
Long Live Mortal Kombat, Round 1
The Fatalities and Fandom of the Arcade Era
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Narrated by:
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Andy Ingalls
About this listen
To politicians and parents, Mortal Kombat was a menace to society. To gamers, it was a way of life. From dedicated hustlers who put thousands of miles on their odometers driving coast to coast to challenge the top players in arcades, to fans who devote their free time to collecting action figures, setting world records, and plumbing the depths of its lore, the Mortal Kombat franchise has topped sales charts for thirty years, and its popularity shows no signs of waning.
But before Mortal Kombat offended politicians and sold over 12 million units (and counting), executives at Midway saw it as filler—a stopgap between more promising games like NBA Jam.
Cocreators Ed Boon and John Tobias felt differently. But not even they could have imagined the phenomenon Mortal Kombat would become when it hit arcades in October 1992, or the controversy that would follow in its wake.
Based on extensive interviews, Long Live Mortal Kombat: Round 1 chronicles the arcade era of the video game industry's most infamous fighting series, the creative and technical hurdles its team had to clear, and the personal stories of the fans whose passion has made Mortal Kombat a pillar of popular culture.
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Sierra On-Line was one of the very first computer game companies and at one time dominated the industry. The author, Ken Williams, founded Sierra On-Line with his wife Roberta who went on to create many of the company's best-selling games. Sierra grew from just Ken and Roberta to over 1,000 employees and a fan base that still exists today, despite the fact that the company was torn apart by criminal activities, scandal, and corruption that resulted in jail sentences and the collapse of Sierra.
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a fitting ending to Sierra
- By Darrell on 05-10-21
By: Ken Williams
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Stay Awhile and Listen
- How Two Blizzards Unleashed Diablo and Forged a Video-Game Empire, Book 1
- By: David L. Craddock
- Narrated by: Mike Rylander
- Length: 8 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
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Composed from exhaustive research and hundreds of personal interviews, the Stay Awhile and Listen series divulges the fated meeting that brought the two Blizzards together, the clashes that tore them apart, and their transformation from grassroots democracy to corporate empire. At the center of it all - Diablo, a hack-and-slash adventure through the darkest recesses of Hell that changed online gaming forever.
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Interesting look into the history of Blizzard
- By Matt C on 09-06-17
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Secrets of the Force
- The Complete, Uncensored, Unauthorized Oral History of Star Wars
- By: Edward Gross, Mark A. Altman
- Narrated by: Dan Bittner, Mark A. Altman - introduction, Natalie Naudus, and others
- Length: 24 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
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For the past four decades, no film saga has touched the world in the way that Star Wars has, capturing the imaginations of filmgoers and filmmakers alike. Now, for the first time ever, Edward Gross and Mark A. Altman, the best-selling authors of The Fifty-Year Mission, are telling the entire story of this blockbuster franchise from the very beginning in a single exhaustive volume.
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Not what I hoped
- By Jaymaxx on 07-13-21
By: Edward Gross, and others
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The Ultimate History of Video Games, Volume 1
- From Pong to Pokemon and Beyond . . . The Story Behind the Craze That Touched Our Lives and Changed the World
- By: Steven L. Kent
- Narrated by: Dan Woren
- Length: 23 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
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With all the whiz, bang, pop, and shimmer of a glowing arcade, volume 1 of The Ultimate History of Video Games reveals everything you ever wanted to know and more about the unforgettable games that changed the world, the visionaries who made them, and the fanatics who played them. Starting in arcades then moving to televisions and handheld devices, the video game invasion has entranced kids and the young at heart for nearly fifty years. And gaming historian Steven L. Kent has been there to record the craze from the very beginning.
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Misleading title for an otherwise excellent book
- By CJ on 09-26-23
By: Steven L. Kent
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Console Wars
- Sega, Nintendo, and the Battle That Defined a Generation
- By: Blake J. Harris
- Narrated by: Fred Berman
- Length: 20 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
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A mesmerizing, behind-the-scenes business thriller that chronicles how Sega, a small, scrappy gaming company led by an unlikely visionary and a team of rebels, took on the juggernaut Nintendo and revolutionized the video-game industry. In 1990, Nintendo had a virtual monopoly on the video-game industry. Sega, on the other hand, was just a faltering arcade company with big aspirations and even bigger personalities. But all that would change with the arrival of Tom Kalinske, a former Mattel executive who knew nothing about video games and everything about fighting uphill battles.
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Was hoping for so much more...
