It’s been a fast-paced summer for us here at Netherrealm Studios as we zoom towards the release of Injustice: Gods Among Us. After strong showings at both the San Diego and New York Comic-Cons where we revealed new characters while also giving fans hands-on time with their favorite heroes and villains, the team is hard at work on finalizing all of the great content we’ve packed into our next fighting game.

And while we’ve released a ton of content so far, you wouldn’t believe what we have in store! Building on the foundation we laid with Mortal Kombat, the team has worked hard to make sure we have more than enough compelling content to keep players entertained for hours on end.

We have HUGE announcements coming up in the next few months concerning the story of the game that will answer the burning question fans have been asking us over and over: Just why are all of these icons fighting each other? We still have yet to reveal all of our characters, and the response that we’ve received on social media outlets on who you all want to see in the game has really inspired the team to no end.

Additionally, our KoreTech team has really pushed the boundaries on our graphics engine forward with industry leading innovations. The utilization of the PS3’s SPUs on Injustice goes way beyond anything we did in Mortal Kombat, enabling us to have roughly three times the amount of objects on screen at a single time. To allow for all the background destruction you see in the game, the number of animatable objects has increased to the point where we have as many on screen as we had total objects in our last game, all possible because of the power of the PS3 SPUs. It doesn’t end there, as we’ve completely revamped our lighting solution between Mortal Kombat and Injustice to drive our lighting through the SPUs which allows us to render more, and also allows a lot more accurate and complex dynamic lighting with an overall increase in the number of lights.

Check out our new video with some more comments from the team on what sets Injustice: Gods Among Us apart from anything we’ve ever done before!

Update: Listen to our full chat with Ed Boon on episode 033 of PlayStation Blogcast.

During EVO 2012, I got a rare opportunity to chat with Ed Boon, co-creator of Mortal Kombat and creative director for Injustice: Gods Among Us. Though NetherRealm Studios’ latest title wasn’t playable at the show, Boon walked me through his vision for the DC-themed fighter, his overall plans for NetherRealm Studios, and some key changes he’s bringing to the fighting game formula.

PlayStation.Blog: It strikes me that Superman looks awfully aggressive in Injustice. His cape is torn, he looks upset. What’s up with Supe?
Ed Boon, Creative Director, NetherRealm Studios: We haven’t released many details on the story…but I can say that it’s very observant of you. Our Superman isn’t quite the same Superman that you grew up with. We definitely want to give a more contemporary, NetherRealms spin to the character, and he plays a big part in the story. People will definitely be surprised by this rendition of Superman. We’ll be revealing more details with Comic-con, PAX, Gamescom, and so forth.

PSB: Superman, for me, has never been a hugely relevant character. He’s too perfect, too infallible…kind of boring! What does it take to make Superman relevant in an era of flawed, neurotic heroes like Batman or Watchmen?

EB: That’s one of the first questions people ask us — you know, “why would I play as anyone but Superman? Can’t he kill anyone instantly?” But there are definitely dimensions that we’re adding to our twist on Superman. There are a lot of interpretations that have happened over the years, and we are definitely giving a more complex Superman for this game.

PSB: In the promotional artwork for the game, Batman looks to be wearing a Kryptonite ring. Is that just me?
EB: Umm…it’s green! Obviously, with Superman being such an extreme character, we have to tap into some of his weaknesses. Every hero has strengths and weaknesses, and that might come into play with Batman’s interactions with Superman.

PSB: Let’s talk about the Story mode and campaign, which worked so well in Mortal Kombat. Is Injustice’s campaign going to build off the concepts in MK?
EB: With every game we do, there are things that worked and things that didn’t. In Mortal Kombat, the Story mode just worked. We didn’t promote the story leading into launch and it ended up surprising people. So we want to continue that tradition and offer a deep, elaborate story experience in Injustice. And with these [DC] characters, who have decades of history behind them, there’s a ton of stuff to draw from. We can’t wait for people to see the Story mode in this game.

PSB: Interactive backgrounds are a huge addition to the gameplay. I’ve heard you say that choosing a stage is now as important as choosing a character…
EB: Yeah. We wanted to shake up the fighting game formula in terms of the environment and how you use it. Different characters use the environment in different ways; that will really affect your strategy when facing certain characters on certain backgrounds. Power characters can pick up a car and throw it, while the more agile Gadget characters might use the car as a springboard.

