Ed Boon | |
|---|---|
 Boon in 2023 | |
| Born | Edward Boon (1964-02-22)February 22, 1964 (age 61) |
| Occupation(s) | Game programmer,creative director,philanthropist,voice actor and producer |
| Years active | 1987–present |
EdwardBoon (born February 22, 1964)[1] is an Americanvideo game programmer, voice actor, and director. Boon is best known for co-creating the fighting game seriesMortal Kombat along withJohn Tobias, and directing theInjustice series. In 2009, he was chosen byIGN as one of the top 100 game creators of all time for his involvement in theMortal Kombat series.[2]
Boon was employed for over 15 years atMidway Games. Since 2011, he has worked forNetherRealm Studios.
Boon graduated from high school atLoyola Academy inWilmette. Boon is of Hispanic descent, from theDominican Republic.[1] He earned aBachelor of Science degree inmathematics andcomputer science from theUniversity of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.[3][4]
After graduation, he was employed byWilliams Entertainment in theirpinball department, working on approximately 20 pinball games over the next two years. During this time, he was called the Mortal Master, an early indicator towards a future creation.[5]
He is the co-creator of theMortal Kombatfighting game series, along withJohn Tobias,[6] and served as the series' lead programmer, with Tobias as the lead designer, until their partnership dissolved with Tobias' departure from Midway in 2000. Boon named series charactersSonya andTanya after his sisters Sonia and Tania,[7] while another character,Noob Saibot, was named after Boon and Tobias' reversed surnames.[8] Programmer Mike Boon is Ed's younger brother and has been a part of his team sinceMortal Kombat 4.[4]
Boon continues to be directly involved with theMortal Kombat franchise and its multimedia side projects and has also providedvoice acting andmotion capture work for the games, most notably providing the voice for the "Come here!" and "Get over here!" catchphrases byScorpion in several games of the series as well as the first two feature filmsMortal Kombat andMortal Kombat Annihilation. The 2008 edition ofGuinness World Records Gamer's Edition consequently awarded him a world record for the "longest-serving video game voice actor."[9]
| Year | Title | Role(s) |
|---|---|---|
| 1990 | High Impact Football | — |
| 1991 | Super High Impact | — |
| 1992 | Total Carnage | Voice of General Akhboob |
| 1992 | Mortal Kombat | Designer, programmer, voice ofScorpion,Reptile,Shang Tsung (announcer) |
| 1993 | Mortal Kombat II | Designer, programmer, voice of Scorpion,Smoke,Noob Saibot,Liu Kang, andJax |
| 1995 | Mortal Kombat 3 | Designer, programmer, voice of Smoke, Liu Kang and Jax |
| 1995 | Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 | Executive producer, designer, programmer, voice of Scorpion |
| 1996 | Mortal Kombat Trilogy | Designer, programmer |
| 1997 | Mortal Kombat 4 | Designer, programmer, voice ofJohnny Cage,Raiden,Kai, Scorpion and Jax |
| 1999 | Mortal Kombat Gold | Project lead, voice ofCyrax |
| 2001 | The Grid | — |
| 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 leader |
| 2011 | Mortal Kombat | Team leader, creative director, additional voices |
| 2011 | Batman: Arkham City Lockdown | Creative director |
| 2013 | Injustice: Gods Among Us | Creative director, team leader |
| 2013 | Batman: Arkham Origins | Creative director, team leader |
| 2015 | Mortal Kombat X | Creative director, team leader |
| 2017 | Injustice 2 | Creative director, team leader |
| 2019 | Mortal Kombat 11 | Creative director, team leader |
| 2023 | Mortal Kombat 1 | Creative director, team leader |
| Year | Title | Role(s) |
|---|---|---|
| 1987 | F-14 Tomcat | effects |
| 1987 | Space Station | software and effects |
| 1988 | Banzai Run | effects |
| 1988 | Taxi | software and effects |
| 1989 | Black Knight 2000 | software and effects |
| 1990 | FunHouse | voice of Rudy[10] |
| Year | Title | Role(s) | Note(s) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1995 | Mortal Kombat | Scorpion (voice) | [10] |
| 1997 | Mortal Kombat Annihilation | ||
| 2006 | Drawn Together | Episode: "The One Wherein There Is a Big Twist: Part 2" | |
| 2011 | Mortal Kombat: Legacy | Ed Goodman | cameo appearance in first-season episode "Johnny Cage" |
