#8 Mortal Kombat
The original game for some really insane kicking ass and taking names. Mortal Kombat wasn’t just a beat’em up, it was a game that was designed for maximum controversy at a time when video games were under close scrutiny to begin with. Blood fountains, ripped out spinal chords with skulls attached sure did help build a kids-ruining reputation.
Funny enough, the first Mortal Kombat wasn’t very good as a fighting game. Badly balanced and relatively slow it couldn’t hope to hold a candle to then reigning champion Super Street Fighter II Turbo. But that didn’t keep it from becoming a cult hit with seven sequels and a movie. Actually more than seven sequels, but the pun wouldn’t make sense otherwise.