PSB: And background props can link right into combos, right?
EB: Absolutely, it’s part of the combo system. That’s part of mastering a character — where is he strong, where is he weak? Where should he avoid, where should he maneuver to? Adding new variables to the fighting mechanics allows players to come up with original strategies. We’ll be doing that dramatically in this game.

PSB: If the background props are so integral to the gameplay, will there be a different process for selecting stages?
EB: The stage select will be something you care about now, instead of just mashing the X button. When your opponent gets good at using a particular part of the stage, you’ll learn to avoid it – or go towards it – and that dynamic will hopefully shake up the formula.

PSB: Did NetherRealm arrive at the interactive backgrounds early in the concept for Injustice?
EB: Yeah, it was one of the new staples we wanted to introduce. This game is an interesting balance between appealing to the more mass-market player, who doesn’t get into frame counting and EVO-type stuff, but also catering to fans who really dissect their fighters. We had the same goal with Mortal Kombat, and Mortal Kombat competing at EVO is a validation of that effort. But we want to widen that spectrum even more by grabbing more players while continuing to serve the hardcore fighting community.

PSB: Mortal Kombat had a massive cast of characters. Are you looking to include a similar-sized cast?
EB: Speaking personally, I think there’s a line where the perceived value of adding more characters brings a diminishing return. If you have a cast of 40 characters and go to 50, I don’t know that fans are saying “this game is 20% better!” I think there’s a sweet spot somewhere in the 20s or so. We’ll definitely be releasing with a good number of characters, probably comparable to Mortal Kombat.

But then the magic can come in with DLC characters; with Mortal Kombat, we brought in crazy guests like Freddy Krueger. So we’ll definitely want to introduce unexpected characters [via DLC] to Injustice. That’ll be our strategy. It’s comparable to Mortal Kombat, but being really aggressive with our DLC characters.

PSB: I’m sure many of the major DC Universe characters are spoken for, but will there be room for cult favorites too?
EB: Yeah. In our discussions with DC, we have different categories of characters…guest characters, niche characters. When we spoke with DC, they’d say “we’d love to see this character,” and we’d say, “really? Why?” Everyone has their vote, and we’ll probably serve all those categories in some way.

PSB: Air dashing and wagering both seem to be fresh new concepts for fighters. How do they fit in?
EB: Those are new mechanics aimed at the hardcore guys. Air dashing plays with the concept of jumping in and attacking, though not all characters can do it. And Wagers add more layers to the concept of a Super meter. Mortal Kombat had this Super meter that could enhance a special move, initiate a breaker, or deliver this crazy X-ray move. With Wagering, we’re putting players in moments where we ask them, “how much do you want to bet? How important is this conflict to you?” It adds another variable to shake up the formula.

PSB: Speaking of shaking up the formula, Injustice doesn’t have a Block button! What prompted that change?
EB: Yep, some people are really used to having a Block button [thanks for Mortal Kombat]. But the hold-back-to-block concept isn’t new to fighting games at all. Tekken and Street Fighter have been doing it for years, so it’s something people are used to. We definitely didn’t want to make Injustice just Mortal Kombat with DC-skinned characters. We want this game to have its own identity, its own feel, and its own features. The blocking is part of the separation there.

PSB: Is it nice to take a break from Mortal Kombat? Are you luxuriating in your first chance in years to try something different?
EB: Absolutely, it’s great to do something different. But at the same time, it’s also great to let more anticipation for Mortal Kombat build. Everybody’s kind of wondering how we would follow up Mortal Kombat 9, and for us to deliver that a year or a year-and-a-half later just isn’t the best way to do it. We can launch Injustice as, hopefully, a franchise that can be a series of games. But then we can give that sweet spot for Mortal Kombat to do an insane comeback.

PSB: And I know you believe in making sequels very different, not in putting the focus on constant iteration and refinement over several games. Is that your hope moving forward?
EB: I can tell you with a lot of certainty that, if we did a Mortal Kombat 10, it wouldn’t just be MK9 with more characters and the same features. We would absolutely want to introduce something to make that game feel unique and different.

PSB: You’ve been doing fighting games for so long. Now that you’ve broken out of Mortal Kombat, would you ever go further? Maybe a non-fighting game?
EB: We feel like Injustice is kind of our first step towards that. If it does well, we would like to see our next step be a non-fighting game, maybe something unique in its own right. This is our first step in that direction.

