Neal
Hey kids, Neal here to tell you that once again things have not gone as planned. But instead of coming up with some kind of silly, like 'Coreys got attacked by the Warrior King's Orb' or some shit. Corey has been without power for an entire week now thanks to the storm that ravaged the part of Canada where he lives. So unfortunately, he was not available to record and we once again fell behind schedule, but do not worry. Corey is just fine. And his power just came back on a few minutes ago. I just saw a message from him so he's all good. As for the podcast, our friends over at the Kombat Time Podcast swooped in to save the day to sit down and record a couple of episodes of 'Befrienders of the Realm' with me. This episode.l I've got Jae on from Kombat tlTime to tell us a story about his history with Mortal Kombat and we talk a lot of fighting games in general J is a big fighting game enthusiast. Also an artist also a cyclist and a huge Godzilla fan. So I had a great time talking with Jae about fighting games and Mortal Kombat and everything. And if you're not listening to combat time, what are you doing go was in the combat time. Excellent show all about everything. Mortal Kombat games, artwork, music. They just recently did an episode where they played through Mortal Kombat mythologies subzero, Josh Jae and Yasin do a great show over there. So if you're not already subscribed, subscribe. And while you're in that podcast app, go ahead and subscribe to Corey's other show "they made another one: and make sure you're subscribed to MK Podquest as well. But for now, let's get into this episode of Befrienders of the realm with Jae, one of the boys from the Kombat Time podcast.

I loved that Tim Burton one when I saw it as a kid, you know, like when it came out? Like I was, I don't know. 13 or 14, something like that. And I think it's a good movie for 13 or 14 year old to watch but trying to watch it after that. It was just like no, and yeah, having Mark Wahlberg in it. That's just a man who's not believable in any role he's ever in.

Jae
Its it really is true. Like I don't believe I don't believe any role Mark Wahlberg. Well, I don't know that there's one role I believe in then that's the departed, where you play that sort of like, yeah, right, like Ride or Die cop, but he's also from that region. Like he's from Boston. So he has to my opinion. He's basically just playing himself to a degree cast

Neal
him as a guy from Boston, he can play that role cast him as an astronaut. I don't know. Not to say not to say that people from the Boston area can't be astronauts, but I just don't believe Mark Wahlberg can be Yeah.

Jae
But yeah, like but that's still like dislike and he kind of like he's really got the good sort of like I don't want to say 'every man' look but it he's close enough. He's sort of like the 'every rural man' look like if you need like every man who is a rural guy who's like doing his farming and shooting his deer and like basically taking care of like five people as the local cough Mont war, Mark Wahlberg can actually play that character. He just like he just has that. Look at that. I'm like, he's basically like, sort of like the new Kevin Costner from back in the day because Kevin Costner could pull off that look, too.

Neal
Sure. Yeah, I'll give him that. But we're not here to talk shit about Mark Wahlberg in one way or the other.

Jae
We are not no.

Neal
Jae, we are here to talk about some some Mortal Kombat stuff. Yeah, this is the second second of this, this mini series that I'm doing that I'm that I'm calling in a stroke of genius on my part, I do have to say, 'Befrienders of the Realm', where I'm bringing people on to tell me stories about Mortal Kombat from their lives. It can be anything, anything Mortal Kombat related, epic gaming moments, the discovery of the series, first time you saw the movie, whatever it is, I just want to hear these stories because the Mortal Kombat fan base is like fiercely loyal, dedicated in a way that I don't really see in a whole lot of other particularly gaming franchises where, you know, so many people were just exposed to it and just it just took a special place like for them, you know, through the characters in through the story, who the gameplay whatever it is. And I just wanted to hear more stories like this from people and have an excuse to bring more of my friends on the show. So that's what we're here to do today. Yes, sir. So, what do you got for me? What give me you get a little teaser for what the story is going to be about if you had like a tagline, you know, one sentence synopsis, just an elevator pitch.

Jae
Yeah, revenge and redemption.

Neal
Holy shit, strong themes in Mortal Kombat, also. Revenge and redemption. Man. I'm excited. You want to just get right into it?

Jae
Yeah, sure. So this story involves a specifically MK two, like I was already into Mortal Kombat from the old days of MK one, but the actual fond memory I have is from the City of Greenville, South Carolina, where I grew up. Back then there was a mall there called, you know, adequately the Greenville Mall. And this was back around the beginning of the Mortal Kombat two arcade release this is, but it was before what is it? Mortal isn't mortal Monday, when they released that commercial? Like when Mortal Kombat got released on consoles? Yeah, finally, more than one this? Yeah, this was this was before mortal mortal Monday, but I'm pretty sure it was that same year. So earlier in that year

Neal
1993, it looks like

Jae
Yeah, so I would have been, I would have been like, what like probably like 11 or 12. Around that time. So I was definitely in that realm of like, I'm into video games, you know, like, I'm like, I'd had like, like an NES, and excuse me enum, and a Sega Genesis. And I actually played Mortal Kombat one on the Sega Genesis, but in this particular day, my mom and I, we went to Greenville mall, like, she was just doing her normal shopping around. And back then they had an arcade in that mall. And I actually asked my mom like, Hey, I don't want to go shopping with you. Because well, it's boring, because you're because I'm 12 or 11. So I was like, mom, so I was like, Mom, can I go to the arcade and just hang out there? I promise I won't go anywhere. Of course, this is the early 90s. There's no cell phones or anything. So my mom said, Okay, sure. But you have to stay there for like an hour. And I did have a watch on at the time, so I could keep track of time. So my mom, so my mom gave me a $5 bill, you know, for like quarters and stuff like that to play all the games. And I was like, Thank you, mom.

Neal
That's a lot. That's a lot of quarters, man.

Jae
So, of course when I walk into this arcade, there is an MK two machine, and there is a Street Fighter II machine that were that were operating at the time. And there was a dude there that was playing Mortal Kombat II. Sure. So I was like, Okay, I want to play some little combat. So I start, you know, like I cashed in my $5 have like a whole like, you know, hacky sack full of quarters, because that's a lot of quarters.

Neal
20 quarters, right? Am I doing that math? Right? Yeah. 20 quarters where the quarters are where they tokens? Was it like a token arcade? Or like, were they doing dealing in hard currency?

Jae
Oh, no, they were dealing hard currency. You had the classic 25 cent logo. That was the red button on the arcade machine. So it was it was it was one of the OG ones. And now this is a purely quarter driven industry, at least at the moms in but I just asked the state if I could jump in. And I don't remember much about the dude. And he was I knew he was a little bit older than me probably like, you know, like a 15 or 16 year old. And he was just there, I guess just chillin. And he was playing a scorpion. So I was like, okay, back then. I had been a like I had been at Johnny Cage and subzero main. But at this point in time, I've been more subzero because subzero is blue. My favorite color is blue, and I like cold more than heat. So I naturally gravitated to sub zero.

Neal
I feel like sub zero is the more attractive looking character on the character select screen then Johnny Cage also. Yes,

Jae
that yes, that is true. I like like, I haven't Johnny Cage main. But Johnny Cage was basically like my second. Really my second main my first crush and devotion was to subzero and then but Johnny Cage was more like, you know, the relationship that actually worked out. So I stayed with him. Sure. There you go. Yeah. But in his and this is actually partly as as a reason why. But I started playing him was subzero against Scorpion, and I lost. And then I lost again. Yeah, then I lost again. And then again, and then again. And I'm basically like, training myself like, basically, like, kind of like what to do. I'm trying to read his movements. This guy probably pulled off every fatality on me that Scorpion could potentially do. Holy moly, you know, it was frustrating. But I realized, well, I can't go anywhere for an hour from my mom's instructions. So let me just try and beat this guy. So I can't but my problem was I just kept choosing subzero because, you know, in my head, I'm like, this the only person that could potentially beat Scorpion like I can't pick anybody has a chance and he's doing every move with Scorpion in the book.

