I say it should follow the events of MK4 and have the ending set up the events for the next MK. I don't think they should try to jam 3 games into one again. They did it once, and look how good that turned out. This way it would allow them to really expand what MK4 was.

I also think they should stay with the alternate timeline. They went down that road, they should stay the course. I do like this new timeline. I want to see where it goes.

I just wish they hadn't fucked up the storyline with Armageddon to the point of no return. Having done so, there was no need to further mix things up by making MK (2011) technically a sequel to Armageddon, when they could simply just take out the connection to the original storyline. They could have just retold everything from MK1 to MK3 as awesomely as they did without connecting it to the main storyline of the previous games. A fresh start after Armageddon did not really need a "reboot" (notice that i use this term loosely).

What should be done with the story of the next MK game is to take a Police Squad/Naked Gun approach instead of the formula used in MK2011. That should be done from now on with the series.

While there were a lot of differences between the first 3 games in the new timeline, they followed the same basic plot. I think the next game should follow the plot of MK4 even more loosely than MK9 followed MK 1-3.

By that I mean that Shinnok is a big threat. That's all it needs to have.

Liu Kang should not be the one to kill or defeat Shinnok (as much as I love him, I wish it wasn't him in MK4). Raiden, Kai, Kung Lao, or someone else who fits the role should be the one to do it.

Scorpion should have his revenge on Quan Chi. Instead of Quan Chi escaping, I think he should be killed this time.

All the main characters in the NetherRealm; Either the next game should start off right before they all die and change it so they never died in the first place, or they get freed in this game. But not all of them should return as playable characters; only the ones that could actually work.

We need Human Sub-Zero to return. Whether it's an purified Bi Han, or a de-cyberized and resurrected Kuai Liang, it wouldn't be right to leave him out.

There shold be plenty of new characters. Things have changed, so new characters could be introduced into the story even though they didn't make sense before.

Plenty of post-MK3 characters as well; we could use a lot of redesigns and overhauls on their personalities and backgrounds, especially for the ones that weren't loved before. Make them relevent and involved with the plot. Give them a reason to want to fight or serve Shinnok.

Some characters can work independently; not everybody needs to be devided into the good side and the bad side like it was in MK9. Liu Kang, for example, could fight against the bad guys, but not along side Raiden because he isn't sure if Raiden can be trusted anymore.

Be CONSERVATIVE with the deaths of the main characters. It would be okay if some minor NPC like an oni or masked guard dies, but the playable characters are the most powerful fighters in the universe, right? So they shouldn't drop like flies. There should be less shock deaths and more deaths from honorable losses or self-sacrifice. Sure, everyone who dies in MK will probably come back one day, but sometimes it ruins the characters. Stryker, the everyman, for example, will no longer be an everyman because now he'll be a resurrectee if he returns. Basically, have characters' deaths mean something.

And no more character-specific chapters. I do not think it helped get used to each individual character, and it severely limited the the story telling capability. I think they're trying something new with the story in DC Universe: Injustice. I'm sure that would be a springboard for a better story mode.

I don't think Deadly Alliance, Deception, or Armageddon should happen at all. The events of those games should be so heavily altered, that it will be completely new. I'm thinking the reason they didn't do a full on reboot was because they don't want to do all that over again.

Pretty much agree with this. I don't think that we will be seeing the stories of Deadly Alliance, Deception, and Armageddon at all. Maybe some small elements or hints at those games but nothing major.

I think the plot of the new MK will focus around the story of MK 4. Let's face it the story from 4 was nearly as iconic or memorable as the those of the first three games, so this gives an NRS a chance to really make something cool and not have to worry about getting every detail right. to please fans.

They need to bring back our heroes.

I would like it if the next game was treated as a new era for Mortal Kombat, and was a departure from the "reboot" timeline, or even the original (since Shao Kahn killed everyone in that one). Perhaps introduce us to a new narrator, who can be the God of Time or something like that, and he can walk us through a number of universes in a well-edited introductory video.

In that video, we can see some major events from many different timelines, before we enter one where "the fate of everything will be decided." In that timeline, go forward as if it were a "sequel" to Armageddon. Alternatively, it could be a "retelling," perhaps with Shao Kahn randomly out of power and fighting alongside Earthrealm's mortals to overthrow an oppressive Shinnok, or something like that.

Personally, I'm ready to try out a "new" Mortal Kombat, in every sense of the word. Keep your major icons of the game series -- Sub-Zero, Scorpion, Raiden, Kung Lao, Kitana, Sonya, etc. -- and then introduce some new characters alongside that.

