Ed Boon Interview

Midway's Gamers' Day event was in a swish Las Vegas Hotel, the tunes were pumping and the drinks were flowing, but there was no time for rest for Mortal Kombat co-creator Ed Boon.

His new game, Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe, had just been announced and everyone and their mothers wanted a chat with Mr. Boon about the new venture.

Getting within a five meter radius of Boon was like scrumming at the front of a Rolling Stones gig, but we fought off the lions and got in there for an interesting chat about the new game, the state of the fighting game genre, oh... and his wishes for a Street Fighter vs. Mortal Kombat game.

Yeah, now you're interested...

How did the DC Universe collaboration come about?

Ed Boon: I've always been a big fan of other fighting games. I play all of the big fighting games in the genre - Tekken, Virtua Fighter, Street Fighter and so on. I've always wanted to cross over with another series.

When I was a kid I remember buying the Spiderman vs. Superman comics and that was the coolest thing to me because they never originally existed in the same world. There's a novelty to that.

So, we actually pursued some crossing with some of these other fighting games but it never really panned out. So when this was presented to us by one of our marketing people, it was something we had seen done before with Capcom and Marvel, and we thought that it would be cool to do a really dark, sinister version of that. So not like a cartoony vibrant approach, our approach was like a dark Batman Begins-style flavour.

It's interesting that you say you pursued crossing over with other fighting games...

Boon: Yeah, but I think the underlying thing that was always a problem was that it was always our competition. If we were to do a Street Fighter vs. Mortal Kombat game, who's going to develop it, and who's going to own the rights to it? It's that kind of issue.

So the proposals were put together but it couldn't be worked out...?

Boon: Yeah. I did a couple of write-ups and whatnot on it, and sometimes we'd get really close to it but issues like our representative for the other company left the company for some reason, and that reset the whole thing back to beginning.

That's such a shame, because a Street Fighter vs. Capcom game would be cool, we'd love to see it...

Boon: Me too. I still want to see it happen.

Maybe after Street Fighter 4 passes by you guys could sort something out...

Boon: Maybe.

So how will the game handle the crossover with DC. I mean, for example, Batman doesn't kill people, does he?

Boon: Exactly. There are a number of constraints that we've had to work around. For instance, Superman is invincible. Why would he even fight Sub-Zero when he can move at the speed of light.

Fortunately, the Mortal Kombat games are based on the supernatural, magic and all that stuff, and that's one of Superman's weaknesses. So we have characters from our MK world that have these super powers and that goes some way to explain why there would be any kind of a match at all between Superman and Sub-Zero.

The storyline will underline that whole theme, as well as why these two universes are merging, the magic and powers involved, and how this basically weakens Superman a little and heightens the strengths of the other characters.

So what is the story with MK fighters facing off with Batman and crew?

Boon: Basically, both sides, the MK characters and the DC characters, think that the other side are the bad guys - the invaders. So there's sort of a confusion involved there, and they slowly start to figure out what's going on, and who's actually good. Then it becomes a battle between good and evil.

Sounds cool. Before Midway whisks you away from us, we wanted to get your opinion on the general state of the fighting genre at the moment. It's becoming an overlooked genre, somewhat...

Boon: I absolutely agree with you. Like I said I buy every big fighting game out there, and as much as I love those games, the reality is that they basically feel very similar to the previous versions in the series.

They make incremental new features but I think the public is starting to take on the feeling that they've seen and played Tekken before so why should I buy Tekken 5. As good a games as they are, they're not offering that new feature that's dramatically different.

I think that, every few years, we do that with Mortal Kombat. We're resetting it and re-doing it right now - changing everything so that people say "Oh, what's new about this game? I want to check this out."

We see sales numbers, and we see them going lower and lower, and that's why I feel that the genre is going down.

So where can the fighting genre go from here? How can it be fixed?

Boon: I'm really excited about Street Fighter 4. From what I'm told, it's the same moves but a different interpretation. I really hope they add enough new stuff that it keeps you interested and so that it doesn't feel like, after a few days, that you've already seen and done it.

I think that's why fighting series' don't hold people's interest that long. Because people realise that they've played, for example, Heihachi from Tekken in four or five different versions, and don't want to carry on doing that.

I think that, going forward, online play needs to be a necessity, to keep the arcade feel that people love. You have to play against another person, not the computer. That's the magic of the game - one person against another. You against me. I just beat you so now you want to get back in there and beat me. That's what it's all about.

So it's safe to assume that MK vs. DCU will have online play?

Boon: Absolutely. It has online, it has dual storylines - we tell the story from the perspective of the MK guys and from the DC guys. It has new fighting mechanics, transition combat, freefall combat - so you're actually punching and kicking as you fall to a new area. So it's going to be a completely different feel. It's not going to feel anything like MK Armageddon.

Sounds great, we're looking forward to seeing it. Thanks for your time.