VICE News has released a new documentary offering a behind-the-scenes look at Mortal Kombat’s unsavory sound design. NetherRealm Studios Senior Sound Designer Stephen Schappler joined reporter Dexter Thomas in The Secret To The Gruesome Sounds In Mortal Kombat Is Exploding Vegetables, where the two shed some light on how vegetables are heavily used for bringing the disemboweling noises to life.
After a brief history of the Mortal Kombat franchise and a tour of NetherRealm HQ in Chicago, Schappler brought Thomas inside the studio’s recording booth to begin the process. The two start off simply cracking walnuts before escalating to actions like twisting bell peppers, squishing grapefruits and creating revolting noises with bananas in their mouths. Taking a listen to the raw audio recordings, Schappler picks out certain clips and adds altering effects to create a bigger, more realistic sound, transforming the walnut cracking to ribs breaking, the banana-chewing to toxic vomit and the bell peppers and grapefruits into a bursting skull.
Watch the short documentary above.
In other gaming news, Square Enix has shared the release date of the Final Fantasy VIII remaster.