FINISH HIM!
Mortal Kombat's command to perform a Fatality โ a brutal finishing move on a defeated opponent โ and the franchise's signal contribution to violent-game vocabulary.
Origin
Mortal Kombat shipped in 1992 from Midway. The fighting-game gimmick was that the characters were digitized live-action actors (not drawings) and bled real-looking red blood. The signature mechanic: after defeating an opponent, an announcer voiced 'FINISH HIM!' and the player could input a secret button sequence to perform a Fatality โ a gruesome finishing move (decapitation, ripping out a spine, etc.). The realism and gore triggered the US Congressional hearings of 1993 and led to the creation of the ESRB game-rating system the next year. The franchise has continued ever since, and the Fatalities have only become more elaborate.
Modern usage
'Finish him!' as a phrase has detached from the game โ used in sports commentary, business writing, and any context of pressing an advantage. 'Fatality' as a one-shot kill term escaped Mortal Kombat into general gaming vocabulary. The franchise is the canonical reference for 'video games made my kid violent' moral panics.
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