i did not think of it like that but if i did...how could Rain be explained with purple? why is Scorpion just yellow if he is refered to that color by the element of fire?...fire has more than one color. other questions follow...why is Cyrax yellow and Sektor red? what would be the meanings to them color choices? Jade's costume color could be changed...i think that her character was not meant to be as she is now...i think they wanted a female Reptile but than along came Chameleon and Khameleon.but the female Reptile turned into a fan favorite and i think they were left to re-envisioning her just as human and went from there. if she returns i would like to see her costume change color and look dramatically different.

Ah, Jade... This is tough. On one hand, she is an extremely bland character. She started off as a hidden character and, much like the other hidden characters, fans wanted to use her, so they put her in the game for UMK3.

Of course, as others have mentioned, her issue is that of being so closely linked to Kitana and the Edenians. Not only is it boring, but for me, that whole Edenian storyline is beyond stale. So now you have an assist character (which is already bad enough, they're basically a henchmen for the good guys) in a stale story.

Yikes.

Normally, that's a recipe for disaster. But for some reason... Maybe it's BECAUSE she's so underdeveloped and because they failed so miserably with her in MK:D, that I want to say "give her another shot."

Take away Edenia. Just... Destory it. Maybe have some sort of plot where she's in another realm as an emissary and she's fallen in love with another character, we'll say Kung Lao, and then she gets word that her home world has been destroyed. She could be racked with guilt over not having been there to help, resentful of Kung Lao, but really just mad at herself. Then determined to find out who destroyed her home world and why.

Still, this would require both Kitana and Sindel to die (which I have no problem with, as both have long since outlived their usefulness in their plotlines) and even then, is that a good enough story to keep her going?

As for her outfits, I've never been a fan of any of them. They're either rip offs of Kitana and Mileena, of course... None of which were all that good to begin with, or they're this amazon look or whatever that just doesn't work for me. Again, they totally messed her up in MK:D.

Her moves? Well... They need to take away the Shadow kick. Sorry, but it's Cage's move, not hers. I like the boomerang, the staff, the invulnerablity to projectiles move etc.

Overall, I still think that she has potential, but also feel like she's had more than enough chances to step out of her shell, be her own character and she just hasn't done that for some reason. The Tanya storyline? Bad. Everything else is just assisting and it's weak.

VERDICT: GONE. I wouldn't hate it if she came back, but they really need to work on her and give her a story that lives up to her possible potential. I say "possible" because they haven't been able to do it so far... Not one bit.

Well, I may not know the real explanation on why the colors were chosen but I know that the reason why Rain is purple is due to a song that Boon likes called Purple Rain.

Cyrax and Sektor were used to be called Ketchup and Mustard, not sure if that's the reason why they're yellow and red.

And with Scorpion, I got nothing on that.

Love Jade ^^

She should stay

Well, that is another. When I think of ice I think of "white," but blue is a cool colour. Sub-Zero I let pass, because it seems like something ordered onto him by the Lin Kuei -- and a tradition he is pleased to keep going.

The other characters lycani mentioned aren't really relevant, mainly because it's not like they are named for their colour (or wear their colour because of their name). I would like to see characters move away from colour schemes in future games, though. If Kitana returnd, for example, I would not be horrified if she traded in the blue scheme for something new. Maybe put the blue scheme in there as an alternate?

Jade wearing green is just too...corny, as Razor put it, for my tastes. It's not a fatal flaw to the character or anything. I could imagine a cool Jade design with her wearing black with purple jewells, or something. Maybe give her a gold belt, with a green stone hanging off it -- something that reminds her of her identity (in a spiritual sort of way), and keeps her going.

Well, if it makes you feel any better... Jade isn't actually wearing th color jade. Her color is more emerald green.

Haha, that does make me feel slightly better, Baraka.

I hope you guys don't mind, but I'm going to go back to the powerhouse issue since a couple people commented on it.

In MK II, Kitana with her crushing combos was arguably the most formidable playable character in the entire game, so any better, faster Kitana who also happens to be immune to projectiles is pretty much a powerhouse by definition. In UMK3, Jade went easy on NOBODY, and whether you consider that "cheap" or not, in a real world combat situation that would mean life or death for her. In a tournament, it would mean victories. And I'm sorry, but for a character who out-Kitanas MK II Kitana to be humble enough give up that fighting style for something else that doesn't upstage her princess, and STILL be able to fucking destroy everyone she comes across is just badass. Though less obvious, if you'll notice in Mortal Kombat Deception, Jade was able to pull off longer combos by default than almost every other character, and was not held back by having her attacks powered down like Mileena or Kitana were. Her default was better than pretty much the entire roster (except maybe Hotaru, oddly enough. I guess that's an analysis for another day...). This is what I'm basing my earlier comments on. If we're going to keep reminding ourselves that Mortal Kombat is a story that revolves around fighting, we have to give our dues to the characters who can legitimately kick everyone elses' asses six ways to Sunday. Jade, I feel, is one of those characters. I think recognizing her for her considerable prowess would be one of the few viable ways to move her character forward.

