Your MKO Journey - Where did it begin and where are you now?
Your MKO Journey - Where did it begin and where are you now?
0
posted11/08/2018 04:16 AM (UTC)by
Member Since
04/13/2002 02:05 AM (UTC)
Hi guys. Remember me? it's been a long time since I've been a regular here, but for probably about a decade, this place used to be like a second home for me. I have a lot of fond memories of this place and made a lot of great friends here (a few of whom I'm still very close with today). Anyway, I thought it'd be an interesting idea for us all to share our own personal MKO stories, starting with how we all wound up here, and ending where with we are in our lives now.
NOTE: This is going to be a really long story. Some details are fuzzy, so as more of you chip in, maybe we can all help to paint a better picture of the early days of this website.
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My story goes way back to the MK5.org days, back when the message boards were on Gamers.com. I even still use the same avatar on here now that I did all the way back then (which over the years had led to a whole lot of people thinking I'm Jamaican).
I remember finding this website sometime after Mortal Kombat 4's home console release. It came out on June 23rd, 1998, and I'm pretty sure MK5.org officially launched on Christmas Day of that same year. I'm not sure how much later I discovered the site, but it was probably in the summer of 1999 or so. I remember being a forum lurker for months before I finally decided to sign up. I originally was going to go by the username Reptile_MK, since Reptile at the time was my favorite character. But I think there was already someone with the name Reptile-MK, so I opted for Baraka_MK instead. (Bet most of ya didn't know THAT!)
I didn't have a lot of friends in my teenage years. Both of my best friends from my childhood had moved away right before I started middle school, so I guess after that, I was pretty reluctant to make new friends. This was around the time my family got our first computer, and I was slowly beginning to discover the wonder of the Internet.
I realize now just how long and detailed this story is going to get, so I apologize for that, but maybe for some of you it'll be a trip down memory lane. I don't remember my first MK5.org post, but I remember many of the friends I made in those early days. I felt like I had found a place where I belonged again, and I wanted to really embrace it and become a part of it.
I had become a regular user and active member of a thriving community. I like to think of this time period as being the "The Golden Age", or "The FatSatan Era". Those of you who remember FatSatan no doubt recall just how creative and influential he was to the website and to MK as a whole. Heck, even the MK Emoticons that are still used on this website today were actually created by him. He was an immensely talented and amusing guy from The Netherlands who gave so much to this website and sparked a great period of creativity. Creative content and ideas and passion for Mortal Kombat flourished throughout the forums back in those days.
FatSatan had his own rag-tag crew on MK5.org, and it included members like Brandogg (AKA BrandonBooth), McDaniel, ACJBizar, kryptondog, The_Purple_Bunny (formerly known as Rokko) and dominojr. Somehow those guys wound up liking me enough to include me in their group. It was really Brandogg that took me under his wing. I never really understood why, considering I was a few years younger than the rest of them and a whole lot more of a goody-two-shoes. Whatever the reason may have been, I was always really grateful for it. I had a group of friends again. We even had our own secret Gamers.com message board, but to be honest, I can't even remember the name of it anymore. I know the crew had created a lot content, including a few message boards, and even a couple websites, like The Infernet, Outworld, and AWOS (A World of Spam). ACJ and Brandogg even helped me create my very own video game website some years later, The Gamecube Corner, but they pulled the plug on it almost as soon as it hit the ground.
After a few good years, FatSatan vanished. I have no idea what ever happened to him. I considered him to be a good friend, and then one day he was gone. I know it wasn't that he died, but I guess he decided it was time to move on to bigger and better things. Over time, the rest of his crew gradually began to follow. I lost touch with Brandogg, which still to this day bums me out. Dominojr had graduated high school and moved on with his life. ACJ and kryptondog stuck around for a while, but I lost touch with them too. I actually recently was reunited with McDaniel on Twitter, so that's pretty cool. Anyway, enough about that. Back to MY story.
As I was saying, I had become a regular and respected member (Don't laugh, Mick!) of MK5.org. However, I really ended up making a name for myself by writing Mortal Kombat themed parody songs. It all started with a user, I think his name was MKCHAMPION, who made a thread about doing parody songs for MK characters. I took the idea and ran with it. I was a 13 or 14 year old with a whole lot of time to kill, so I looked up some song lyrics and used my love of Mortal Kombat to craft my first ever parody song. I parodied Eminem's The Real Slim Shady into The Real Quan Chi. Users loved it and wanted more. I had a blast writing it and was eager to create new songs.
Having learned what I did from FatSatan and Friends, I decided to create my own gamers.com message board. I called it The Mortal Kombat Parody Federation. MKPF for short. Using my best MS Paint skills, I created my own wrestling-inspired MK Parody Federation championship belts, and challenged anyone to beat me in parody contests. It was a great time in my life, and I think many of us had a lot of fun with it. Overall, I had created probably about 8 or 10 MK parody songs in total, and had won the championship a few times. It was really rewarding to see other people contribute and create parody songs of their own. (For the record, I no longer have any of these songs or belts. As I got a bit older, I went through that awkward stage where I felt embarrassed about my teenage years and I regrettably deleted all of it.)
Then, one day, Gamers.com abruptly closed all of their message boards. I think? Maybe we had known beforehand that it was coming. I really don't recall. I don't recall the message boards ever going down for MK5.org, but perhaps by that time they had rolled out a new version of the website with their own message boards. This was a long time ago, so details are fuzzy. At some point MK5.org transitioned into Mortal Kombat Online and we got a whole new site layout. (Though I think there was a different version before this current one, but man, I don't know!)
Eventually I had become a moderator on the MK5.org forums, the youngest ever by the way! I had pushed for it really hard for a long time. I recall Brandogg encouraging me to get to know Scott-Howell and DArqueBishop to help my chances, so I did. I'm sure I annoyed DAB more than enough for any one lifetime, but Scott-Howell and I actually became very close friends. He secretly made me a part of the behind-the-scenes action of MKO. So yes, I knew a lot of cool things straight from the MK team before any of you did. I think it's finally safe for me to brag about that now. It was really cool to be on the inside and "in the know". Anyway MKO had become a significant part of my life, but eventually that turned into a bit of a problem, as it was beginning to take up way too much of my life.
I had become a mainstay at the #mortalkombat IRC channel, and was probably the most active and talkative member. Again, no life, lol. I had so many great talks there and met so many interesting people. It's crazy to see how different things have become here over the years, but even crazier to think of how much time has passed.
Eventually, after many years at MKO, I made a dramatic farewell post declaring that I would be leaving MKO forever. Of course, I knew that wouldn't be the case, but I really needed to take a long break and wanted to find more productive things to do with my time. So I went away. I'm sure I came back a few times for extended stays after that, but things were relatively on and off from there on out, and I didn't frequent the forums much at all. It was hard to distance myself from MKO, but I did. Then eventually I became embarrassed of this past. My girlfriend of many years still doesn't really know about it, or certainly at least not the extent of it. Now I find myself embracing it and missing it. Funny how it works like that, huh? Ultimately, I am very grateful for my experiences here and the many friendships I made. You guys were some of the best friends I've ever had. Thank you. Nothin' but love! <3
I suppose it's time for a proper shout-out to my friends from the days of old MKO, but no doubt some of you I'll forget to include, so please don't take it personally. Though I doubt many of these users will ever see this message anyway, but hey, fingers crossed! In no particular order:
CaTigeReptile (A dear old friend!)
MKMaster (my best online friend!)
foahchon (still a close friend, who I was just talking to tonight!)
JoeTaco AKA WayneStatic (I can't remember his previous username)
GuiltyByDesign (still a close friend of mine! <3)
Chan_Ming (the online love of my life! Sort of. In my dreams! lol)
Snowflake (a sweet chat moderator in the early days)
DaMo (The LEGEND!)
Smoke_Rulz
Artanix (The Face-Grinder!)
~Crow~
RedScorpio
Canaanite
ElderGodSmack
DECEPTION
TonyTheTiger
Ninja_Mime (I miss you, man!)
Even Total-MK (you son of a...!)
]{0MBAT (Reunited recently on Twitter! Check out his YouTube videos!)
ShoeUnited
Poasty
Mimik
Shinnokxz
-Rijo-
Murdoink
Garrett (kryptondog's brother whose username I can't remember)
MKJohn
Jade
outworld222
DeathScepter
d_collard (a moderator when I first started)
All of you guys are awesome and are very much appreciated. Thanks for the memories.
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So what's BMK up to these days? Well, I suppose not all that much. I graduated from UCLA a couple years back with a degree in English. I'm now working towards a career in... jesus, I don't know what. Writing of some kind? Still working that out.
I'm in a serious long-term relationship with a lovely woman I fully intend to marry. She's my best friend now and the best part of my life. If not for her, I'd probably still be here bugging all of you fine people!