Mortal Kombat for PS Vita has come out of the gate strong after shipping on May 1st. In just two weeks, players have clashed in hundreds of thousands of online matches across the world. With the PS Vita system players can access a complete Mortal Kombat experience on the go, whether you’re on the bus, in the library, or hanging out with friends.

There are quite a few unique features with this Vita version of Mortal Kombat. While preserving the core gameplay elements, we’ve implemented a ton of new functionalities, such as touchscreen Fatalities and X-Rays, as well as an all-new Challenge Tower II that takes advantage of the diversity of features that the PS Vita system provides.

One question that we continue to see on our official @MK_MortalKombat Twitter is: “Netherrealm, I can’t beat Mission XXX in the new Challenge Tower! Can you help?” Why, yes we can! To answer, we decided to put together some Tips and Tricks videos to outline strategies for some of the more difficult missions within the Challenge Tower II (it’s not called Easy Tower!).

Check out our video here to see our design team spill some secrets on how to master new, exclusive characters and use the new PS Vita system features to their maximum potential. Once you’re done, please share your tips in the comments section below!

Developing new and inventive missions for the Bonus Challenge Tower was something our talented Design team at Netherrealm Studios jumped at. It allowed us to not only come up with unique and innovative scenarios that took advantage of the numerous PS Vita features (such as the touchscreen and the accelerometer), but also a long-awaited opportunity to create challenges based around the DLC characters that released after the launch of the PS3 version. Yes, that means Freddy Krueger missions!

With Mortal Kombat finally emerging today on PS Vita game card and via PSN, our designers at NetherRealm Studios wanted to share some of their favorite missions from the all-new Challenge Tower. We hope you guys have just as much fun playing through these missions as we had making them.

Brian Lebaron — Designer, Mortal Kombat for PS Vita
1. Missions 39 and 96: “Figure It Out”
These missions are really fun! We give the player very little info on how to pass the mission hence the “Figure It Out” title. We just drop the player into an event and the player must use the different PS Vita functionality to figure out how to get past the events or to a goal.

2. Missions 8, 36, 52, 80, and 138: “Juggle”
In these missions, you have a few missile launchers on the bottom of the screen and the player must keep the falling character from hitting the ground. It was a lot of fun tweaking the gravity and finding the sweet spot to make these really enjoyable. In one of the juggle missions you have to juggle a fat Baraka; gravity was a bit heavier for him, unlike juggling a mini Sektor.

3. Mission 50: “My Baby”
This one was an inside joke on the team for years and I decided to create a mission around it. It’s really fun: Sheeva leaves her baby and you must shoot missiles at a horde of zombies trying to get to her baby.

4. Mission 108: “Don’t Call me Yellow”
The goal is simple – you must use Reptile’s invisibility to survive for six seconds without being hit by a very angry Sektor.

5. Mission 34: “Isn’t it Marvelous”
You’ll have to wait to see why I love this mission.

Derek Kirtzic – Designer, Mortal Kombat for PS Vita
1. Mission 96: “Figure it Out II”
I really like this mission because it’s nothing like any of the other Tower missions. It has a platformer feel to it and it will take people a while to figure out.

2. Mission 84: “Arrow Pong”
Arrow pong is one of my favorite missions because the arrow progressively gets faster and faster and if you make one mistake, you have to start over. It also teaches the player the timing you need to reflect a projectile.

3. Mission 114: “Kentoichi”
This mission reminds me of the old West: 3, 2, 1 draw! Be careful to not draw too early or you’re dead.

4. Mission 51: “My Children”
This mission is unique because you start off as Freddy Krueger and you have to resurrect zombies to fight for you. I like this mission because you have to avoid Sonya’s attacks while trying to resurrect a zombie– or multiple zombies, based on how good you are.

5. Mission 117: “Kintaro Time”
In Kintaro time you play as Kintaro against four Earthrealm warriors. I have personally played this mission a dozen times just because it’s fun to play as the ultra-powerful Kintaro and use his moves against the game’s AI. There is a little learning curve to playing as Kintaro, too – it’s basically learning a whole new character.

If you’ve picked up the game already, what’s your favorite new Challenge Tower mission? Let us know in the comments!