Neal
You're like, hyper focused on the story element of it, like "No, if it's scorpion. I have to be subzero"

Jae
a little bit. Yeah, yeah, that's what that's basically where my 11 or 12 year old brain was. And since to me You know, I mean, I remember being down to my last dollar and quarters, that's how much I lost. So at this point, you can say that I lost 16 times in a row to this guy, but I just hope so I just kept playing him and then eventually in my last probably like, what three quarters, I was like, You know what, I've only got like three quarters left, and I've already kind of resigned to my faith and I'm just never gonna beat this guy. So let me try and have some fun with another character. So then I picked Johnny Cage, and really with Johnny Cage, I didn't know any hard hitting combos, but what I did know is that I knew his shadow kick and I knew his and I knew his his his nut punch, basically by heart and I could fire his his low fireball his high one was a little rough for me just because, like just because of the arc, but I was able to consistently do his shadow kick and his Netflix and his fireball. And I remember I remember the fight decently well and dude, he he wasn't used to Johnny Cage players like he just wasn't every time that he tried to go for his his spear. I would react with a shadow kick at mid range, which you know, if you time it right does beat, does actually beat that spear in. MK two, you have to be close, but it does beat it just because it's faster.

And he had no answer for it. So I actually started winning and then however the first time I played Johnny I did lose because I just like I had not warmed up with him. Right right forever. But I noticed that he his his movements were erratic and he was a lot more defensive against Johnny because obviously he didn't play him. So I was down to my last quarter after losing twice and the second time I barely lost I was like, Okay, I think I got this guy. So I played I put in my last quarter and sure enough, I did actually beat this guy. And then I beat him with an up punch. Which is why I remember this which was so satisfying.

Neal
Sure.

*airhorns* I don't know if those carry through those cut out on Discord all the time, but you needed airhorns for that victory story.

Jae
Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. And to kind of preface it a little bit. Dude, I was right next to him do threw a spear at point blank range. And then that's when I did the knockout punch, which was oh man under it. And that's how I beat him.

Neal
You love to see it.

Jae
Oh, I was I was beyond happy. In fact, I was so happy that I failed to do the fatality.

Neal
Oh sure. Did you know The fatality at the time? Had you like studied up like from a GamePro magazine or anything

Jae
I knew I knew the motions. I did, I did know the motions but unfortunately I was just you know, like an MK two and MK one and even MK three they don't give you a lot of time to do this fatality you have literally basically two seconds if that in the game to really do it. And I just and by the time I reacted to it I was just so just overjoyed after losing so many times the road to beating this guy with with John Cage that I just I just didn't get a chance to do it. So I kind of failed in that regard. But, you know, after I beat him, he you know basically patted me on the shoulder and said like that was actually really cool. Like he said he was he wasn't used to Johnny players and he even told me like you should have picked Johnny first that would have been like I would have had a lot more time and even told me that he plays sub zeros all the time. He just knows how to fight that guy. Sure. So and after that, like he basically left and I became For the briefest period of time that kingdom Mortal Kombat

Neal
Mortal Kombat champion. Excellent.

Jae
And luckily after that, what it was like probably, I think like roughly 40 to 45 minutes had passed. So then afterwards, I was like, Well, I have this one quarter I'm gonna play the rest of the game as it is with Johnny Cage. And I got to level three and I died. Like the first fighter and I got killed because the AI Mortal Kombat two is absolutely cheap and ridiculous and good luck with it.

Neal
Was it Jax? Was a Jax just tossing you around the ring like have like a ragdoll?

Jae
I don't think it would have mattered It was either Mileena or Kitana that basically just as soon as I'm trying to do a move, they block and then they throw me all Dang day.

Neal
Yeah. And that's what happens. There's some coding stuff in there too, that's been discovered that like when you're fighting the computer, the rules don't apply anymore. Like their throws can break through your upper cuts and all kinds of stuff like it. I mean, that was that was Midwest thing, right? Like their AI was cranked up like crazy because they're just trying to get you throw quarters in and Mortal Kombat is fun playing to play or anyway, you know, that's what it's kind of there for in the arcades.

Jae
Yeah, it's, it's true.

Neal
It's true. Yeah,

Jae
but that's but but that's But that's that right there was my Kombat memory playing Mortal Kombat II in a mall arcades back like in the good year of 1993 I'm 11 or 12 years old at the time and I like it took me $5 to do it. But I beat this guy and dollars well spent and I can say that like that's like I actually did not own Mortal Kombat II on console until later. So I was actually, if I ever played Mortal Kombat two, I was playing in the arcade, you know, for the most part at the time, and the only really knowledge I had it was from playing MK one so dang much. Oh, yeah, so that's the only reason why I knew it. Back then. You weren't thinking about combos you're thinking like okay, jump kicks. Opera cuts do like do a special move. Do a special move maybe lane to sleeper to

Neal
Sure. Yeah. And see, I had almost no arcade experience with Mortal Kombat. Like there were some machines around. I talked about this before. I pretty much never saw Mortal Kombat II around. A couple places had a mortal kombat one machine, but I was never like my arcade. Times were spent like on Revolution X, or Terminator two, the arcade game or whatever. And then like years later, post, MK four started seeing Mortal Kombat for machines all over the place. But every movie theater around me had a NeoGeo so like, Samurai Shodown was the fighting game that I got to play. And by the way, I'm still so so bad at Samurai Shodown I've got like two or three of them on the Neo Geo CD I've got I've got Samurai Shodown games I can play right now. I'm just fucking bad at them. Dude. We had the Super Nintendo version growing up and I just, I'm just terrible at it.

Jae
My my boy and Samurai Showdown is and I'm probably gonna pronounce his name wrong. But it's I think it's Gilford or Gilfree. He's the he's the blond haired Knight that has the dos that was that was my guy because every time he saw his dog, he would say puppy, and he sticks his dog on you and I like it as a dog lover. I'm like, Yeah, you're my guy. You have a dog and you stick your dog on people up on Yeah, you're the guy playing.

Neal
But I know like the way other people talk about watching the Mortal Kombat attract mode in the arcade and just like thinking it looks so cool. That was me and my friends watching the Samurai Showdown. You know when? How Morrow Yeah, hi, Amara. I am Hi Amaru when Hi Amaru is just meditating and then he like cuts through the trees and the lamppost and everything like that's ingrained in my memory from from arcade childhood. I'm bringing that up because I know you're you're a big fighting game guy. So you have some thoughts on Samurai Showdown for sure.

Yeah, Haohmaru, Haohmaru

Haohmaru is just meditating and then he like cuts through the trees and the lamppost and everything like that's ingrained in my memory from from arcade childhood. I'm bringing that up because I know you're you're a big fighting game guy. So you have some thoughts on Samurai Showdown for sure.