I currently run my own movie website called 5 Minute Movie Guy, which I hope you'll check out. I'm always up for a movie debate or discussion. https://5minutemovieguy.com/ I'm also really active on Twitter with it, so if you use Twitter, go ahead and give me a follow @5MinuteMovieGuy and send me a message and I'll be more than happy to follow back. I recently got back in touch with McDaniel, ]{0MBAT, and Murdoink through Twitter. You could be next!
I'm planning on writing some books at some point, but I haven't really gotten around to it yet. (Says every English major ever.)
I'd LOVE to go to Kombat Kon one of these years. I'm really excited it's a thing that exists. Doesn't look like I'll make it this year, however. I've still never even been on an airplane, and being all the way in Los Angeles, I kind of feel like I should let the convention grow a little before taking a trip all the way to Chicago. I want it to be LEGIT when I get there.
I absolutely loved MK9 and consider it to be the greatest MK game to date. Seriously, it was a dream come true for me. I can't believe how great it all turned out and how well it got things back on track for MK, even if it does end up killing nearly everyone in the end. (Only like what? 6 characters survived?) I had really hoped they would have taken those few remaining characters and given similar treatment to MK4 through MK: Deception, to really give all of those new characters a second chance. The roster would have still been big enough for it to work, and it would have allowed the MK team to strengthen some of those one-and-done characters.
I enjoyed Mortal Kombat X, and even bought an Xbox One just to play it, but in some ways I felt a little let down by it. The ending of the story mode kind of killed it for me, and perhaps I should have saved that for last. Didn't see much of a point in doing single player towers after I had finished the story and saw how everything actually ends anyway. As cool as the story mode was (for the most part), it kind of undermines the story by giving you a definitive answer of what happened, as opposed to presenting you with all of the possibilities of what may have happened if this character or what character won.
Well, that's about it. Thanks for reading. I hope to see some good comments that evoke even more nostalgia. Until next time, you can always find me at 5minutemovieguy.com!
Love, BMK <3 XOXOXO
NOTE: This is going to be a really long story. Some details are fuzzy, so as more of you chip in, maybe we can all help to paint a better picture of the early days of this website.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
My story goes way back to the MK5.org days, back when the message boards were on Gamers.com. I even still use the same avatar on here now that I did all the way back then (which over the years had led to a whole lot of people thinking I'm Jamaican).
I remember finding this website sometime after Mortal Kombat 4's home console release. It came out on June 23rd, 1998, and I'm pretty sure MK5.org officially launched on Christmas Day of that same year. I'm not sure how much later I discovered the site, but it was probably in the summer of 1999 or so. I remember being a forum lurker for months before I finally decided to sign up. I originally was going to go by the username Reptile_MK, since Reptile at the time was my favorite character. But I think there was already someone with the name Reptile-MK, so I opted for Baraka_MK instead. (Bet most of ya didn't know THAT!)
I didn't have a lot of friends in my teenage years. Both of my best friends from my childhood had moved away right before I started middle school, so I guess after that, I was pretty reluctant to make new friends. This was around the time my family got our first computer, and I was slowly beginning to discover the wonder of the Internet.
I realize now just how long and detailed this story is going to get, so I apologize for that, but maybe for some of you it'll be a trip down memory lane. I don't remember my first MK5.org post, but I remember many of the friends I made in those early days. I felt like I had found a place where I belonged again, and I wanted to really embrace it and become a part of it.
I had become a regular user and active member of a thriving community. I like to think of this time period as being the "The Golden Age", or "The FatSatan Era". Those of you who remember FatSatan no doubt recall just how creative and influential he was to the website and to MK as a whole. Heck, even the MK Emoticons that are still used on this website today were actually created by him. He was an immensely talented and amusing guy from The Netherlands who gave so much to this website and sparked a great period of creativity. Creative content and ideas and passion for Mortal Kombat flourished throughout the forums back in those days.
FatSatan had his own rag-tag crew on MK5.org, and it included members like Brandogg (AKA BrandonBooth), McDaniel, ACJBizar, kryptondog, The_Purple_Bunny (formerly known as Rokko) and dominojr. Somehow those guys wound up liking me enough to include me in their group. It was really Brandogg that took me under his wing. I never really understood why, considering I was a few years younger than the rest of them and a whole lot more of a goody-two-shoes. Whatever the reason may have been, I was always really grateful for it. I had a group of friends again. We even had our own secret Gamers.com message board, but to be honest, I can't even remember the name of it anymore. I know the crew had created a lot content, including a few message boards, and even a couple websites, like The Infernet, Outworld, and AWOS (A World of Spam). ACJ and Brandogg even helped me create my very own video game website some years later, The Gamecube Corner, but they pulled the plug on it almost as soon as it hit the ground.
After a few good years, FatSatan vanished. I have no idea what ever happened to him. I considered him to be a good friend, and then one day he was gone. I know it wasn't that he died, but I guess he decided it was time to move on to bigger and better things. Over time, the rest of his crew gradually began to follow. I lost touch with Brandogg, which still to this day bums me out. Dominojr had graduated high school and moved on with his life. ACJ and kryptondog stuck around for a while, but I lost touch with them too. I actually recently was reunited with McDaniel on Twitter, so that's pretty cool. Anyway, enough about that. Back to MY story.
As I was saying, I had become a regular and respected member (Don't laugh, Mick!) of MK5.org. However, I really ended up making a name for myself by writing Mortal Kombat themed parody songs. It all started with a user, I think his name was MKCHAMPION, who made a thread about doing parody songs for MK characters. I took the idea and ran with it. I was a 13 or 14 year old with a whole lot of time to kill, so I looked up some song lyrics and used my love of Mortal Kombat to craft my first ever parody song. I parodied Eminem's The Real Slim Shady into The Real Quan Chi. Users loved it and wanted more. I had a blast writing it and was eager to create new songs.
Having learned what I did from FatSatan and Friends, I decided to create my own gamers.com message board. I called it The Mortal Kombat Parody Federation. MKPF for short. Using my best MS Paint skills, I created my own wrestling-inspired MK Parody Federation championship belts, and challenged anyone to beat me in parody contests. It was a great time in my life, and I think many of us had a lot of fun with it. Overall, I had created probably about 8 or 10 MK parody songs in total, and had won the championship a few times. It was really rewarding to see other people contribute and create parody songs of their own. (For the record, I no longer have any of these songs or belts. As I got a bit older, I went through that awkward stage where I felt embarrassed about my teenage years and I regrettably deleted all of it.)
Then, one day, Gamers.com abruptly closed all of their message boards. I think? Maybe we had known beforehand that it was coming. I really don't recall. I don't recall the message boards ever going down for MK5.org, but perhaps by that time they had rolled out a new version of the website with their own message boards. This was a long time ago, so details are fuzzy. At some point MK5.org transitioned into Mortal Kombat Online and we got a whole new site layout. (Though I think there was a different version before this current one, but man, I don't know!)
Eventually I had become a moderator on the MK5.org forums, the youngest ever by the way! I had pushed for it really hard for a long time. I recall Brandogg encouraging me to get to know Scott-Howell and DArqueBishop to help my chances, so I did. I'm sure I annoyed DAB more than enough for any one lifetime, but Scott-Howell and I actually became very close friends. He secretly made me a part of the behind-the-scenes action of MKO. So yes, I knew a lot of cool things straight from the MK team before any of you did. I think it's finally safe for me to brag about that now. It was really cool to be on the inside and "in the know". Anyway MKO had become a significant part of my life, but eventually that turned into a bit of a problem, as it was beginning to take up way too much of my life.
I had become a mainstay at the #mortalkombat IRC channel, and was probably the most active and talkative member. Again, no life, lol. I had so many great talks there and met so many interesting people. It's crazy to see how different things have become here over the years, but even crazier to think of how much time has passed.
Eventually, after many years at MKO, I made a dramatic farewell post declaring that I would be leaving MKO forever. Of course, I knew that wouldn't be the case, but I really needed to take a long break and wanted to find more productive things to do with my time. So I went away. I'm sure I came back a few times for extended stays after that, but things were relatively on and off from there on out, and I didn't frequent the forums much at all. It was hard to distance myself from MKO, but I did. Then eventually I became embarrassed of this past. My girlfriend of many years still doesn't really know about it, or certainly at least not the extent of it. Now I find myself embracing it and missing it. Funny how it works like that, huh? Ultimately, I am very grateful for my experiences here and the many friendships I made. You guys were some of the best friends I've ever had. Thank you. Nothin' but love! <3
I suppose it's time for a proper shout-out to my friends from the days of old MKO, but no doubt some of you I'll forget to include, so please don't take it personally. Though I doubt many of these users will ever see this message anyway, but hey, fingers crossed! In no particular order:
CaTigeReptile (A dear old friend!)
MKMaster (my best online friend!)
foahchon (still a close friend, who I was just talking to tonight!)
JoeTaco AKA WayneStatic (I can't remember his previous username)
GuiltyByDesign (still a close friend of mine! <3)
Chan_Ming (the online love of my life! Sort of. In my dreams! lol)
Snowflake (a sweet chat moderator in the early days)
DaMo (The LEGEND!)