Developing Mortal Kombat for PS Vita was an incredibly rewarding experience for the team here at NetherRealm Studios. The ability to utilize the numerous new features available on PS Vita was a very gratifying mission, and we are delivering the best possible on-the-go fighting experience for fans.

Our design team jumped at the opportunity to devise 150 new Challenge Tower missions that incorporate the DLC characters (like Freddy Krueger!), while also integrating the front touchscreen and accelerometer in ways that made sense and enhanced the complete Mortal Kombat experience.

The artists enjoyed creating some excellent new costumes (still to be revealed!), as well as re-creating an iconic MKII arena that integrates the rear camera that will give players the ability to literally Fight Anywhere.

Our programmers worked diligently to make sure the players’ experience of Mortal Kombat on PS Vita was pristine and up to NetherRealm standards: fine tuning controls (while adding new controls, such as touchcreen Fatalities and X-Rays!) and displaying gameplay at a smooth 60 frames per second.

With all of these features, two new exclusive modes (Test Your Balance and Test Your Slice) and both ad-hoc (local) and WiFi (intrastructure) Versus mode options, we had an amazing time this past weekend at PAX East 2012 showing Mortal Kombat for PS Vita to fans. We had quite a few fans come back and bring their friends to show them the new features—and to challenge them to some old-fashioned 1 vs 1 Kombat. It definitely made all of the work and love we put into this version of Mortal Kombat worth it.

This new trailer definitely captures the spirit of what we were trying to do with Mortal Kombat for PS Vita. Give it a watch and let us know what you think in the comments!

I’ve got good news, and I’ve got good news. First, the good news: Based on my recent hands-on play sessions, Mortal Kombat on PS Vita plays identically to its PS3 counterpart. That means fluid 60 frames-per-second fighting, lush presentation, and every bit of content from the console version. That includes the critically acclaimed Story mode, a full character roster, the Krypt, the works. It’s all here, baby.

I also tried out a series of local (non-internet) Wifi multiplayer matches, and I’m happy to report that the game felt smooth and responsive with no perceptible lag. If you’re skeptical, watch the video above to see local multiplayer — and my hairy, hairy paws — in action. One thing to note is that the PS Vita version supports up to two players in Wifi multiplayer, not four as in the PS3 version.

Now for the good news: The PS Vita version adds an ambitious array of extra content, starting with every piece of DLC ever released on PS3. That means you’ll be able to play as Freddy Krueger, Kenshi, Rain, and Skarlet from day one, and select MK1 and MK2 retro-styled costumes to drape over your male and female ninja characters. The Vita version sweetens the pot with 15 more exclusive costumes, including MK3-styled garb for the ninjas. Not a bad start, but it gets better.

If you read PlayStation.Blog’s exclusive interview with Ed Boon, you’ll know that Netherrealm Studios has prepared an all-new Challenge Tower II mode that’s exclusive to PS Vita. I went hands-on with four of the 150 total new challenges, more than half of which take advantage of PS Vita’s touchscreen and sixaxis motion sensors in novel (and challenging!) ways:

One challenge tasked me with juggling a character using ground-based missile launchers, which I activated by tapping the touchscreen. It felt a bit like hacky sack combined with the old Atari game Missile Command, and it’s a lot of fun.

In another challenge, Raiden’s head inflated every time my opponent landed a blow. To win the match, I had to conquer my attacker while deflating Raiden’s head via the touchscreen. If Raiden’s head grew too big, or I tapped it too much, it popped. Fail!

The tougher challenges will strain your multitasking abilities. In Bloody Mess, I had to frantically wipe blood off the screen to avoid being blinded…not easy when you’re fending off the blade-slinging mutant Baraka.

In another challenge, I had to detonate lethal homing missiles using the touchscreen while dueling the cybernetic assassin Sektor.

Some of the new challenges will focus on the four new characters — Freddy, Kenshi, Rain, and Skarlet — who didn’t factor into the PS3 game’s Challenge Tower due to their release as DLC.

The final game will also include two new bonus modes in the spirit of the Test Your Might minigames. In Test Your Balance, you’re challenged with balancing on a beam and using PS Vita’s sixaxis motion sensor to adjust your balance…while you’re being pelted with body parts. Fail, and you’ll plummet to a gory death (which I won’t spoil here). There will be a second Vita-exclusive minigame as well, but Netherrealms Studios is keeping this under wraps for the
time being.

