Mortal Kombat was nearly called “Van Damme”, plus other names that were considered
Mortal Kombat is one of the most recognized fighting franchises in gaming. Back in the day though, a very different name was considered. Co-creator Ed Boon told Game Informer that “Van Damme” was almost chosen.
He said:
“We wanted to call it Van Damme. We just wanted to see huge letters, ‘Van Damme’ when you walked by. You couldn’t pass that up.
Boon also spoke about other potential names:
“Kumite was high on the list. Dragon Attack, which was a song by Queen . . . Death Blow, Final Fist or something… all these crazy, almost cliché martial art movie titles or something.”
Game Informer says that the team eventually wrote “Combat” on the grease board being used for ideas, before changing it to “Kombat.” Boon says of going with the K letter: “Just to be different. Just to make it seem unique or something like that.”
Boon noted that Mortal Kombat was officially settled on when he and pinball designer Steve Ritchie talked in his office and Ritchie noticed the name on the board.
According to Boon:
“He’s like, ‘what’s that?’ And I said, ‘Yeah we’re trying to come up with a name. It’s Kombat.’ And he goes ‘Why don’t you call it Mortal Kombat?’ And I was like ‘Oh my god, that’s it!'”