- By Rob G. on 11-17-14
By: Blake J. Harris
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A History of Video Games
- By: Jeremy Parish, The Great Courses
- Narrated by: Jeremy Parish
- Length: 4 hrs and 40 mins
- Original Recording
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Since their arrival in the mid-20th century, video games have become a sprawling, multi-billion dollar business. On an annual basis, the industry is even more profitable than Hollywood. Today’s video games feature stunning, lifelike visuals and complex storylines - but they didn’t start out that way. The origin of video games can be traced back to World War II. In the 10 lectures of A History of Video Games, listeners will follow the development of the digital game from its roots in the war room to its proliferation in the 21st-century living room.
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A fairly shallow and disjointed series of lectures
- By Michael G. Matrix on 01-31-22
By: Jeremy Parish, and others
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Play Nice
- The Rise, Fall, and Future of Blizzard Entertainment
- By: Jason Schreier
- Narrated by: Ray Chase
- Length: 9 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
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For video game fans, the name Blizzard Entertainment was once synonymous with perfection. The renowned company behind classics like Diablo and World of Warcraft was known to celebrate the joy of gaming over all else. What was once two UCLA students' simple mission—to make games they wanted to play—launched an empire with thousands of employees, millions of fans, and billions of dollars. But when Blizzard cancelled a buzzy project in 2013, it gave Bobby Kotick, the infamous CEO of corporate parent Activision, the excuse he needed to start cracking down on Blizzard's proud autonomy.
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Just ok
- By TH on 11-17-24
By: Jason Schreier
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Blood, Sweat, and Pixels
- The Triumphant, Turbulent Stories Behind How Video Games Are Made
- By: Jason Schreier
- Narrated by: Ray Chase
- Length: 7 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
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Developing video games—hero's journey or fool's errand? The creative and technical logistics that go into building today's hottest games can be more harrowing and complex than the games themselves, often seeming like an endless maze or a bottomless abyss. In Blood, Sweat, and Pixels, Jason Schreier takes listeners on a fascinating odyssey behind the scenes of video game development, where the creator may be a team of 600 overworked underdogs or a solitary geek genius.
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Behind the Scenes
- By SAMA on 11-27-17
By: Jason Schreier
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Service Games
- The Rise and Fall of SEGA: Enhanced Edition
- By: Sam Pettus
- Narrated by: Tom Racine
- Length: 17 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
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New Edition! More content, images, and corrected text and facts. Monochrome edition. Starting with its humble beginnings in the 1950s and ending with its swan-song, the Dreamcast, in the early 2000s, this is the complete history of Sega as a console maker. Before home computers and video game consoles, before the Internet and social networking, and before motion controls and smartphones, there was Sega.
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The Story of the Fall of Sega
- By Austin on 01-05-15
By: Sam Pettus
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Super Mario
- How Nintendo Conquered America
- By: Jeff Ryan
- Narrated by: Ray Porter
- Length: 8 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
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Nintendo has continually set the standard for video game innovation in America, starting in 1981 with a plucky hero who jumped over barrels to save a girl from an ape. The saga of Mario, the portly plumber who became the most successful franchise in the history of gaming, has plot twists worthy of a video game. Jeff Ryan shares the story of how this quintessentially Japanese company found success in the American market.
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Not Exciting
- By TM on 08-18-14
By: Jeff Ryan
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Batman: Resurrection
- By: John Jackson Miller
- Narrated by: Will Damron
- Length: 14 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
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The Joker is dead, but not forgotten. Gotham City is saved, but it is still not safe. By night, its new symbol of hope, Batman, continues his fight to protect the innocent and the powerless. By day, his alter ego, Bruce Wayne, wonders whether there may someday be a future beyond skulking the city’s rooftops or the cavernous halls of his stately manor alongside the ever-dutiful Alfred Pennyworth. But even after death, the Clown Prince of Crime’s imprint can be seen in more than just the pavement.
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Great Exploration Of Gotham
- By Ben Prewitt on 10-16-24
What listeners say about Long Live Mortal Kombat, Round 1
Highly rated for:
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- Rodney
- 06-03-23
We’ll written, interesting book
I’m not all that big of an MK fan, but I did play the first one a lot on the Genesis, even if I wasn’t that good at it. But I enjoy hearing about the history of video games and I bought this book in a whim, and was really impressed. This book is very well written, and the reader does a great job as well. There’s a few parts here and there that are obnoxious- where he is taking himself way to seriously and doing the ‘games are art’ routine, and he’ll use some woke talking points, but thankfully those parts are spread out and fairly brief - so i won’t knock any stars for that. But overall it’s just a very interesting, well written book, and I highly recommend it.
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- William J. Collins Jr.
