Ed Boon Shares Early Liu Kang Sketch on Twitter

Ed Boon has been on a bit of a nostalgia kick lately. Between the MK3 patch notes he recently shared and this sketch he uploaded, we've been getting an interesting peek into the early days of Mortal Kombat. What you are seeing here is an original drawing and backstory done by John Tobias. From the caption on Twitter, this appears to be an early concept for the character we've come to know and love as Liu Kang.

The name Yoshitsune Minamoto seems to be a reference to the actual historical figure who served as the general for the Minamoto clan during the mid to late 12th century. It's kind of neat to see how heavily inspired by Japanese history and culture Mortal Kombat was, especially when we tend to just think of Raiden in that regard. To where they ended up going, Minamoto wasn't all too different from the final Liu Kang product, so I guess the crew at Netherrealm knew they had something awesome with this guy.



Hopefully, Ed Boon will keep finding more of these old Mortal Kombat notes. I don't know about you guys, but I'm digging the trip through the time machine. Keep an eye on his Twitter (or just stay on this site you are already on) for more when it goes up.

Even though I'm disappointed this isn't MK11 Liu concept art, this is still really badass in and of its own right.

My dad and cousin both collect all manner of stuff, and the latter had the whole original MK1 box full of stuff - a little lore book and posters, i think there were Pogs, etc. - and I thought it was the coolest shit ever. Someone had totally reinvented karate (i was 6, all martial arts were karate) and made it more violent.

And here we are.

Hey Ed, you got any more of those...scratchscratch...mountain demons?

So, Liu was supposed to be named Yoshi.

Awesome stuff, hope we get to see more of that.

Does this mean they go back to the orient style roots of MK?! let's go!

I'm massively disappointed it doesn't start with "Born in China, Liu Kang...."

He's no longer the Ed Boon we know. He knows why.

NothingPersonal said:

Does this mean they go back to the orient style roots of MK?! let's go!

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That would be dope, hopefully they decide to bring back the mystical oriental feel to their music aswell.