When it came time to decide on a fourth DLC character for the latest Mortal Kombat, Freddy Krueger wasn’t the only horror icon developers considered. In fact, there was a time when the notion of adding a quartet of famous movie killers was under consideration.
“At one point, we had a conversation about having a group — imagine Freddy, Jason, Michael Myers, Leatherface from Texas Chainsaw Massacre — of all these killers from the ’80s and ’90s flicks come in as a group of characters,” Netherrealm Studios Creative Director Ed Boon told Playstation Blog.
While the frightening foursome never got the chance to test their might against Sub Zero, Liu Kang, and the rest of the Mortal Kombat cast (“We never got a grip on how we would do it,” said Boon), claw-wielding Elm Street stalker Freddy Krueger will make his bloody debut August 9. But his arrival hasn’t come without some complaints from fans, who criticized what they perceived as the developer’s decision to use the 2010 revamped version of the character (played by Jackie Earle Haley) instead of the iconic Robert Englund mold.
Not so, said Boon.
“We didn’t try to make him look like the actor Robert Englund, I don’t even know if we would be allowed to,” said Boon. “Admittedly, I didn’t see the latest movie, the remake. But obviously the first few movies were huge — they left an undeniable mark on pop culture. When I look at him, I think of the original Freddy: he’s got the striped sweater and is instantly recognizable. He’s Freddy in general, we don’t really identify him as one version or another.”
Boon also offered up a few thoughts on how Freddy Krueger’s fighting style compares to those of his martial artist opponents. Apparently, it all comes down to the claws.
“He doesn’t fight like a martial artist,” said Boon. “We gave him two claws, which we explain in his character bio, so you can almost imagine a Baraka with shorter blades that are always out. He’s got lots of swipes, he can send his claws creepy-crawling on the ground or flying through the air. He can dig into the ground and the claws will come up under his opponent. He’s very claw-centric.”
Freddy Krueger will be available August 9 as a DLC character for Mortal Kombat, and cost $4.99.
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