Edward Boon (born February 22, 1964) is an American video game programmer, voice actor, and director. Boon is best known for co-creating the fighting game series Mortal Kombat along with John Tobias, and directing the Injustice series. In 2009, he was chosen by IGN as one of the top 100 game creators of all time for his involvement in the Mortal Kombat series.
Boon was employed for over 15 years at Midway Games. Since 2011, he has worked for NetherRealm Studios.
Life and career
Boon graduated from high school at Loyola Academy in Wilmette. Boon is of Hispanic descent, and his mother came from the Dominican Republic while his father is Dutch-American.
After graduation, he was employed by Williams Entertainment in their pinball 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.
He is the co-creator of the Mortal Kombat fighting game series, along with John Tobias, 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 characters Sonya and Tanya after his sisters Sonia and Tania, while another character, Noob Saibot, was named after Boon and Tobias' reversed surnames. Programmer Mike Boon is Ed's younger brother and has been a part of his team since Mortal Kombat 4.
He was inducted into the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences Hall of Fame in 2022.
Works
Video games
{| class="wikitable sortable"
! 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 of Scorpion, Reptile, Shang Tsung (announcer)
|-
| 1993
| Mortal Kombat II
| Designer, programmer, voice of Scorpion, Smoke, Noob Saibot, Liu Kang, and Jax
|-
| 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 of Johnny Cage, Raiden, Kai, Scorpion and Jax
|-
| 1999
| Mortal Kombat Gold
| Project lead, voice of Cyrax
|-
| 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
|}
Pinball
{| class="wikitable sortable"
! 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
|}
Film & Television
{| class="wikitable sortable"
! Year
! Title
! Role(s)
! Note(s)
|-
|1995||Mortal Kombat||rowspan=3|Scorpion (voice)||