Summary
TheMortal Kombatfranchise has forged a lot of its own traditions over the past 31 years. The vast majority of these traditions are known across the entire gaming landscape, such as the Fatality mechanic coming in at the end of every match, Scorpion saying “Get over here,” and series sound designer Dan Forden making a little cameo appearance every once in a while to shout “Toasty.” But some ofMortal Kombat’s traditionsare a little more subtle, likely going over the head of all those playing who aren’t die-hardMKfans. With it marketing itself as a celebration of the entire franchise, it seems likely thatMortal Kombat 1will feature plenty of series traditions.
While most of these franchise traditions are nice little moments of fan-service that otherwise don’t get in the way of the standard player-experience, there are a small handful ofMortal Kombattraditions that have a greater impact on the game’s overall reception. When it comes to picking which traditions should feature inMortal Kombat 1, there’s one very recent trend that might want to be put aside moving forward.
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Mortal Kombat Might Want to Drop Comic Book Guest Characters Moving Forward
By the timeMortal Kombat 1’s first Kombat Pack releases, comic book characters will have had a dominant role inMortal Kombat’s guest character rosterin the last few years, with them appearing almost as much as characters from horror movies.Mortal Kombat 11started this trend, with both Spawn and The Joker coming to the game as DLC characters. If the rumors are true, thenMortal Kombat 1is only going to continue to double down on this trend, bringing DC’s Peacemaker,The Boys' Homelander, andInvincible’s Omni-Man to the game.
While these comic book characters are pretty great additions to theMortal Kombatroster, they aren’t without drawbacks. One of the biggest criticisms that could be levied againstMortal Kombat 1when its DLC eventually launches is that a lot of its comic book characters play very similarly. Though Peacemaker’s gunslinging moveset will probably be a welcome addition toMortal Kombat 1’s roster,Homelander and Omni-Manhave very similar abilities in their source material, and could end up playing much the same, which in turn could end up playing quite similarly toMortal Kombat 11’s Spawn.
Though it’s great to bring more pop-culture icons totheMortal Kombatuniverse, it might be a good idea forMortal Kombat 1and future entries in the series to pull back a little from those found in comic books. If NetherRealm wants to continue celebrating comic book pop-culture specifically, then itsInjusticeseries would be a much better playground for that, with it already being fully entrenched in the DC universe, and fellow comic characters like Hellboy and the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles appearing inInjustice 2.
But when it comes toMortal Kombat, NetherRealm’s flagship franchise, it might be a better idea to try and celebrate the entire spectrum of pop-culture, encompassing all types of movies and TV shows that fit withMortal Kombat’s adult nature. Bringing in action icons like Terminator and Rambo was a great decision forMortal Kombat 11, and the series should continue that trend, but expand it out to even more genres and popular franchises.
For movies, there are still plenty of iconic action heroes, adventurers, and horror monsters that could make an appearance inMortal Kombat, and the same could be said for iconic TV characters.Mortal Kombatcould even start to bring in guest characters from fellow video game franchises, such asEllie fromThe Last of Us, Sweet Tooth fromTwisted Metal, or Geralt fromThe Witcher. The options are truly unlimited, andMortal Kombatshouldn’t feel as though it needs to just stick to comic book characters for DLC.
Mortal Kombat 1releases September 19 on PC, PS5, Switch, and Xbox Series X/S.
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