Jae
Yeah, it's not it's not my it's not my favorite fighting game. But I feel like I like I feel I feel like it was balanced. It's kind of like up there for me with a lot of the old school SNK titles. So like, if you've ever, ever heard or played of King of Fighters, 9598 seven, any of those. I played a lot of those back in the day and I can Samurai Showdown was kind of like part of that entire package, because usually those games will be bundled together. And so that's how I actually got a lot of exposure to them. That was back when I was like stupid industry fighter. Yeah, I had that moment too. I wasn't a Mortal Kombat. First, I was heavy into Mortal Kombat one. Interesting, despite his jank Enos and I was even more into Mortal Kombat two, but once I found Street Fighter, I actually gravitated more towards St. Floyd around the beginning of Mortal Kombat three when that came out, because really, that's where all the players were migrating to, like they were migrating to that. And I thought streetfighter just felt more balanced because of Mortal Kombat three, because you have the Run button and you know the combos that you could do. I can't tell you how many times that I've infinite in the corner and Mortal Kombat three by whoever. By really anybody? Oh, yeah. It's I'll get juggled to death and I had bad memories of Tekken because Tekken had that air juggler crap to that yeah, it was a kid I just hated because like, I can't do anything. Street Fighter at least felt like if you got air juggled, you got like a two piece and the air and then you would fall down automatically. So you felt like he had more of a chance. But in games like Tekken and Mortal Kombat is just they could just keep hitting you and juggling you in the corner and there's nothing you could do and bam, like, fight like 50 75% of your life is gone before you can get up.

Neal
Oh, yes, it's rough. I had. I had a... I was kind of similar. I guess Mortal Kombat was a game that my friends always had or my brother's friends always had and brought over. We didn't have a real copy in the house. Growing up. The Mortal Kombat game that I had that I could play was Mortal Kombat one for the Sega Game Gear that I borrowed from a friend who just never wanted it back. I actually still have that copy. It's not bad I actually have I have also bought that version on the Sega Master System. I have the Master System version of Mortal Kombat one and two also not bad for a bit ports. But like Cana is missing from the roster. There's only two stages there is still a blood code you can input for anyone out there. It's uh, "2-1-2-down-up" if you want to activate the blood in the Game Gear and Master System versions of Mortal Kombat one, but we had Street Fighter two. And it was my brother's he had Super Street Fighter two turbo on Super Nintendo. And we would play that I mean, he also had like Shaq foo and we had Double Dragon five shadow falls. Unlike a bunch of terrible fighting games,

Jae
Ah Shaq Fu. I played that I like Shaq fu, it's my guilty pleasure fighting. It's not good.

Neal
Plenty of that too. But like it was clear that Street Fighter two was the better game. And, you know, me being the little brother, I always had to play his kin, right? Because my brother got to be Ryu, because that's how older brothers are. Yes. But like I had went through a mortal kombat phase when I was able to like, get copies of the games for myself, but then I sort of left that behind and also became a Street Fighter player. A King of Fighters players, I own quite a few Fatal Fury King of Fighters games on the Saturn and the NeoGeo CD. And the PlayStation two I have I think I've showed you this before I have the Dreamcast version of garu titled Fatal Fury mark of the wolves

Jae
Yes.

Neal
But like I had went through a mortal kombat phase when I was able to like, get copies of the games for myself, but then I sort of left that behind and also became a Street Fighter player. A King of Fighters players, I own quite a few Fatal Fury King of Fighters games on the Saturn and the NeoGeo CD. And the PlayStation two I have I think I've showed you this before I have the Dreamcast version of Garou, titled 'Fatal Fury mark of the wolves'

Jae
oh my god dude like you're seeing an eye every now and again plague our multiple wolves a fantastically solid fighting game and really is my boy, my boy in that game is T sock. Just because like he's he he's he's the Lutra door type wrestler. And yep, and you've seen his his main his raw coward because he like he's main character syndrome, I guess. And we and we just have frickin epic fights in this game I still like I still enjoy it like I enjoy the mechanic of just defending in that game. Changing that into different combos and stuff but you know like, like, like I'm not like I'm all about stuff like that. Guy remarkable UPS is a great fighting game. It really is. Yeah,

Neal
man. So like I actually one of my favorite fighters probably my all time favorite is still Capcom vs SNK two

Jae
I'm happy you said that because that's one of my favorites.

Neal
But I got real- I never got like, I was never competitive or anything like that. But I had a lot of fun playing them and getting friends to play them and never a super challenge because I just played them a lot more than my friends you know? I'm not good at any of these but I but I love them

Jae
who are your favorite three characters if he had to do a three character team

Neal
if they were doing just like not ratio, but just like straight three characters. My team is can Terry and my Shiranui usually on what like I want groove cgroups I think because that's the one that's like alpha three, right?

Jae
on what like, what groove?

Yeah, C-groove Yes, C-groove is a, um, is a Capcom groove. That's basically your alpha three where you have the meter bar that goes level one level two and level three.

Neal
Because I played a lot of alpha two and three like alpha two gold on the Saturn is probably my favorite. If I had to pick one streetfighter game it's probably that one even even over third strike.

Jae
Yeah, like a lot of people actually have different it's really kind of cool like how they made that game work because you like depending on the character that you're choosing, if you choose the right groove for them, then they can be infinitely like like almost like almost nine unbeatable depending on what motivate you choose. Like one of my friends, Brad. We used to play this game all throughout college getting to the end of the game and he was a big K-groove fan because you get a damaging crease if you get hit enough you get one super but that super is basically going to be like a mid tier super with the dam-like with the damage increase if you don't have enough so that and that and Garou mark ofthe wolves has their own group and I think it's S-groovr but I could be wrong, but I know that you can just defend in that group. And that's what made it like a Garou Mark of the wolves one

yeah, they also put in I again, it's I think it might be P-groove..., someone will correct us, whichever one is third strike, like where you get the parry.

Yeah, I forget I forget which one that is I never choose that one. I was always a C groovr guy. But if I wasn't using C groovr, I was choosing a groove which is essentially like the shadow step groove. So if you played third strike, you know that like, you know that, you know that Yan has this has this super that it's called that basically is the shadow step where he has like an after image where he can just keep juggling you with combos.

Neal
Boy, do I know that well!

If I if I'm playing ratio, I just go Ken/ Terry and I just, you know, half and half.

Jae
Yeah. And a groove in Capcom vs. SNK. Two has an entire super dedicated to that. And I remember that if your team had guile and Sakura on it and you chose a groove, I know what you're going for. Because those two have a particular move set that is very advantageous to a group where they can just keep hitting you if they land just one punch, like Sakura can basically keep chaining her shoryuken ike her running shoryuken and keep canceling it and re chaining it on a groove to where she hits her like shoryuken three times by just doing just that one move if she lands it down. It's It's really impressive and stuff like that is what I love seeing in games that have that many options. I was going to basic like my team and that game is pretty much like what like if I really don't like you and I'm annoyed with you. Because Blanca has really far reaching hard, hard sweeps that he can do. But if I but but in that game, if I'm just having fun and I'm just kind of like going back and forth with you. My team is probably going to be Guile, Cammy and Ryu just because solid, basic, different speeds and the ratio is going to be Guile probably going to be my level two and Ryu and Cammy are going to be level one. And I usually start off with Cammy

Yeah, you just double it up. Yeah, dude. That's basically like one half of I like to call the blonde, the blonde bombshell team because it's can Terry and either like eagle or Kiyosaki from rival schools. Okay. Yeah, I know Rival Schools a little Yeah, Rival Schools is fun. That is that's kind of a rear fighting game that I don't I don't think a lot of the listeners have played but if you can find Okay, Kevin in that game, man. I'd recommend it. Robert schools is fun. It's basically a 3d fighter. But that's where you get like, that's where you get like Kiyose gay and a couple of other fighters that I think of cross platform to the other games including Sakura, Sakura was in Rival Schools.