Smoke_Rulz
Artanix (The Face-Grinder!)
~Crow~
RedScorpio
Canaanite
ElderGodSmack
DECEPTION
TonyTheTiger
Ninja_Mime (I miss you, man!)
Even Total-MK (you son of a...!)
]{0MBAT (Reunited recently on Twitter! Check out his YouTube videos!)
ShoeUnited
Poasty
Mimik
Shinnokxz
-Rijo-
Murdoink
Garrett (kryptondog's brother whose username I can't remember)
MKJohn
Jade
outworld222
DeathScepter
d_collard (a moderator when I first started)
All of you guys are awesome and are very much appreciated. Thanks for the memories.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
So what's BMK up to these days? Well, I suppose not all that much. I graduated from UCLA a couple years back with a degree in English. I'm now working towards a career in... jesus, I don't know what. Writing of some kind? Still working that out.
I'm in a serious long-term relationship with a lovely woman I fully intend to marry. She's my best friend now and the best part of my life. If not for her, I'd probably still be here bugging all of you fine people!
I currently run my own movie website called 5 Minute Movie Guy, which I hope you'll check out. I'm always up for a movie debate or discussion. https://5minutemovieguy.com/ I'm also really active on Twitter with it, so if you use Twitter, go ahead and give me a follow @5MinuteMovieGuy and send me a message and I'll be more than happy to follow back. I recently got back in touch with McDaniel, ]{0MBAT, and Murdoink through Twitter. You could be next!
I'm planning on writing some books at some point, but I haven't really gotten around to it yet. (Says every English major ever.)
I'd LOVE to go to Kombat Kon one of these years. I'm really excited it's a thing that exists. Doesn't look like I'll make it this year, however. I've still never even been on an airplane, and being all the way in Los Angeles, I kind of feel like I should let the convention grow a little before taking a trip all the way to Chicago. I want it to be LEGIT when I get there.
I absolutely loved MK9 and consider it to be the greatest MK game to date. Seriously, it was a dream come true for me. I can't believe how great it all turned out and how well it got things back on track for MK, even if it does end up killing nearly everyone in the end. (Only like what? 6 characters survived?) I had really hoped they would have taken those few remaining characters and given similar treatment to MK4 through MK: Deception, to really give all of those new characters a second chance. The roster would have still been big enough for it to work, and it would have allowed the MK team to strengthen some of those one-and-done characters.
I enjoyed Mortal Kombat X, and even bought an Xbox One just to play it, but in some ways I felt a little let down by it. The ending of the story mode kind of killed it for me, and perhaps I should have saved that for last. Didn't see much of a point in doing single player towers after I had finished the story and saw how everything actually ends anyway. As cool as the story mode was (for the most part), it kind of undermines the story by giving you a definitive answer of what happened, as opposed to presenting you with all of the possibilities of what may have happened if this character or what character won.
Well, that's about it. Thanks for reading. I hope to see some good comments that evoke even more nostalgia. Until next time, you can always find me at 5minutemovieguy.com!
Love, BMK <3 XOXOXO
Hey everybody!
So Baraka_MK posted some fun information about the old days of MK5.org (It will always be that for me) And I thought I would post some memories as well! Also thank you for the kind words. You were always one of the fun ones to talk with! Wait a minute... You're NOT Jamaican?!?! :-b
I don’t think I was as popular as some of the other guys in our group so some if not most of you may not know who I am, but hopefully you know about one of my contributions to the MK community back then with “John the MK Janitor.”
*John's original look. (If the picture looks low res then you might need to upgrade your PC as this originally was created in 6D.) Here's a link for those interested in seeing the official and original website I made. John the MKJanitor original website Some may remember me as Shao_Kahn from when I first started. I too was just a wee lad in my early teens back when MK5.org was at it’s peak of popularity during the gap between MK4 and MKDA. Like Baraka MK said in his post, there was a group of us that met on the Gamers.com message board and in the Mortal Kombat IRC chat room.
I was a very shy, awkward pimple faced over weight teen who had no friends in real life and found peace from the world while I was interacting with all my online friends about my favorite game of all time, Mortal Kombat! I would say that without the people like Baraka_MK, and Fatsatan, Brandon Booth (LKW) Dominojr, Krypto, CaTigeRept1le, Tabmok99, and too many others to name, I don’t know that I would still be alive. That was the hardest time of my life and I had all these awesome people to help distract me from real life.
I also don’t really know how I was able to get in with the crew, but I believe it was Brandon Booth(LKW) who was part of that. I remember wanting to make a fake MK character just for fun and it was really a joke how it all came about. I made this horrible picture in paintbrush of a MK ninja and colored him like Rain and boasted about it being 6D instead of 3D saying that most modern computers at the time were unable to show it in its full resolution. SOMEHOW that sparked months and months of John the MK Janitor pictures/flash games/ cannon and non cannon story lines, and best of all, even more fake fun characters created by our crew: Balzax the cat, Toke ( Reptile parody of a pot head) and many more.There were 2 Mopologoy games made about John and the other characters which you can learn more about at Fragile-minds.com
Those were some of my favorite times. We even had a private IRC chat we used to all hang out in at the same time as we hung out in the Mortal Kombat IRC chat. My one and only regret from that time was not getting to know more about all the different programs everyone was using to make all their content as I really missed out on a lot of career paths from just being too young to really understand how that stuff would become useful for a career.
It's not till recently that it dawned on me that like 3 or 4 people I talk to on twitter actually live in the same state as me (Florida) and the world is not as large to me now as it was then.
Thank you all who ever took time to listen to my young and probably unfunny jokes, for the "Stick it in, McDaniel" laughs, and to all those who made multiple games, videos, and pictures of what was at the time, a joke, into something that helped me be part of an awesome bunch of people who got me though my worst times in life, Honestly I wouldn't be here without you all.
These days I'm married to my beautiful wife Rhiannon (I finally stuck it in!) and I'm pretty active in the MK world on Twitter. I work at the corp offices for the number one major grocery store in Florida and just enjoy Mortal Kombat games casually and more so watch a ton of Youtube stuff and twitter. Side note: All fans of Mortal Kombat should check out Tabmok99's youtube channel. This guy has the best knowledge and humor for all things Mortal Kombat history related! Also, quick shout out to Darquebishop. Back in those days I was a young teen who used to try to sometimes get a reaction out of him in the IRC chat.I always looked at him as a dad who was always there kind of keeping an eye on us to make sure we didnt get out of line. He was patient with me and only on occasion did he have to tell me that I was crossing the line. I don't know if he knew I would do it on purpose sometimes just to see if he was watching or just to get a reaction out of him. It was so fun. And I have to say that he was always fair and never treated me any worse than I deserved. When i got a bit older I wasnt as bad. I even hooked him up with the Jeffery Meeks contact for one of the fight night chats due to someone I was friends with at the time from the MK Conquest tv show. (It was filmed about an hour or so from where i live. ) So, thanks dad for keeping me in line!
So Baraka_MK posted some fun information about the old days of MK5.org (It will always be that for me) And I thought I would post some memories as well! Also thank you for the kind words. You were always one of the fun ones to talk with! Wait a minute... You're NOT Jamaican?!?! :-b
I don’t think I was as popular as some of the other guys in our group so some if not most of you may not know who I am, but hopefully you know about one of my contributions to the MK community back then with “John the MK Janitor.”
*John's original look. (If the picture looks low res then you might need to upgrade your PC as this originally was created in 6D.) Here's a link for those interested in seeing the official and original website I made. John the MKJanitor original website Some may remember me as Shao_Kahn from when I first started. I too was just a wee lad in my early teens back when MK5.org was at it’s peak of popularity during the gap between MK4 and MKDA. Like Baraka MK said in his post, there was a group of us that met on the Gamers.com message board and in the Mortal Kombat IRC chat room. I was a very shy, awkward pimple faced over weight teen who had no friends in real life and found peace from the world while I was interacting with all my online friends about my favorite game of all time, Mortal Kombat! I would say that without the people like Baraka_MK, and Fatsatan, Brandon Booth (LKW) Dominojr, Krypto, CaTigeRept1le, Tabmok99, and too many others to name, I don’t know that I would still be alive. That was the hardest time of my life and I had all these awesome people to help distract me from real life.
I also don’t really know how I was able to get in with the crew, but I believe it was Brandon Booth(LKW) who was part of that. I remember wanting to make a fake MK character just for fun and it was really a joke how it all came about. I made this horrible picture in paintbrush of a MK ninja and colored him like Rain and boasted about it being 6D instead of 3D saying that most modern computers at the time were unable to show it in its full resolution. SOMEHOW that sparked months and months of John the MK Janitor pictures/flash games/ cannon and non cannon story lines, and best of all, even more fake fun characters created by our crew: Balzax the cat, Toke ( Reptile parody of a pot head) and many more.There were 2 Mopologoy games made about John and the other characters which you can learn more about at Fragile-minds.com
Those were some of my favorite times. We even had a private IRC chat we used to all hang out in at the same time as we hung out in the Mortal Kombat IRC chat. My one and only regret from that time was not getting to know more about all the different programs everyone was using to make all their content as I really missed out on a lot of career paths from just being too young to really understand how that stuff would become useful for a career.
