Mortal Kombat is a fighting video game developed and published by Midway for arcades and by Acclaim Entertainment for home versions. The game was released in North America in 1992. It is the first title in the Mortal Kombat series. Upon release, Mortal Kombat became one of the most popular arcade games of all time. It was subsequently ported to home video game consoles and became a best-selling game. Mortal Kombat also became one of the most controversial video games, for its depiction of gore and violence using realistic, digitized graphics. Mortal Kombat focuses on the journey of the monk Liu Kang to save Earth from the evil sorcerer Shang Tsung, ending with their confrontation on the tournament known as Mortal Kombat. The game spawned numerous sequels, as well as a successful 1995 motion picture adaptation, and is one of the most popular fighting games to date.