Neal
Well, Hinata Hinata was in, Sakura, I thought she was mostly support, but she's friends with Hinata, who's in Rival Schools. I've got a PlayStation copy of rival school sitting on the shelf back there. It doesn't have the full box, which I didn't realize it came in a double case, right? Originally, because it's two discs. I bought it someone had compiled it into a single case. And I didn't realize that wasn't how it was sold. So like I've been on this journey to try to get a actual case for that game. And the artwork like the official artwork is so I mean, people are selling case only for like $200 It's nuts. I can't Yeah, but it's like nags at me. You know? Like I have this incomplete copy.

Jae
Yeah, like I still I don't have like an extensive actual like physical copy game collection. But the ones I do have I can tell you I put God knows how many hours in one of them is Capcom vs SNK two, I have the original PS PS two copy of that game with the disc with the instruction manual. I also have the original one for third strike as well. And I also have the the the Alpha collection for you get off a one two and three. I have the Saturn version. And then I have the streetfighter what is it? Like I think it's like the 25th or 20th Anniversary Collection where they bundled all versions of Oh, like Street Fighter three on there, along with Street Fighter two and for just shits and giggles they put the the Street Fighter two animated movies.

Neal
Sure, yeah, that's the that's the 30th Anniversary Collection, I think.

Jae
Yeah, I can't remember the name they I think they released a new Anniversary Collection. But it's not very good because of how they actually render the ports like the old one. You could change the aspect ratio, which is important if you're going to play games as they were meant to be played because most of those things were arcade cabinets, so their aspect ratio is one one. But in this new Anniversary Collection, I don't think you can change the aspect ratio I think their lowest is like what is it six by nine or 14 by nine or something like that. So third strike, just no matter what you do is stretched and you have no idea how like how that is for me because it's all pixelated and stretched and I can't I feel like I can't do my moves because the character is not the proper size. Sure. So it's those little pet peeves that really make or break it for me.

Neal
I've got the Dreamcast version of third strike and import version of W impact which was first street fighter three and then second impact. I've got the I've got a Japanese import of Capcom vs SNK two for the Dreamcast. That's like one of my favorite games in my collection. I have the PS2 version also, but having it on Dreamcast just feels right to me for some reason. I don't know what it is. That's just me being the Sega loyalist.

Jae
Oh, there's nothing wrong with that. I'm a Dreamcast loyalists to like I could I still think that the best version of SoulCalibur I ever played in any thing ever is these version of SoulCalibur. I played on the Dreamcast because that was that was like one of the big titles that was supposed to buy on the Dreamcast was SoulCalibur that Sonic the Hedgehog Sonic Adventure two Marvel vs Capcom two on on the Dreamcast because I had memorized the controller so much. I knew exactly what I was doing in that particular fighting game. And then Shenmue. Shenmue is like one of my all time favorites,

Neal
Shenmue all day! All right, so this is off topic. But I have not only do I have Shenmue I also happens to be, after the American release of Shenmue IIvfor the Dreamcast was canceled, I happened to be in France on a trip with my mom and purchased Shenmue II the Pal copy at the Virgin Megastore outside of The Louvre.

Jae
Oh my god, do not now that's a memory because like if we would have been friends back then and you called me and told me that I would be walking into your house to play that game. There was a period of time where I was feinding for the sequel to Shenmue because I love the first game so much and it infuriated me for a very brief period of time that like I can't play this sequel. Why can I play the sequel? I know it exists. My AOL dial up internet tells me it exists a.nd yet I can't play it. It's so infuriating.

Neal
It's a fantastic game. And the reason you want the Pall copy of that is because the Japanese version only had Japanese subtitles, but the Pal region, all the dialogue was in Japanese. But you could read the English subtitles and play the game. I had to burn pirated boot disk because I didn't have any of the official like import discs because of the way on Dreamcast, you could buy like a DC x, which is actually what I have now. Put that thing in to your American or any region console, and then disc swap whatever you wanted. But you can also just burn the boot disks people were putting out for pirated games and do the same thing. So I had I burned boot disk so I could play Shenmue back in the day. Yeah, what a time What a time to be alive.

Jae
Dude that was a time to be alive because I remember that was when I was getting into like, emulators, so because, you know, like one of my other favorite fighting game franchise, which is Darkstalkers. Um, yeah, I had never actually played Dark stalkers, three at that point in time. Like I play a dwarf star because one and two but not three.

Neal
Vampire Savior is that yeah,

Jae
yeah, that's the actual Japanese name in America. It's called Dark stalkers. But yeah, it's Vampire Savior in Japan.

Neal
I got that one on the Saturn Man, that one's so good

Jae
An I remember and I remember I tried to emulate that game on my PC and I finally found it but back then you couldn't like plug in your controller. So I remember downloading it finally and trying to like use the WASD as my frickin directional pad to do moves and I was just bound and determined to make it happen tried to do a quarter-circle Forward with W ASD as your as your like as your forward down back forth keys is is a nightmare. I never want anybody to experience in life but I tried to do it because I really wanted to play this game. This is this is a nightmare. Why can I just plug in my Dreamcast controller to my PC and lo and behold, like, what X years later you now you can actually do that. Now you

Neal
Now you can do that. Yeah, that was one of the first Japanese import games I got for the Sega Saturn. Terrific.

Jae
It's so sad that Capcom, they tried to remake that game and because they've remade other classic franchises like they've remade like they did an HD remake of Street Fighter two with Udon who did the art for it, which was actually pretty dang cool. Yeah. They remade Samurai Showdown. The plan was to remake Darkstalkers but they tested it first by releasing an anniversary collection of all the of all three Darkstalkers game I can't remember what system it was for. It may have been the ps3 with ps3 I think it

Neal
was not the Vita there was a Vita release of them wasn't there yeah or no Yeah, first first PSP original PSP. Yeah,

Jae
the original PSP, but it didn't sell well enough. And Capcom just said like, well, if it didn't sell, I guess we're not remaking this game. And I was I remember thinking like I was just so disappointed because if there's there's like two fighting games I want to remake of just so effing bad one is Darkstalkers the other is Bloody Roar. I really want those two games.

Neal
Man Bloody Roar comes up a lot. That is a series that I have like almost no, like I know about it. And I played I think the one on GameCube one time when a friend rented it. Oh,

Jae
I used to love so dang much. It was on the Dreamcast, too. I played the crap out of that game. Like, my boy was always gotta. I love Gato. And then you go was always like the wolf guy. But there was also like, this guy over looking do that I thought was amazing. Like his like his character. The character designs in that game. I thought were just the selling point. I loved every character design for every single fighter in that game. Yeah. So I was just all over it. And I would love a remake of like a freakin bloody roar. I thought there was hope because they remade Killer Instinct, when the when the inspiration came out. And that game is actually pretty cool. It's not my favorite. I was never a big killer instinct guy. But I mean, I'll play me some saber Wolf. I mean, that was my boy in that game. So yeah, that x box version is pretty funny. Like when they came out with a new one. That's what I played. And I played every once in a blue moon at a friend's house because he has it and I had fun. But it's just it's missing, it's missing that like, you know, that chess dynamic. I often wonder fighting games as a chess match, where every move that you make, you know, you're sort of trying to beat your opponent into things or you're trying to play defensive or aggression. Like I really often look at as a philosophy of a chess match. Whenever I play it, it's not so much about how hard you hit or what you're doing. It's about what can you make your opponent do to show that you can read everything that they're doing? It's kind of a mind reading game. And because of that engagement, it's why I love them so much. Yeah, that's

Neal
that's the part that I've never been particularly good at. I think. You know, what are you going to do.

