In a move that will surprise nobody, Australia’s Classification Board has ruled to ban Mortal Kombat, judging that its Fatality moves are too gruesome to quality for the country’s highest age rating, MA 15+.
“We are extremely disappointed that Mortal Kombat, one of the world’s oldest and most successful video games franchises, will not be available to mature Australian gamers,” said Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment. “WBIE would not market mature content where it is not appropriate for the audience. We understand that not all content is for every audience, but there is an audience for mature gaming content and it would make more sense to have the R18+ classification in Australia.”
While the Board acknowledged that Fatalities would not be a frequent part of the game, it said that there is over sixty of them, featuring “explicit depictions of dismemberment, decapitation, disembowelment and other brutal forms of slaughter.”
The Board also revealed three of the choicest Fatalities. Check them out below, but be warned of spoilers (obviously).
Mortal Kombat banned in Australia [GamePron]
- Kung Lao throws his metal hat into the ground and it spins like a buzz saw. He grabs his prone opponent by the ankles and drags their body through the saw, explicitly slicing them vertically in half. Copious bloodspray is noted. Kung Lao then holds up both halves of the corpse as blood pours out.
- Quan Chi explicitly rips his opponent’s leg off, accompanied by copious bloodspray. As they lie on the groins, he explicitly beats them with the severed leg for a prolonged period of time.
- Baraka explicitly lodges a blade (attached to his wrist) in an opponent’s stomach and hoists them above his head. He spins them round and explicitly decapitates and dismembers them, accompanied by copious bloodspray.
Australia is currently debating the implementation of an 18+ rating, but obviously that won’t happen in time to save Mortal Kombat.
