<Tr> <Th> Arcade system </Th> <Td> Midway Y Unit (Version 1 - 4) Midway T Unit (Version 4 - 5) </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Th> Display </Th> <Td> Raster, horizontal orientation </Td> </Tr> <P> Mortal Kombat is an arcade fighting game developed and published by Midway in 1992 as the first title in the Mortal Kombat series . It was subsequently released by Acclaim Entertainment for nearly every home video game platform of the time . </P> <P> The game introduced many key aspects of the Mortal Kombat series, including the unique five - button control scheme and gory finishing moves . The game focuses on the journey of the monk Liu Kang to save Earth from the evil sorcerer Shang Tsung, ending with their confrontation in the tournament known as Mortal Kombat . Mortal Kombat became a best - selling game and remains one of the most popular fighting games in the genre's history, spawning numerous sequels and spin - offs over the following years and decades, beginning with Mortal Kombat II in 1993, and together with the first sequel was the subject of a successful film adaptation in 1995 . However, it also sparked much controversy for its depiction of extreme violence and gore using realistic digitized graphics, resulting in the introduction of age - specific content descriptor ratings for video games . </P>

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