He shined in this game. I wish he'd return for the next one.

he was definitely well represented. I got a kick out of his initial appearance in chapter 1 - the arrogant way he just fended off Johnny and Sonya (complete with non-chalant Matrix-style deflecting). His intros all convey his smug arrogance, and in the game, he was overall a great villain. He needed MORE screen time in the game...MKX reminded me of one of those movies where you love the villain but they just didn't quite get enough screentime, yet every bit of presence they had was enjoyable.

Also love the opening hit of his X-Ray, that "insignificant bitch" backhand slap.

He's MK's version of Palpatine, and it works. Personality wise, Shinnok is great. But he might have a hard time living down being defeated by a newcomer especially when he was arguably at the top of his game.

That said, in terms of gameplay I don't like some of the choices NRS made. I hate his Imposter variation. It's a throwback to MK4 Shinnok, but MK4 Shinnok wasn't original at all. MK4 Shinnok was a sub-par Shang Tsung ripoff. So why would they want to bring that back?

And those Hell Sparks are very close to Shang's Up Fireballs back in MK3. I don't know why NRS wants Shinnok to have Shang qualities in his moveset but I don't like it.

And what is up with him having a Shoulder Charge? It's random as fuck. That move could go to anyone else BUT Shinnok and it would make more sense.

So to summarize, he's a great villain with a terrible base moveset.

I wouldn't say redeemed so much as defined.

No, he was just as ineffective as he was in MK4 with the added bonus of getting spanked by Johnny Cage's daughter.
However his characterization was excellent.

Completely agree. Move set was terrible, not enough screen time, and I personally didn't like his fatalities. Also the necromancer arms drive me up the wall.

In short I like Shinnok, but he isn't doing it the way Shao Kahn or Shang Tsung (maybe even Onaga) do it for me.

Well, I always viewed Shinnok's mimicry as him being able to learn the opponents moves so quickly because he's an elder god and doesn't need to practice that shit at all.

The hellsparks are very reminiscent of Shang's fireballs, which I agree I wish they would have strayed away from any more Shang similarities but apparently that's what they wanted to do. I really like Shinnok in this game, but like Goro, I feel like they could have done so much more with them gameplay wise. I still love using him though.

He DID have a shoulder charge in the gameboy MK4 version believe it or not. That's bottom of the barrel shit though lol

I feel like his personality was amazing in this game and it's a shame that he's most likely not going to return for a very long time. He got fucked over in the story and it sucks, but I guess it's just NRS' way of letting other villains get the spotlight. I'm just happy that he was portrayed how he always should have been.

Why? So he can overstay his welcome like Kahn? No thank you.

Obviously, he's not that big of a threat if he was easily defeated within one game, and since he's decapitated, what else is there to do? Keep him around just as a head?

I don't know how I felt about this character. I thought it was cool to see his demonic form, but then again, they went back doing the cheapness end boss bullshit like they always do. He's not hard to defeat, but he is annoying to go up against.

I will say, at least he's much better than his debut in the fourth. And before anyone jumps on that, yes I know he debuted officially in Mythologies. I'm strictly referring to the fighting series, not the adventure games.

I honestly thought they should have scrapped Shinnok's Corrupted Form and kept his appearance for the final boss. His Corrupted Form seemed less powerful than his original form (kicking Raiden's and Fujin's asses in the beginning, bitch-slapping the good guys with his amulet, crushing Raiden with his skeleton hand etc.) Plus he needed more screentime in my opinion. Otherwise than that, this Shinnok is spot-on as a badass villain.

From a gameplay point of view yes. You can say that about any character when compared to MK4 to this game.


From a character personality point of view. NO. Shinnok in MKX is cheesy as hell. Then again, you can say about every character since MK9. Like most characters, they seemed kind of dumbed down, so people can easily "get it".


Shinnok in MKX came off as a Saturday morning cartoon villain, just like Quan Chi. I didn't take him seriously, as the old Shinnok. There was a line in MKX, were Shinnok says something like " You scum sucking , maggot, fool.". Shinnok in the original timeline world never say something like that.

In the original timeline in MK4 in the non cannon ending ,Shinnok spoke to Raiden and Quan Chi , with a certain type of dialogue, for me helped add to whom he is . All you have to do is listen to him. The Shinnok in the original timeline was much more brooding and had a intellectual evilness to him.

The character of Shinnok was already unique in terms of character personality , but that traded off for something that was established to Star Wars's Palpatine, as someone here already said. To me , just another thing in a long list of reasons that MK lost in uniqueness.