And yes, there will be new Trophies. What questions do you have about Mortal Kombat for PS Vita? Fire away in the comments and I’ll do my best to serve up answers.

The good news: Mortal Kombat is coming to PS Vita! The bad news: Details are so scarce that we haven’t seen so much as a single screenshot! Luckily, Netherrealm Studios Creative Director Ed Boon emerged from the shadows to share first details with PlayStation.Blog readers, including the existence of a PS Vita-exclusive second Challenge Tower and hints at how the game will take advantage of PS Vita’s unique hardware capabilities. Read up on our full Q&A below and check back soon for more details on this spring’s eagerly anticipated portable pugilist.

PlayStation.Blog: What’s the scope of Mortal Kombat for PS Vita? Does it include all the content from the PS3 game?
Ed Boon, Creative Director, Netherrealm Studios: It’s actually everything from the PS3 game: the entire Story mode and all the downloadable characters and content, plus additional modes and features that are tailored for PS Vita. We really wanted to take advantage of Vita’s hardware.

PSB: How have the graphics transitioned to PS Vita? Did you have to make any major graphical sacrifices from the PS3 version?
EB:It’s interesting. We did have to reduce some of the polygon counts from the backgrounds and characters, but that screen is so bright, and it’s got such high pixel density….when I saw Scorpion and Sub-Zero fighting on the Living Forest for the first time, I was amazed. It really maintains the identity of the game. I can’t wait for people to hold it in their hands and see it for themselves — it’s a surprisingly similar experience.

PSB: Will the PS Vita version keep the PS3 version’s smooth 60 fps framerate?
EB: Yeah. We wouldn’t accept any compromises there; we needed the game to run at the same framerate as the PS3 version. A number of our internal people proposed running it at 30 frames per second — “we could do this and this and that” — but we knew it would feel different. We didn’t want it to feel sluggish or unresponsive.

PSB: What makes a good mobile fighting game? Obviously, playing habits are different in a mobile environment.
EB: The fundamental necessity is quick access to gameplay, whether it’s online or locally. The mobile gaming experience is shorter bites of time. We identified the Challenge Tower as a perfect fit for mobile sessions, so we expanded it greatly for PS Vita. There are actually two Challenge Towers in the PS Vita version, and the new one has 150 challenges that are exclusive to PS Vita. A number of those challenges use PS Vita’s hardware features: the touch screen, the accelerometer…

PSB: …rear touchscreen?
EB: The rear touchscreen functionality was something that we experimented with, but we ultimately opted not to pursue. We really went to town on the front touchscreen interaction, though, both in the challenges and normal gameplay. A lot of work went into it.

PSB: So how does a touchscreen come into play in Mortal Kombat?
EB: In terms of gameplay, we’ve always wanted MK to be as accessible as possible. For example, you can touch your X-ray meter to execute an X-ray attack. For fatalities, you can “slash” the screen with the appropriate inputs — say, away, away, up — to execute the fatality. It makes some of the more difficult fatalities easier and it’s fun to slash at your screen to fire off a fatality. I was surprised by how engaging it is.

PSB: Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3 has a dedicated touchscreen-only mode for more casual players. Are you planning anything along those lines?
EB: We goofed around with ideas like that. It was an interesting novelty at first, but literally everybody who tried it said “oh, that’s cute” and then went right back to the normal control scheme. There’s a lot of precision with the “slicing” mechanic, though, so it works well for fatalities.

PSB: Can you shed any light into how the accelerometer or sixaxis motion controls work in the new PS Vita-centric Challenge Tower?
EB: I’ve been asked not to completely reveal all of the details yet…But in the new Challenge Tower, there are challenges that are unique to PS Vita’s capabilities. Over the years we’ve had Test Your Might, Test Your Luck, Test Your Sight…well, we’ve added two completely new ones for PS Vita. We’ll be revealing those soon, and they will take advantage of the accelerometer and other features.

Those extra 150 Challenge Tower missions are tons of fun. Imagine tilting your PS Vita and affecting gravity in the game, things like that…

PSB: Mortal Kombat is a highly competitive fighter. What’s your approach to multiplayer on PS Vita?
EB: We tried to put all the main things that people would want to do for hooking up with other players online; you can fight one-on-one whether you’re in local Wifi or online [infrastructure] Wifi. There aren’t any eight-player online fighting modes, though, and we aren’t supporting four players in one match. Our focus was getting the core fighting gameplay and Wifi battles as solid as possible.

