Ed Boon

Edward John Boon (born February 22, 1964) is an American video game programmer, philanthropist, voice actor, and director who was employed for over 15 years at Midway Games and since 2011 has worked for Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment in its company NetherRealm Studios. Boon is best known for the widely popular Mortal Kombat series, which he created with John Tobias. Boon and Tobias' last names backwards are the basis for the name of the Mortal Kombat character Noob Saibot.

Ed Boon
Ed Boon at E3 2013
Born
Edward John Boon

(1964-02-22) February 22, 1964[1]
Chicago, Illinois, United States
OccupationGame programmer, director, voice actor and producer
Years active1987–present

Life and career

Boon was born and raised in Chicago, Illinois, and graduated from high school at Loyola Academy in Wilmette. He earned a Bachelor of Science degree in mathematics and computer science from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.[2]

After graduation, he was employed by Williams Entertainment in their pinball department, working on approximately 20 pinball games over the next two years.[3] During this time, he was called the Mortal Master, an early indicator towards a future creation.

He is the co-creator of the Mortal Kombat fighting game series, along with John Tobias,[4] and served as the series' lead programmer, with Tobias the lead designer, until their partnership dissolved with Tobias' departure from Midway in 2000. Boon named series characters Sonya Blade and Tanya after his sisters Sonya and Tania, while another character, Noob Saibot, was named after Boon and Tobias' reversed surnames.

Boon was ranked #100 in IGN's 2009 list of "Top 100 Game Creators" for his involvement in the Mortal Kombat series.[5] He continues to be directly involved with the MK franchise and its multimedia side projects, and has also provided voice acting and motion capture work for the games, most notably providing the voice for the "Come Here!" and "Get Over Here!" catchphrases uttered by Scorpion in every installment of the series as well as both feature films. The 2008 edition of Guinness World Records Gamer's Edition consequently awarded him a world record for the "longest-serving video game voice actor."

In 2018 Mortal Kombat was exhibited in an arcade cabinet at the Chicago New Media 1973-1992 exhibition, curated by jonCates.[6]

Works

Video games
Year Title Role(s)
1990 High Impact Football N/A
1991 Super High Impact N/A
1992 Total Carnage Voice of General Akhboob
1992 Mortal Kombat Designer, programmer, voice of Scorpion, Shang Tsung (announcer)
1993 Mortal Kombat II Designer, programmer, voice of Scorpion, Liu Kang and Jax
1995 Mortal Kombat 3 Designer, programmer, voice of Scorpion, Liu Kang and Jax
1995 Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 Executive producer, designer, programmer
1996 Mortal Kombat Trilogy Designer
1997 Mortal Kombat 4 Designer, programmer, voice of Johnny Cage, Raiden, Kai, Scorpion and Jax
1999 Mortal Kombat Gold Project lead, voice of Cyrax
2001 The Grid N/A
2002 Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance Team lead, game design, programming, voice of Scorpion
2004 Mortal Kombat: Deception Project lead, game design, programming, voice of Scorpion, Reiko, Sub-Zero and Noob Saibot
2005 Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks Executive producer, voice of Scorpion
2006 Mortal Kombat: Armageddon Creative director
2008 Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe Creative director, team lead
2011 Mortal Kombat Team leader, creative director, additional voices
2011 Batman: Arkham City Lockdown Creative director
2013 Injustice: Gods Among Us Team leader, creative director
2013 Batman: Arkham Origins N/A
2015 Mortal Kombat X Creative director, team leader
2017 Injustice 2 Creative director, team leader
2019 Mortal Kombat 11 Creative director, team leader

Pinball


Media
Year Title Role(s) Note(s)
1995Mortal KombatScorpion (voice)[7]
1997Mortal Kombat: Annihilation
2006Drawn TogetherEpisode: "The One Wherein There Is a Big Twist: Part 2"
2011Mortal Kombat: LegacyEd Goodmancameo appearance in first-season episode "Johnny Cage"
gollark: Sadly, the JS people were *not* as cool as the F# ones, thus JS's monads are not G E N E R A L I Z E D.
gollark: Do not disrespect M O N A D.
gollark: M O N A D, reinhardt. M O N A D.
gollark: Promises are excellent because monad.
gollark: Callbacks are uncool and old but half the APIs use them still.

References
  1. Birthday references:
  2. "Universities of Missouri, Illinois hailed as tech's powerful colleges". St. Louis Business Journal. May 3, 2010. Retrieved June 3, 2010.
  3. "Mortal's Master: Programmer Ed Boon". GamePro. IDG (86): 38–40. November 1995.
  4. "E3 2010: Mortal Kombat Returns! See the New Trailer!". DreadCentral.
  5. IGN Games (February 23, 2009). "Top 100 Game Creators". IGN. Archived from the original on July 10, 2012. Retrieved June 3, 2010.
  6. Cates, Jon (2018). Chicago New Media, 1973-1992. Illinois, US: University of Illinois. p. 9. ISBN 978-0-252-08407-2.
  7. "Ed Boon | Behind The Voice Actors". Behind The Voice Actors. Retrieved July 27, 2019. Check mark indicates role has been confirmed using screenshots of closing credits and other reliable sources.
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