Fighting Games Friday: The Elements of Mortal Kombat 1’s Power
It’s been about four weeks since NetherRelam Studios and Warner Bros. Games revealed Mortal Kombat 1, the newest title in the franchise that will, as its name implies, serve as another reboot for the saga. But that’s fine when Liu Kang being the chief god instead of Raiden will provide enough differences compared to the prior two timelines (including the one that started in Mortal Kombat 2011), and how much the general audience likes nostalgia. The short gap between the reveal and impending release in September means news about the game’s overall story, feature set, and characters will be coming at a relatively fast pace.
The first real trailer was provided during the nearly week-long Summer Game Fest totally-not-E3-2023 celebration, which further elaborated on the story changes. In addition to Liu Kang’s status switch, it confirms that Mileena is the rightful heir to the throne of Edenia instead of Kitana this time, though the former is infected with a lethal disease. Whether the contention between the two sisters will remain is currently unknown, but it will hopefully be a little different compared to prior timelines. Scorpion and Sub-Zero are Lin Kuei Warriors and Brothers fighting for the clan’s future, as the reveal trailer teased, while Raiden and Kung Lao are fighting for family and honor. Johnny Cage, however, is fighting for himself, being still young and immature in this game. Kenshi, returning after being absent from Mortal Kombat 11, is searching for his sword.
This is a time for the development team to be bold with changes to the previously-established canon, and I hope they have the courage to get risky despite this clearly being a way to make the older characters young again.
Kenshi was the only playable character confirmed following the game’s reveal a month ago, but others were shown as Kameo Fighters. NetherRealm made the feature sound like the Strikers systems and assist features from the King of Fighters and Capcom’s Marvel games, respectively, and that’s exactly what it is. Scorpion, Sub-Zero, and Kung Lao will be part of the Kameo roster in addition to the main roster. Others, like Sonya Blade, Kano, Jackson “Jax” Briggs, Goro, and Curtis Stryker have only been confirmed as Kameo Fighters. The Kameo versions are based on older iterations of the characters; Kano and Sonya are noticeably wearing their outfits from the first Mortal Kombat game in 3D, for instance.
There doesn’t appear to be any guarantee that characters currently only announced as Kameo Fighters will be fully playable. The lack of detail on the current Kameo characters isn’t a great sign for them joining the playable roster, but it’s possible those models are simply not finished, or they plan to use two different character models. The latter scenario doesn’t seem feasible, but never underestimate the game development techniques of some teams.
The mentions of “Kameo Fighters” made my mind drift again to Rare’s Kameo: Elements of Power, a game originally planned for GameCube before it became an Xbox 360 launch title after Microsoft’s purchase of the developer. It would be a missed opportunity if Kameo herself isn’t included as a Kameo Fighter in the Xbox and Windows versions. Rare may not want to see their character being torn to shreds as a fully-playable fighter, so Kameo as a Kameo would be a good compromise. Surely someone that isn’t me has pitched this.
Mortal Kombat 1 will release for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series, Switch, and PC on September 19th. That’s only about three months from now, so expect a constant and steady stream of news until then. “Leaked” rosters are floating around from supposedly reliable sources, but I’m not sure who to trust and will not be getting into them here. How about all of us outside NetherRealm discover the roster as it’s announced, eh? That will involve learning about the characters the fun way, including side commentary about which ones are wasted slots. If your fan favorite doesn’t make it, remember that NetherRealm is bound to support this through Season Passes for years.
Meanwhile, my copy of Street Fighter 6 arrived this week, courtesy of a friendly reader. I’ve been digging into it with the limited free time I’ve had, enough time to start learning which characters fit my current gameplay approach. I had my eye on Marisa before the game released, but I’m not a personal fan of her move set or combos now that I’ve had hands-on time with her, something that’s happened to me constantly in fighting games. Chun-Li, who I played in Street Fighter IV and dabbled with in Street Fighter V, feels great, but she requires a lot of skill that my smooth-brained self is having trouble comprehending in the fly, at least for now. I kept Guy on the side in SFIV, which explains why Kimberly feels great to me, and Luke doesn’t feel too bad either. We’ll see if I ever settle on a main.
This is a long way of me saying that I haven’t played nearly enough to provide a review this week. My current goal for that is next week, but as a warning, don’t be surprised if that deadline slips to the 30th. We’ll see how long it takes to complete the World Tour.
About The Author
Geoff
News Editor | Geoff is some nerd who writes for a blog and thinks he's knowledgeable. He write a lot about video games, but is capable of writing about other subjects, too. Twitter