PSB: Will Mortal Kombat feature any PS3-to-PS Vita connectivity or cross play functionality?
EB: No. We’ve been working with PS Vita for quite a while. We had a lot of conversations about what we could do with it; I thought it would be cool to have an extra bonus for players who bought both the PS3 and PS Vita versions. We talked about unlocking a new character, or having some sort of new mode that enabled you to control the game from your PS Vita…but unfortunately, it’s coming up on a year since the PS3 version came out and we never found a way to marry the two versions together.

PSB: Finally, the game’s official name is Mortal Kombat, right? I know there were rumors of “Mortal Kombat Vitality…”
EB: Yes, it’s Mortal Kombat. “Vitality” was something that somebody mocked up at some point, and it kind of stuck [laughs]. But yes, it’s just called Mortal Kombat.

I was introduced to Mortal Kombat on April 20th, 1992. I was fresh out of art school and starting my career at Williams/Bally/Midway. I remembered being overwhelmed that I was actually walking into the building where some of my favorite games were created: Narc, Robotron, Defender, and Smash TV just to name a few. Mortal Kombat was yet to be released. However there were a few Mortal Kombat prototypes lining the halls of Midway that we could test out. I remember being just blown away by my first experiences with Mortal Kombat. What first struck me was the size of the digitized characters on the screen. They were huge! I remember selecting Kano as my first character: I was a big Terminator fan at the time, so the choice was obvious. I also remember how in awe I was working (and playing) along side of the guys that created the game. A few days after that, I met the actors that were filmed for the game. John Tobias and Ed Boon brought the whole cast of characters back in to capture the video bio sequences that happened during the attract mode. It was funny how low-budget the whole thing was. It was actually just filmed in the hallway where we tested the games with a low-end video camera, a few lights, and a piece of black cloth as the backdrop. It was a very garage-band scenario but I recall just being blown away that I was witnessing the creation of something big, never really knowing how big Mortal Kombat would actually become.

In this video clip, Mortal Kombat’s longtime Lead Sound Designer Dan Forden discusses the origins of “Toasty!” — one of the most celebrated Easter Eggs in the history of gaming.

Mortal Kombat II was fun in that I had the opportunity to witness the team create the game from the ground up. I was working on another game team at the time, but I was slowly becoming friends with Tobias, Ed, and Tony Goskie. Tony is an amazing artist that bases his talent in surrealism; Mortal Kombat II’s introduction to Outworld was a perfect match for Tony. Luckily my office was directly across from Tony’s so I had the opportunity to see him create some of the most iconic environments in the game. I remember Tony’s disappointment when he had to remove the crucified four-armed Shokan from the Wastelands. We thought it was an interesting element in the background, but the company thought it may be perceived as sacrilegious. One of the best memories I had from the Mortal Kombat II days was when I was asked to be the floating monk in the Tower background. You can’t really tell it’s me in the shrouded robe, but at the time I dorked out hard telling everyone I knew that I was in the latest Mortal Kombat!

In this video clip, Creative Director and co-creator Ed Boon talks about the creation of Mortal Kombat’s iconic dragon medallion logo.

Mortal Kombat 3 is special to me because that was the first Mortal Kombat I was on as an artist. I was honored that John and Ed asked me to join the team. I basically worked alongside John, cleaning up characters, building costumes, and creating special FX. Making Mortal Kombat 3 was a really great time. We busted our asses. We worked crazy hours and stayed overnight quite a bit. Building the character costumes was probably the most fun. Now we build everything in 3D, but back then we had to rely on sporting goods stores, army surplus stores, Halloween shops, and a lot of duct tape. It was a blast getting the cyborg costumes together: it was a mix of BMX motocross gear, hockey protection, duct tape, and rubber tubing. For being really thrown together I am really happy with the way Sektor and Cyrax turned out. By the way, before they were known as Sektor and Cyrax, John Vogel named them Ketchup and Mustard.

In this video clip, Mortal Kombat artist, animator, and motion-capture performer Carlos Pesina recalls how his mother reacted to his career choice.

I am honored to still be working on the Mortal Kombat franchise. I love the Mortal Kombat universe and all the talented people I get to work with every day. In addition to that, I feel we have the best fans in video games. They are extremely devoted and our team deeply appreciates their devotion over the past (almost) 20 years. Thank you all sincerely.