It's not till recently that it dawned on me that like 3 or 4 people I talk to on twitter actually live in the same state as me (Florida) and the world is not as large to me now as it was then.
Thank you all who ever took time to listen to my young and probably unfunny jokes, for the "Stick it in, McDaniel" laughs, and to all those who made multiple games, videos, and pictures of what was at the time, a joke, into something that helped me be part of an awesome bunch of people who got me though my worst times in life, Honestly I wouldn't be here without you all.
These days I'm married to my beautiful wife Rhiannon (I finally stuck it in!) and I'm pretty active in the MK world on Twitter. I work at the corp offices for the number one major grocery store in Florida and just enjoy Mortal Kombat games casually and more so watch a ton of Youtube stuff and twitter. Side note: All fans of Mortal Kombat should check out Tabmok99's youtube channel. This guy has the best knowledge and humor for all things Mortal Kombat history related! Also, quick shout out to Darquebishop. Back in those days I was a young teen who used to try to sometimes get a reaction out of him in the IRC chat.I always looked at him as a dad who was always there kind of keeping an eye on us to make sure we didnt get out of line. He was patient with me and only on occasion did he have to tell me that I was crossing the line. I don't know if he knew I would do it on purpose sometimes just to see if he was watching or just to get a reaction out of him. It was so fun. And I have to say that he was always fair and never treated me any worse than I deserved. When i got a bit older I wasnt as bad. I even hooked him up with the Jeffery Meeks contact for one of the fight night chats due to someone I was friends with at the time from the MK Conquest tv show. (It was filmed about an hour or so from where i live. ) So, thanks dad for keeping me in line!
About Me
Scott Howell - Co-founder
scott@mortalkombatonline.com
Mortal Kombat Online - The Ultimate Mortal Kombat Experience
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Wait, a minute. So Baraka_MK is not really Jamaican?
So BMK has asked me to post in here. I'm not sure how much more I can add than I have not already said in the past. But I can at least give a bit of a different perspective on things being here since day one. For those that don't know, I am one of the original co-founders of the website here, better known too many as MK5.org. I was only fifteen when Joey (CCShadow) and I opened its doors on Christmas Day 1998. Nearly 20 years later a lot has changed obviously. Some good, some bad. But it's been quite a ride.
Short version of how I came to be involved with the site and MK. I got my first computer in my early teens and at the time was obsessed with Mortal Kombat. I first fell in love with MK when I was about 13. My cousin had a copy of the Sega Genesis version of MK1 and I was fascinated. I begged my parents for the game. I didn't have a Sega Genesis, but whatever year that was they bought me a Game Gear with Mortal Kombat. My friend Josh and I would play it all the time. I loved the storyline and would trace pictures of the characters. As I got a little bit older I would make on my computer a fake video game magazine called "Fighters Edge" and I would make my own strategy guides for the game, print them, and hand them out to my friends at school. Sometime later MK4 was staging to be released and I remember in some video game magazine they did a write-up on MK4.com which was the official MK Website at the time. I decided right then, I wanted to make my own MK website. My parents got me a computer, I signed up for a free AngelFire website account and "Shao Kahn's Realm" was born.
I taught myself how to write HTML by looking at the source code of other MK fansites like MK on the Net, TRMK, Kingdom MK, Bluestar's MK, Mortal Kombat Dominion, and MK Cyber Arena.
My first website was short lived. I hyperlinked images from Ed Boon's website for his MK Trilogy Nitro edition parody. Ed Boon created an actual "shit list" of MK Sites stealing his images and yours truly made the list. I was horrified and embarrassed. I literately was receiving hate mail from MK Fans. I had no clue anybody even knew my site existed. I took the images off and wrote Ed Boon an email and apologized. He never wrote back but he took my link off his site.
So anyway, at some point after that I decided to give it another go. I was determined to redeem myself and I honestly made the goal to someday make the world's largest MK site. First I needed a partner. I frequented at the time the GamePro.com chat room and this is where I met CCShadow. We both went by Shao Kahn, which is why we started talking to each to each other. We both had separate MK sites. I shared my vision with him and we combined our two fan sites - and then our server crashed. We decided at that point to start over. I determined if we were going to be the top MK site we had to do two things. One - have discussion. Two - have the best domain.
We registered the domain that would take us to the top - MK5.NET.
And somehow WhiteRat of MK NIghtmares ended up with it. So we went with plan two.
We registered the domain that would take us to the top - MK5.ORG
We ironically later purchased MKNightmares.com from WhiteRat.(Who bought it back from us later.)
I believe the site flourished because I put together a great team like D'ArqueBishop, ]{0MBAT, Mick and others. The domain, and little bit of hard work helped too. The site really started to take off when I wrote an email to Dan Amrich, then known as Dan Elektro of GamePro magazine. I asked him to include our website in a column he wrote. He actually agreed! (And gave me a gift of all past GamePro's with MK on the cover in mint condition, his personal collection). Being printed in Gamepro ( I think we got printed in there twice) just tickled me. We also got mentioned in the official U.S. PlayStation Magazine.
Shortly after that our traffic just went crazy. We were all very fortunate. Midway Games eventually took notice and they invited us to Midway Press Events and to several E3 Expos.
Meeting Ed Boon and the team was an achievement of a lifetime goal of mine and thanks to MKO and its community it became possible. I constantly tell people when they ask for advise that if you are determined and have the will power, you can do whatever you want in life.
To be honest though, it wasn't meeting Ed Boon that satisfies me today with this website. I truly, truly enjoy posts like this and I absolutely love our community and the people I have met through it. Like BMK, I have so many close friends from the website. Many of the original staff have been to each others weddings and we all keep in touch. Even just a year ago I met up again with ]{0MBAT and his wife and had them over for dinner. There are countless others I keep in touch with on Facebook.
All things kind of come to an end though. The glory days of MKO teetered off eventually as we grew older and I'm sorry for that. In 2006 I believe is when I stepped down as our original webmaster. There was a lot more to that decision at the time that I've never shared publically. Basically, we had all received a special press gift from Midway and the MK team that only a few organizations got. I was still pretty young then and stupid. I was living in an apartment at the time and was having financial issues. I sold the gift to my arch nemesis Total-MK. (I'd consider TMK a friend now - though I don't know if he even knows that gift contributed to me stepping down). Midway found out and banned me from future events. It wasn't really a permanent punishment, but shortly after I met my wife Lindsey and it was my time to move on. I apologized to the team - we've moved on. I mean it was over ten years ago. I was young and stupid. We all make dumb mistakes. I am still in contact with some of the MK team members. Some closer than others.
So flash forward - I'm grown up now. I'm 34 and have a wife named Lindsey. We've been married nearly nine years. I have three children. Jackson (9), Josette (4), & Lincoln (1). I work full time for a very large pharma company doing customer service. I also work part time at my church and do all their web design and media. This site taught me a lot. I learned to be a better writer and communicator thanks to this site and I'm determined its helped grow the skills I use every day in my job.
I don't really play MK anymore , nor video games for that matter. But MK will always have a close place in my heart. In fact, next year in the Fall, during the same weekend as Kombat Kon in Chicago, us MKO staff will be holding a special 20th anniversary reunion. It will be open to the entire MKO community and I really hope you can make it.
Last, I mentioned earlier I ended up on Ed Boon's shit list when I made my first MK Site. Years later I got to tell Ed Boon this story in person over lunch with my team. He couldn't believe it and laughed for a long time. From ashes to glory. Dreams can come true.
Love you guys. Keep the discussion going.
Scott Howell
So BMK has asked me to post in here. I'm not sure how much more I can add than I have not already said in the past. But I can at least give a bit of a different perspective on things being here since day one. For those that don't know, I am one of the original co-founders of the website here, better known too many as MK5.org. I was only fifteen when Joey (CCShadow) and I opened its doors on Christmas Day 1998. Nearly 20 years later a lot has changed obviously. Some good, some bad. But it's been quite a ride.
Short version of how I came to be involved with the site and MK. I got my first computer in my early teens and at the time was obsessed with Mortal Kombat. I first fell in love with MK when I was about 13. My cousin had a copy of the Sega Genesis version of MK1 and I was fascinated. I begged my parents for the game. I didn't have a Sega Genesis, but whatever year that was they bought me a Game Gear with Mortal Kombat. My friend Josh and I would play it all the time. I loved the storyline and would trace pictures of the characters. As I got a little bit older I would make on my computer a fake video game magazine called "Fighters Edge" and I would make my own strategy guides for the game, print them, and hand them out to my friends at school. Sometime later MK4 was staging to be released and I remember in some video game magazine they did a write-up on MK4.com which was the official MK Website at the time. I decided right then, I wanted to make my own MK website. My parents got me a computer, I signed up for a free AngelFire website account and "Shao Kahn's Realm" was born.
