No More Toasty: Dan Forden Leaves NetherRealm

His name is Dan Forden, but the internet knows him as Toasty Dan. Who is he? He's the man who, since the 90s, has popped up in the bottom right corner of the screen exclaiming "Toasty!" [or variations on the theme like "Frosty" or "Crispy"] whenever an excellent technique is performed in any Mortal Kombat game.

Few know that Dan is also a developer who worked for 37 years at NetherRealm Studios in the field of music and sound effects, a great career that concluded this week.

Dan indeed published a post on his Instagram profile announcing his retirement: "Wednesday was my last day at NetherRealm. We've done a lot of fun things over all these years. I'm really proud of what we've achieved as well as the fun we had making those things. There are so many smart and talented people here - I expect many more great things to emerge in the coming years. I love the little touches people have left around the studio, like a small Toasty on the bathroom mirror. I wouldn't have stayed in the industry for 37 years if the fans weren't out there playing the games we made. Thank you all for your support. Long live and... Toasty!"

Forden makes no mention of other commitments or future projects, so after almost 40 years, it's plausible that he is simply retiring to private life.
The latest installment in the series published by Warner Bros. is Mortal Kombat 11, available for PC, PS4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch since 2019, then re-released on PS5 and Xbox Series X/S in 2020: of course, we have a particularly "Toasty" Review!