When you think of "Mortal Kombat," what's the first thing that comes to mind?

Christopher Lambert, am I right?

If you've ever actually played the games though, the second thing is almost certainly copious amounts of blood, guts and gore. Virtual death is what made the series so popular in the first place and while other fighting games like Capcom's Street Fighter series hang their metaphorical hats on solid fighting mechanics and developer ingenuity, Mortal Kombat's creators managed to make buckets of cash by pushing the envelope of good taste as far as it would go.

Then, when it wouldn't go any further, they added Batman.

The upcoming Mortal Kombat 9 drops all of the most recent gimmicks and takes the series back to its roots. Its bloody, contused, roots.

Hit the jump for video evidence that is likely not safe for your job, unless you work in a slaughterhouse or on the set of Eli Roth's latest flick.

Spoiler warning: If you want to remain blissfully unaware of MK9's fatalities and special moves until you're playing it in the comfort of your own living room, you should probably not start the below clip.

Yeah, the video quality isn't fantastic, and this isn't all of the gore to be found in the game, but it does a great job showing off a huge number of the fatalities and "x-ray super moves" the game will feature when it hits shelves in 2011. Personally I'm digging the whole thing as a step towards a grittier, more traditional MK experience, if only because it hopefully signals a step away from the tired 3-D combat style of the most recent games.

Something always felt off about the way the characters would just stand there tossing punches, then take a few, then toss a few more until one of the fighters fell over or was killed. I haven't really enjoyed a Mortal Kombat since Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 and here's hoping this new one's semi-2-D style can change that.