Okay. Yeah, I know Rival Schools a little

Jae
I mean, I can't say I'm good at it, but I love trying like I love I even love it like when I fall for stuff because it's kind of rewarding when You realize, oh, this person baited me into this to get me to do this, which is why he would he was able to land this, which is why I lost. And when. And when you realize like, oh, that's what this person did. Then when he tries to do it again, you see it coming and you're like, Okay, do this, do this and then beat that and force the opponent to adapt, because you like you see through their stuff. I tell you seeing this all the time, whenever we play fighting games, because we'll have like, back and forth sometimes. And, you know, if I'm doing a strategy where I'm not winning, you know, I never I never blamed the fighting game. I'm like, okay, like he's he's able to read everything I'm doing, I need to change my strategy. And what does this fighter that I selected, allow me to change my strategy to? I feel like when a fighter can do that, that's what makes them a well rounded character. Like if they can only go one way. And one way only, then I don't, I feel like it's less fun because you only have one strategy, or you have maybe like two like you can adapt to different scenarios. It's one of the reasons why that even though I absolutely respect Street Fighter four.

Neal
Yeah,

Jae
Street Fighter four is not one of my favorites, because I feel like it's balanced. But it's bounced in a bread and butter kind of way, every character only has a mixup style of like two different ways they can play, and they have bread and butter combos that you can't really mix up, you have to do them one way. So when two people are fighting each other, it makes matchups boring. Because you know exactly what if you know the character that you're playing against, you know, how, you know, like, their timing their reactions, and there's nothing they can do to mix it up against you because you know what they're going to do, because they've only got two ways they can fight. I feel like that's an issue, which is why I like more, you know, fighting games that have that are both balanced, that have a lot of different options, to where there's just absolutely no way that you can determine what the character is going to do. Because they can, they can play defensively, they can play aggressively, they can use turtle style tactic, or they can use a far reaching projectile tactic, or they can go full aggro, and try and just like overwhelm you. That's why Mortal Kombat 11. And really, I would say starting with nine like 9, 10, and 11 all have this dynamic and all three of them, which is why I started playing them again.

Neal
I was going to work back to that. Please go on.

Jae
I started playing Mortal Kombat 4 when it was in the arcade cabinets because it was at my local movie theater. But yeah, that was a weird time because that's when fighting games started transitioning from 2d to 3d. And I had seen some aspects of it done well, like I was a player of Street Fighter Ex if you remember that fighting game series where they Street Fighter 3D for the first time

Neal
I played EX3, I have a copy of that. I didn't play the x alpha or the other two.

Jae
I rented all those EXgames. I remember my favorite character was Skullomania Because Skullorama was fun.

Neal
Oh yeah that was everybody's favorite character from the E X Games people are like still like when they get to put Skullorama back in the Street Fighter gam?. And it's like, well, I mean, Arika design those they really weren't really Capcom games. But

Jae
yeah, yeah. But I like that's around the time, I truly I think really dedicated myself to Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat four came out because I remember playing it. And I remember just not liking it. Like I think at the time, I just didn't respect the ability to try and try something new that Midway was trying to go for at the time because more combat for you can you have like different weapon options? I think in that game, I haven't played them long. Well, and so correct me if I'm wrong. So it plays different weapons, which gives you a different mindset.

Neal
Well it plays very similar, it plays very similar to the classic games. It's basically the 2d gameplay, but with 3d models, and I think there's some light amount of being able to step into the background and foreground but I'm not really sure, because it's not one I played a lot either, but every character could draw a weapon, and it would change up your moveset. But you could have your weapon knocked away from you, in Mortal Kombat four, and you would have to actually physically input something to pick it back up if he wanted to keep continuing or use it.

Jae
Yeah. And I think for me that just I wasn't ready to embrace that, you know, that different style of gameplay. Right? So I think I played Mortal Kombat all of like three or four times in my local movie theater, and I just gave up on it. And basically, I went to the quote unquote, Dark Ages, and I never played another Mortal Kombat game again, until Mortal Kombat nine.

Neal
I was gonna ask you because when I went through my street fighter phase, I had a lot of fun playing Capcom and SNK fighters, and definitely fucked around with some SoulCalibur and Dead or Alive and all the other franchises around that same era of Mortal Kombat four. What brought me back was and I know this is a, maybe a space where you haven't engaged too deeply. The 3d era brought me back because it had a lot more complex gameplay than the previous ones. But they also put this focus on the storytelling and the lore that I had always found really fascinating about Mortal Kombat in the first Place, you know, you've got your conquest modes that are story driven, you know, 3d rendered intro videos, you know, to set up the game that just looks really awesome. That's like really when they really started melding in Storyline stuff into the games as you just played them as opposed to just attract modes or whatever, that was enough to bring me back into Mortal Kombat after several years off. It was Deception. It wasn't even, I mean, I had a friend who had Deadly Alliance, and I played it, and I enjoyed it. But it was really Deception and Armageddon that really pulled me back into the fold. But for you, it was Mortal Kombat, 9, 10 and 11 that brought you back in. That's kind of what you're saying. Right?

Jae
I would even say specifically, specifically, Mortal Kombat nine, because at the time, around the time I was in college, there were some friends that were trying to sell me on Armageddon, but they also told me that like, hey, in Armageddon, everybody dies. And, and I'm like, Well, why would I want to play? So I never really, I never really got into it. But they told me that Johnny Cage was back because I guess like, you know, teenager, teenager entitlement warning, like one of the reasons why I didn't really get, I still love Mortal Kombat three, and I definitely got my characters in it. But it was always I was always a bit sour that John Cage wasn't ended in it, because continuity wise, he dies. Right, accepted that, but I'm just like, but he's my favorite character. And I never played ultimate MK trilogy until much, much, much, much later. And, you know, I don't even think I chose them when I did play it. And then of course, on Kombat Time we did an episode where we did try to play it. And once I realized, oh, they had because Johnny cage, because of like Dan Pesina and everything that happened with him, They tried to reskin Johnny, and they basically couldn't have him do the nut punch. And I'm just like, well, then he's not worth playing like to me that. Like, people can talk about a shadow kick for days. But the reason why I gravitated to Johnny is that I thought a dude doing a split to punch someone to punch someone in the nuts, Like was like the coolest thing that a 12 year old like me at the time had ever seen in his life. Like I'm like, like, I couldn't believe that that's a fighting move. And that's the coolest fighting move I think I've ever seen. Like, why aren't more people doing this? And that's what gravitated me to Johnny specifically. So when you take that out, I was like, this isn't Johnny. Like it's not Johnny to me, so I can't I couldn't I couldn't bring myself to even play it like I'm I guess we're better or worse. I'm just like, I'm just like a loyalist like that but a mortal kombat nine I knew I kind of felt like that enough time had passed and I was gonna give it another try and I freaking loved nine and even then I found that Johnny Cage was actually good like he's not like a top tier character. But he's up there his juggle combos in the corner are legit and I know because I did them they're fun and it feels rewarding when you pull them off yes at the time too. And and also got like an also got my like one of my second favorite characters which nobody likes but it's striker everybody hates striker I always kind of like I was kind of like striker

Neal
nobody liked striker. The other characters in Defenders of the Realm didn't even like striker

Jae
and you're right now like nobody likes striker and I don't blame people for not liking striker I just always at the time. In Mortal Kombat three he was one of my mains like Cyrax and striker I think are my teammates and I like striker because I thought it was fun just to throw grenades at people.