I prefer to rank characters canonically by their strength. For example; even if they fucked him up gameplay-wise, Goro is canonically one of the most powerful guys in MK universe. And Kintaro is even stronger. That being said, I think that Jade would canonically be a very capable warrior. Hell, she's one of the few MK characters that hasn't died yet (although she's sort of a been a non-factor in fights -- she really does remind me of Wedge), although her not appearing after her story in MK3 alludes to her sacrificing herself in a battle against Reptile to save Kitana would have been a nice way to imply she was dead.

It's be interesting to find out who is more powerful in the story -- Kitana or Jade? They both have very similar backgrounds. Just because Kitana is definitely the more influencial force in the story does not mean she'd win a fight between the two.

That's generally how I look at this sort of thing as well, because MK's gameplay and the tier lists tend to fluctuate wildly from game to game.



No real way to know, since just on the face of it, they're evenly matched...although Kitana has shown greater leadership/strategy skills, while Jade has been more the pure soldier.

Comic book logic would dictate that whatever power or pure skill Kitana lacks against Jade, she would make up for in cunning or strategy.

Thanks. Appreciate the kind words.

On character discussion, I'm very surprised at the negative response for Jade. Many have said she's redundant and hasn't contributed much, and yes that's true, but I don't think it takes a whole lot of imagination to see that all that could change in one game. Perhaps the same could be said of all characters (C:SotN allusion, lolzers), but the difference with Jade is that she's nicely connected with the Edenian setup, having one strong ally and one strong enemy. Nothing mind blowing, but it counts.

On top of all that, I think she has a great design. It's simple, but for some reason it really works. And her alt in MKD was one of the few classic costumes that translated really well into 3D (unlike Scorpion's; it's like they were trying to make him look bland). She's nice to look at, and I don't say that as a horndog fan. Being an Indian/Egyptian/Black woman in warrior garments... I just think she looks tasteful.

Granted, she will need a drastic jump in story. She can't be Kitana's bff in the background forever.

But a note on appearance: some have said that a woman named Jade who wears green all the time is silly. Well remember, Jade started out as an assassin, so it's not unreasonable to believe the name "jade" is a codename, not unlike Smoke and Subzero. Does anyone really think Snake Plissken's birth name was Snake? She probably just wears green as a signature. Though she's no longer an assassin, Kitana probably just continues to call her Jade as a term of affection.

Did I miss Hsu Hao? Well, Gone.

I keep hearing people in this thread say something along the lines of "it only takes a good story and this character is good and relevant again." My problem with that statement is that while I know the focus is on the MK team to do that, I try to come up with ideas myself, something, anything from the past that could lead them on a path going forward.

With Jade? I just don't know if I see it. She's been a support character for so long and while you might like that she's tied in to Kitana and the Edenian storyline, I think that whole this is as stale as a Wednesday work day is long.

I actually think that's one of the things really working against her at this point, and the best thing for her would be some sort of situation where she's trapped away from Edenia, with no Kitana or Sindel in sight. She'd have to build up a new plotline (no, the one with Tanya doesn't count. That was weak) with a new ally or two and a new reason for fighting an emeny or THE enemy.

Is it possible? Certainly. But to me it's more a matter of how much effort would it take to either make a character interesting or keep a character interesting. How are their moves? What have they done so far? What's unique about them?

For Jade, like I said, she was a background character, an assist character for Kitana, she stole Cage's Shadow Kick for some reason and other than having a staff and now looking like an amazon for somer eason, I just don't see where she'd go heading forward that would be uniquely "her" and not just some other character or a new character.

Of course, that's also a thing for me. When I think "should a character stay" my immediate reaction is NO. Mainly because I want as many new characters and new ideas as possible. This is probably just me, but for a character to come back, I want there to be good reasons why. A good amount of potential and I'm still just not sure where that comes from with Jade.

Oh, and don't you DARE ruin Escape from NY with your blasphemy!! lol, I kid. I kid.

Did you miss Hsu Hao? No. No one misses Hsu Hao lol. Sorry. For the two fans of Hsu Hao out there, I apologize

I've been having a similar problem when it comes to Jade. Anything I can think of doing with her or exploring about her, I keep coming back to "But I think I'd rather see Kitana or Mileena or Sindel do it."