Look for Freddy to hit PSN on August 9th for $4.99, and read on for my full chat with Ed Boon.

PlayStation.Blog: So what is the inspiration for bringing Freddy Krueger to Mortal Kombat as a DLC character?
Ed Boon, Creative Director, Netherrealm Studios: It was a number of things. It’s kind of hard to choose a character who would fit well into the Mortal Kombat universe, with the blood and violence that’s so associated with it. Kratos from God of War is a brutal, bloody character, so he makes sense. When we had the discussions about the DLC characters, we knew that we wanted to add a returning character, a new character, but also a guest character. That was one of the goals right from the beginning. A number of names were run by us: Jason, Michael Myers and all those guys. Freddy Kreuger, we felt, was the most instantly recognizable and he fits in with Mortal Kombat with his claws. It just seemed like the best fit.

PSB: Did you base Freddy off the 80s films or the reboot movie from a few years back?
Well…that’s a good question. We didn’t try to make him look like the actor Robert Englund, I don’t even know if we would be allowed to….Admittedly, I didn’t see the latest movie, the remake. But obviously the first few movies were huge — they left an undeniable mark on pop culture. When I look at him, I think of the original Freddy: he’s got the striped sweater and is instantly recognizable. He’s Freddy in general, we don’t really identify him as one version or another.

PSB: Freddy isn’t exactly a martial artist. How does he keep up with the kombatants?
[laughs] He doesn’t fight like a martial artist, either! We gave him two claws, which we explain in his character bio, so you can almost imagine a Baraka with shorter blades that are always out. He’s got lots of swipes, he can send his claws creepy-crawling on the ground or flying through the air. He can dig into the ground and the claws will come up under his opponent. He’s very claw-centric.

PSB: Will Freddy’s ability to invade his victims’ dreams play into his Mortal Kombat incarnation in any way?
Yeah, you’ll see some of that. His story ending really plays into that. In the middle of a fight, you won’t see him entering a guy’s head in a dream sequence or anything, but there is plenty of dream-related stuff in his introduction animation, his victory stance, his fatalities and so forth.

PSB: Ten, 15 years ago when Mortal Kombat was early in its lifespan, did you ever fantasize about getting Freddy Krueger into MK?
Yeah, yeah. Over the years, we’ve certainly had a number of conversations about guest characters. At one point, we had a conversation about having a group — imagine Freddy, Jason, Michael Myers, Leatherface from Texas Chainsaw Massacre — of all these killers from the 80s and 90s flicks come in as a group of characters. We never got a grip on how we would do it, whether they’d be DLC characters or what. But yes, we’ve had lots of conversations over the years. We also wanted to introduce a character who was unexpected. This DLC thing opens the doors to realizing these ideas. Kratos was one we discussed as a DLC character a number of times, but luckily we could include him as the initial cast of characters [in the PS3 version]. With Freddy, we felt like the stars had aligned — it was time to do it.

PSB: What is your process for choosing DLC characters? Why did you begin with Kenshi, who was the only character from the Deadly Alliance games to make the jump?
I’ve personally always big a big fan of Kenshi, as were many of the guys on the MK team. So we gravitated to Kenshi. We always knew we’d add Rain right from the beginning. I was bombarded for weeks on Twitter with fans begging for Rain, so I had a little fun with it. Each DLC character, I believe, satisfies a certain group of our audience that we knew was clamoring for it.

PSB: Speaking of Rain, he was originally hinted at in Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3. What was the genesis of Rain?
Rain was me being a jerk, basically. [laughs] When we were working on Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3, I was thinking “what ninja color have we not done yet?” … and I’m a huge Prince fan, so I was thinking Purple Rain. I was probably still listening to the album. There was no time to actually make a character, because the game was done. So I hacked into the attract screen a quick little sequence of this purple ninja running at Shao Kahn. We didn’t even have the word “Rain” in the powerbar, so I manually built it using our font. So I included this quick glimpse just to drive people crazy. Once Mortal Kombat Trilogy came out, we gave Rain new moves and he finally became a real character. Later we brought him back for Mortal Kombat Armageddon. That’s one of the things about Mortal Kombat: many of the characters have these goofy development histories. Noob Saibot, Reptile…all of these odd origin stories.