Nobody stays dead or gone in MK forever. Especially when 'magic' is involved. There are plenty of ways they could give him a new body.

As for him coming back, I agree. They need to really space out these bad guys because Kahn is so overused its pathetic at this point. I'm glad that's what they seem to be doing.

I've always liked shinnok but this was his best appearance for sure. I hope he returns for the next game as playable but not as the Boss.

Maybe they'll attach Shinnok's head to Quan Chi's body.

Shhhhhhh! Don't give them ideas!

Nobody needs Quannok.

I wouldn't say redeemed. Shinnok was always a great character. MK4 just didn't have the storytelling devices to show it. I even like the MK4 design.


Well, if you're arguing from a lore standpoint, I guess I'm neutral on the subject. From a gameplay perspective, I absolutely love it. I'm a sucker for resource management when it comes to fighting games, and the creativity of setting up pressure and vortex setups with the impostor specials is one of the reasons I main the character.

Also, it's not really comparable to Shang's morph anymore. Shang acquired a temporary toolset. Shinnok acquires a resource that he can utilize at any time. As for the sparks, I half-agree. I don't mind Shinnok having a movie that functions in the same way as ground skulls, but I wish it aesthetically looked a little different. The color and lightning is sick, but it's not enough to make it a true signature move.

And honestly, I think the fact that it's a reference to MK4 is by itself just cool. Knowing that they took the old school elements and incorporated them into gameplay is just kinda awesome.

But if I did had to argue the lore element of impostor, I'd still say it fits. Shinnok is an interesting beast in the sense that he's overbearingly pompous without being vain about it. If you attacked shinnok with a wiffle bat, I think it's within his character to laugh, steal part of your spiritual essence, and beat you down a with a bigger, better, glowy-er wiffle bat. That seems completely in line with his personality in story mode.

To Kahn, you're a slave. To Shinnok, you're an insect.

He's a great vilain. Something about flamboyant + psychotic always works for me as a bad guy, as cliché as it is.

It's a shame though that the casual are reacting negatively to him (I'm assuming by his low usage on-line) and this is coming from someone who's annoyed by the whole 3D era enthusiasts.

He was redeemed IMO, but I would never say he was "scary" or "intimidating" as I think he is still kind of goof lol

Yes.
I never really played MK4 and never really liked Shinnok at all.
MKX did a 180 for me.
Maybe I even prefer him over Shao Kahn.
Has Shao lost his role with Kotal in the picture?

Shinnok is an Elder God. His power is unlimited. He can do anything he chooses. That's how he should be in the lore. He can't have too much screen time. He would have been wiping out the good guys. He should be able to form a new body himself. IMO it seems like NRS don't know what to do with OP characters. At the moment the powerful beings doesn't seem to powerful in the hands of current writers. I hated cassie cage defeating Shinnok. Its not believable for me. It should have been Raiden to take out Shinnok again.

Yes, I'm aware that no one really stays dead unless you're Jade.

And no, they shouldn't give him another chance to come back at us for the next game just by some random source of magic. They don't need to make this villain become the next Kahn.

His personality was amazing, his vocals were perfectly spin chilling and hilarious at the same time. And his 3 looks were on point. His move sets could improve in the future.. Which I hope he does. Sooner rather than later. Also I really liked his boney arms. Was a bit disappointed that he didn't have his own arena

MKX Shinnok was much much better in my opinion, but he still was't as great of a villain as Shang, Shao Kahn, or Onaga. I'm glad the fleshed him out more, but he still seems pretty bland in his "Fallen god wants to take over the world" schtick. I would say Shang is like Ras Al Ghul and Shao is like Bane, but Shinnok is more like MK's Scarecrow. He has a lot of potential and is getting more recognition, but it hasn't been fully realized quite yet.

I'm confused, it sounds like you're disagreeing with me yet I was agreeing with you? I was saying he'll totally come back eventually but I'm glad they seem to be spacing them out so that the big bad's don't overstay their welcome this time around. Both Kahn and Tsung took a break (surprisingly) and I think both Quan and Shinnok will as well for one game at least, if not more.

My bad if I misread what you said, I'm hella tired and lacking sleep. lol

Seconded.

Its so weird. I hated Shinnok in MK4, he looked cool in MKArmageddon but still. In this he was amazing. Great voice actor. Great, dismissive lines for his intros.

I kinda thought they would either make him shit, to make a new threat look greater or make him amazing. I'm glad its the latter.

Only way he could have been better was if he blocked a Quan Chi double cross. Maybe even kinda "doing a Raiden" only... Good.