# 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.
In the Mortal Kombat series, he is credited as Dan "Toasty" Forden. The nickname derives from an Easter egg that first appeared in Mortal Kombat II, where Forden's head would appear in the bottom-right corner of the screen and shout "Toasty!" in a falsetto when an uppercut was performed. After being retained for Mortal Kombat 3, the Easter egg would not be used again until the 2011 reboot. It also appears in the "Tournament" stage of Mortal Kombat 11, using the Mortal Kombat 3 graphic of Forden. The "Toasty!" sound effect would be featured frequently in the series after its introduction, often in reference to fatalities performed by Scorpion.
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!"
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!".
The "Toasty!" Easter egg is attributed 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.
Several songs that he composed for the Mortal Kombat 3 soundtrack were used in the precursor to South Park, Jesus vs. Santa.

## 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

| Year | Game | Role(s) | Role(s) | Role(s) | System(s) | Notes |
| Year | Game | Audio director | Sound and/or Music | Other | System(s) | Notes |
| 1989 | Arch Rivals | No | Yes | No | Arcade | Uncredited |
| 1991 | Super High Impact | No | Yes | No | Arcade | |
| 1992 | Mortal Kombat | No | Yes | No | Arcade | |
| 1993 | Mortal Kombat II | No | Yes | No | Arcade | |
| 1995 | Mortal Kombat 3 | No | Yes | No | Arcade | |
| 1995 | Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 | No | Yes | Yes | Arcade | Grunts, Screams, Groans and Gibberish |
| 1996 | Mortal Kombat Trilogy | No | Yes | Yes | PlayStation | Graphics |
| 1997 | Mortal Kombat Mythologies: Sub-Zero | No | Yes | No | PlayStation | |
| 1997 | Mortal Kombat 4 | No | Yes | No | Arcade | Only credited in MK4 Design Team |
| 2000 | Mortal Kombat: Special Forces | No | Yes | No | PlayStation | |
| 2000 | CART Fury | No | Yes | No | Arcade | |
| 2002 | WWF Raw | No | Yes | No | Xbox | Sound effects recording |
| 2002 | NFL Blitz 20-02 | No | Yes | No | GameCube PlayStation 2 Xbox | Sound effects only |
| 2002 | Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance | No | Yes | No | GameCube PlayStation 2 Xbox | |
| 2002 | MLB SlugFest 20-03 | No | Yes | No | GameCube PlayStation 2 Xbox | Sound effects only |
| 2003 | MLB SlugFest 20-04 | No | Yes | No | GameCube PlayStation 2 | Sound effects only |
| 2004 | Psi-Ops: The Mindgate Conspiracy | No | Yes | No | PlayStation 2 Xbox | Additional audio |
| 2004 | NBA Ballers | No | No | Yes | PlayStation 2 | Commentary design |
| 2004 | Mortal Kombat: Deception | Yes | No | No | PlayStation 2 Xbox | |
| 2004 | MLG Slugfest Loaded | Yes | No | No | PlayStation 2 Xbox | |
| 2005 | Unreal Championship 2: The Liandri Conflict | No | No | Yes | Xbox | Voice Production |
| 2005 | Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks | Yes | No | No | PlayStation 2 Xbox | |
| 2005 | Blitz: The League | No | No | Yes | PlayStation 2 Xbox | Additional audio support |
| 2005 | NBA Ballers: Phenom | Yes | No | No | PlayStation 2 Xbox | |
| 2006 | Mortal Kombat: Armageddon | Yes | No | No | PlayStation 2 Xbox | |
| 2006 | MLB Slugfest 2006 | No | No | Yes | PlayStation 2 Xbox | |
| 2011 | Mortal Kombat | No | Yes | Yes | PlayStation 3 Xbox 360 | Lead sound designer |
| 2011 | Batman: Arkham City Lockdown | No | No | Yes | iOS Android | Senior sound designer |
| 2013 | Injustice: Gods Among Us | Yes | Yes | No | PlayStation 3 Wii U Xbox 360 | 3 tracks in album |
| 2015 | WWE Immortals | No | Yes | No | iOS Android | |
| 2015 | Mortal Kombat X | Yes | No | No | iOS Android PlayStation 4 Xbox One | |
| 2017 | Injustice 2 | Yes | Yes | No | iOS Android PlayStation 4 Xbox One | 3 tracks in album |
| 2019 | Mortal Kombat 11 | Yes | Yes | No | PlayStation 4 Xbox One Nintendo Switch Microsoft Windows | Music for the stage "Sea of Blood" |