Ed Boon shares behind-the-scenes look at Sonya Blade's creation and original design as a guy for Mortal Kombat's 30th anniversary
Plus what they did to make her iconic leg grab
Mortal Kombat Co-creator Ed Boon is continuing his personal celebration of the series' 30th anniversary by sharing special behind-the-scenes looks at how the original game came to be.
His latest trip down memory lane focuses on Sonya Blade's creation as the final playable character of the first MK plus a look at their early concept, which looked very different considering it was for a dude.
Boon posted a video and series of tweets to detail some of the experience they had at an early location test in Chicago, Illinois where they decided the roster wasn't complete yet.
Continuing with Mortal Kombat's 30th anniversary celebration. This video gives a peek into how Sonya Blade came to be, including her infamous LEG GRAB move. On April 10, 1992 we tested an unfinished version of MK (only 6 fighters) at a Chicago arcade called TIMES SQUARE. (1 of 9) pic.twitter.com/RSKHnnUCO2
— Ed Boon (@noobde) August 22, 2022
"It's crazy seeing that first arcade test footage now, 30 years later," wrote Boon on Twitter. "The test went great, but it was clear the game needed another fighter. So we went back to work, designing, capturing & programming the moves for Mortal Kombat’s 7th fighter, Lieutenant Sonya Blade."
Some diehard fans may already know this, but Sonya originally started life as Curtis Stryker, who was supposed to be an undercover U.S. Special Forces Agent.
We're not sure if this had already been posted elsewhere, but Boon also showed off Stryker's first sketch and bio from John Tobias as well as a newer colored version from the other co-creator.
Recently @therealsaibot colored in his original Stryker sketch, revealing a look that resembled Bruce Lee's GAME OF DEATH costume. The idea was that Curtis was going undercover when he entered the tournament.
— Ed Boon (@noobde) August 22, 2022
(6/9) pic.twitter.com/RFM6VEjwlE
Obviously, the name was later re-used for Kurtis Stryker in Mortal Kombat 3 although the overall design idea lived on too.
The Bruce Lee-looking fighter would transform into Jax Briggs in the second game with a different costume — even though they did film the character with the yellow outfit at one point.
Yellow suit Jax.
— Ed Boon (@noobde) August 22, 2022
Boon's video also showcases how Sonya's iconic leg grab attack was created on set with the creators asking Elizabeth Malecki to perform a few handstands and flips to be spliced together.
Liz was a great sport, super agile and able to perform the handstand flip over we needed. The move turned out to be one of the most iconic moves in all of Mortal Kombat. Imagine the RUSH we had seeing our move replicated on the big screen in the 1995 Mortal Kombat movie!
— Ed Boon (@noobde) August 22, 2022
(4/9) pic.twitter.com/3ntWO82uh9
If you enjoyed this look at the work and creativity put into making Mortal Kombat the wild experience that it was, then we suggest checking out Boon's previous anniversary video detailing how Raiden's teleport came to be because his hat kept falling off.
