With the release of Mortal Kombat: Armageddon nearing for the Wii (due out later this month), we thought we’d get one last crack at finding out what makes this game tick. So we had a Q&A with the Producer for Mortal Kombat: Armageddon, Shaun Himmerick. We wanted to find out more about the combo system while using the Wii-mote and whether not this is the very last Mortal Kombat game. But enough blabber, let’s get to it.

CB Games: This is being touted as the last Mortal Kombat game, but even if it’s a big success for the Wii does that still mean we’ll only have Virtual Console releases of Mortal Kombat to look forward to?

Shaun Himmerick: Hopefully the virtual console is a big success. However, MKA is not necessarily the Last MK game ever. It is the last Mortal Kombat game of this style. When MK makes its return, it will be completely new and reinvented.

CB Games: Combos have always played a big part in the MK series and now that the Wii-mote has come into play, does that mean players will be able to pull off more combos or different variations of combos? Or, will the combos initially stay the same, with only changes taking place in the way they’re executed?

Shaun Himmerick: The Special moves in Mortal Kombat Armageddon are so much easier to pull off with the new gesture system with the Wii-Remote. There are a lot of people who could never string together super moves who will now be able to. Veterans will very easily pick up this new system and have no troubles doing anything they could before and possibly more, but also anyone new to MK will be able to quickly pick it up and have success.

CB Games: This Speaking of controls, how much of an adjustment was it going from designing the game around the standard PS2/Xbox controller layout, to the motion sensing capabilities of the Wii-mote?

Shaun Himmerick: It was the biggest challenge in developing the game. We started with the goal of the controls being the biggest Feature to make sure it got the attention it would need. Everything you “know” about how the controls work had to be thrown out and redesigned from the ground up. It is not just a port of previous control systems. The controls were built specifically for this game and the Wii’s controls.

CB Games: This Following up to the last question, was it more or less convenient to try to establish a mechanic that gamers would find intuitive and fun, especially considering how long most hardcore gamers have become adjusted to the standard MK control scheme?

MK:A Team: Designing controls around the Wii-Remote and Nunchuk was certainly harder than any previous console controls in recent memory. So many games have been made for the previous platforms. So it is a very known quantity of what is intuitive and there are also a lot of basic assumptions you can make about what the players already know about the controllers and the controls. The Wii does not have that built in player knowledge or that knowledge of previous similar versions already being released. It is completely new and a very exciting thing to tackle from a design standpoint.

We feel we have a system that is intuitive to both a person picking the game up for the first time as well as a good system for the hardcore player who knows the previous style of controls. If you’ve played MK before, in just a few short minutes you will have it all sort of ‘click into place’, and you’ll just get it.



CB Games: I simply have to ask, is it much more difficult for projectile-pansies to keep shooting projectiles repeatedly? There’s nothing worse than losing to a fire-ball cheater. So I’m hoping a quick succession of back-to-back projectiles results in Wii-elbow...does it?

Shaun Himmerick: I won’t say we made it harder to do any one move. We did however, make it much easier to do all of the moves with our Gesture system for the Wii. So anyone spamming a move or using some traditional techniques will probably have to build some new strategies for the Wii.

CB Games: Thanks Shaun, for answering our questions and good luck with MK: Armageddon for the Wii.

In addition to this interview, you can check out the MK: Fighter of the Wiik below, courtesy of Gametrailers. It just so happens to be Blaze, the main boss of the game. Enjoy.