I taught myself how to write HTML by looking at the source code of other MK fansites like MK on the Net, TRMK, Kingdom MK, Bluestar's MK, Mortal Kombat Dominion, and MK Cyber Arena.
My first website was short lived. I hyperlinked images from Ed Boon's website for his MK Trilogy Nitro edition parody. Ed Boon created an actual "shit list" of MK Sites stealing his images and yours truly made the list. I was horrified and embarrassed. I literately was receiving hate mail from MK Fans. I had no clue anybody even knew my site existed. I took the images off and wrote Ed Boon an email and apologized. He never wrote back but he took my link off his site.
So anyway, at some point after that I decided to give it another go. I was determined to redeem myself and I honestly made the goal to someday make the world's largest MK site. First I needed a partner. I frequented at the time the GamePro.com chat room and this is where I met CCShadow. We both went by Shao Kahn, which is why we started talking to each to each other. We both had separate MK sites. I shared my vision with him and we combined our two fan sites - and then our server crashed. We decided at that point to start over. I determined if we were going to be the top MK site we had to do two things. One - have discussion. Two - have the best domain.
We registered the domain that would take us to the top - MK5.NET.
And somehow WhiteRat of MK NIghtmares ended up with it. So we went with plan two.
We registered the domain that would take us to the top - MK5.ORG
We ironically later purchased MKNightmares.com from WhiteRat.(Who bought it back from us later.)
I believe the site flourished because I put together a great team like D'ArqueBishop, ]{0MBAT, Mick and others. The domain, and little bit of hard work helped too. The site really started to take off when I wrote an email to Dan Amrich, then known as Dan Elektro of GamePro magazine. I asked him to include our website in a column he wrote. He actually agreed! (And gave me a gift of all past GamePro's with MK on the cover in mint condition, his personal collection). Being printed in Gamepro ( I think we got printed in there twice) just tickled me. We also got mentioned in the official U.S. PlayStation Magazine.
Shortly after that our traffic just went crazy. We were all very fortunate. Midway Games eventually took notice and they invited us to Midway Press Events and to several E3 Expos.
Meeting Ed Boon and the team was an achievement of a lifetime goal of mine and thanks to MKO and its community it became possible. I constantly tell people when they ask for advise that if you are determined and have the will power, you can do whatever you want in life.
To be honest though, it wasn't meeting Ed Boon that satisfies me today with this website. I truly, truly enjoy posts like this and I absolutely love our community and the people I have met through it. Like BMK, I have so many close friends from the website. Many of the original staff have been to each others weddings and we all keep in touch. Even just a year ago I met up again with ]{0MBAT and his wife and had them over for dinner. There are countless others I keep in touch with on Facebook.
All things kind of come to an end though. The glory days of MKO teetered off eventually as we grew older and I'm sorry for that. In 2006 I believe is when I stepped down as our original webmaster. There was a lot more to that decision at the time that I've never shared publically. Basically, we had all received a special press gift from Midway and the MK team that only a few organizations got. I was still pretty young then and stupid. I was living in an apartment at the time and was having financial issues. I sold the gift to my arch nemesis Total-MK. (I'd consider TMK a friend now - though I don't know if he even knows that gift contributed to me stepping down). Midway found out and banned me from future events. It wasn't really a permanent punishment, but shortly after I met my wife Lindsey and it was my time to move on. I apologized to the team - we've moved on. I mean it was over ten years ago. I was young and stupid. We all make dumb mistakes. I am still in contact with some of the MK team members. Some closer than others.
So flash forward - I'm grown up now. I'm 34 and have a wife named Lindsey. We've been married nearly nine years. I have three children. Jackson (9), Josette (4), & Lincoln (1). I work full time for a very large pharma company doing customer service. I also work part time at my church and do all their web design and media. This site taught me a lot. I learned to be a better writer and communicator thanks to this site and I'm determined its helped grow the skills I use every day in my job.
I don't really play MK anymore , nor video games for that matter. But MK will always have a close place in my heart. In fact, next year in the Fall, during the same weekend as Kombat Kon in Chicago, us MKO staff will be holding a special 20th anniversary reunion. It will be open to the entire MKO community and I really hope you can make it.
Last, I mentioned earlier I ended up on Ed Boon's shit list when I made my first MK Site. Years later I got to tell Ed Boon this story in person over lunch with my team. He couldn't believe it and laughed for a long time. From ashes to glory. Dreams can come true.
Love you guys. Keep the discussion going.
Scott Howell
About Me
For the most in-depth, in-detail, Mortal Kombat lore analysis vids, there's only one source:
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I started sneaking onto our family computer and visiting BBS systems using a Prodigy.net frontend/GUI at around 7 or 8 years old. I think this was shortly before FF7 came out. 1997, somewhere around there? Anyways, I remember because I posted a very popular and understandably incomprehensible topic trashing the game of which I never played, nor had the system to play it. Yes, a troll is born. Eventually I learned how to break out of Prodigy's little intranet and start viewing the raw web. From there I found mk.hotweird.com and segasages.com, which kind of helped burn my obsession with Mortal Kombat (among other games) and all of its zany easter eggs, secret codes, and references. mk.hotweird.com was, of course, TRMK before its eventual title. I hadn't quite figured out newsgroups yet but that site was my window into alt.games.mk and #mk3, with new moves and fatalities discovered during the MK4 road tour. Since online interaction was such a fascination to me, obviously I would end up amongst others in CGI based "cool kids" web-based chat rooms which, I'm sure, police and/or pedophiles posing as children also inhabited.
My first experience with building websites also began around this time with a free web tool called Expage.
https://web.archive.org/web/19991006130543/expage.com/page/shinnokpage
There ya go. No further elaboration needed on that, though my family and friends though it was rad and we all had a mire of different sites between us.
My first discovery of MK5.org is foggy but, at the time I don't ever recall TRMK having forums, so one would have had eventually found mk5.org. I do believe it was a year or two before the first "Scorpion blows up statues with fire" MK:DA teaser came out, and when it actually did, my mk5.org puberty hit.
(At this point, here's what I thought was totally bitchin' at the time in terms of web design: https://web.archive.org/web/20031207175124/http://corysplace.silius.net:80/ )
Eventually I acquainted myself to the #mortalkombat chat, which was full of names already that have been mentioned and laid about this topic. And also, like some of these other names, I had an itch to make a virtual foot print in the sands of MK Internet history. I came up with an idea, that even in some ways to the day I thought was a good concept, of attempting to make a "Worknman's" website which helped puzzle together, or at least centralize and index, the myth and murmurs of a possible MK3 movie, since like many of the games, was shrouded in rumor and hearsay.
So my campy Angelfire HTML skills delivered the world this:
https://web.archive.org/web/20040403111037/http://mk3movie.mortalkombatonline.com:80/ (which isn't really the 'first version', which doesn't really exist out there anymore other than on my archives on a server somewhere in the cat room)
That being said, that was the first version that was designed after I had generously been picked up by Scott Howell(and probably others who had a part of the decision) I liked scouring the web for weird MK3 rumors, but eventually, as anyone with two brain cells could rub together could deduce, futility kind if whooped you hard after spending two or three years arriving to the same mixed up but similar rumor from a site rehashing the same stuff over and over.
Note: I've got to hand it to ]{0mbat for helping with some of the only awesome content of that site, namely the Linden Ashby Soap interview which to this day gets a bunch of video views. He also sent me the MK Movie Guided Tour disc (or whatever it was called) which was really neat. Also a shout out to ACJ whom I wasn't particular personally friendly with or knew a lot about personally, but he was a big help with CSS and PHP questions. Also to the MK5.org management in general for keeping my networked site around and hosted to the day, even though its database was shut down. I think it's because I moved to Wordpress which requires almost weekly security updates at this point, which at this point, my waning interest caused me to severely neglect. Or maybe they just deleted the database data because it was trash, and kept the site up for shits. Either way, no harm done. Murdoink was cool as we both were brought onto MKO at the same time. Even though he had a cooler, more popular networks site I secretly was jealous of at the time.
I moderated in #mortalkombat but don't recall doing much in terms of impact (helped sit there at a MK Fight Night once, though) When I disappeared into life so did my @. Chan Ming was cool, Crow was kind of a prat. He was like chatting with an old lady AI I thought. That is, until one night, for some reason, I talked everyone into tuning into a Jazz playoff game, including him, and he mentioned the Jazz playing well, so he ended up being cool after that comment. I also thought Mick was particularly rude when he first came about, but after I've returned just recently in the last year or so, his sense of humor has definitely grown outside of his own eyeballs.
