I'm french and old enough to know and remember Jean-Claude van Dam =D
It never occured to me there was a link though!
Funny!
Yea, Boon and Tobias wanted to make a Van Damme game but it fell through. Johnny was the left over....which is why he has the Split/Ball Punch that Van Damme did in Bloodsport (favorite Van Damme flick).
For those that don't know. The original back stories for most characters got tossed out the window during the events of M.K.8 also known as Mortal kombat Armageddon.
The 9th game was a reboot of the characters back stories and some of them changed drastically. The tenth game was the children of combatants add into the story. The newest game... number 11... well, it jumped the shark. Time travel... I never did finish the story mode for that game.
Most people hate Armageddon because you didn't have the regular fatalities. I liked it regardless. Mk cart racing! Make your own character. I loved it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yNmg66B-SSQ#Should go back and finish it...or at least watch it on youtube. I liked the idea of multiple timelines but as usual...some things they went too far with and others not enough.