Q&A: Mortal Kombat vs DC Universe’s Hector Sanchez

Never in their wildest dreams did nerds ever think that they would be able to see Sub-Zero foot sweep The Joker or Superman get in Scorpion’s ass. And while their dreams of waking up next to Olivia Munn are still just that, thanks to the good folks at Midway Games and DC Comics at least they can now embody their favorite character from either the Mortal Kombat franchise or the DC Universe and fight to the death in Mortal Kombat vs DC Universe.

Released Sunday (Nov. 16) for XBOX 360 and PlayStation 3,  MK vs DCU (as it has been dubbed) is a true best of both worlds. GIANT recentl caught up with MK vs. DCU Associate Producer Hector Sanchez to talk about the game, playing against Lil Wayne and whether or not the game will include MK’s signature blood.

GIANT: How did the initial idea for Mortal Kombat vs DC Universe come about?

Hector Sanchez: We have always wanted to do a mash up for MK. There happened to be someone who knew someone, who told this person, and lo and behold, we were offered to work with the DC license. [TK} Ed Boon had always been a fan of Shazam as a kid, and really thought we had something with the design inspiration we could draw from in developing fighting styles for all of these characters. Things worked out and now we have Scorpion and Batman on the front cover of our box.

GIANT: Given the variety of great characters in both franchises, how were the final 22 chosen?

HS: There was a lot of back and forth between the team members, a lot of heavy discussions. It was ultimate fanboy heaven. Who makes it? Who doesn’t? Who could NEVER beat THIS person? Things like that. It’s always amazing to be in conversations like this.

GIANT: At one point, there was talk about doing the game without the trademark MK blood. What made you guys decide to go with it?

HS: I can’t remember a time when we came out and said there WOULDN’T be blood. I think a lot of that was internet sensationalism from a very voracious vocal minority. People picked up on it and thought we were going a no blood route but Ed Boon has always said, “We are going to take the T-Rating limit and push it as far to the edge as it will go,” and we did. There is blood, there are finishing moves, there is progressive damage on all of the characters models, and it is an MK game, through and through.

GIANT: What do you think the best element of MK vs DC is? What’s something you wanted to but didn’t get to include?

HS: The updated fighting styles and the new fighting mechanics (Free Fall, Klose, and Kombat Rage) are something we are really proud of. We’ve really taken advantage of the next generation consoles’ strengths and updated MK to remain over the top arcade fighting fun.

If we had more time we could have probably made four or five separate finishing moves (Fatalities and Heroic Brutalities) for every character instead of two. There were THAT many ideas floating around. But two per character is still a good variety and only the best of the best made it in the final game.

GIANT: If you could play against one celeb in MK vs DC, who would it be? And why?

HS: I would definitely want to play against Lil’ Wayne. I’ve heard him spit little freestyles here and there about Liu Kang and Scorpion. SO, I know he’s gotta be a player, still. There is also a hip hop artist from Chicago, Nico B, who has said a few things in his songs about MK. I’d love to take on anyone that speaks up, because I would relish the competition. You’re not going to shout out MK unless you can pull a Fatality off, you know?

GIANT: What character is the most difficult to defeat?

HS: Darkseid and Shao Kahn are beasts. Dark Kahn (the Final Boss) is really difficult as well. Also, if I’m playing as Scorpion and we’re playing online against each other, I don’t know who will beat me. Really.

GIANT: Can you elaborate on the various online player modes?

HS: We’ll have ranked match, player matches, and chat room matches. Ranked matches will track your stats and award status based on the skill level of the opponents you are beating. Only the top fighters will be at the top of those lists. Player matches and chat room matches will be more like exhibition matches and won’t knock your ranking down. We wanted to keep it in the feel of an old arcade, where it was very simple to see who was the best, and you wait in line to play that person and hope to take them down.

GIANT: What’s was the most fun part of creating MK vs DC? What was the worst?

HS: Damage art design was the most fun, and mind blowing experience. To actually go through iterations with DC artists and our artists as to how exactly we should depict a fully beaten up Superman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern…..It was something I don’t think has ever been done before with these characters. As a fan of art and progressive stuff, it was a great experience. How would YOU draw a beat up Joker? The possibilities were endless and working and crafting together really yielded some great results.

The worst part was part was having to make the tough decisions of who made it to the final cut. I really would have loved to see Lobo make the cut, or Aquaman. Who doesn’t want to design Aquaman’s fighting style? It’s a dream assignment. Hopefully, we’ll get to do it if we decide to do downloadable content.