Currently, I'm with my girl of three years. I live with animals- three snakes, two cats, and two guinea pigs. I'm a systems administrator for a petroleum service and construction company and am Filemaker consultant for various other companies. I enjoy drinking beer and playing basketball, preferably in tandem.
You'll find me around the chat room today because I enjoy the memories and nostalgia, and was surprised how many people drop in from the past and carry on for a a bit.
http://imgur.com/a/3lSuv
My first experience with building websites also began around this time with a free web tool called Expage.
https://web.archive.org/web/19991006130543/expage.com/page/shinnokpage
There ya go. No further elaboration needed on that, though my family and friends though it was rad and we all had a mire of different sites between us.
My first discovery of MK5.org is foggy but, at the time I don't ever recall TRMK having forums, so one would have had eventually found mk5.org. I do believe it was a year or two before the first "Scorpion blows up statues with fire" MK:DA teaser came out, and when it actually did, my mk5.org puberty hit.
(At this point, here's what I thought was totally bitchin' at the time in terms of web design: https://web.archive.org/web/20031207175124/http://corysplace.silius.net:80/ )
Eventually I acquainted myself to the #mortalkombat chat, which was full of names already that have been mentioned and laid about this topic. And also, like some of these other names, I had an itch to make a virtual foot print in the sands of MK Internet history. I came up with an idea, that even in some ways to the day I thought was a good concept, of attempting to make a "Worknman's" website which helped puzzle together, or at least centralize and index, the myth and murmurs of a possible MK3 movie, since like many of the games, was shrouded in rumor and hearsay.
So my campy Angelfire HTML skills delivered the world this:
https://web.archive.org/web/20040403111037/http://mk3movie.mortalkombatonline.com:80/ (which isn't really the 'first version', which doesn't really exist out there anymore other than on my archives on a server somewhere in the cat room)
That being said, that was the first version that was designed after I had generously been picked up by Scott Howell(and probably others who had a part of the decision) I liked scouring the web for weird MK3 rumors, but eventually, as anyone with two brain cells could rub together could deduce, futility kind if whooped you hard after spending two or three years arriving to the same mixed up but similar rumor from a site rehashing the same stuff over and over.
Note: I've got to hand it to ]{0mbat for helping with some of the only awesome content of that site, namely the Linden Ashby Soap interview which to this day gets a bunch of video views. He also sent me the MK Movie Guided Tour disc (or whatever it was called) which was really neat. Also a shout out to ACJ whom I wasn't particular personally friendly with or knew a lot about personally, but he was a big help with CSS and PHP questions. Also to the MK5.org management in general for keeping my networked site around and hosted to the day, even though its database was shut down. I think it's because I moved to Wordpress which requires almost weekly security updates at this point, which at this point, my waning interest caused me to severely neglect. Or maybe they just deleted the database data because it was trash, and kept the site up for shits. Either way, no harm done. Murdoink was cool as we both were brought onto MKO at the same time. Even though he had a cooler, more popular networks site I secretly was jealous of at the time.
I moderated in #mortalkombat but don't recall doing much in terms of impact (helped sit there at a MK Fight Night once, though) When I disappeared into life so did my @. Chan Ming was cool, Crow was kind of a prat. He was like chatting with an old lady AI I thought. That is, until one night, for some reason, I talked everyone into tuning into a Jazz playoff game, including him, and he mentioned the Jazz playing well, so he ended up being cool after that comment. I also thought Mick was particularly rude when he first came about, but after I've returned just recently in the last year or so, his sense of humor has definitely grown outside of his own eyeballs.
Currently, I'm with my girl of three years. I live with animals- three snakes, two cats, and two guinea pigs. I'm a systems administrator for a petroleum service and construction company and am Filemaker consultant for various other companies. I enjoy drinking beer and playing basketball, preferably in tandem.
You'll find me around the chat room today because I enjoy the memories and nostalgia, and was surprised how many people drop in from the past and carry on for a a bit.
http://imgur.com/a/3lSuv
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About Me
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0
About Me
Shao Kahn did nothing wrong
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About Me
For the most in-depth, in-detail, Mortal Kombat lore analysis vids, there's only one source:
0
About Me
-- choose your destiny --
0
Greetings! *Quan Chi Voice*
You master has returned haha!
So BMK and Scott Hasked me to post here about my Journey with MKO. It's been a bumpy ride most know, there have been little dramas here and there and some big ones too. But those days are in the past (hopefully)
So my ride with MKO starts at MK5.org I think most of us OG's remember the site as mk5.org, I remember the site been a hive of activity, my site which was very basic in layout design with basic HTML layout and using the Comic Sans font haha! My site has always struggled with a high tech web design. I am not about that my focus in content. But the thing that always drew me to MKO was the E3 trips. E3 fascinated me from the time I first heard about it I dreamed about going there and hangn' out with the MK Team (Mission Accomplished!) Around this time I found out that MKO had a chatroom #mortalkombat for those who know me best I was a big hang out in the IRC Chatroom as I had been using IRC for years even before my time at MKO. I was once even a IRC Op for a while hehe!
This is where I met folks like BMK, Scott H, Scott B, CCS, Acj, Garret, TPB, MuRdOInK and other MKO staff I may be forgetting. This was a chance to talk live to these guys. I got along with most people in the chat, I am sure I rubbed a few people the wrong way but not everyone can handle the TMK style. I kinda regret the way I would flaunt my Op status in the chat by making the Chanserv op me with wacky quotes from pop culture movies and TV, looking back I could see that must of pissed a lot of you off, I just thought it was a fun way to embrace those pop culture moments and practice my script commands on the server.
As time went on MK would have Fight Night live chats with the MK Team, not many know this but the first time I spoke to Ed Boon in a live environment was through MKO. Scott B was running around preparing to start the chat with the 1,000s pf people that were waiting to shoot questions at Ed and the rest of the team, we were in a secret lobby (us ops) so Scott could talk to Ed directly without the rest of the channel dominating. This was when I seized the moment!
Total-MK "Hi Ed!"
EdBoon "Hi"
OMG! He noticed me! lol Sounds kinda lame I know BUT this is where it started, this is where I got the bug of meeting and interviewing people from the MK Team, and it wouldn't of happened if it wasn't for MKO! TBH, When mk5.org changed the title at first I thought it was cool (cause it matched MK:Deception's MK first time online at the time) so it made sense. But I kinda miss the days of mk5.org. The wait between MK4 and MKDA was 5 years long and it was nerve racking. I remember thinking this might be the end of MK if they just throw in the towel now that arcades were dead. But MK is to strong for that!
Anyway It's been a wild ride on MKO, some of you probably hate me and that is OK, I am cool with it. I am very outspoken and it rubs people the wrong way but in life I have always taken the road of speaking out if I believe I have been wronged in anyway. And Some of you respect me, and I appreciate that!
In closing I have to say that MKO has another thing that even through all the fights and arguments I can't argue with and that is that tabmok99 is one of the biggest MK fans EVER. I met Justin at E3 in 2006 and he was such a cool dude we had so much fun chatting about MK some of those chats were even with Steve Beran and Dan Forden (Toasty!!!) Justin is a hardcore MK fan. I consider myself hardcore and a few others. Justin has put so much content into MKO and made the site great. If you havn't checked out his YouTube videos make sure you do, as A fellow youtuber they are really great and very informative! Justin has also gone out of his way to help people in the community get rare items and such. I remember I recorded every single MK Conquest off TV here in Australia, but missed 1 episode (because they played it on new years eve I didn't think they would do that!) And Justin sent me Episode 8 to complete my VHS Set! BTW I still have it Justin! ;)
It will be great to see Justin at Kombat Kon this year in 1 months time! I am flying my Australian Butt all the way to Chicago to meet the guys I have been killing in the MK games for so many years...hope they are not mad at me. lol. It's going to be a blast. So thanks again MKO for the good times. Hopefully I might see some MKOers at KK!
-TotalMK
MK and Team MKO / Daves MK at E3 2006.
You master has returned haha!
So BMK and Scott Hasked me to post here about my Journey with MKO. It's been a bumpy ride most know, there have been little dramas here and there and some big ones too. But those days are in the past (hopefully)
So my ride with MKO starts at MK5.org I think most of us OG's remember the site as mk5.org, I remember the site been a hive of activity, my site which was very basic in layout design with basic HTML layout and using the Comic Sans font haha! My site has always struggled with a high tech web design. I am not about that my focus in content. But the thing that always drew me to MKO was the E3 trips. E3 fascinated me from the time I first heard about it I dreamed about going there and hangn' out with the MK Team (Mission Accomplished!) Around this time I found out that MKO had a chatroom #mortalkombat for those who know me best I was a big hang out in the IRC Chatroom as I had been using IRC for years even before my time at MKO. I was once even a IRC Op for a while hehe!