Neal
Sure yeah. I will, I will admit, striker is kind of fun to play as in Mortal Kombat nine when he got to play as him in story mode. That's the only time I ever touched him in that one but yeah, it was fun to play as I don't know.

Jae
Yeah but if he never comes back and Mortal Kombat like I won't cry about it but I'll be fine was then why to because it's Stryker like he doesn't really have a fun history as being as being a popular Mortal Kombat character he was probably gonna go the route of Ferra and Torr

Neal
Yeah, I'd rather than like that they do something like in battle of the realms where they they made a big deal out of like strikers execution was like a centerpiece moment of Battle of the realms. If you remember. Shang, doing the fatality Yeah, that even that I was kind of like, I can't even celebrate this like, I don't know, it feels almost too self aware.

Jae
Right. I I loved watching that movie because you've seen Josh and I, I think actually you were there too. We all watched it and we watched Stryker get executed. And I remember you've seen just laughing saying, yes, yes, yes. And I was even laughing to him like lol Stryker, of course he like of course it gets killed. I get it. And then like, what not even like the next thing later, Kung Lao gets killed and I just couldn't help but laugh my butt off. I'm like, Dude, you can't win. Can you seen this is the second time this year that Kung Lau has suffered a monumental iconic death. Murdered 2021 movie

Neal
two movies in one year killed Kung Lao. Yeah, man. Yeah, that was brutal. And I do like, I know. Yes, that's Yasin's main, but like, I liked that character a lot too. And boy, that was rough. It was unfair.

Jae
I do have like, like a rule, like whenever I play fighting games with friends is that like if they attach themselves to a certain character, and I'm gonna play this game with them, that I will not play that character, especially if that kind of carries over into other sequels. So by that logic, I can never play Kung Lao. I mean, I guess I could, but it'll never mean as much to me because I know how much it means to other people. And subsequently, I know plenty of people that will never play Johnny Cage because they fought me when I play John Cage. Yes, because I just get so into it. I'll never choose Scorpion too, because that's Josh's favorite character. But to be fair, I've never been a big Scorpion fan to begin with, because I kind of resist the character that everybody loves. And again, and he's basically the mascot of Mortal Kombat at this point. So yeah, pretty cool. I can never play now.

Neal
So much that they had to age him down so that they could keep them around. I don't know what they were doing in Mortal Kombat 11. But,

Jae
but also, in Mortal Kombat I have like a rule where like, I never really play characters that have teleports. So like I play SubZero. I'll play Kaino I'll play Sonia, but I will never play like Ermac I'll never play Molina, I'll never play Raiden I'll never play scorpion. Like if your character has to teleport where you go from one side screen to the other or from the top to the bottom, or whatever, I kind of feel like I've been on the receiving end of so many players that cheese that tactic so much to try and beat you out. And how much characters without teleports really have to sort of you know, get creative and really know their spacing to truly take advantage of that. And when they do and they know what they're doing. They have a huge advantage over the teleporting player that's relied on that too much. And I've always said that I want to be the guy that finds that advantage that basically says that your Teleport does nothing. I know how to block it I know how to punish it.

Neal
Like half the roster of Mortal Kombat nine had teleports to like it was kind of out of control in that game in particular from what I remember Yeah,

Jae
that's why my main characters in that game I had three it was Johnny Cage first Stryker second reptile third, because neither one of those, neither one of those three characters have teleports.

Neal
Alright, man, I think it's about time to wrap this up. But I got a few questions I want to ask you before we do. So the first question that sounds like I already know the answer to this. What was your introduction to Mortal Kombat? Was it playing Mortal Kombat one in arcades? You didn't have a or did you have a Sega Genesis copy or

Jae
it was playing Mortal Kombat one in arcades and again, this was also at the Greenville mall around the area where I grew up. I would go in there and basically just want to play I was mainly a big pinball fan at the time. Yeah, but but Mortal Kombat was one of the first fighting games I ever that really kind of set me down the path of getting into fight fighting game Street Fighter two popularized it for me, but yes, of course, what got me into it, I got to see subzero rip someone's head off in a fighting game, and I always thought that was amazing. And then I also got to see Scorpion you know pull off his mask there's a skeleton any burn someone alive. So I was one of the recipient. I was one of those kids that thought just the sheer magnitude of violence was just anything completely unique that I'd never seen in the fighting game before. Around that time. My parents never really police what I watched so I was watching like Freddy Krueger movies and JC horror movies on TNT and USA Network at nighttime with no supervision. So I was getting into a whole realm of like, just ultraviolence so for me, I just always thought oh, to see that recreated in a fighting game, I thought was neat. And that put me down that path.

Neal
Okay, nice. So you're you are in from from day one, basically,

Jae
essentially. Yeah. Like, I can't really recall the exact date. Like I think Mortal Kombat one had already been out in, in arcades for like a minute. And I just, it's just one of those times where you're just a kid, you're following your parents around, and you just happen to see this. Right. So I think I couldn't tell you the exact date when it happened. But I do remember thinking like, oh, I need to play this game. You can rip someone's head off and you can do a lot. This sounds like a lot of fun to do to some.

Neal
Very cool. All right, my next question, what is your favorite Mortal Kombat game of all of the games that you've played? I mean, I'm gonna go out on a limb and say you probably haven't played Mortal Kombat Advance on the Gameboy Advance. I have not no, so we don't need to worry about that. But gist of what you have played what would you consider your favorite Mortal Kombat game spin offs included?

Jae
I have different criterias for that based on factors so if I had to choose a game that I feel like is not frustrating to play but is solid 100% the way through I'm gonna give it to MK two I feel like MK two has the best balance it's probably the Mortal Kombat game I played the most of it's the solidified my love of John Cage is the game that I probably dropped Lord knows how much money in an arcade cabinets over the years I bought it when it came out on consoles, I played it friends, I have most of my fond memories come from MK two. But if I had to choose like a game now because of just how fighting games have evolved, I'm probably still going to say I love MK nine a lot because I love this chain combo system. It does the thing that no other MK kit, MK game I think has done in a minute and I wish they would, which is combo breakers, you initiate a massive combo you actually have a meter at the bottom of MK nine that if it's full enough you can use you can burn that meter to break out of a string. And I feel like more fighting games need to do that because most fighting games just for the sake of like selling it to a mass have become really juggle combo heavy, and having a panic that allows you the ability to break out of that at a moment's notice. I feel like it's valuable because I feel like it's more fair. I don't know why mk 10 and mk 11 decided to drop that mechanic because I always thought it was really really good. But I still like I still like mk 10 and 11 but I feel like none is superior from from a mechanical standpoint.

Neal
That breaker mechanic was in the 3d era games and in Mortal Kombat vs DCU also, yeah, that was a that was a holdover from the 3d era.