PSB: What about Skarlet? She was a rumored secret character from MKII, right?
She was a completely rumored character. She never existed, she was born out of a rumor. It got such legs that a name actually came out of it; there was never a glitch that turned Kitana red, that never existed. That was just an urban legend like Animalities and Ermac — a rumor that we eventually wanted to make true.

If you watched our recent video Q&A with Ed Boon and Stig Asmussen, then you know that NetherRealm Studios and Sony Santa Monica Studios collaborated closely to ensure that God of War’s ultra-violent antihero was faithfully recreated for his highly anticipated (and PS3-exclusive) Mortal Kombat debut. Now that the shrink wrap is off the game, my hands-on play sessions have yielded some powerful tactics. First, a few observations:

Kratos is a tactician, not a brawler. Kratos’ style combos aren’t particularly fast or powerful, so wading into combat while mashing buttons won’t get you results worthy of the God of War. An effective Kratos player must demonstrate equal parts finesse and animal cunning.

The Helios Head gets results. Like Scorpion’s spear or Sub-Zero’s ice blast, the Helios Head is Kratos’ go-to special attack. You’ll learn to love it for several reasons: the blast boasts impressive range, stuns on impact, and shuts down jumping attackers. More importantly, it can chain a fast, weaker opening combo into a mortal monstrosity, especially when followed with the Olympic Ascension (below).

It helps to rise to the occasion. The key to unlocking Kratos’ highest damage potential is the Olympic Ascension (Back + hold Triangle), a powerful juggle that launches both fighters into the air. Follow up with the Olympic Toss (Circle) for a crushing finale and upwards of 30% damage.

Kratos: turtle killer. Torment a defensive foe by alternating between the Hades Pain (Back + Square, Back + Circle) and the Hades Edge (Back + Square, Triangle). The former ends with a low attack; the latter will defeat a crouching block. Mix them up to keep your opponent off balance in close-quarters brawls.

Don’t get overwhelmed. When confronted with a speedy, teleporting opponent such as Scorpion or Smoke, stay at a distance and blast away with Apollo’s Bow while fending off incoming attacks using the Golden Fleece (Down, Back, Square).

Kratos eats fireballs for breakfast. Just like in the games, the Golden Fleece will even reflect incoming fireballs back at your attacker. Take that, Shang Tsung!

Movelist

Head of Helios: Down, Back, Triangle

Notes: Stuns enemies, easily chained into combos, Enhanced version adds extra damage

Apollo’s Bow: Down, Forward, Triangle

Notes: Fires two projectiles, Enhanced version fires three

Zeus Rage: Down, Forward, X

Notes: Follow the button prompts to complete, Enhanced version adds third hit

Golden Fleece: Down, Back, Square

Notes: Parries incoming attacks, triggers counterattack, redirects projectiles

Hermes Dash: Back, Forward, Circle

Notes: Can be charged up for extra damage, will hit airborne enemies

Fatalities

Blade of Olympus: Down, Down, Back, Forward, Triangle (sweep distance)

Medusa’s Gaze: Down, Back, Down, Forward, Square (jump distance)

Killer Kratos Combos

Kratos’ most damaging strings tend to open with a basic style combo, transition to the Helios Head, and conclude with an ultra-damaging Olympic Ascension juggle. With a little experimentation and a lot of hands-on time, I crafted the heavy hitting combos below. But this is just the beginning. Be sure to share your favorite Kratos combos (include a sweet name!) in the comments below, and I’ll update the list with the best community picks.

“Hellraiser”
Forward + Triangle, Helios Head, Pandora’s Soul (Forward + Circle, Back + hold Triangle), Olympic Toss (Circle in mid-air)
6 hits, 39% Damage

“Zeus Pounce”
Jump kick, Enhanced Zeus Wrath (Down, Forward, X + R2)
5 hits, 23% Damage

“This is Sparta!”
Circle, Helios Head, Enhanced Hermes Dash (Back, Forward, Circle + R2)
3 hits, 23% Damage

“Sun and Moon”
Jump punch, Athena’s Fury (Triangle, Square, Triangle), Apollo’s Bow
6 hits, 20% Damage

Destroy Shao Kahn in the Ladder mode with Kratos and you’ll earn the Blades of Exile item. Cash it in at the Nekropolis to unlock Kratos’ alternate “Fear” costume — the same outfit you earn by completing God of War III.