Arcade Cabinet Pits Tesla, Edison, Your Hands In Mortal Combat

It seems to be the trend these days to pit famous dead people against each other. And now, we're not talking about disgusting, decomposing zombies. Last month saw the beginnings of what would be a "Science Kombat" game that pit pixelated embodiments of famous scientists, both dead and alive, imbuing them superpowers to inflict fatality on other scientists. At SxSW, someone cooked up a more limited yet more elaborate version of that concept, involving Thomas Edison and Nikola Tesla. The catch? The players themselves will also be in a shock. Literally.

War of the Currents is just as its name implies, playing with fire, er, electricity. It all looks innocent enough. An arcade cabinet was built precisely to showcase and play this particular fighting game that involved only two fighters, the heroes of electricity Tesla and Edison. In terms of game artwork, Real Art, makers of this insane arcade game, chose to employ more pixels than Science Kombat. What you have, instead, is a look that is reminiscent of the first Mortal Kombat games, with flat billboarded characters. And as you can imagine, the two's special moves involve electricity.

The absurdity of this particular game isn't in the game itself but in the arcade cabinet where it is played on. Two buttons and a joystick make up the simple controls for each player, but, instead of the usual plastic or rubber knob, the joystick actually uses conductive metal that delivers a safe but still shocking current whenever the player's avatar receive electric damage.

Why anyone would make such an elaborate death trap is beyond us. Aside from the sheer fun of it, of course. Well, it will probably be fun for the victors. Not so much for your hand.

VIA: Gizmodo