If you played MK9 story mode, this is clearly an alternate timeline as things are already different including:

(SPOILERS if you haven't played MK9 and plan to)

- Switching Sub-Zero and Smoke in the cyborg process (in an incredibly dumb move by Raiden the Unwise).

- Saving Johhny Cage's life (he died in MK3 in the original timeline, then returned, sent by the elder gods to fight against netherealm).

- Kung Lao technically being the MK2 tournament winner (even though it's still Liu Kang defeating Shao Kahn after he broke Kung Lao's neck from behind).

- Most of the heroes being massacred in a single fight and now under Quan Chi's control in nethereal (se we could expect to see some of them still slaved and fighting for NR in the next game).

- Liu Kang being killed by Raiden the Unwise.

- The elder gods removing Shao Kahn's from existence as he broke their rules by stepping on earthrealm, which means he's no longer able to fight on the future battle of armageddon (if it ever happens) so he no longer wins that one.


All that stuff, probably more that I don't remember, didn't happen in the original timeline and now the story is sticking to this new timeline, so yep, this is an alternate one where things were changed, all thanks to Raiden the Unwise.

You really didn't understand my question. I know all that; what I was asking is if this timeline replaced the original or if the old one still exists.

There's absolutely no way to be sure unless we start seeing people dimension hopping. Personally, I believe the original was overwritten due to the allusion in MK9 that Kahn's defeat was 'an outcome that must be reimagined', suggesting things are on a single path and that mystery folks want the old chain of events restored (Needless to say though, they both exist 'in-canon', as events from timeline 1 made timeline 2 possible).

HOLY SHIT

Kai's MKA Ending





OF COURSE HE SAW NOTHING, BECAUSE THAT TIMELINE ENDED WITH KAHN DESTROYING EVERYTHING

KAI'S ENDING WAS CANON ALL ALONG

o.o Jesus that fits really well, not that NRS would even remember that enough to reference it, but still.

Well... He created an alternate timeline in an attempt to change the end result of Armageddon. He seems to have really screwed things up already but the whether the story of this new timeline will result in Armageddon again is yet to be seen. People keep expecting to see a retelling of all of the games up to MKA yet things happening differently can give us a completely new story past the point of MK9.

As well Shao Kahn's.

There is no real explanation from NRS about nature of the MK9 universe. However, I deeply suspect, that they see MK9 as taking place in the same world as MK1-MKA and the changes, which can't be explained by Raiden intervention, is just retcons, which often happen in long running series.

Separation into original and alternate timelines partly born out of convinience, to make it easier to sort events in the games, partly because some people unsatissfied with MK9 approach and want to believe, that MK1-MKA universe still exists somehow.

I don't have separate pages for the characters in my MK Wiki. MK9 events described after MKA, under title "New Chronology". Character profiles changed to reflect their status in current timeline.

MK9 doesnt replace the old lore of MK its simply part of the MK lore, everything that happened from MK 1 - MKA did happen and then the storyline of raiden changing the past in MK9 is still part of the entire MK lore, like if you were to read a MK story book telling the entire lore the original timeline would exist as the beginning and then MK9's time travel chapter would be after MKA