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. In Mortal Kombat 4, Forden sometimes exclaims "Toasty! 3D!". The easter egg 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.
Forden retired on October 1, 2025, announcing his departure from NetherRealm Studios on Instagram the following day.
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 YearGameRole(s)System(s)Notes Audio director Sound and/or Music Other 1989 Arch Rivals Arcade 1991 Super High Impact Arcade 1992 Mortal Kombat Arcade 1993 Mortal Kombat II Arcade 1995 Mortal Kombat 3 Arcade Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 Arcade Grunts, Screams, Groans and Gibberish 1996 Mortal Kombat Trilogy PlayStation Graphics 1997 Mortal Kombat Mythologies: Sub-Zero PlayStation Mortal Kombat 4 Arcade Only credited in MK4 Design Team 2000 Mortal Kombat: Special Forces PlayStation CART Fury Arcade 2002 WWF Raw Xbox Sound effects recording NFL Blitz 20-02 GameCubePlayStation 2Xbox Sound effects only Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance GameCubePlayStation 2Xbox MLB SlugFest 20-03 GameCubePlayStation 2Xbox Sound effects only 2003 MLB SlugFest 20-04 GameCubePlayStation 2 Sound effects only 2004 Psi-Ops: The Mindgate Conspiracy PlayStation 2Xbox Additional audio NBA Ballers PlayStation 2 Commentary design Mortal Kombat: Deception PlayStation 2Xbox MLG Slugfest Loaded PlayStation 2Xbox 2005 Unreal Championship 2: The Liandri Conflict Xbox Voice Production Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks PlayStation 2Xbox Blitz: The League PlayStation 2Xbox Additional audio support NBA Ballers: Phenom PlayStation 2Xbox 2006 Mortal Kombat: Armageddon PlayStation 2Xbox MLB Slugfest 2006 PlayStation 2Xbox 2011 Mortal Kombat PlayStation 3Xbox 360 Lead sound designer Batman: Arkham City Lockdown iOSAndroid Senior sound designer 2013 Injustice: Gods Among Us PlayStation 3Wii UXbox 360 3 tracks in album 2015 WWE Immortals iOSAndroid Mortal Kombat X iOSAndroidPlayStation 4Xbox One 2017 Injustice 2 iOSAndroidPlayStation 4Xbox One 3 tracks in album 2019 Mortal Kombat 11 PlayStation 4Xbox OneNintendo SwitchMicrosoft Windows Music for the stage "Sea of Blood"
References
External links MobyGames' rap sheet on Forden
Artist profile at OverClocked ReMix