Daniel Warner Forden (born September 28, 1963) is an American sound programmer and music composer, and was the lead programmer on several high-profile arcade and pinball games. He is best known for working on the Mortal Kombat fighting game series (in particular his catchphrase "Toasty!" which would sound at impressive maneuvers).

Contents 1 Biography and working style 2 Discography 3 Works 3.1 Pinball 3.1.1 Williams 3.1.2 Midway (Bally) 3.1.3 Stern 3.2 Video games 3.2.1 Midway 3.2.2 Williams 4 External links

[edit] Biography and working style

Forden was born in Chicago, Illinois.

He is credited in the Mortal Kombat series as Dan "Toasty" Forden, and is known for an Easter egg that first appeared in Mortal Kombat II, where Forden's head would appear after a chain of combos in the bottom-right corner of the screen and shout "Toasty!" in a falsetto when an uppercut was performed. In Mortal Kombat 3, freezing an opponent in "danger mode" with Sub-Zero would make him appear and shout "Frosty!".

Forden also included the "toasty" quote in the pinball machine Medieval Madness. When the player hits the right ramp, one of the quotes that is played is "toasty!".

This Easter egg is tributed in the dance simulator StepMania: whenever a player gets 250 consecutive Perfects or better (Excellents or better in the 4.0 CVS version), a "toasty" appears. The PopCap game Peggle also features a tribute, as does the Aerosmith-themed rail shooter Revolution X, where singer Steven Tyler shouts "Toasty!" in reaction to explosions.

Dan 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. His rhythms are usually very driving and his melodies can become quite complex.

Several songs that he composed for the Mortal Kombat 3 soundtrack were used in the precursor to South Park, Jesus vs. Santa.

[edit] Discography

• Mortal Kombat II: Music from the Arcade Game Soundtrack (1993)
• Mortal Kombat Musik: MK3 & MK4 Arcade Video Game Soundtrack (1997)

[edit] Works

[edit] Pinball

[edit] Williams

• Black Knight 2000 (with Brian Schmidt and Steve Ritchie)
• Bad Cats
• RollerGames
• Riverboat Gambler (with Paul Heitsch)
• Harley Davidson
• 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

[edit] Midway (Bally)

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

[edit] Stern

• The Simpsons Pinball Party (with Chris Granner)

[edit] Video games

[edit] Midway

• Arch Rivals
• Pigskin 621 A.D.
• Super High Impact
• Mortal Kombat series
• NFL Blitz series
• HyperDrive
• The Grid
• CART Fury

[edit] Williams

• High Impact Football

[edit] External links

• MobyGames' rap sheet on Forden
• Dan Forden at the Internet Movie Database
• Dan Forden discography at MusicBrainz
• Artist profile at OverClocked ReMix

v • d • e Steve Ritchie Atari games Airborne Avenger • Superman Williams games Flash • Stellar Wars • Firepower • Black Knight • Hyperball • High Speed • F-14 Tomcat • Black Knight 2000 • RollerGames • Terminator 2: Judgment Day • The Getaway: High Speed II • Star Trek: The Next Generation • No Fear: Dangerous Sports Stern Pinball games Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines • Elvis • World Poker Tour • Spider-Man Associated people Larry DeMar • Dan Forden • Chris Granner • Eugene Jarvis