We here in the fighting game community are very familiar with, well, fighting games. We’re also often familiar with the developers behind these amazing games as we get to learn more about them through interviews, their social media accounts, and sometimes even get to interact with them online.
However, it’s not all the time that we get to see these developers actually play the games they create, let alone classic titles from back in their earlier days. Footage of Mortal Kombat co-creator Ed Boon playing a classic Mortal Kombat title has been shared on Twitter, and we now get to see the man himself rip it up in what many consider to be one of the best game’s the franchise ever birthed, Mortal Kombat 2.
Boon was in attendance at the recent Game On Cleveland convention in Ohio to celebrate some Mortal Kombat and help raise money for charity. While at the event, Boon took some time to have a bit of recreational fun, which involved hopping onto a Mortal Kombat 2 arcade cabinet and throwing down with those in attendance.
From the looks of it, the cabinet being used here was an authentic old school MK2 arcade machine complete with Midway branding on the side. This means that what Boon is playing on isn’t new hardware like the modern day Arcade1Up machines, but instead an old cab that the developer likely had a hand in making.
The clip comes from Twitter user youngsaibot, which features about a minute of Boon on the cabinet.
Surprisingly, we see that Ed opts to select Liu Kang for this particular match instead of his known favorite character and the fighter he voiced in the classic titles, Scorpion. The being said, this doesn’t stop the legendary fighting game maker from locking in and throwing down in kombat.
Though Ed loses the first round to the Scorpion player, he battles back in the second and shows he has a clear understanding of the fundamentals of Mortal Kombat. From rapid jab pressure to air-to-airs, Boon does the franchise proud with his Liu Kang play.
Unfortunately, we don’t get to see the rest of the match and how it played out, but one Twitter user posted a comment under the video saying Boon “kicked all of our asses.”
Ed Boon plays Mortal Kombat II #MortalKombat #mk @noobde pic.twitter.com/z5dn6HlfXu
— Johnny Tobias (@youngsaibot) October 1, 2024