I agree that MK10 should (and likely will) tell the events of MK4, but in a new way with much more depth than was possible the first time around. The end of MK9's story mode is just setting that right up. I was surprised at how half the hero cast got wiped out, but as we all know, no one in MK really stays dead. They just keep coming back like a bad horror villain. And in this case, there are many possible ways for that to occur - Ermac, Raiden, the Elder Gods, perhaps even a rescue mission into the Netherrealm itself. If Earthrealm and Netherrealm get merged in MK10 the way Earthrealm and Outworld were in MK9, it's entirely possible that many of the fallen could return. I do hope Sub-Zero comes back in his human form, though, it just isn't the same with him as a cyborg.

I think, to be more realistic, the cast shouldn't all be so clearly divided between good and evil, there should be some in the middle as well, either not caring about the outcome or not certain where their loyalties lie. In particular, I've always thought that Mileena has much more potential in her story than has ever been used, and it would be cool to see that actually explored for once instead of just having her as the boring old "evil twin" yet again. Mileena, as we all know, is a creation of Shang Tsung and was born and bred to kill. But was her bloodlust her choice, or merely the result of the dark magic and Tarkatan blood Tsung used to create her? Perhaps with his influence gone (thanks to his most likely temporary demise in Story Mode), what small bit of humanity she has might have a chance to emerge.

It's just that her story is ripe for exploring the inner conflict between the two halves of her persona, the monster Tsung made and the woman she could yet be. And perhaps, sometime between MK9 and MK10, something might happen to her to cause her to think about these things, about who and what she is and why, and to come to MK10 struggling to figure out her own identity, struggling to know whether she is human, and if she even wants to be. That conflict alone could propel her story through the whole game, I think. This would place her in a neutral position in the battle against Shinnok at the beginning, rather than having her automatically be a villain for once. Which, I think, would be a refreshing change.

Anyway, given how good MK9 is, I'm sure MK10 will be great once it finally arrives. And hopefully, the girls will have at least one outfit that actually covers more than half their body. Is it really so hard for the MK team to create female characters with at least one modest outfit? The DLC outfits are okay, but for once it would be nice to have something like that as the girl's default look instead of a 3rd alternate. And maybe, finally, some more reasonable bosoms? Hehe, I swear, the girls in MK9 all have busts that would make Tifa Lockhart jealous. Nice to look at, of course, but hardly realistic.

MK4's main failing as a story was that it didn't really elaborate on the threat of Shinnok and the Netherealm as invaders, it just kinda retold MK3 but with less developed villains.

I think that's why they killed off so many characters: so they could really make the audience care about the concept of Hell opening up and armies of the undead running wild on the world, by having the army of the dead be characters we actually recognize.

That said, there are several plot devices currently lying around that can be used by different people than they were in DA and Deception like the Dragon King's mummy army since Shang is dead but the mummies still exist. Also, Armageddon established that Daegon and Shinnok are allies, so I wouldn't be surprised to see the Red Dragon play a role in an MK4 remake.

New version use the outline of MK4 but change the details around.
Reiko, Tanya, and Kai need more attention. Shinnok needs to be a bigger bad ass. Imagine this earth is tattered and hell is running loose starting apocalypse style fear and destruction.

Dragon King should return later but maybe shujkmkls quest has been changed he can be dragged into the battle. Quan Chi could discover the army again but hed need a new ally.

Tremor can return

Red dragon can be pulled in.

...by learning from the huge mistakes they made in MK2010.........

I want them to focus on the events of MK4, MK (2011) focused on the first three games. I don't think you can do it with 4-Deception since Deadly Alliance and Deception take place 10 years after MK 3 (I assume MK 1-MK3 all occured around the same time period with 4 happening afterwards). There's no way you could do tell MK4 - Deadly Alliance and Deception- Armaggedon in one game.

Let MK 4 be retold in a new way, I always liked MK 4 because it had a different boss (I got sick of Shao Khan after 3). Have it be Shinnok's invasion with the undead good guys on his side. Let him have conquering invasions of Earthrealm and Outworld with the remnants of the two forces join together. I do agree it won't be black and white. I want Shinnok to realize Quan Chi fooled him and have Scorpion kill Quan Chi to end that story (It's getting old for Scorpion). Shang Tsung wasn't among the undead good guys in Rayden's story chapter, so where was he? He was inside Sindel (who was vaporized by Nightwolf) Could he be Shinnok's back-up when Quan Chi betrays him? Perhaps there could be a scene where Shinnok sends Shao Khan's soul to Onaga and has Onaga punish him as payback for poisoning him.


