agree



thats a great idea! Tao feng was great, sad it lacked programming skills. this proves boon and tobias need to work 2gether.

Tao Feng had great potentials, love to ^see^ that happen. also would DLC make more sense than before

On a somewhat related note, I find it funny that people criticize newer characters like Bo' Rai Cho, when Tobias has stated that he actually really liked Bo' Rai Cho and found him funny.

Great historical find! I'm a huge MK fan, have been since the beginning, so SEEING the beginnings is, whoa, a nostalgia trip.

One thing I find extremely interesting is that much of the stuff I and other fans attributed to the movie and future games was in fact pre-planned before the first game even existed.

Things such as Kitana existing, and even falling in love with Liu Kang, for instance. Others include Raiden in a mentor role, Johnny Cage as "the sidekick", and even Stryker/Sonya's role as "the skeptic", the practical one with a grounded means of seeing the world.

So, yeah, great find. Much appreciated.

Wow... Nostalgia blast. We finally get a big picture of Shang Lao too... have never seen that clearly before now. That's new Motaro stuff too, awesome.

I think they should definitely hire Tobias. Doesn't make a whole lot of sense for him not to be working for MK in some capacity. Make him the Art Director for a Comic book series and Digital Graphic Novel stuff...or somethin' like that at least.

I am going to get the Goro standee.. It reminds me of the oldschool Goro ones that were in arcades.. there are very few standees I'd want, and Goro is one of them

I just wish they'd posted a pic of him next to the rest so I could get a better perception of how tall it truely is

Wow, this old concept art reminds me why I loved MK 1 and 2 in the first place. There was truly a dark asian theme to the whole tournament thing. It's the ultimate shame that they moved away from that. Shang Lao looks fifty times more awesome than young Shang in this game. Here he looks like some kind of middle aged pedophile, whereas Shang Lao looks like a believable evil asian sorcerer.

I'm not saying that Tobias is the greatest thing ever and can do no wrong (Bo Rai Cho), but this stuff is definitely superior to what MK has become.

And Tao Feng looks no worse than MKDA or MKD. IDK about gameplay, but as far as character design, and the overall look of things, it's not good, but neither were MKDA or MKD.

John Tobias is a great artist. His ideas, drawings, and talent could contribute to the biggest MK we've ever seen. It's a shame he parted ways with Boon, and so long ago. Tobias seems as interested in MK today as he was years ago. Maybe this is his way of coming back :)

Awesome stuff! Great to see the original concepts of the first MK. Rokuro looks like Akuma. Would've been awesome to have an MK Akuma.

John was a fucking Genius. He created every character you guys love, I give him a lot of credit. He's very talented in what he was doing, I have tons of respect for the guy. Ed made Subzero and Reptile intentionally.

Tao Feng was a great game IMO, I still have it in my collections and never plan on selling it. The mechanics were fun, I believe it was a great contender against DOA. Actually it seemed like a mix of DOA and MK. It had blood, limb damage, multi-tiered arenas, and environment interactive fighting. Character design was somewhat lacking, but it was new and some of us gave it a chance. I would still play it but my regular Xbox is stashed somewhere while the 360 and PS3 are hooked up right now and taking up all the ports on my tv.

John should get hired by NRS and help work on MK. I would love for him to be the new art director.

John Tobias is a great artist. His ideas, drawings, and talent could contribute to the biggest MK we've ever seen. It's a shame he parted ways with Boon, and so long ago. Tobias seems as interested in MK today as he was years ago. Maybe this is his way of coming back :)

I want that Motaro model!!!

I'm really happy to see how much love John still gets, even after all these years.

I'm also very happy you guys appreciate it this news update. I was afraid it might go overlooked, but, its fantastic to see that MK fans remain as ardent and nostalgic as ever. As in, we still value, love, and appreciate these kind of fantastic treats about our beloved game. It's not 1992 anymore, and we've moved on, but, that doesn't mean we can't stop to remember and admire what helped to shape the franchise into the amazing this it has become today.

All games played a part, good or bad, and thankfully, the current end results have been nothing short to aamazing.

Huge special thanks to MKDA, MKvsDC, and MK9.



Yes.

An MK Bible has been demanded, since, well, forever.



I feel the same way.



Such blasphemy!

I beg to differ!



How exactly are you planning to get those?

If given the chance, I'm sooo buying that Sonya. And I agree, that Goro one really does bring back old memories.



This.



This post has made me smile. Thanks for that!



I'm sure there must be someone admiring him, out there.



Shocking to even the most ardent believers!



MK4 is not that bad. Design wise, its simple and not as creative or attractive as present games can be, but, its not fair to compare the newer MK's to such an old one. Newer games make our favorite classic ones look bad.

I wasn't comparing it to newer games; MK4 is the worst of all 4 MK arcade games. Most would agree.

Are you talking about the game, overall? Or some specific thing like characters and designs?

I love all the designs, they should definetly rehire john. and I really hope that I can get a smoke standee.

