The first footage of the Jean-Claude Van Damme DLC for Mortal Kombat 1 has been shown.
Van Damme appears as a special alternate skin for Johnny Cage, which can be unlocked by players who purchase the Premium Edition of the game.
The skin appears to show Van Dam as he would have looked in the early 1990s, around the time of the first Mortal Kombat game’s release.
The footage was shown during an interview with series co-creator Ed Boon First we celebrate the hot stuffWhere celebrities eat hot wings while answering questions.
“When we made the first game, our goal was to make Van Damme: The Arcade Game,” Boone said, explaining that the Van Damme DLC has been in the making for 30 years.
“We really wanted to see the phrase ‘Van Dam.’ Bloodsport was a big game, and so was Universal Soldier, I think.
“So we called his team and said, ‘We want to make a game based on Van Damme,’ and I don’t know if he said no or never reached out or something like that.
“But, you know, there’s two 20-year-old boys who want to make a video game — I can see how Van Dam would say, ‘No, we’re not doing that.’
“So we tried a few times, back and forth with him. This time, we hit the lottery, and we got him. We already have his voice and he’s going to be the Johnny Cage character, and it’s the absolute full circle moment that we’ve had.”
Mortal Kombat 1 was developed by NetherRealm Studios and published by Warner Bros. Games, and will be released on September 19, 2023 for PS5, Xbox Series
Anyone who pre-orders the game will get Shang Tsung as a playable character, while players who purchase the Premium version will get five days early access (plus Van Damme DLC, early access to DLC characters and 1,250 Dragon Krystals).
After launch, six characters will be coming to the game as DLC – Quan Chi, Omni Man, Ermac, Takeda, Peacemaker, and Homelander.