Jae
Yeah, these are these are games unfortunately I've not played extensively never used it but I I was always shocked that like they dropped that from mk 10 And a lot of them because I thought that was the best mechanic you know that they ever put in a Mortal Kombat game being able to to break a combo string. Yeah, they have meter it adds it adds it adds more dynamic to the gameplay that I feel like it's necessary

Neal
Two, teo fan favorites here, two major major Mortal Kombat games. I think two and nine probably top a lot of people's lists. They definitely top mine. Honestly, I know I'm well known for being a mortal kombat Armageddon, Stan. But like when I close my eyes if I think Mortal Kombat I'm thinking Mortal Kombat two like every single time. Like that was just iconic. And for you. That was the game that taught you to approach fighting games as a chess match too, right?

Jae
it was one it was one of them. I feel like it's I feel like it opened the door. It was more it was more adaptive and well rounded when I started playing more street fighter base games when I got to learn Japanese fighters. But Mortal Kombat open that gateway like I would not, I would not have become a Street Fighter fan if I wasn't an MK fan first. So it really opened that door.

Neal
If you hadn't walked into that mall, put your quarter in that machine and gotten beat 16 times. And then finally, switch up to Johnny Cage and get your victory.

Jae
And like in coin flip that the actual arcade stick and buttons actually work. That was always a fun time in arcade games, man. Because notorious we're like, it's a coin flip at the arcade stick actually works because when you're frustrated in a fighting game with how intense it is, you're throwing that baseball bat stick hard in either direction. Oh, you probably broke it and you are you're not just pressing those buttons you are you are bringing down the full force of God that you can muster on pressing those buttons because of how hard you're going

Neal
twice, twice. Recently, once at a story I told on the podcast at Jack's Pizza and Wings in Atlanta, playing the Mortal Kombat two machine where someone very clearly spilled a beer all over the second player side. Buttons are sticky and you had to like mash the buttons to get anything to work. And then again just a few weeks ago with a barcade. in Dunedin, Florida, you know where I live? Again, it didn't seem like one spilled a beer on it. But all the switches for the diagonal movements, they were just off like, and that's rough. When you're trying to jump in a Mortal Kombat game, you just end up going straight up, you know?

Jae
Could you have, Did you happen to know what sort of gate the cabinet was using if you know the term of a gate,

Neal
I do not know.

Jae
So a gate is the shape that limits the movement of the actual arcade sticks. So for example, you can use like this, like most most arcade cabinets, at least for fighters are going to have what's known as a square gate, the gates refined by shapes and there's typically only three, you have the square gate, which is the most common you have the Octagon gate and then you have the circle gate. The square gate is going to be the most common so like you know it's a square because if you push the arcade stick as far as it can go in any direction and you just move it in a clockwise motion. You'll feel that that it's it's a square or it's an octagon like you actually feel that like basically, rims have the limits of how far it can move. And a square gate is what most arcade cabinets have because it's the cheapest which is going to make doing showroom can like motions rather hard for, for most people that are not used to it. But for Mortal Kombat, there's a lot of probably instance where someone is doing a bat forward motion to do a move. Like if you're doing like, let's just say Johnny Cage, a shadow kick, for example, you move it forward, back, and then you move it forward. But instead of moving forward, you accidentally lean to stick more down so that so the stick will register it as a Ford down diagonal, which means with your execution with an octagon, okay, you don't really have that problem, because you have points for every single dag No, and every single forward and up, you have, you know, essentially eight points, and this was called octagon. And then circle is really is rare, and it's more of a custom thing. But circle is really good if you play a grappler that has full 360 motions for their moves. So think like Zangief with how he does a spinning power driver or a teaser, you know how he does it. And go and Mark are the wolves where you have to do a half circle or full circle, do you have a full circle gate, you can execute Zan Gieves spinning power driver with absolute precision butter, and you will be able to do it every single time. Because it is a circle game, there is no like there is no option. But if you're doing diagonals like a shoe can or, or backward motion, it's going to get iffy, because you have no actual check, you have no point that looks at the diagonal and the forward because it's one full circle, you don't have any indication about where it's gonna go. But most, most arcade cabinets and sticks are usually built with those limitations. And they're called gates because that's the gate they reside. And that's the movement back and forth up, down, left, right,

Neal
that makes sense. Yeah, all I know is that this machine and this Barcade in Dunedin player one side works fine. Player two side was all kinds of a mess. I don't know why. My guess is probably the player one side went out first. And they just opened it up and swapped the sticks. Which is something I had to do on one of my Arcade1Ups while I was waiting for a repair or replacement piece for that stick because it stopped registering diagonal moves as well.

Jae
Very fun trick to utilize like the next time that you're in any arcade, it doesn't matter where it is. It doesn't matter what arcade captain is, it could be Miss Pac Man for all we know. Sure. It will be go to the stick and push it and do a counterclockwise motion as far as it as far as it goes and test out the gate. If you feel a little gap in any single part of that gate, like a vet gate, then you know that someone went so hard, they stick in that direction and actually bent the gate, which means that that arcade captain is probably just janky as anything.

Neal
Okay, I'll keep that in my back pocket. I got one last question for you Mortal Kombat related. It is what is your favorite Mortal Kombat thing that is not one of the video games. Because there's a lot there's a lot to choose from movies, books, cartoon series, web series, action figures, maybe your favorite thing is the the 1995 Goro action figure done in the GI Joe style that I'm looking at right now. It's probably my favorite Mortal Kombat thing right now. So

I have I have two of these. But both of them come from the same source. And really, this is where I'm going to be a very basic, normal human being I'm not gonna do anything creative here. Mine is obviously the 1995 movie. And there's two memories from it because I saw that movie in theaters with a friend of mine at the time. And the second that you get the new line logo and they yell Mortal Kombat. Oh, yeah. That was high. That was hype as hell and the music started I remember being like stupid into it. We all weren't, we were all everybody was like, I feel like that's going to be the most Normie response. But for me, that was pretty real because I like I was one of these people that was there like opening day for them for that particular film. And I remember Dan, you're screaming and shouting when Johnny Cage does the nut punch on Goro to the puppet or I remember thinking like they didn't like like the amount the amount of satisfaction for this movie that I had at the time. Like I already thought like I was already kind of like kind of like a on the fact that they that they kind of did this like really pathetic version of John Cage's shadow kick, which wasn't even a shadow kick because he doesn't jump when he does it. But they kind of like did it as an After Effects. Were like, oh, we should probably use this opportunity to do a shadow kick. Let's have Johnny Cage jump, not land the kick and get teleported into scorpions realm. I don't know.

Right? Right. Right.

Jae
But sure, we just added this little effect and said yeah, that was the shadow kick for people that know it. So I was already kind of like annoyed even though I love the Johnny cake Scorpion fight. But man when the man when he freakin did the nut punch. I thought that was better than seeing his autograph. Because I thought I thought the autograph seems like he did the friendship move. That's so John Cage was everything I wanted. And now

Neal
they're gonna be friends now him and scorpion are friends even though scorpions exploding.

Jae
Yes, even though scorpions, um, exploding, but the fact that like, he did the nut punch landed it and then raid like hit into the shirt. He was like, Yeah, I just like I like the amount of happiness and satisfaction like, you know, people say the phrase that I feel seen, I felt so seen whenever that like whenever that motion was made, because it's already kind of a goofy move to begin with, but the fact that he landed it and then he ended up beating Goro oh my god, like the amount of happiness I had, my heart was just exponential. Like, at that point the movie could do. The movie could do no wrong for me. Like nothing. Nothing would make this movie bad at this point, because they gave me that moment.

Neal
And it mostly only got better from there with that reptile fight and everything. Oh, yeah.

