John Tobias facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
John Tobias
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Tobias in 2017
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John Tobias
August 24, 1969 Chicago, IL
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| Years active | 1988–present |
| Known for | Mortal Kombat franchise |
John Tobias is an American artist and writer. He is famous for his work as a comic book artist, graphic designer, and video game designer. John Tobias is best known for helping create the super popular Mortal Kombat video game series. He worked on this series with Ed Boon, and it was John who first thought of the game idea.
Contents
Early Life and Creative Beginnings
John Tobias loved drawing from a young age. He was inspired by exciting comic books. When he was in high school, he took special weekend classes. These classes were at the Art Institute of Chicago. Before joining Midway Games, he worked as an artist. He drew for The Real Ghostbusters comic book series. John originally wanted to be a comic book artist. However, video games started to have amazing graphics. This made the video game world very exciting to him.
Creating Mortal Kombat
Before Mortal Kombat became a huge hit, John Tobias worked on another game. He helped create the arcade game Smash TV in 1990. Then, in 1992, Mortal Kombat was released. John Tobias was a key person behind its success.
Story and Characters
John Tobias created the main story for the early Mortal Kombat games. He also designed the themes and the different worlds. These included the mysterious Outworld and the dark Netherrealm. He was also in charge of designing all the characters. This included every fighter from the first games up to Mortal Kombat 4, which came out in 1997.
Some of the most famous characters he designed are:
- Kano
- Kitana
- Liu Kang
- Raiden
- Johnny Cage
- Scorpion
- Sub-Zero
- Sonya Blade
- Goro
A character named Noob Saibot was even named after John Tobias and Ed Boon. Their last names were spelled backward to create the name.
After Midway Games
In 1999, John Tobias left Midway Games. Other important staff members, like Dave Michicich and Josh Tsui, also left. In 2000, they started their own company called Studio Gigante.
Studio Gigante Games
Studio Gigante's first game was Tao Feng: Fist of the Lotus. It was released in 2003 by Microsoft Game Studios. After that, they created WWE WrestleMania 21 in 2005. Studio Gigante stopped making games later that same year.
Later Career
After Studio Gigante closed, John Tobias worked as a consultant. He gave advice to other companies in the games industry. In September 2012, he joined a company called Zynga. This company makes social games.
Legacy and Recognition
Even though he was a main creator of Mortal Kombat, John Tobias was not always mentioned in documentaries. For example, he was not in the "making of" videos for Deadly Alliance and Deception. However, he was called one of the "four people who made" the first Mortal Kombat. You can see him in the commentary for Mortal Kombat 3. This commentary is part of the Midway Arcade Treasures 2 collection.
In 2008, John Tobias drew a special comic book. This comic came with certain versions of Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe. In 2020, he was interviewed for a Netflix documentary series. The series was called High Score. He talked about Mortal Kombat and the discussions around its release. In 2021, Ed Boon shared that both he and John Tobias are Hispanic. This was during National Hispanic Heritage Month.
See also
In Spanish: John Tobias para niños
