symbolic mortal kombat logo This tidbit was revealed by Tobias himself in an interesting Twitter thread, where he said he wanted the logo After discovering the first painting of , we delved into the history of the logo. The dragon was originally left-facing, but the developers later used both right- and left-facing dragons. However, for trademark purposes, there was a choice between the two, so Tobias adopted the logo we see today.
Mortal Kombat Logo Story
Here is an image of the first drawing recently discovered. # Mortal Kombat‘s dragon icon. I designed this icon as a symbol for both a game and a fictional tournament… (thread) #MK30 pic.twitter.com/vVIDr4K9aP
— John Tobias (@therealsaibot) September 22, 2022
The drawing of Tobias above was digitized by Mortal Kombat artist Jon Vogel, and was inspired by what could have been the title of the series had Ed Boone and Tobias not changed it. ? dragon attack.
The inspiration for using a dragon as a symbol for a fictional tournament came from “Dragon Attack”, which was previously contested as the game’s title. @noobde Changed to “Mortal Kombat”. Here’s a rough his marker his sketch of the marquee logo… (3/9) pic.twitter.com/g3UY2X2boX
— John Tobias (@therealsaibot) September 22, 2022
Tobias didn’t say why the duo ultimately chose Mortal Kombat, but revealed that Dragon Attack was inspired by the Queen song of the same title, and Boon happens to love the band. , the colors mentioned in the song’s lyrics were ultimately used in Mortal Kombat’s arcade cabinet design by Tobias.
As far as the dragon itself is concerned, the inspiration came from the golden dragon statue Vogel found on Midway General Manager Ken Fedesna’s desk. The image is still there.
Bonus content: @noobde I recently took a photo of the actual dragon statue we used… 30 years later! pic.twitter.com/scFTo4KAKZ
— John Tobias (@therealsaibot) September 22, 2022
The whole thread is an interesting read, especially for Mortal Kombat fans like me, so be sure to check it out!
