As a nerdy kid growing up in the early 90s, Greg Russo made a second home out of his neighborhood arcade. Each day after school, he and his friends would spend hours developing what he now jokingly calls an unhealthy relationship with Mortal Kombat. âI played it all the time,â he says of the fantasy-themed fight game. âI knew every move.â Most importantly, Russo knew all the right button combinations required to execute a fatality: the gameâs signature, hyper-violent finishing move that eliminated an opponent in shuddering fashion. The proper sequencing could allow a character, like the ice-manipulating ninja Sub-Zero, to freeze and snap a spinal cord, or the special forces soldier Sonya Blade to throw an energy ring and skeletonize her foe. âIt was kind of a rite of passage in the arcade. If you couldn't finish your match with a fatality, you kind of didn't deserve to be [playing],â he says. âI loved capping off my matches with one of those.â