ABACABB. The Mortal Kombat Blood Code and the Birth of the Video Game Rating System

In the early 1990s, video games were still largely viewed as harmless digital babysitters, dominated by cheerful plumbers and fast blue hedgehogs. Then came Mortal Kombat. With its digitized human actors and spine-ripping fatalities, it shocked parents and politicians alike. But Nintendo, eager to protect its family-friendly image, censored the console release, turning the blood into grey "sweat." Sega, however, made a wildly different, more rebellious choice. They shipped their version of the game censored as well-but they hid a secret sequence of button presses within the programming: A-B-A-C-A-B-B.
When inputted at the title screen, the code unlocked the full, unadulterated arcade gore. The "Blood Code" became the worst-kept secret on school playgrounds across the world. It sparked absolute moral panic, leading directly to high-profile United States Congressional hearings that threatened to ban violent video games altogether. This thrilling history captures the exact moment the video game industry lost its innocence.
It chronicles the brutal marketing warfare between Sega and Nintendo, and the intense political showdown that forced a reluctant industry to self-regulate by creating the ESRB rating system. Dive into the controversy that changed gaming forever. Discover how a simple string of seven button presses forced the government to act and secured video games' right to mature, adult-oriented expression.