Dan Forden

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). He has also played bass in the band Cheer-Accident.[1]

"Toasty" redirects here. For other uses, see Toast (disambiguation).
Dan Forden
Born
Daniel Warner Forden

(1963-09-28) September 28, 1963
Chicago, Illinois
OccupationSound programmer

Biography and working style

Forden was born in Chicago, Illinois. He is the youngest of their four children to Sara Forden (née Mazza) and Michael Forden.

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 MKII you will hear him say Toasty! after Scorpion's fatality was done. In MK9 he will also appear saying Toasty after a long combo and an uppercut.

In Mortal Kombat 3, freezing an opponent in "danger mode" with Sub-Zero would make him appear and shout "Frosty!". He still appeared sometimes saying "Toasty!" though, in the very same conditions.

Also, in Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3, Dan Forden would appear after a Stage Fatality in Scorpion's Lair saying "Crispy!" if both players' "High Punch" button was held down after executing the Fatality Input. If, instead, the both "Run" button were held down, then Shao Kahn would say "Crispy!".

Along with that, in Mortal Kombat 4, if the player executed Scorpion's fatality, Forden would say "Toasty 3D!". This was to emphasize the fact that this was the first Mortal Kombat game that used three-dimensional graphics.

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.

Works

Pinball

Williams

Midway (Bally)

Stern

Video games
Year Game Role(s) System(s) Notes
Audio director Sound and/or Music Other
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
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
Mortal Kombat 4 No Yes No Arcade Only credited in MK4 Design Team
2000 Mortal Kombat: Special Forces No Yes No PlayStation
CART Fury No Yes No Arcade
2002 WWF Raw No Yes No Xbox Sound effects recording
NFL Blitz 20-02 No Yes No GameCube
PlayStation 2
Xbox		 Sound effects only
Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance No Yes No GameCube
PlayStation 2
Xbox
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
NBA Ballers No No Yes PlayStation 2 Commentary design
Mortal Kombat: Deception Yes No No PlayStation 2
Xbox
MLG Slugfest Loaded Yes No No PlayStation 2
Xbox
2005 Unreal Championship 2: The Liandri Conflict No No Yes Xbox Voice Production
Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks Yes No No PlayStation 2
Xbox
Blitz: The League No No Yes PlayStation 2
Xbox		 Additional audio support
NBA Ballers: Phenom Yes No No PlayStation 2
Xbox
2006 Mortal Kombat: Armageddon Yes No No PlayStation 2
Xbox
MLB Slugfest 2006 No No Yes PlayStation 2
Xbox
2011 Mortal Kombat No No Yes PlayStation 3
Xbox 360		 Lead sound designer
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[2]
2015 WWE Immortals No Yes No iOS
Android
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[3]
2019 Mortal Kombat 11 Yes Yes No PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, Microsoft Windows Music for the stage "Sea of Blood"

References
  1. Game-OST interview
  2. "Injustice: Gods Among Us - Original Video Game Score". iTunes. Retrieved February 25, 2018.
  3. "Injustice 2 (Original Video Game Soundtrack)". iTunes. Retrieved February 25, 2018.
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