What NRS needs to stop doing is removing fan favorites in favor of introducing too many new faces for the sake of having more new faces. Introduce one or two here and there, so they can take their time and produce a respectable story, move list, and appearance.

MK3 is a prime example of that. They tried to reconcile with UMK3, but by then a lot of people seemed to have moved on.

MK4 came close to the same trap, but a lot of the hardcore fans embraced the new characters, but casual gamers had no problem walking away.

Deception is the best example. Kira? Kobra? Shujinko? Dairou? Darrius?!?! Oh come on now. Yeah I'm sure there are a few people here and there in this world that like those characters but they're easily forgettable.

On a personal level, what made MKD worse for me was the inclusion of some MK3 characters that I've always hated with a passion (Kabal, Nightwolf, Sindel).

If NRS ever gets the feeling they're forcing the character on us (Shujinko, Taven, Daegon) then it's probably not the best of ideas. Joke characters need to stay in the past (Mokap) because the jokes aren't funny anymore. Maybe it was in the 90s. Or maybe just within the nerds of NRS. But out here, in the fan world, they're just gay.

And now back to MKD... a lot of those characters were created for the sake of having a damn character in each realm of the Kamidogu. That feels forced to me... but whatever. The story itself behind the Kamidogu was silly. Seeing as how Reptile was as an avatar for the Dragon King, Onaga was already resurrected and on his way to take revenge. All he had to do was transfer himself into his original body within the lost tomb (Sindel's MKD ending). With that said, the Kamidogu idea could be tossed this time around so Shujinko can be erased from our minds. Sure, without the stupid Kamidogu there would be no Konquest mode. So what? Konquest wasn't the reason I enjoyed MKD.

Nightwolf is the best ever character in MK history! He sacrificed himself in MK 2011. He's a true hero.

blacksaibot,

I agree with much you say especially about joke characters and this extends to Kameos: unless Kratos or Kruegar are becoming MK kharacters I would rather had Khamelon in MK 2011.

I was not fond of the MK3 cyber-ninjas or many of the character designs. Maybe I am not fond of post-apocalypse dystopias.

MK4 did fall into a trap of "Not enough new characters!!!" so, instead of Kitana and Noob, we got Tanya and Reiko. Let's not forgot the infamous Jarek; most would have preferred Kano over him. Fewer new character would have been much better in the long run.

Now here we are: a history of underdeveloped characters and all with their fans. Where do we go from here?

One advantage KI has over MK is in character design: while Orchid can dress in any color, Jade will always be in green. We now have a red female ninja, a yellow female ninja (Tanya), a green female ninja, a blue female ninja, a purple female ninja and Khameleon (gray?). While I am a fan of the krayon ninjas, I wonder if MK is now fated with this design. If so, when should we expect the pink, white, and/or orange female ninjas as new kombatants?

It's not too late to redeem yourself from such a statement. Suicide is one option.



I think those days are over with, my friend... thankfully.

I don't really consider Tanya much of a ninja. Her costume, if I remember correctly, was "stolen" from what Kitana's was supposed to be. So to be fair, she never really had her own look until Deception. She never wore a mask either.

Some fans DO consider Tanya a colour-palette ninja (myself included) because in MKA Khameleon "borrowed" her fire projectile, and since Tanya's costume WAS based on a Kitana idea recoloured.

As for MKD, I think you'll be hard-pressed to find many who DIDN'T like the inclusion of the returning MK3 characters. It showed us that they weren't forgotten inamongst the influx of the new and the inevitable regular mainstays. I think that game had a fairly good balance considering the regulars (Scorp, Raiden, Sub-Z), old returners (Mileena, Nightwolf, Sindel, Kabal), recent additions (Kenshi, Li Mei, Bo' Rai Cho), and completely new (Ashrah, Hotaru, Havik, Shujinko).

Now that this 60+ playable character roster (and many more background appearances) has been established, the way to kerb the 'glut' would be to build upon all that's been, like what they tried to do in MK9 by adding more background info (example Smoke's origin, Jerrod's inclusion in Ermac's souls composite).

It's understandable why MK has so many more characters than KI: Simply that there have been more instalments. If KI had continued to make games in this time there would probably be this situation for them too.

I totally agree!

As you say, MK has 60+ kombatants! Now what do we do?

Introduce new or develop old? Actually let kombatants die?

How do we keep MK fresh for a new decade with the old characters?

There's a lot of good characters that they made after the fourth game, but because of their one-time appearances, they hardly got the fan fave as much as the current characters. And I feel that it is kind of dumb to have all these characters be made and then just get ditched. There's really no reason why, let's say, Nitara, should be ditched completely because, let's say, she's not as popular as Sonya.

There's a handful of characters that debuted in Deadly Alliance/Deception that were actually interesting characters. Even though there's like only eight people that vote in my voting thread, Drahmin is a want out of the people that voted. Drahmin, okay? That kind of says something. (Maybe not to many, but to me that says something)

There isn't really that much of a use to introduce a heck of a lot of new characters. There was only one new character in 2011 (not including Cyber Sub-Zero, Freddy, or Kratos) and that was Scarlet. That to me was actually kind of nice seeing just one new face instead of half of the roster. We don't need to flood the next game with more new faces than currents. Although, with how the game ended I have no freaking clue what they're planning on doing with characters but, it's not that bad of a chance to give characters who only had like one or two appearances be given a chance even if majority of the fans didn't like them. There's no need to shun those characters off, and they can always be revamped to be better than what they were in the past rather than trying to find a way to introduce someone new.

That's just how I see it though.

I often think about the time line and the way things can go and the way things can't go. Personally I think the characters that are dead should remain dead. I think in a creative way it would be cool to see new characters jump in and take the place of some of the fallen. However in terms of story some characters need to come back. Mileena, Sonya, Cage, Raiden, Reptile,Scorpion, Quan Chi, Baraka,sheeva, Goro, cyrax,sector,Kano,Ermac and sub-zero (one way or another because he is the only constant character he has been in mk 1- 9) because they didn't die.

That on it's own is a pretty big cast to bring back and that doesn't include background characters. Now with that said.. mortal kombat has been a pretty big cast game.. so I don't know if they will fill it up again..or keep it low this time..but it's fun to think that maybe something new will come from it..

MK will be fine as long as they stop dropping half their roster every game and putting in horrible half thought out replacement characters. Introducing two or three new characters is definitely better.

dang, I am going to miss the pink female ninja.

I wonder if we are ever going to see Michael Grimm, Minamoto Yoshitsune/Yoritomo, Rokuro, Kitsune, Hornbuckle, Nimbus Terrafaux, Tasia, Jataaka, Kia and etcetera. If we are not, what new characters will we see? Is Kobra returning? What new direction will MK take?