From what I remember in Rayden's vision of him fighting Shinnok, it looks like the Hell stage from MK 2011, have someone else defeat Shinnok like Rayden as redemption for the losses he made in the war before and with his own fighters or Johnny Cage or maybe Sonya or someone else.

Sub-Zero has to come back I agree on that. I wouldn't mind if he was human in a new version of his Shredder outfit or looking like Cyrax in his alternate outfit in MK:DA.

Bring new character to keep it fresh and do makeovers for under appreciated characters.

In regards to Deadly Alliance Decepetion and Armaggedon, I would like Blaze to be killed and instead of Armaggedon, the One Being returns and let the last MK be everyone fighting to keep the One Being from destroying all of existence. Deadly Allaince should have a new duo and Deception still happening, but Shujinko is freed earlier and realizes he's been duped.

Actually, the longest gap in time between games was between MK3 and MK4.

MK Mythologies is stated to take place ten years before MK4.

MK1 is set 2 years after Scorpion's death, which happened in Mythologies.

MK1, 2, and 3 happened...I dunno, somewhere between "back-to-back" and "Johnny had enough time in between to make a movie about the tournament before he died."

So there's seven or eight years between MK3 and 4.

There's a few years between 4 and Deadly Alliance too, but not nearly as long.

But one presumes that since they went with the whole "Shinnok and Quan tricked everybody into doing what they wanted in MK9 so the realms would be vulnerable to a Netherealm attack" thing, I think it's safe to say there'll be a much smaller time gap between the events of MK9 and MK10 than there was between the original MK3 and 4.

Interesting Razor, I always MK 1-Armaggedon was a period of a decade since in Kung Lao's bio for Deadly Alliance mentions Bo Rai Cho trained him in the technique he showed Liu Kang 10 years ago to defeat Shang Tsung. I thought he learned shortly before the MK 1 tournament.

I have a feeling for the next game too it will be a short time for rebuilding Earthrealm and Outworld before Shinnok's invasion.

Hmm, you're right, it does say "a decade ago".

So MKDA is ten years after MK1.

Like I already said, MK4 is ten years after Mythologies, and therefore about 8 years after MK1. So that would make DA 2 years after MK4.

That's about what I already assumed, that there was somewhere between two to four years between 4 and DA...but it's nice to have a solid number.
Interestingly, this means a couple of the games are actually set to their real world release dates. MK1 came out in 1992 and Deadly Alliance came out in 2002. Indeed, ten years apart.

Razor, Mortal Kombat definitely happened in 1992, I have the original comic that showed the events before MK 1 and people were dressed early 90's styles (I can tell by the hairstyle). I always thought MK was in 1992.

lol yeah, I have that comic too.

I liked how even in the reboot, Johnny's suit and tie is still powder blue and pink. People sure did love pastels in the 90's...

I think that MK10 should retell the events of 4, Deadly Alliance and Deception. I think that MK10 will likely feature a mixed roster consisting of MK9's 1-3 cast and 4, DA and D. MK11 should retell Armageddon and feature all of the characters in the franchise.

Ok so, here's what I think (haven't written anything on this site in a while, so thanks for the great topic, Baraka407!)

1.) MK10 seems to be set up for a MK4 reboot/retelling so, I think they should go that route. A more loose interpretation of that games story, sure, but the benchmarks in it should stay relatively the same. I do have a bit of a confession to make on this point because, I know MK4's story really kinda focuses around Raiden in large part. I want to see them play the Raiden vs Shinnok thing up really well this time. Make it engaging...make it exciting...make it epic.

2.) I don't think we need to revisit MKDA in MK10 because of two things. [a.] Liu Kang is at least fried, and may actually be dead right now...and [b.] Shang Tsung is dead now. Shang Tsung is almost dead twice right now. He's like, double dead or something...lol Anyway, these two things pretty much shatter the possibility of looking at MKDA for anything more than interesting sub-plot stuff, or allowing some of the post-MK4 characters come in to the fold.

