was the first game you saw as you entered the arcade. He was probably my favorite character back then, even if I was only 6. He’s still one of my favorites today.

I can't believe my parents actually let me play it at that age, but they never really had any objection to Mortal Kombat. Duke Nukem, on the other hand, proved to be a different story some years later. My dad used to play in a softball league, and the whole team would meet up for pizza and beer after every game, so I'd get my chance to play Mortal Kombat pretty often during the season. I ended up being such a big fan that over the years my parents bought me all of the MK games on home consoles too.

We got Mortal Kombat on the SNES, and it was so awesome to be able to play it at home. You Genesis owners may think the SNES version is inferior without the infamous blood code, but it least it had better button mapping. A+B = HP, B+C = HK? Ugh! Barf!! Hahaha. Anyway, this was the one and only Mortal Kombat my older brother also played (as far as I can remember). We both loved it. I may be wrong, but I’m pretty sure I ended up being better than him, despite being young. One thing I can say for sure, though, is that he was far better at Test Your Might than I ever was. Though I do recall him using the spoon trick to break diamond. Remember that? Haha.

There was so much secrecy around MK that it was practically a social event for gamers, even back in elementary school. With Reptile as a hidden character and all, there were just so many rumors out there, most of which were completely untrue, and some of which were really quite terrible. I can recall in the 2nd grade being told by an older student that if you did Kano's heart-rip fatality to Sonya in MK1, that instead of ripping her heart out, he raped her. I had no idea what that meant, only that it was something bad. In fact, it probably wasn't until high school that I would even learn what that word actually meant. It kind of pisses me off thinking back on it. In fact, I remember the loser that told me, and I randomly saw that clown in public a few weeks ago. How dare he try to corrupt us poor innocent kids! That mother effer! Jokes on him, though. BMK is incorruptible!

The next season, my dad switched softball leagues and location, which meant a new pizza place after the games. This one also had Mortal Kombat, but swapped it out for Mortal Kombat II as soon as it was released. It was amazing. Everything I could have ever wanted. MKII remained my all-time favorite MK game all the way up until MK9 finally topped it for me some 18 years later! (Man that makes me feel old!)

I was so excited when my local video rental store started advertising Mortal Kombat II for home consoles, knowing I’d soon be able to play it at home. I must have rented it several times once it came out. One night at the pizza place with my birthday soon approaching, my mom's best friend surprised me with an early present. It was Mortal Kombat II on the SNES! For most of my life, I had always named it as my favorite gift ever. Totally unexpected and awesome. God bless that woman!

In the 3rd grade, my best friend and I would write down the moves and fatalities for all of the MKII characters on lined school paper and share them with other classmates. I remember going to libraries and copying the moves from strategy guides, or getting them from the moves list on actual arcade cabinets. MK was life!

One day, my dad ended up surprising me in the car ride home after school with MK3 on the SNES. Man, my parents were awesome! I think they may have secretly been MK fans too! My dad took me to see the MK movie in theaters. He seemed to like it but I remember him saying he wanted it to be more bloody, haha. He also took me to see Mortal Kombat Annihilation when that came out. I didn’t hate it at the time, but eh, I was pretty young. Even back then, a lot of the stuff in the movie seemed pretty questionable.

I didn't have Internet back in those days, so when I first saw Mortal Kombat 4 in arcades, it was the first time I'd ever seen it. I didn't have any magazine subscriptions or anything to keep me up to date or show me screenshots. Obviously I was blown away right away. Since I was with my family, I only had time for 2 plays. I remember my first match playing as Reptile, who as I mentioned in the original post, had been my favorite character. I really liked his new look. Next, I played as Quan Chi, just because I thought he looked so cool. I don't think I ran into a lot of MK4 cabinets in my day. This one had actually been set up in an arcade area at the Los Angeles County Fair, and was a very pleasant surprise to find.

I realize now I skipped UMK3 and MKT, but I was never a huge fan of either, to be honest. MK3 was in many ways a step in the wrong direction to me, so I was never terribly excited about nor impressed with UMK3. MK3 was a little too excessive and silly for me. I still played the heck out of it and explored all of its secrets, but out of the main MK games, I think it still remains my least favorite. MKT on the N64 was a disgrace.

Anyway, Mortal Kombat 4 is what brought me here, just like so many of the old-timers. It was definitely a big change for the series, but a much needed one as 3D fighting had really taken off. It might not be the best MK game, but I still love it and really enjoy the gameplay, even if it’s not as deep. And those MK4 endings, as cheesy as they may be, were a lot of fun. Well, I guess that’s all I really have to say about that. This has been another overly long post by Baraka_MK. Over and out! grin
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balkcsiaboot
08/28/2017 11:29 AM (UTC)
0
Wow.... BMK. I'll be damned.

MKO started with me at MK5.ORG at the gamers.com forums.

I changed my name twice since then. Xtreemist and balkcsiaboot. I'm notorious enough that I don't need to write 32 paragraphs about it...

It would be no surprise to anyone to mention my many banishment from this now wasteland. During my absence (don't ask what year(s) it was) MKO has died down dramatically. Not to point fingers, but, from me poking around old forum members, there was a big moderator problem here that drove off a lot of visitors and other MK sites began popping up everywhere. It also didn't help that the mods refused to advertise and support many of the active artists' fake picture kontests that we used to hold. Now the fan art forum is a completely dead. For some idiotic reason, I still decided to try and host another FPK that's due in December. I'm going to open up voting to all the MK facebook groups. They're a lot more active than what I can expect from MKO....

I'm still here a lot, though I don't know why. Maybe it's a 16+ year old habbit that just won't die off. I'm still making fakes (not as often because life gets in the way and it's a dying art). There are a few "active" artists here and there on deviantart. I mostly do arenas now in support of MUGEN projects. A lot of fake makers have put their talent to that as well, and I don't blame them.

In case anyone is interested to see just how much I have matured (in regards to my artist talent, that is). https://blacksaibot.deviantart.com/gallery/
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Baraka_MK
08/30/2017 05:20 AM (UTC)
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I don't mean to post so much in my own thread, but I just really wanted to say something.

You guys are truly the best friends I've ever had. Thanks for all of the love and the memories! <3
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travelingwilbury
09/14/2017 08:51 PM (UTC)
0
SubScorpTile Wrote:
I'm kind of disappointed to not see my name on any of your shout outs (I'm kidding). It's always funny whenever I randomly pop by on this site these days I see a thread like this and I can't believe the names that I see were around when I used to live on this page.

I joined in like 2000 or 2001 or something I was a kid and made some obviously, timeless friendships I still think back to how influential some of the people I met on here were and how crucial of a time in my life that was.

I'm 28 years old now and I wonder and hope everyone I used to speak with is doing great.

I was such a troll at times it was ridiculous how I acted on here.

I remember Scott-Howell announced he was leaving the site as the owner on the Hot Seat (a forum where I used to interview people from the site), if I'm not mistaken?

Mick-Lucifer ran the wrestling chat room on the IRC lol.


Good times.. there was a lot of value added from this site and I am thankful to all in this community who influenced me during a time when I was becoming a teenager.


nKo 4 life. *cue wolfpac theme* And also seeing as it's football season, it's that time for Beat the Blade for those old enough to remember the old pick em' game for the NFL season
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