Noob Saibot

So, yeah, Ed Boon just came over, and we played some MK vs. DC.

While Mike had to be all professional like, and take notes for Kotaku and shit, I got to chat about Noob Saibot. Ed got a big kick out of that. “Sadly, [Noob Saibot] is taking a break this round out.” You can tell Ed Boon is a real gamer. He’s the kind of guy you want hanging around your living room, hogging the controller, and getting pissed when he can’t pull off a Fatality after he beats you. (Mike then offered him a move sheet.)

But what’s even better is the fact that you can ask Ed about hidden characters in Mortal Kombat, and instead of pulling some rumor out of his butt like all your friends do, he actually knows. “I was in a KFC in Illinois, when I thought ‘Oh, we can just do a green palette-swap [for Reptile]. Then I drove back to the office and did it in an hour. I thought to myself, no one’s ever gonna find this. Two weeks later, you guys found everything. There was an arcade I went to later and they had a sign above their Mortal Kombat cabinet, ‘Find the Reptile Man and win a prize!’”

Mike then recounted our own experience trying to unlock Reptile in the original MK. We were going to college in Pittsburgh, and after reading about the existence of Reptile for the first time at Eide’s Entertainment, we rushed over to the super shady Grey Hound bus station across the street to give it a go. I kept the homeless guy trying to sell us drugs at bay while Mike executed a Fatality, obtained a double flawless victory, and never hit block during the winning round on the Pit stage.

MK vs. DC brought that feeling back. I found myself really enjoying the story mode. Having Ed Boon personally explain the plot difficulties for having The Flash fight Batman, though enjoyable, wasn’t necessary. Midway came up with a fairly elegant solution for why the two “good guys” would be brutalizing each other. And the transition from story cinematic to playable fight sequence was handled with equal finesse. But the game doesn’t take itself too seriously. Amidst the confetti for pulling off a difficult combo in one of the training modes, I half expected Dan Forden to pop out and exclaim “Toasty!”

As things were winding up, I asked Ed if he still kept in touch with George Gomez. He said he did, so I gave Ed an Auto Hunter shirt to pass along to George. George, if you’re reading this, Spy Hunter is still one of my favorite games of all time, and I will own a sitdown cabinet one day. Hope you like the shirt!