^Again, Scorpion and Sub-Zero are NOT overrated. They are both very popular characters in their own right. You know how you said before you would see Raiden, Johnny Cage and Quan Chi on the sides of arcades? Think about that for a moment. Scorp and Subby weren't really heavily promoted until 2005 when MKDA came out and DESPITE that, they were still very well known characters.

Durning the Trilogy era, Liu Kang was front and center as he was always the MK champion in the story. Even in both MK movies LIU KANG was the main character on screen, yet people never forgot about Scorpion and Sub-Zero.

I believe that the MK team noticed this and THAT is why they are heavily promoted like they are now. There's just something about a ninja the freezes things and another ninja that throws a harpoon and yells "Get over here!"
People love these 2 characters for real. Not because these 2 were "forced" on us through promotions. These 2 characters are truly awesome in their own right.

You would think that Liu Kang would be a raving fan favorite like these 2 right?
He's the hero who always save the day! The "Superman" of the series right? Wrong.

Liu Kang was once far more overrated than Scorpion.

Like Scorpion, he hardly ever changed, but luckily, he died. It was then that he slowly became more than a generic hero.

To this day, the only characters I feel are truly deserving of being in an infinite spotlight is Kitana and Sub-Zero.

Noob Saibot, Smoke, Reptile, Tanya, Quan Chi. Most other folks I feel get just the right amount of love they deserve.

The bosses are way overrated.

Ninjas.

And this is coming from a Ninja fan.

Being the face of the franchise does not mean overrated. Scorpion is the face of the franchise he is INSTANTLY recognizable as "That ninja from Mortal Kombat."

NRS could start throwing Sonya, Kitana, Jax, etc. into ad campaigns but the fact is people are WAY more likely to not recognize those characters. That is NEVER a problem with Scorpion and Sub-Zero. Brand recognition is extremely important. Almost anyone can go, "Yo, is that a yellow ninja? Mortal Kombat!"

And his moveset is almost as instantly recognizable. The Spear Throw is a truly iconic fighting game move. Couple that with his teleports and he has a winning formula. He IS MK's Ryu, like it or not. And it's not going to change, for good reason. Scorpion works. Flawlessly.

All this talk about story is almost moot. In a fighting game, in the long run, it doesn't matter anywhere near as much as looks/gameplay. Scorpion is a winning formula that is selling MK now more than ever. NOT overrated.

I really need to leave this thread now. Again, it is near impossible to discuss this issue without bias, so all we are really getting are lists of characters that people don't understand why others like them.

This is an important point.

Scorpion did not START OUT as the series mascot. He was not invented to BE the series mascot. Liu was the mascot, that's why all his moves are MK logo dragons in MK2 and 3 while Scorpion wasn't in 3 at all at first.

He became the mascot over TIME, BECAUSE of how the fans responded to him.

Unfortunately, he also became Flanderized over time because the developers were afraid to damage the things that make him recognizeable to casuals.

So now he'll always be "angry revenge-for-my-dead-family guy who always fights Sub-Zero" instead of moving the fuck on and developing as a character from game to game like everyone else does, even though in some of the most famous games, he actually MADE FRIENDS with Sub-Zero...but casuals don't know that.

Exactly man. Thank you *bro fist*