Mortal Kombat fatalities are tough on stick men

Netherrealm has released a small series of design documents outlining the process of creating Mortal Kombat's most iconic feature: fatalities.

In a post on the US PS Blog, art director Steve Beran detailed the collaborative effort behind each fatality.

"Each fatality always starts with a general idea from Ed Boon and the designers." Beran explained, referring to the series co-creator.

"They basically lock themselves in a room for hours and lay out all of their ideas. Once the meeting begins, one brave soul is the first to share a sick and twisted way for the player to finish off their opponent, and the process begins."

The designers seek inspiration from "gruesome murder news stories, old horror movies, and actual nightmares", and then pitch fatalities to each other, occasionally resorting to miming to get their ideas across. After storyboarding, the fatalities are taken to motion capture.

Beran took the time to mention the GameStop Kollector's Edition of the game, which comes with a pre-order bonus code to unlock a preview of new fatalities.

Mortal Kombat releases on PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 in mid-April.