TITLE
An Interview With the Guy Who Yells “Mortal Kombat” in the Theme for Mortal Kombat
AUTHOR
Matthew Dessem
PUBLICATION
Slate
YEAR
2021
ARTICLE TYPE
Interview
FROM THE ARTICLE
This month, ultraviolent video game franchise Mortal Kombat is set to return to movie screens (and HBO Max) for the first time in decades, and that means just one thing: A new generation is going to have the chance to run around hollering “Mortal Kombat!” at the top of their lungs, just like the guy in the Mortal Kombat theme song. You know the one.The song’s real title is “Techno Syndrome (Mortal Kombat),” and it’s by Lords of Acid members Praga Khan and Olivier Adams, aka the Immortals. But the guy who actually yells “Mortal Kombat,” Texas-based actor Kyle Wyatt, wasn’t involved with the song’s recording. Instead, he’d yelled “Mortal Kombat!” while filming a commercial for “Mortal Monday,” Sept. 13, 1993, the date Acclaim simultaneously released home versions of Mortal Kombat for the Super Nintendo, Sega Genesis, Game Boy, and Game Gear. Here’s an extended version of that commercial—you can hear Wyatt 54 seconds in.
To find out what it was like to be the guy who yells “Mortal Kombat!” in the Mortal Kombat theme song, Slate caught up with Wyatt over the phone. Our conversation has been edited and condensed for clarity.
GAMES MENTIONED
Mortal Kombat (1992)
PEOPLE MENTIONED
Kyle Wyatt
TOPICS MENTIONED
Advertising