Here’s Johnny!
Daniel Pesina portrayed Johnny Cage and the ninja characters in Mortal Kombat and Mortal Kombat II – we speak to him about his experience with the series
How did you become involved with
Mortal Kombat?
In short, I became involved in Mortal Kombat through a friendship planted in a group of friends. A friend of mine, who later went on to help draw the first Mortal Kombat comic and did the artwork for Nintendo’s home version of Mortal Kombat, put together a creative group – a group of friends who loved the arts and are geeks! We would go to movies together, collect comics, play Dungeons & Dragons, draw, mix records, break dance, go to the arcade, etc. One of the group was John Tobias.
Years later he gave me a call and asked if I could help him on a fighting game. He wanted to videotape myself, Rich Divizio and my brother Carlos Pesina displaying martial arts moves and play fighting together. He had some basic drawings of some characters and would present them to the company he worked for, Midway Games. I agreed. We went to Midway Games on the hush. John wanted no one to know about this project until his presentation. We filmed some things and he presented them. The company was interested and wanted to see more and hear about our ideas so a meeting was made.
During that meeting the group spoke about Kung Fu movies we like including Enter The Dragon, Big Trouble In Little China, 5 Deadly Venoms as well as comics such as Iron Fist and Shang Chi Master Of Kung Fu.
As we were leaving I heard John ask the rep what he thought and the rep shook his head and made a sour face. Later on John called me and said that they liked the idea of a fighting game, but not our fighting game – basically, ‘No.’ A new idea came up focusing on a mainstream fighting game with Jean-claude Van Damme.
Did you have much knowledge of fighting games beforehand?
I do not play fighting games that often. The fighting is not attractive to me, there are certain elements that I think are missing.
Did you have to do any sort of research for your role of Johnny Cage?
Most of the creation was done while filming and was a collaboration or competition to come up with a better idea. For example, John based the Johnny Cage character on Daniel Rand for Iron Fist. He told me to act like a movie star. I came out waving to the camera and blowing kisses. John liked it and said to do more, so I came out with the sunglasses, blew kisses, flexed my biceps and threw the glasses.
This was the basic creative engine for the first three characters. Cage, Kano, Raiden. We started taking outside the group ideas after that. People working on the game started getting the vision!
How much input did you have into the game’s moves?
As far as moves go, day one of creation John and I spent about eight hours filming while I performed martial arts moves, creating a path for the game. Day two, eight hours again but we learned a few things, and we started to organise high, medium and low techniques. On the third day we started adding things like knees, headbutts and sweeps along with reactions. Including falls on concrete – ouch! On the fourth or fifth day we had the main programmer come to tweak the moves so they would work for the game.
My other credits include insisting the ninjas be Lin Kuei, the first fatality, and the use of props to help us video the project. Plus the kiss of death for Sonya and Katana and Mileena’s fatalities, to name a few things.
Why was Mortal Kombat II your last appearance in the series?
I was promised that we were only going to produce 200 arcade cabinets. I mentioned if they were going to make more, I would get a game. They told me, ‘No way, only 200 will be produced.’ When its success exploded I asked what was going on and was promised a bonus. I did not receive that, but I thought they would get to it. It went to the home systems and again I mentioned our agreement. They told me not to worry, as we would be taken care of. Near the end of Mortal Kombat II they presented me with a new contract, basically signing my rights away with the basic dollar amount I mentioned to them when we first started the game – the cost of a game. I thought this was not fair and never helped them again.
Why do you think Mortal Kombat remains so loved by so many gamers?
The game made connections and friendships. People recall playing with friends or making friends playing the game – escaping to the basement or their room to play the game for hours, alone or with friends. Skipping school to play and getting in trouble. There are so many stories. Friendships continue even today. Some still play the game together with the same friends.
Do you have any final message for the Mortal Kombat fans out there?
Tell your fans to keep creating and sometimes in life you must FIGHT!