A Mortal Kombat II arcade glitch once made Ed Boon sweat bullets
Turns out Kung Lao could teleport the entire game out of existence.
During a recent interview with GameInformer, Ed Boon shared a humorous story involving a glitch from Mortal Kombat II.
Boon explains that around the time the arcade game was in the testing stage, he discovered a game-breaking bug. The glitch involved Kung Lao’s teleportation move. Whenever the AI attempted to teleport with Kung Lao, the entire game would crash.
As a result, Boon was extremely nervous when the glitch remained unfixed during an important test run at an arcade. The only thing working in Boon’s favor was that the glitch only occurred with the AI. Players could use Kung Lao’s teleportation ability without any trouble.
Conscious of the glitch, Boon contemplated between going back to his workplace to figure out the solution and implementing the fix at the test site. However, the large crowd gathered at the arcade to try Mortal Kombat II never gave Boon a good opening.
I go, ‘Oh my god, a person can teleport and it won’t crash, but if the AI does it, it will every time.’ I’m sweating bullets and thinking, ‘I have to go back to work, find the bug, fix it, burn a new set of ROMs, drive back to the arcade, and put it in.
Ed Boon
Therefore, Boon anxiously waited with anticipation as players continued going head-to-head. All the while, he nervously awaited the moment when someone would finally attempt single-player. However, the crowd remained just as lively from when the arcade opened to when it closed around 2 AM.
During the entire test, there was not one single player game. Everyone at the arcade played against each other for the whole time. As a result, nobody at the Mortal Kombat II arcade test experienced the glitch.
Finally, after everything closed down, Boon was able to a sigh of relief and calmly fix the bug. The test proved to be a smash success and further built excitement surrounding the second Mortal Kombat game.
Ed Boon celebrates his championed career
The Mortal Kombat co-creator told this humorous story and more as part of GameInformer’s commemoration interview, celebrating Boon’s induction into the AIAS Hall of Fame. After spending 30 years working on the iconic Mortal Kombat franchise, the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences awarded Boon with a well deserved spot in their Hall of Fame.
What are some of your favorite memories with the Mortal Kombat franchise? As always, let us know what you think below!
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