3.) Shinnok should stay the major threat but he needs to be a hell of a lot more impressive than he was the first time around. I'd personally like to see Shinnok be the infectious type of threat. More plague-like in the way his powers work and everything since they've now pretty much set that tone for how is schemes can be. I would also be pleased to see him be more ghost-like in the way they animate his movements. Not much different from how they made Shang Tsung in MK1 actually. Like an supernaturally floating bolder....still for the most part, extremely heavy. Yet, unusually disobedient to the laws of physics.

I don't really care to see him moving around the screen like a regular character at all. He is a fallen Elder God, everything about him should be sort of abstract, unorthodox, and kind of divine...but disturbing at the same time. I think, if he has any moves where he actually does walk, or run (in particular), it should be extravagant in a way, but weird. Gotta keep in mind that this is a character that possibly, never necessarily needed to use his legs for things.

He's been said to be, or has been the God/Elder God of despair. So...I want to see what despair looks like. As I mentioned, I imagine Shinnok to be this very offensive, ghost-like, talking Grim Reaper type character. But with a sort of divine prestige. I believe Shinnok could be great, and I see him as this sort of elevated combination of passive-aggressive Quan Chi, aggressive-aggressive Shao Kahn, and yet very wise and noble, above the Gods like Raiden.

It's a funky twist but, I think if they strike the right cord here, Shinnok's fanbase will explode. Oh, and btw keep him NON-playable this go-round. Shinnok being playable last time was a part of the problem.

Where?

To my knowledge, there is nowhere in canon that assigns any of the Elder Gods elements or domains of power. They're not the god of wind, god of war, god of death, etc. they're just the Elder Gods, they all have identical abilities, complete power over everything.

And since Shinnok isn't a god of any kind anymore, he only has the powers of ruler of the dead, hence all the skeleton moves.

I think MK4 should just focus on Shinnok as the main antagonist. NRS could bring in new heroes such as Shujinko, Kai and Fujin to team up with Raiden, Sonya, Kenshi and Cage. Both Earthrealm and Outworld could fight their own battles against the forces of Shinnok and join in together to beat him. I had actually written a fic for this awhile ago, you can check it out here. :)

http://www.trmk.org/forums/showthread.php/22514-My-Mortal-Kombat-10-Story

I haven't been on MKO for a while and this thread makes me glad I came back on.

I've been coming up with things for MK10 for a long time and this is basically a jumbled collection of ideas.

1) Like pretty much everyone said, MK10 should be set in MK4, but with Shinnok being a MAJOR THREAT this time around. Since nearly all the heroes and even potential heroes shock-value killed and controlled by the NetherRealm, NRS could show the conflict of the survivors having to fight their former allies... if NRS chooses to keep the idea that they're now slaves.

2) Smoke. I really hope there are other enenras in the MK universe (in Smoke's MK9 ending, it's revealed that he's an enenra, a "creature of smoke and vapor"). It'd be safe to assume that they're based in the Nether Realm, and maybe Smoke can meet up with another enenra, and possibly be freed from Quan Chi's control.

3) Scorpion SHOULD discover the truth about his death by now and should be the one to kill Quan Chi. Maybe even conspire with Noob Saibot?

4) Since Shao Khan is dead (please let him REALLY be dead, NRS, he was bitch-made in MK9), there should be a power struggle in Outworld over who should rule. Since Mileena is Khan's favorite now, she'd be the rightful heir as Empress. It would be the perfect opportunity to bring out her personality more, which I felt could've been done in MK9. Have her back to her conniving self (as shown in Deception).

She, along with the faithful (probably Baraka and Sheeva at her side) would have to deal with the forces of Shinnok and possibly a resistance formed by Rain. Also, I don't think that Mileena should be wholly evil, per se. Although MK9 built her up to just be some blood-thirsty maniac, I really see Mileena growing into herself for MK10.

5) Liu Kang survives, yet scarred. Not Kabal-level burns, but still have visible burn marks from Raiden's uh-oh. Liu should still be a main protagonist, but have a major vendetta against Raiden and anyone who still sides with him. Liu Kang will still believe he's the only one capable of defending Earth and try to face Shinnok by himself.

6) Edenia. lolidk

i'd like to see various stories in story mode. what i mean is something along the lines of wwe here comes the pain or guilty gear. where there are different choices or things done different to unlock or play a various ending/bio/etc. you'd have to play story mode more than 1 time to unlock alternate bio or ending.

it give it more replayability.

Keep it MK4 based while setting up new things in the future.
Don't rush through it.
Avoid The Chapter bs and find a new way or alternatively include a Story B but with evil henchmen so it can flesh out the story some more.