Toasty first appeared in Mortal Kombat II, the 1993 arcade fighting game, where sound designer Dan Forden would pop up in the corner of the screen and shout the word after a well-timed uppercut. Players quickly learned to trigger it on purpose, and the catchphrase became one of the series' best-known running jokes. It later returned in other Mortal Kombat games and spread through gameplay videos, streams and meme edits, where it still works as a quick signal for a surprise victory.