The actor who claims he co-created Mortal Kombat

Today, on the 30th anniversary of Mortal Kombat, we're bringing you an extended excerpt from the upcoming book Long Live Mortal Kombat by David L. Craddock. The book, due for publication this fall, goes behind the scenes to reveal untold stories from the killer franchise’s arcade era and explores how it impacted popular culture. This excerpt details the exaggerations and falsehoods of one of the original game’s most prolific character actors. Anthony Marquez was at a martial arts tournament in Florida when he heard the news.

It was 1994 and there was a new movie coming out. Midway's game had become the highest-grossing coin-op of the summer of 1993 and then lit up sales charts on consoles, selling over 3 million copies worldwide during the first three weeks of "Mortal Monday"

The martial artists who had portrayed characters in the movies were in attendance. Pesina said he had been told a movie would be coming down the pipe. Since its release in the fall of 1993, the home versions of the game have been in high demand. The friends, who had signed work-for-hire contracts promising hourly rates in exchange for Midway using their likenesses and performances, daydreamed of action figures and T-shirts.

Daniel Pesina said they would be rich.

The ringleader

The martial artists were listening. It was a habit that started when they were young. Pesina was a senior at Richard DiVizio's high school. He looked up to his brother. The others deferred to him as well. Pesina was loud and outspoken. Pesina was the one who plucked Ahn, Parrish, and Zamiar from the gym and introduced them to the co- creators of the game.

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Danny has been the leader of the group. I have called him that many times. He keeps the group together. He was the older one. When you are in your 20s and someone is in their 30s, that is a lot older than you.

As the group referred to themselves, Midway would take care of the characters, as the group referred to themselves. Danny told DiVizio that they would take care of him.

There was nothing set in stone regarding Pesina. Danny was the one who made this all happen.

Pesina had a relationship with two people, but the characters didn't know it.

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The recording of the characters began in 1991. The first game was recorded for six days. A performer was present to help the one in front of the camera. A seasoned martial artist could coach Liz Malecki, who had less experience in martial arts, and help with things like balancing on the small staircase that everyone sat on to pose for flying kicks.

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There were character sessions in 1993. This time wasn't the same. Dan Pesina took over the role of coach almost from the beginning of the shoot. As long as the other performers didn't mind, they were okay with that arrangement. One of the actors said that Danny took it upon himself to be there on every shoot. They didn't ask him to do that. He did that alone.

Performers helping one another on set is helpful, but not necessary on MK II. They learned how to direct their cast from the first game. At the very least, the guys were fun to have around because of the martial artist on hand.

Pesina overstepped boundaries. He would give performers feedback if he didn't know what the game needed. Performers complained to the co- creators. The two men talked about Pesina's interference when they were alone. There had to be something done. He had an awkward conversation with Pesina and told him to stop giving feedback.

While training at the club, he had a conversation with a personal trainer who told him he had been cast in the show. This was the first time he had heard about the trainer. The trainer was confused as to why he shouldn't know about it. Pesina had been pretending to be a casting director and a choreographers for months, and even some performers who had actually been cast in the show believed Pesina wielded authority. If you want to call it that, Ahn says, "Daniel was our coach, if you want to call it that."