Jae
Like, like I of course was massively a Johnny Cage Stan after that movie thinking that the scorpion Johnny Cage fight was the greatest thing ever. But I grew up and I realized that due to fight choreography, lighting, atmosphere and utilization of stage, I think that the the Lukang Rector, reptile fight is without a doubt the best fight in that movie. I don't think there's much of a question about it anymore. Correct. But I will say that the Johnny Cage Scorpion fight is the second best one. Oh, yeah,

Neal
it's terrific fight. Great movie and a touchstone for everyone. Like, there are people out there who have seen the movie and love the movie who have never touched the games, right? Like, that's movies iconic for a reason.

Jae
Yeah, it's one of those things where like, I was in that really perfect realm. Like, there's always these movies that come out every once in a while that reference a form of media before it where you're that person that played the media before the movie, the movie came out, the movie does a thing where it references the media itself. And you are one of the people that understand every reference to a tee. And you feel like hey, in that moment, someone knew what I liked what I wanted. And then they gave it to me on a live action screen in a way that makes absolute perfect sense within this movie. Like it's almost kind of rare that a fighting game adaptation movies in general ever give you that. And it really could be anything like, I'm not an uncharted fan, but the uncharted movie, for example of Tom Holland, probably for someone somewhere gave them a reference to the game that probably that made the world for them. Because like I did, I did this exact thing in this game, and I remember it.

Neal
For me, it's the Dead or Alive movie.

Well, we talked about that we both love the dead or alive. It's fantastic.

I was half, I was half joking about it. But no, I love that movie. For real

Jae
I love that movie too.

Neal
Yeah, man.

Jae
But for me, I think I think that is that like, I can't, not even not even the Street Fighter movie. As much as I love it. For a host of different reasons. It never gave me anything like that i iconic that I ever did from the games. But Mortal Kombat 95. It gave me an iconic moment that I did in the game, I told you that story about how I beat Scorpion with an up punch. And Grandma Johnny Cage is not punching Gorgo. But I remember the feeling of landing that nut punch. And I ended up winning because of it. And the 95 movie gave me that like satisfaction. So it's almost like I got rewarded via the divineness of life, you know, from this movie for this reason. And it's one of those things that like, you're never going to take that away from me like that memory is going to be just burned in me for the rest of my time. And I'm probably rarely going to get memories like that from really much of anything that made me feel that way at that particular moment, which is why it's memorable.

Neal
Yeah, I love that explanation too of like really feeling like, yeah, just almost feeling like it's something that you did, right? Like I did that, you know,

Jae
I imagine that for people. And this is kind of off topic. But I imagine if you're a Game of Thrones fan, and you read the red wedding and the book long before sure TV show came out and then the TV show does the Red Wedding. And you're like, This is exactly what I imagined it would be that you would get that same euphoric feeling of like, I feel like people read what I read and they enter and they had the same vision that I had, like it's, it's almost like a communal type of like, a communal type of respect for, for for the written word in that case. And then for more combat, it's a mutual spec for like, hey, it should look like this. And this reaction should happen because this is how it happens in the game. We should satisfy these people where this where this thing means something to them. Like it's almost no different. Like if you're Ryu and a fighting game, and you do that show we can or that Hadoken that wins you the fight and then in an animated movie, or in a TV show or a live action movie. He pulls off the same move with as much passion and timing that you put into your fighting game experience when you did it. Then you're going to hit that same note and that's going to resonate with people like that's what will put your butt in that seat and makes you pay and makes you pay movie ticket. Because you get that like cinematic experience.

Neal
And that's something I think that was lacking, something I haven't thought about until now, that I think was lacking about the Mortal Kombat 2021 movie.

Jae
I agree. No,

Neal
It was, It was lacking in those kinds of iconic moments that remind you of I mean, sure, it's gory and bloody and looks like the game and a lot of ways but the I don't know the closest you get is maybe the jacks head Smash, but then you're just mad that they didn't go with the pit because he was fighting in a pit stage in that movie.

Jae
And you're also mad that you probably don't know the character that he's fighting or at least most people don't and you don't care like objects would have done this to I don't know like Kano for example, because cam is bad guy if he would have done that to him with optional dialogue on through it it probably would have been more satisfying but no he doesn't do this general guy that even I don't I don't have any attachment to I know it's a character but I don't even have much attached to him because he's not an MK one three which is gonna be the game you know the games that most people know the know the iconic characters from

Neal
But he was in Mortal Kombat Conquest. They did put Reiko in that show.

Jae
Yeah. Reiko is his name. And I apologize that, see, there you go, like general Reiko and I'm like, I think I know who you are, but not really. And of course, like Kung Lao does this fatality but he does it on, you know, the Succubus chick and I had heard of her, but it's not like I had any attachment to her period. And I don't think anybody else did either.

Neal
I have one friend who is a very big Nitara fan. Shout out to Dave. He hates that scene. And he's gonna hear this. I know it. What's up, Dave? Yeah.

Jae
Hey, Dave. Sorry, you know, sorry I crapped on Nitara, I'm sure shes great for you for you. But you know, I admit, I had no attachment to that character. And the only thing I thought is like, Oh, cool. King Lao did a fatality on some random person. I don't know. Yeah, that's something.

Neal
All right. I think it's time to wrap this up. I got to do another one of these with another one of the Kombat Bros in just a few minutes here. So Jae, why don't you tell people a little bit about Kombat Time and other places they can find you on the internet. So

Jae
Kombat Time is me Josh and Yasin talking everything and everything Mortal Kombat related. All three of us are fans of the game. We all love it. We all have different perspectives on what we like about it. And as three friends for a while we decided to make a podcast about it. We currently have our podcast on pretty much anywhere where you can get your podcast it's on. I know, it's on Spotify, or like like, basically, where I see it most times is on was that pod quest site. Comcast network Comcast, but podcasts, it's like podcasts or something like that. But basically, it's on everywhere where you can get your podcasts, I don't think I can really just name off a list. But if it's a site that has podcast, you can find it but I know, but I know at the very least it's on Spotify, you can do it. We have a Twitter handle @KombatTimePodcombat. You can. You can find us on Twitter, we have an Instagram, as well. You'll see some pictures every now and again that may relate to a future episode that we're going to do. Currently, I'm editing the current episode that we recorded just last Sunday, so you can look forward to that sometime next week. It'll be a fun one. I won't give any hints on to what it is. But it does involve non Mortal Kombat fighting games. And that's all I'll say about it. Okay, my personal Twitter handle which has absolutely nothing to do with Mortal Kombat, because I made a long time ago is @RidleyD23. On Twitter. You can also find me on Instagram where I will post artwork and random pictures @InferiorRodan, because I am a Godzilla fan. Foloow me on Instagram as well, but those are my only two social media handles that I currently have right now.

All right, Jae, thanks for coming on defender be defenders. Hey, Jae. Thanks for coming on befrienders of the realm to talk. Well, we talked a lot of fighting games. We definitely talked a lot of Mortal Kombat. Man, this has been a good time.

Yeah, I had fun next time, man. Like we got to get together and you got to show me some Hackers. I need to have some ZeroCool in my life

Neal
I keep teasing this thing I'm gonna do and I'm I still trying to find the time to do Yeah,

Jae
well, dude, all you have to do is just basically give me a ring and say, Hey, Jay, you want to watch some hackers? I'll be like, Yeah, I want some zero cool and Matthew Lillard in my life

Neal
Crash and burn. Heyyooo, hackers joke Hack the planet!

Jae
Hack the planet.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai