It's odd to me that people thought Kano wasn't going to be in, only until after the leak came up. Before that so many people were talking about how Kano would appear and coming up with ideas on how he'd look now that he'd be older. Kano being in shouldn't be a huge surprise, especially since Cassie is in and that will be a huge plot device for him. He didn't die in MK9, neither did his nemesis Sonya. To me there's going to be a rather large importance for Kano to be in that's going to involve the new Cage family. IMO there's going to be a definitive finish to this rivalry in MKX involving all of them. And on the topic of character count, my final guess is 28, it's a solid number. I think there will be 16 returning and 12 new, but it's possible they're evenly split it.

Well Boon already said that there are gonna be 3D era characters who make it in the game and I don't think he was talking just one. So 8 spots have already been taken (Scorp, Cassie, etc), 8 more spots are gonna be occupied by the rest of the newbies, which makes room for around 10 (or 12 if we're lucky) more. Out of those 10, I'm expecting 5 veterans and 5 MK4-MKD. I mean I don't seen them including just Tanya and Fujin.

I'd be totally fine with more returning characters. Having such a large number of new characters sounded a bit extreme. I like the new characters and all but to me some of them just didn't feel like MK. That'll probably change once i play them and see them in story mode, but for the time being they are foreign to me and too many of them would feel confusing. I just wonder how many post MK9 characters we'll be seeing, I think there are a lot of them that still have potential, and if they are discarded I hope they have a cool death scene in the story mode.

I don't recall boon saying he was only going to have x amount of returning characters and x amount of new ones,

Where do people get this idea from?

Who thought that Mortal Kombat X would be a 180?

Well he did say the game is gonna have the biggest number of new character we've ever seen, so 12 minimum. That technically leaves x amount of returning characters.

And how do you know the final roster count? And what MK game had 11 new characters?

MKDA did. Blaze, Bo Rai Cho, Drahmin, Frost, Hsu Hao, Kenshi, Li Mei, Mavado, Mokap, Moloch, Nitara. 11 with Onaga.
We don't know the final roster count but from the interviews we have a rough idea. It's not like it's gonna be 10 less or 10 more. That's why I said 10-12 more returning characters.

Onaga and Moloch weren't playable, and are we seriously going to count Mokap?

Mokap might be a joke character, but he is as much an MK character as everyone else.

I agree with you OP, to a degree.

I think Kano is no surprise, I thought from the get go he would be an antagonist for Cassie. But if the rumor of Sonya, Lui and Johnny is correct then I certainly was expecting something vastly different in MKX.

I am expecting 11-12 new character's now instead of the 14 I had originally thought. Boon did say it was going to be the most new characters ever. The previous record being 10.

The big thing that changed in my mind is an awareness that NRS may very well be scrapping a TON of content from mk4-mkA (if the sonya, lui, johnny rumor is to be believed) in the form of character's. I think we will see much more mk9 characters returning, and only a handful of the story-driven mk4-A characters back. Character's like shinnok, quan chi and kenshi. I honestly wouldnt be surprised if Tanya only made it as DLC at this point.

I could dig it.

I really didn't think Kano was gonna be in this game, but I can say that about nearly anyone who comes back. I do think there's gonna be a good chunk of new characters, and I'm pumped for that, especially seeing what we've gotten so far.

I'm just gonna sit back, check out what's wrong with my knee, and wait for GamesCom to see if we get anyone new.

I don't understand why people keep pulling numbers out of thin air. Boon has said there's going to be a load of new characters, but unless I'm mistaken, he has never given any specific figures for that or returning ones.



What happened?

He said the most new characters of any MK game at e3. So that gives us a minimum number. Then you can speculate on average roster size and get a pretty good feel for how many returning cast there are.

And we could get new unplayable characters (like sub-bosses) this time as well. So 12 can still be considered a logical number until confirmation



Yes. No matter how much he sucked, he still took up a roster spot and was new to the franchise.

16 returning and 12 new

- I hope 12 new doesn't mean 11 new + one guest tho.

