Dan Forden

Daniel Warner Forden (born September 28, 1963) is an American sound programmer and music composer. He has worked on video games developed by Midway and its successor NetherRealm Studios since 1989. Forden achieved recognition for his audio work on the Mortal Kombat fighting game series where he was part of the original design team. He is also recognized for his Easter egg appearances in the series. Outside of video games, Forden played bass guitar in the progressive rock band Cheer-Accident from 1992 to 1993.

Biography and working style Forden is the youngest of their four children to Sara Forden (née Mazza) and Michael Forden.

Forden is a graduate of the Oberlin Conservatory of Music in the TIMARA program (or Technology in Music and Related Arts). He graduated in 1985 from the Conservatory and has since produced sounds for many Williams Electronics games. Forden's musical style, particularly for the Mortal Kombat series, is often a mixture of synthetic and organic sounds. A typical composition usually incorporates ethnic drumming with synthetic basses, synthetic leads and/or pads, and sometimes exotic instruments.

Two additional Easter eggs were created featuring Forden in Mortal Kombat 3 and Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3; freezing an opponent in "danger mode" with Sub-Zero would make him shout "Frosty!" and both players holding down the "High Punch" button after a Stage Fatality in Scorpion's Lair would make him shout "Crispy!!"

Works

Pinball

Williams Black Knight 2000 (with Brian L. Schmidt and Steve Ritchie) Bad Cats Rollergames Riverboat Gambler (with Paul Heitsch) The Machine: Bride of Pin*Bot (with Jon Hey and Rich Karstens) The Getaway: High Speed II Star Trek: The Next Generation No Fear: Dangerous Sports Medieval Madness

Midway (Bally) Atlantis (with Robin Seaver) Mousin' Around! Harley Davidson The Party Zone The Pinball Circus The Shadow Attack From Mars Safecracker Revenge From Mars

Stern The Simpsons Pinball Party (with Chris Granner)

Video games