This is where I met folks like BMK, Scott H, Scott B, CCS, Acj, Garret, TPB, MuRdOInK and other MKO staff I may be forgetting. This was a chance to talk live to these guys. I got along with most people in the chat, I am sure I rubbed a few people the wrong way but not everyone can handle the TMK style. I kinda regret the way I would flaunt my Op status in the chat by making the Chanserv op me with wacky quotes from pop culture movies and TV, looking back I could see that must of pissed a lot of you off, I just thought it was a fun way to embrace those pop culture moments and practice my script commands on the server.
As time went on MK would have Fight Night live chats with the MK Team, not many know this but the first time I spoke to Ed Boon in a live environment was through MKO. Scott B was running around preparing to start the chat with the 1,000s pf people that were waiting to shoot questions at Ed and the rest of the team, we were in a secret lobby (us ops) so Scott could talk to Ed directly without the rest of the channel dominating. This was when I seized the moment!
Total-MK "Hi Ed!"
EdBoon "Hi"
OMG! He noticed me! lol Sounds kinda lame I know BUT this is where it started, this is where I got the bug of meeting and interviewing people from the MK Team, and it wouldn't of happened if it wasn't for MKO! TBH, When mk5.org changed the title at first I thought it was cool (cause it matched MK:Deception's MK first time online at the time) so it made sense. But I kinda miss the days of mk5.org. The wait between MK4 and MKDA was 5 years long and it was nerve racking. I remember thinking this might be the end of MK if they just throw in the towel now that arcades were dead. But MK is to strong for that!
Anyway It's been a wild ride on MKO, some of you probably hate me and that is OK, I am cool with it. I am very outspoken and it rubs people the wrong way but in life I have always taken the road of speaking out if I believe I have been wronged in anyway. And Some of you respect me, and I appreciate that!
In closing I have to say that MKO has another thing that even through all the fights and arguments I can't argue with and that is that tabmok99 is one of the biggest MK fans EVER. I met Justin at E3 in 2006 and he was such a cool dude we had so much fun chatting about MK some of those chats were even with Steve Beran and Dan Forden (Toasty!!!) Justin is a hardcore MK fan. I consider myself hardcore and a few others. Justin has put so much content into MKO and made the site great. If you havn't checked out his YouTube videos make sure you do, as A fellow youtuber they are really great and very informative! Justin has also gone out of his way to help people in the community get rare items and such. I remember I recorded every single MK Conquest off TV here in Australia, but missed 1 episode (because they played it on new years eve I didn't think they would do that!) And Justin sent me Episode 8 to complete my VHS Set! BTW I still have it Justin! ;)
It will be great to see Justin at Kombat Kon this year in 1 months time! I am flying my Australian Butt all the way to Chicago to meet the guys I have been killing in the MK games for so many years...hope they are not mad at me. lol. It's going to be a blast. So thanks again MKO for the good times. Hopefully I might see some MKOers at KK!
-TotalMK
MK and Team MKO / Daves MK at E3 2006.
About Me
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Hey guys =)
This site, and the people in it, have been huge for me as I've grown up. Truth be told, I got started in the MK community with TRMK.org. In fact, it used to be called MK Realm back then. In 2002, my family got internet service (dial-up). Surfing the web was an entirely new thing to me, and the only thing I could really think of, in regards to how to use the net, was that websites needed to end in ".com". So, the first thing I can recall typing into a search engine is "mortalkombatstuff.com".
Of course, that didn't work, so I kept trying different things to feed my hunger for MK content. Eventually, I learned to drop the ".com" after every thing I typed, haha. That eventually took me to MK Realm. My mom was moderately strict at the time, and I had to get permission to register for the site so I could participate in the forums. She relented and I was able to make an account and start the journey. Eventually I expanded and found this place. My memory could be fuzzy, but I can slightly recall there being a bit of a feud between MK Realm and MK5.org, as if the MKO'ers were "nerds" and the TRMK'ers were the "cool guys". Anyway, I never bought into that and eventually expanded scope by going to TRMK, MKO, MKW, the Pavilion, MK Bible, and there was even a site called MK Revolution.
My time posting on the message boards slowly died off and I spent most of my time in the IRC chat. That's where I really got to know a lot of the people from MKO. Being new to the internet, and being new to being able to communicate with so many people, it was a very formative time. I think that time period is why I'm so into computers and tech now. Because I was such a n00b, and you could argue I still am, it was nice to get to learn from other people who were already in the know. I can remember brutalforcekhameleon giving me a hard time because I couldn't figure out how to open a ROM with ZSNES, lol. ]{'s tutorial showed me how to make sprite comics, and I even made a thread here asking for help on how to host an image so that I could share it; photobucket came in handy. Lately I've been spending more time in the chat room, and I'll still chime in with tech questions every now and then for something that's giving me trouble.
I was about 12 when I really got into the community and started to recognize people by their usernames. Even though we're all pretty close to the same age, I viewed my time here as getting to hang out with the 'older kids', which was incredible.
Nostalgia is something that's a huge part of me, and to quote a friend of mine: "probably to a fault." Moreover, I feel like I have a weird concept of time. To me, 2003 wasn't that long ago. It feels like it was only 5 years ago. So it's a shock to me when I hear about people buying houses, having kids, doing the adult thing pretty hard. That whole time was just incredible to me. But I'm very happy this site is still here, and the IRC chat is still up, and the same names are still around. It's like being home, to add some cheese into this post.
So, when I see stuff like old MKO E3 photos.
Well.
But!
I'm very happy for what has remained. The site, the chat, the people, and it seems like everyone is growing. As for where I am now, I'm 25 and a college graduate. However, I'm back in school again for a degree in Computer Science and I have a job where I install home theater systems. Not married yet, but will be soon.
Be there for one another, you're a family now.
*vanish*
This site, and the people in it, have been huge for me as I've grown up. Truth be told, I got started in the MK community with TRMK.org. In fact, it used to be called MK Realm back then. In 2002, my family got internet service (dial-up). Surfing the web was an entirely new thing to me, and the only thing I could really think of, in regards to how to use the net, was that websites needed to end in ".com". So, the first thing I can recall typing into a search engine is "mortalkombatstuff.com".
Of course, that didn't work, so I kept trying different things to feed my hunger for MK content. Eventually, I learned to drop the ".com" after every thing I typed, haha. That eventually took me to MK Realm. My mom was moderately strict at the time, and I had to get permission to register for the site so I could participate in the forums. She relented and I was able to make an account and start the journey. Eventually I expanded and found this place. My memory could be fuzzy, but I can slightly recall there being a bit of a feud between MK Realm and MK5.org, as if the MKO'ers were "nerds" and the TRMK'ers were the "cool guys". Anyway, I never bought into that and eventually expanded scope by going to TRMK, MKO, MKW, the Pavilion, MK Bible, and there was even a site called MK Revolution.
My time posting on the message boards slowly died off and I spent most of my time in the IRC chat. That's where I really got to know a lot of the people from MKO. Being new to the internet, and being new to being able to communicate with so many people, it was a very formative time. I think that time period is why I'm so into computers and tech now. Because I was such a n00b, and you could argue I still am, it was nice to get to learn from other people who were already in the know. I can remember brutalforcekhameleon giving me a hard time because I couldn't figure out how to open a ROM with ZSNES, lol. ]{'s tutorial showed me how to make sprite comics, and I even made a thread here asking for help on how to host an image so that I could share it; photobucket came in handy. Lately I've been spending more time in the chat room, and I'll still chime in with tech questions every now and then for something that's giving me trouble.
I was about 12 when I really got into the community and started to recognize people by their usernames. Even though we're all pretty close to the same age, I viewed my time here as getting to hang out with the 'older kids', which was incredible.
Nostalgia is something that's a huge part of me, and to quote a friend of mine: "probably to a fault." Moreover, I feel like I have a weird concept of time. To me, 2003 wasn't that long ago. It feels like it was only 5 years ago. So it's a shock to me when I hear about people buying houses, having kids, doing the adult thing pretty hard. That whole time was just incredible to me. But I'm very happy this site is still here, and the IRC chat is still up, and the same names are still around. It's like being home, to add some cheese into this post.
So, when I see stuff like old MKO E3 photos.
Well.
But!
I'm very happy for what has remained. The site, the chat, the people, and it seems like everyone is growing. As for where I am now, I'm 25 and a college graduate. However, I'm back in school again for a degree in Computer Science and I have a job where I install home theater systems. Not married yet, but will be soon.
Be there for one another, you're a family now.
*vanish*
About Me
You will die mortal. TOASTY Speed Metal will never die.
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You guys brought back so many memories for me, including more personal MK stories I didn't mention, dating long before my time at MKO. The first time I ever played MK was at a local pizza place. They had a Mortal Kombat arcade cabinet and I quickly fell in love. I remember I had to stand on a chair just to play it, haha. Johnny Cage was visible on the side of the cabinet and it was the first game you saw as you entered the arcade. He was probably my favorite character back then, even if I was only 6. He’s still one of my favorites today.