I completely agree with with. I'm like 98 perfect sure that all the surviving fighters will comeback besides like (1 or 2). My guess is that we're only going to see 1 robot, and no sheeva.
Shinok will be included, along with Quan Chi and tanya(because they need females and most of them are dead or irrelavent)
I think we'll see (Bo, Li Mei, Kenshi, and Forst), most likely the only mkda-d new fighters. (they're pretty much key to the post mk4 story arch)
The rest will be new fighters.

Thanks for the replies, guys. I have so much to reply to, but so little time. I do want to address the Mokap/Blaze MKDA issue, though (I'll address other things later).

If you wanna say Mokap is roster character in MKDA, I need to know your definition of roster character. I define a roster character as a design with a unique moveset. Mokap and blaze didn't have original movesets as far as I remember. Calling Mokap a new character is like calling MEAT a new character. Mokap can't take a roster spot if he doesn't take any time to develope (art team doesn't count; those dudes finish early). That's why character scarcity exists: development time.

But even if you broaden your definition to include characters like Mokap, I think it's clear that Ed was referring to completed new characters when he said "the most new characters of any game.

And obviously Moloch doesn't count as a new character since he's not playable.

I'm predicting a liiiitle over a third of the final cast'll be new. Boon could very well be trolling and count Sub-Zero as a new character, if it's neither brother under that mask.

Once I saw Cassie, I was pretty convinced Kano would be back so they could have a predictable feud. It's Sonya whose presence would surprise me.

This.



I have absolutely no idea. I am literally a mystery to both doctors and dentists. L-I-T-E-R-A-L-L-Y.

I'm going to assume since how many times I've fallen on my knee due to sports, syncope, and just being an accident prone... muscle spazzings

As I recall, Ed Boon said he THINKS this game introduces more new characters than any other MK game, but he also said he didn't actually go back and count how many characters each game introduced.

If this game doesn't become the 180 I thought it was then I'd be very pleased. I'd prefer a mostly returning roster and a story that takes place shortly after MK9 for the most part, with a minimum amount taking place 25 years in the future. I was getting worried that a lot of MK9 characters would get the boot. I can understand why the ones who are currently dead wouldn't come back, but I want most of the others to return. I'd be happy with ten or less new characters.

My opinion may not be popular, but when Scorpion and Sub-Zero were the only returning characters shown at E3, I began feeling pretty uneasy. And Cassie Cage, even though I think she looks decent, got me really worried that Johnny Cage and Sonya wouldn't be back. Truth is, the MK1, 2 and some of the MK3 characters are my favorite. The more of them I see, the more I'm gonna like the game.

Kano blindsided me. It really kinda made me excited. I expected more new than ever before. We got a gigantic dose of it with our initial "holy shit!" Reaction so it was seamless. Then we get two reminders that this is still our beloved MK with Raiden and Kano.

I hate to give leaks any recognition but the more time that passes, the more I think the 14/8/8 leak is true.

-It was estimated in a very vague, realistic sense (X-ray details)
-MKDA had 10-12 new chars depending.
-14 would be, as Boon says, "the most new characters in any MK"
-8 MK9 is a decent estimate as others will be cameos/DLC
-8 post-MK3 is fair.

My serious guess at the roster:

Scorp
Sub
Kano
Raiden
Rain
Baraka or Mileena (tarkatan)
Sektor or Cyrax (cyborg)
Skarlet

Tanya
Havik
Hotaru
Fujin
Shujinko
Bo Rai Cho
Kai
Shinnok

D'Vorah
FerraTorr
Cassie
Kotal
Tremor (it's the perfect time)
"Hornbuckle" (onaga's holy men/plot device to avoid MKA?)
Female Shirai Ryu (Too hinted)
"Pain man" concept from MKDA (The best concept I've seen)
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Yes I realize the male dominance in roster. I think new characters will be used to fill out the female roster. I'd say six DLC characters is expected. Ermac/Smoke/Rep would sell really good. Given the space, that's where my brain goes. I'm sure we will see tons of cameos and deaths of characters.

I don't know why. I just really, really am buying that leak. It feels authentic at the moment. I don't think we'll see JC, Sonya or Liu playable. Kotal was an old concept. I think we will see more of these come to fruition. Krypt archives?