- 02-23-23
Amazing book
Such a good time. History of the games and their life cycles was fascinating. The book covers Mk1-MK4 so well. The tech talks could get a bit boring, for me anyways, but the information was fascinating. Would recommend this to any Mortal Kombat fan.
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- Carlos Vasquez
- 01-10-23
An unbiased work
I definitely recommend this book to anyone who has had a somewhat negative vision of the franchise. I appreciate the fact that the writer went out of his way to gather perspectives from every angle rather than just seeking a particular view or set of views. Well done!
Feels great to know quite a few people that were quoted throughout the book.
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- Jake Varnes
- 09-29-23
Amazing resource of information
It paints the picture of the MK scene so perfectly, you can feel like you were there.
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- CA
- 02-03-24
Long but smooth
Once I heard it was part 1, I thought it might be too much for me; nonetheless, it was effortless to keep wanting to hear more. It covers many details that, as a player, I might have never thought of, but still very interesting.
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- Patrick P.
- 02-25-24
As comprehensive as it is enthralling
"Long Live Mortal Kombat" by David L. Craddock is a masterful exploration into the rich history and enduring legacy of the Mortal Kombat video game franchise. From its inception in the early '90s to its position as a cornerstone in the fighting game community today, Craddock's book offers a meticulously researched and captivating account that is both comprehensive and enthralling.
The author's depth of investigation shines through each page, combining interviews, firsthand accounts, and detailed analysis to bring the story of Mortal Kombat to life. What sets this book apart is not just the wealth of information it provides but also the engaging way in which Craddock presents it. The narrative is accessible to both long-time fans and newcomers to the franchise, offering insights into the game's creation, evolution, and the impact it has had on gaming and popular culture.
One of the most commendable aspects of "Long Live Mortal Kombat" is its balanced approach to storytelling. Craddock celebrates the franchise's achievements, such as its groundbreaking mechanics, iconic characters, and cultural significance, while also not shying away from discussing the controversies and challenges it faced. This includes the debates over video game violence and the legal battles that helped shape the video game rating system in the United States.
The book is peppered with anecdotes and trivia that will delight fans, adding a layer of richness to the narrative that makes it more than just a historical account. It's a tribute to the creativity, innovation, and resilience of the developers, artists, and fans who have contributed to the franchise's legacy.
Furthermore, Craddock's analysis of Mortal Kombat's influence on the fighting game genre and its role in the broader video game industry provides readers with a deeper understanding of its significance. The franchise's ability to adapt and grow over the years, embracing new technologies and trends while staying true to its core elements, is a testament to its enduring appeal.
"Long Live Mortal Kombat" also benefits from Craddock's clear passion for the subject matter. His enthusiasm is infectious, making the book not just an informative read but also an entertaining one. The narrative flows seamlessly from chapter to chapter, ensuring that readers are always engaged and eager to learn more.
"Long Live Mortal Kombat" by David L. Craddock is an exceptional book that offers everything a fan or scholar of video games could hope for. It's a comprehensive, insightful, and thoroughly enjoyable journey through the history of a franchise that has left an indelible mark on the world of entertainment. Whether you're a die-hard Mortal Kombat fan or simply interested in the evolution of video games, this book is an essential read that will deepen your appreciation for the art and business of video game development.
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- Matthew C.
- 01-18-25
A love letter 2 MK
A wonderful love letter to the first four Mortal Kombat games and the arcade era! felt so nostalgic listening to it reliving the arcade and playing MK for the first time. I highly recommend this to anyone who is curious about the Impact MK had on the gaming industry. The narrator was great for this as well. I can’t wait for the second book! Perfect trip down memory lane.
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- James Fink
- 12-30-22
Great Book Great Job
This book is a must have. The gentleman doing the audible did a great job!
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- R. Burroughs
- 08-29-23
Great book, narration is a bit weird
I really love the story and I’m so glad to hear it. The narrator is actually very good except one thing. He does accents for people who are being quoted and at times they are pretty weird and over the top. Ketchup (who has an English accent in RL) gets quoted many times and the accent isn’t even consistent. At times he sounds like a surfer dude and other times a pretty average American. I find this one tendency of the narrator’s annoying at times but if you are an MK fan, don’t let that dissuade you from buying this. Overall it’s a great book and very well written. I’ll definitely get the next installment when it comes out.
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- Triton Blue
- 12-08-24
Deep, engaging, multidimensional exploration of a phenomenon
Wasn’t sure what I was getting into here given the runtime, but this became one of my favorite books of the year. A meticulously researched, interview-heavy exploration of the MK craze that brought me back to my childhood fascination with its mystique. Highly recommended!
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