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Sonya Blade was a last-minute addition to the original Mortal Kombat, and her signature Leg Grab was inspired by her actress’s real-life aerobics.
Sonya Blade’s upside-down Leg Grab maneuver is one of the most famous moves in Mortal Kombat, and there is an interesting story behind how both this attack and Sonya herself came to be included in the first game. Sonya Blade was one of the original seven playable characters in the long-running Mortal Kombat series, and remains a popular member of the fighting franchise’s ever-growing roster of deadly warriors to this day – to the point where fans are still recreating Sonya Blade’s original MK look in cosplay form.
Like all Mortal Kombat characters, Sonya Blade has no shortage of devastating strikes, special moves, and gruesome Fatalities to punish her foes both in and out of the titular Mortal Kombat tournament, and this arsenal has only grown with each new Mortal Kombat game she has appeared in. One of her most noted attacks is her signature Leg Grab, in which she flips toward her opponent, grabs them by the torso with her legs, and slams them to the ground in a pseudo-suplex to take out a fair bit of their health bar. It is quite useful when Sonya wishes to switch positions with her enemy, and skilled Mortal Kombat players have been able to pull off impressive combinations using the Leg Grab as a base. The move would be updated into the enhanced Krazy Legs and Leg Slam attacks in 2011’s Mortal Kombat reboot and 2015’s Mortal Kombat, but it was ultimately left out of Mortal Kombat 11 to the disappointment of many players.
Mortal Kombat co-creator Ed Boon recently shared some behind-the-scenes footage of the original MK in honor of the franchise’s 30th anniversary, including how Sonya Blade and her signature Leg Grab were created. Six months into the development cycle for Mortal Kombat, then-developer Midway presented an unfinished prototype version of the game with only Scorpion, Sub-Zero, Raiden, Liu Kang, Johnny Cage, and Kano to players at a Chicago arcade named “Times Square” to gain feedback. After this weekend test run, it was decided that Midway needed to add another playable character to Mortal Kombat’s roster following requests for a female combatant. This resulted in professional dancer and aerobics instructor Elizabeth Malecki being brought in to record reference footage as Sonya – which would then be digitized and used as the character’s in-game sprites. One of Malecki’s moves, a handstand, caught Ed Boon’s attention, and this was used as the basis of Sonya Blade’s Leg Grab maneuver in the finished game.
Sony Blade Was A Last Minute Addition To Mortal Kombat
Malecki would only play Sonya Blade for the first two Mortal Kombat games, as she cut ties with Midway following a legal dispute over pay and her uncredited likeness being used in a background in Mortal Kombat 2. She would be replaced by model and martial artist Kerri Hoskins for the subsequent Mortal Kombat 3 and Mortal Kombat 4. Still, it is impressive to see Malecki at work in the early performance capture that led to the original Mortal Kombat’s signature digitized look.
It can also be difficult to imagine that Sonya Blade and her infamous Leg Grab were a last-minute addition to the original Mortal Kombat, as both have become popular and iconic with the franchise’s fans over the past 30 years. Ed Boon’s newly-released footage provides a fascinating look at the process that created the classic Mortal Kombat, especially in how one of the game’s most talked-about moves was first devised.
Source: Ed Boon/Twitter
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