I can't believe my parents actually let me play it at that age, but they never really had any objection to Mortal Kombat. Duke Nukem, on the other hand, proved to be a different story some years later. My dad used to play in a softball league, and the whole team would meet up for pizza and beer after every game, so I'd get my chance to play Mortal Kombat pretty often during the season. I ended up being such a big fan that over the years my parents bought me all of the MK games on home consoles too.
We got Mortal Kombat on the SNES, and it was so awesome to be able to play it at home. You Genesis owners may think the SNES version is inferior without the infamous blood code, but it least it had better button mapping. A+B = HP, B+C = HK? Ugh! Barf!! Hahaha. Anyway, this was the one and only Mortal Kombat my older brother also played (as far as I can remember). We both loved it. I may be wrong, but I’m pretty sure I ended up being better than him, despite being young. One thing I can say for sure, though, is that he was far better at Test Your Might than I ever was. Though I do recall him using the spoon trick to break diamond. Remember that? Haha.
There was so much secrecy around MK that it was practically a social event for gamers, even back in elementary school. With Reptile as a hidden character and all, there were just so many rumors out there, most of which were completely untrue, and some of which were really quite terrible. I can recall in the 2nd grade being told by an older student that if you did Kano's heart-rip fatality to Sonya in MK1, that instead of ripping her heart out, he raped her. I had no idea what that meant, only that it was something bad. In fact, it probably wasn't until high school that I would even learn what that word actually meant. It kind of pisses me off thinking back on it. In fact, I remember the loser that told me, and I randomly saw that clown in public a few weeks ago. How dare he try to corrupt us poor innocent kids! That mother effer! Jokes on him, though. BMK is incorruptible!
The next season, my dad switched softball leagues and location, which meant a new pizza place after the games. This one also had Mortal Kombat, but swapped it out for Mortal Kombat II as soon as it was released. It was amazing. Everything I could have ever wanted. MKII remained my all-time favorite MK game all the way up until MK9 finally topped it for me some 18 years later! (Man that makes me feel old!)
I was so excited when my local video rental store started advertising Mortal Kombat II for home consoles, knowing I’d soon be able to play it at home. I must have rented it several times once it came out. One night at the pizza place with my birthday soon approaching, my mom's best friend surprised me with an early present. It was Mortal Kombat II on the SNES! For most of my life, I had always named it as my favorite gift ever. Totally unexpected and awesome. God bless that woman!
In the 3rd grade, my best friend and I would write down the moves and fatalities for all of the MKII characters on lined school paper and share them with other classmates. I remember going to libraries and copying the moves from strategy guides, or getting them from the moves list on actual arcade cabinets. MK was life!
One day, my dad ended up surprising me in the car ride home after school with MK3 on the SNES. Man, my parents were awesome! I think they may have secretly been MK fans too! My dad took me to see the MK movie in theaters. He seemed to like it but I remember him saying he wanted it to be more bloody, haha. He also took me to see Mortal Kombat Annihilation when that came out. I didn’t hate it at the time, but eh, I was pretty young. Even back then, a lot of the stuff in the movie seemed pretty questionable.
I didn't have Internet back in those days, so when I first saw Mortal Kombat 4 in arcades, it was the first time I'd ever seen it. I didn't have any magazine subscriptions or anything to keep me up to date or show me screenshots. Obviously I was blown away right away. Since I was with my family, I only had time for 2 plays. I remember my first match playing as Reptile, who as I mentioned in the original post, had been my favorite character. I really liked his new look. Next, I played as Quan Chi, just because I thought he looked so cool. I don't think I ran into a lot of MK4 cabinets in my day. This one had actually been set up in an arcade area at the Los Angeles County Fair, and was a very pleasant surprise to find.
I realize now I skipped UMK3 and MKT, but I was never a huge fan of either, to be honest. MK3 was in many ways a step in the wrong direction to me, so I was never terribly excited about nor impressed with UMK3. MK3 was a little too excessive and silly for me. I still played the heck out of it and explored all of its secrets, but out of the main MK games, I think it still remains my least favorite. MKT on the N64 was a disgrace.
Anyway, Mortal Kombat 4 is what brought me here, just like so many of the old-timers. It was definitely a big change for the series, but a much needed one as 3D fighting had really taken off. It might not be the best MK game, but I still love it and really enjoy the gameplay, even if it’s not as deep. And those MK4 endings, as cheesy as they may be, were a lot of fun. Well, I guess that’s all I really have to say about that. This has been another overly long post by Baraka_MK. Over and out!
I can't believe my parents actually let me play it at that age, but they never really had any objection to Mortal Kombat. Duke Nukem, on the other hand, proved to be a different story some years later. My dad used to play in a softball league, and the whole team would meet up for pizza and beer after every game, so I'd get my chance to play Mortal Kombat pretty often during the season. I ended up being such a big fan that over the years my parents bought me all of the MK games on home consoles too.
We got Mortal Kombat on the SNES, and it was so awesome to be able to play it at home. You Genesis owners may think the SNES version is inferior without the infamous blood code, but it least it had better button mapping. A+B = HP, B+C = HK? Ugh! Barf!! Hahaha. Anyway, this was the one and only Mortal Kombat my older brother also played (as far as I can remember). We both loved it. I may be wrong, but I’m pretty sure I ended up being better than him, despite being young. One thing I can say for sure, though, is that he was far better at Test Your Might than I ever was. Though I do recall him using the spoon trick to break diamond. Remember that? Haha.
There was so much secrecy around MK that it was practically a social event for gamers, even back in elementary school. With Reptile as a hidden character and all, there were just so many rumors out there, most of which were completely untrue, and some of which were really quite terrible. I can recall in the 2nd grade being told by an older student that if you did Kano's heart-rip fatality to Sonya in MK1, that instead of ripping her heart out, he raped her. I had no idea what that meant, only that it was something bad. In fact, it probably wasn't until high school that I would even learn what that word actually meant. It kind of pisses me off thinking back on it. In fact, I remember the loser that told me, and I randomly saw that clown in public a few weeks ago. How dare he try to corrupt us poor innocent kids! That mother effer! Jokes on him, though. BMK is incorruptible!
The next season, my dad switched softball leagues and location, which meant a new pizza place after the games. This one also had Mortal Kombat, but swapped it out for Mortal Kombat II as soon as it was released. It was amazing. Everything I could have ever wanted. MKII remained my all-time favorite MK game all the way up until MK9 finally topped it for me some 18 years later! (Man that makes me feel old!)
I was so excited when my local video rental store started advertising Mortal Kombat II for home consoles, knowing I’d soon be able to play it at home. I must have rented it several times once it came out. One night at the pizza place with my birthday soon approaching, my mom's best friend surprised me with an early present. It was Mortal Kombat II on the SNES! For most of my life, I had always named it as my favorite gift ever. Totally unexpected and awesome. God bless that woman!
In the 3rd grade, my best friend and I would write down the moves and fatalities for all of the MKII characters on lined school paper and share them with other classmates. I remember going to libraries and copying the moves from strategy guides, or getting them from the moves list on actual arcade cabinets. MK was life!
One day, my dad ended up surprising me in the car ride home after school with MK3 on the SNES. Man, my parents were awesome! I think they may have secretly been MK fans too! My dad took me to see the MK movie in theaters. He seemed to like it but I remember him saying he wanted it to be more bloody, haha. He also took me to see Mortal Kombat Annihilation when that came out. I didn’t hate it at the time, but eh, I was pretty young. Even back then, a lot of the stuff in the movie seemed pretty questionable.
I didn't have Internet back in those days, so when I first saw Mortal Kombat 4 in arcades, it was the first time I'd ever seen it. I didn't have any magazine subscriptions or anything to keep me up to date or show me screenshots. Obviously I was blown away right away. Since I was with my family, I only had time for 2 plays. I remember my first match playing as Reptile, who as I mentioned in the original post, had been my favorite character. I really liked his new look. Next, I played as Quan Chi, just because I thought he looked so cool. I don't think I ran into a lot of MK4 cabinets in my day. This one had actually been set up in an arcade area at the Los Angeles County Fair, and was a very pleasant surprise to find.
I realize now I skipped UMK3 and MKT, but I was never a huge fan of either, to be honest. MK3 was in many ways a step in the wrong direction to me, so I was never terribly excited about nor impressed with UMK3. MK3 was a little too excessive and silly for me. I still played the heck out of it and explored all of its secrets, but out of the main MK games, I think it still remains my least favorite. MKT on the N64 was a disgrace.
Anyway, Mortal Kombat 4 is what brought me here, just like so many of the old-timers. It was definitely a big change for the series, but a much needed one as 3D fighting had really taken off. It might not be the best MK game, but I still love it and really enjoy the gameplay, even if it’s not as deep. And those MK4 endings, as cheesy as they may be, were a lot of fun. Well, I guess that’s all I really have to say about that. This has been another overly long post by Baraka_MK. Over and out!
About Me
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About Me
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