Mortal Kombat 1 pays homage to Quentin Tarantino with this brilliant fatality

Mortal Kombat 1 is out for those willing to shill out some serious cash for the premium or kollectors edition, and already fans are having a blast picking through the game on the lookout for cool references to past games.

What they may not have expected is an especially rad send up to one of Quentin Tarintino’s finest films. Highlighted on Twitter by Ed Boon himself, kameo fighter Shujinko has a fatality in the game that directly references the five palm exploding heart technique used in the film Kill Bill.

It’s pretty much a one-to-one recreation, except with a far more gruesome conclusion than the honourable walk away that actor David Carradine got when he was hit with the technique in Tarintino’s flick. The technique itself has a lot more of a legacy than just Kill Bill mind you – first being used in a pair of Shaw Brothers films called Clan of the White Lotus and Executioners of Shaolin respectively.

Mortal Kombat owes a lot of its inspiration from the old school Eastern cinema and various action films Ed Boon and co were watching in the 80’s and 90’s. While characters like Kano, Sonya, and Johnny Cage obviously come from the western sie of things, the cast of ninjas and martial artists like Liu Kang and Kung Lao show their Eastern roots openly. With that in mind referencing Kill Bill – itself a Western send-up to Samurai films and Shaw Brothers productions – makes perfect sense.

Give the fatality a watch yourself and let us know what you think! Has this helped tempt you into picking up Mortal Kombat 1 – or are you already in there grinding out combos? Let us know below!