The problem with Shang Tsung morphing is due to memory constraints due to using disk format. On the Arcade & Cartridge systems there was no load time for each morph, however if you played MK2-MKT on the Playstation you notice that there is an extensive load time. If it wasn't for this I'm sure we would've seen the morphs back.

with the technology we hav 2day, yes he can morph without havin 2 change 2 that char. maybe it couldn't happen on ps&ps2 but it can on the ps3, sure it may be a split second between morphin, but we can deal with that. yall 4 get how powerful the new generation systems are compared 2 the older ones. SO YES IT CAN BE DONE, plus they had and have the time 2 do it.

1) It could indeed be done, but at what cost? The game would literally need to load and render the charactar model, the animations, and said charactar's moveset. That's a shit load of processing to be done in a "split second" i don't care what console it's on. Also, a split second in a fighting game can often mean the difference between victory and defeat. A stutter in the action just to appease a few peoples request would piss people off to no end.

Example: New Super Mario Bros. Wii. In multiplayer, whenever someone dies, the action stalls for a second to do the infamous death tune that accompanies death in mario games. That "split second" is enough for everyone to get knocked off their game enough for them to either screw up royally or die as well, and has been the only real gripe about the game so far. Once again, in a fighting game where players live and die in a matter of a second, that stuff just wouldn't fly.

2) Does Shang Tsung even need to morph anymore? Shang Tsung was a gimped charactar gameplay wise. It was a cheap way to make him challenging without investing real time into the charactar. With Deadly Alliance' arrival, we saw Shang Tsung evolve into a real charactar gameplay wise, and he was fantastic. I honestly think it would be a real step backwards for the charactar to have something like that happen. If they want to incorporate it into a fatality ala MK vs DC, great, but he has evolved past the need for such a gameplay crutch IMO.

The thread name had me thinking it was about him being on the roster but its about his ability to morph...
In any case I will put in my thoughts on both topics. I could see Shang returning in a few more games just because as said before he has been evolving and I think it would be interesting to see where his character goes story wise. As for his abilities to morph I think that if they do implement it in the game somehow it should be just a fatality. The morphing during combat did kind of give him personality though and made him a formidable character. Maybe the morphing could be toned down from being able to change into anyone on the roster to just morphing into his opponent like a mirror image or instead of morphing just steal the move set of his opponent. That is the only way I could see it working well. It would be almost like the fatality steal Quan use to have.

Just thinking about the possibility of Shang Tsung being able to morph again makes me nostalgic for a 2D MK again, where I know it could and would be done.

However, I'll still believe anything's possible, as developers learn new tricks and consoles become more powerful and have better hardware (e.g. they all have hard drives now and are not dependent on slow CD-ROM drives). Look at how there were terrible load times for Shang's morphs even in the 2D games like MKII and MKT on the PSX/Saturn, and that's been completely eliminated in MKII on MAT2 and PS3, and UMK3 on Xbox live and the MKA Bonus disc.

The fact that they keep experimenting with things like Shang's morphs for victory poses, that he retains it in cutscenes like in MKDA, and that he has limited morphing ability in MKSM shows that they haven't forgotten about this ability of his at all and are working on some kind of a solution for this, even if it hasn't been implemented 100% yet.

My idea was ( in my alternate reality / time travel Mortal Kombat game ) is to bring Shang Tsung back in his demonic form, or true form. Simply give him his soul based powers, and morphing powers. We also introduce another character who is the actual human that Shang Tsung has based his look on in the franchise, and this character would have the multi fire ball, and rising fireball moves ala MK3.

The idea in the story is that the human "Shang Tsung" is kind of like a Chinese overlord who also has ties to the occult, and is referred to as the "Demon King" in the crime syndicates ... his entourage includes his personal body guard and assassin , a female with abilities similar to Sindel's hair powers and Mileena's hidden demonic teeth ferociousness ........ his second in command is a DEMON HE HAS SUMMONED and CONTROLS AGAINST ITS WILL to do his bidding .... this demon has the ability to STEAL PEOPLES SOULS and take their form and abilities.

Needless to say that at the end of the game, the Demon finds a way to break free from Shang Tsungs control, murders his master, and takes his form .... which basically gives you the origin story of how Shang Tsung came to be ... only in an alternate universe rather than just a "cannon prequel".