The game over all was pretty poor, the gameplay fell flat. But yeah in this case I'm referring to characters and art direction, the stuff Tobias was in charge of. The new characters looked so uninspired. It wasn't until they were reintroduced in MKD/MKA that they became somewhat interesting.

They were pretty much other characters that got replaced, but Tanya did have an amazing alternate that I'd love to see revamped.

Wow that Motaro model is awesome!
I love seeing all these behind the scenes pics.
Thanks!

I love video game concepts, it's always fun to see what could have been. Is it wrong that I want to see Rokuro as a character and for Tsung to have a Shang Lao alt? Because I really like Rokuro's design and Shang Lao > Shang Tsung at the moment.

Also lol random Lin Kuei ninja had got divided into several characters.

Mortal Kombat 4 played like the first three games, only in 3D the fighting system didn't actually change aside from that addition.


Most of the MK4 designs for returning characters were exact remakes of Mk1-3 costumes (Jax, Johnny Cage, Liu Kang, Sub-Zero) and slightly updated looks for characters like Sonya.

I just don't see how the art or direction was worse than the original trilogy when most of the levels and costumes were either inspired by the old games or faithful updates of them.

I liked most of the MK4 characters better in 4 than when they reappeared in Deception or Armageddon. Particularly Tanya, Kai, and Fujin. Jarek at least got better moves, but his bio and costume were awful.
The only real winners were Reiko (who didn't even need much, he was already good) and Shinnok. I can't say anything bad about what they did with Shinnok. He was the worst in 4 and they made him into a real character with his own moves, the robe costume looked awesome, and the story made him out to be the ultimate mastermind of the whole thing, as he deserves.

maybe if we get this topic big enough, NRS konsiders to get John Tobias in their team or we could spam boon on twitter

I'd love to get a clearer pic of what that Bret Hart signature on the wall was all about...can anyone make that out? I loved Bret Hart back in the day.

A lackluster but well-meaning researcher, and pretty much riding the exploitation movie genre for characters. There is fun to be had with that idea for sure, but he is no genius.

Most of my favourites personally come from post MK4, and I started with MK1.
not to say I had not had favourites from those, but I kinda ditched them in favour of the newer ones. MK3-4 is probably my least favourite part of the franchise, and MK2 I don't like all too well aside gameplay.

I'm going to take a wild guess and say it has to do with Wrestlemania: The Arcade Game and him being one of the wrestlers at the time working with Midway on it, since he was a playable character in the game.

Besides that, I absolutely LOVED when I saw these pictures on the front page when I came to the site yesterday. I've been waiting for YEARS for these concept art pictures, and especially the unreleased ones.

I must be one of the very few that didn't completely bitch and complain when concept art was included as special features in MK:DA through the most recent game. I love that kind of thing to be included, and I am REALLY looking forward to an in-depth MK concept art to end result type book (example: Concept of Scorpion in MK 1 to the end result shown in the game. Concept of Scorpion in MK II to the end result in the game. Concept of the Courtyard in MK 1 to the end result in the game. Concept of the Courtyard in MK:D to the end result in the game.). I'd also like the book to include what ideas were being run through, what characters were scrapped, why they took certain directions that they did at the time, etc.

If they could include a few soundtrack downloads, or complete albums with the book with in-depth liner notes on the music composition, I'd buy the book in a heartbeat. Honestly, I'd love to see more concept art for the first three games that thoroughly go through each stage before each game was complete. Concept art, game test pictures, behind the scenes looks at the capturing of the actors into the games, the wardrobe closet, etc. As much as they could logically pack in this book, I'd like to see happen. I mean, we had bio kards, actor interviews, staff interviews, etc. Why not just get that all into one comprehensive collection, and sell it to those willing to pay for it? Honestly, having bits and pieces strewn between twelve games isn't convenient, and having all the concept art they could logically dig up, as well as anything else they could include would be absolutely AMAZING.

I am down 1,010% for an MK Concept Art, Idea, and Interview collection if it were to ever be released. Capcom does these books every once in a great while, so why not the MK team?



ALSO, I wouldn't mind John Tobias coming back into the fold of the MK family, but I don't know if TAKING OVER the reigns of artistic director would be the right idea. I think a collaborative effort from him, and other members of the art team would only serve to be beneficial to everybody involved in the artistic process, as well as beneficial to the MK fans.

Oh, and I also forgot to mention that if God of War took past designs and applied them to Kratos as a different skin, then it can certainly be done with the newest MK, or future MK games.

Who wouldn't love the option of being able to select the concept version of a bald monk Liu Kang from before MK1? What about the "Shang Lao" design of Shang Tsung? Maybe Rokuro, although a completely different character from Shao Kahn, can be an alternate skin. The size and design work for that concept to be applied to Shao Kahn?

I wouldn't even mind early concepts of Shao Kahn, and Shang Tsungs demon form from MKII being applied to their character models as alternate skins.

I could go on, and on, and on... It only makes sense.