Like the "Let's nuke Edenia" idea that's gaining popularity. Okay, so now Jade's all alone and angry and doesn't know what to do with herself. Think I'd rather see what Kitana or even Sindel would do in that situation.

I'll admit, it might be a little bit of a personal bias, since Kitana is my favorite character....but I keep coming back to Kitana's superior development. If Edenia was destroyed, I think it would resonate more with her than it would with Jade because we know and have seen how much the restoration of Edenia has meant to Kitana, how much she's gone through to do it, and how stressed out she's gotten over it. Because she's more fleshed out, I'm more intrigued by what SHE would do if she had nothing left and had to start over. I would even say this about Sindel, too.

Razor suggested maybe there's some unknown and possibly deeper reason why Jade was allowed to be one of Shao Kahn's assassins alongside Kitana and Mileena. Here's my problem: I'm little more interested in the unknown and possibly deeper reason Kahn wanted to keep Kitana around. I mean, the fact that he tried to replace her with Mileena proved that Kahn wanted or maybe even needed Kitana around in some way, shape, or form...even if it was a clone of her.

There's the Tanya rivalry. Now assuming there was a reasonable chance Tanya could even make it into the next game....I think a rivalry with Mileena would be a lot more fun. I'll expand my thoughts on this when we get to discussing Mileena & Tanya, but I think a feud between these two would be much more entertaining than one with Jade.

I like Jade, don't get me wrong, and I'm not vehemently opposed to her. If they decide to retire Kitana and carry on with her, by all means, go for it.
But when it comes to Jade's future possibilities, I can't seem to see anything she could do that couldn't be done and done better with Kitana (a more developed character with a cooler weapon), Sindel (slightly more developed than Jade, and a more unique look), or Mileena (again, more developed and better look).

Yeah, I agree about the whole nuke Edenia idea. I'd almost like to see where Kitana goes considering Liu Kang is dead (or should be when this game comes out) and her home world, which she's fought for since the begining, is destroyed.

Now, with Jade, yeah, it might be interesting to see her forced in to the spotlight with a story like this... But where does it go? What does she do that could honestly reveal more about her and make her more interesting?

Again, I come to the same conclusion: I like her, I have nothing against her, but for me, it's not really Sindel, but rather Kitana or someone completely new.

I mean, give me a new character that escaped Edenia before it was destroyed. A new character that will automatically be able to stand on their own... I mean, I look at Jade and I just don't see a story that would completely fit Jade and no one else. To me, that's the sign of a support character and one with mediocre potential at best.

One Kano is bad enough. And if we're going to replace him, use Kira.

Gone.

Jarek? Hmm... Well, on one hand he actually had a decent set up in MK4 as far as his story went. A bad guy that was basically Kano, forced to team up against his sworn enemies to counter a greater threat. Of course, his ending was mediocre and he looked like Fred Durst complete with "I'm a knob" soul patch.

Then he got a rather drastic reboot for MK:A. His look, especially his alt costume was vastly improved. I also dug his lasso move, even if I have no idea how or why he'd have a lasso. Who cares? It was a fun move. Ther rest of his moves... Meh.

But his story... Good gawd... One of the worst in the history of MK. He's traveling the world, looking for the perfect fatality? What the... His ending was just as bad, if not worse.

So that's kind of the problem with Jarek. How do they make this guy a complete character? They've already rebooted him once and his moves and story were blah. His original look clearly did it all for the nookie and I'm glad that it kept rollin rollin rollin on outta here (okay, I'll stop the Limp Bizkit references, I promise lol).

Overall, he just kinda seems like what Jade is to the Edenians, he is to the Black Dragon. He's just another on the list from that particular place. Nothing terrible in terms of potential, but nothing that really screams "I should be back in MK going forward."

VERDICT: GONE. If I'm that indifferent to a character, than clearly there's more potential in a new character to fill a spot that Jarek would've taken up.

This is just my theory, but I think Jarek's Armageddon bio was Vogel's way of saying "Jarek only came back because everyone was brought back. Don't get attached to him. We don't plan on doing anything with him."

Never been a fan of Jarek, wouldn't care if he never returned.

GONE

I can think of no good reason for Jarek to have existed in the first place, much less for him to be brought back.

By the way, at the top of the page, some of you were wondering why Scorpion wears yellow.


Notice anything in particular, color-wise?

Ha ha. Wow, I totally forgot what scorpions look like.



Now you've made me change my decision on having Jarek stay. (Which isn't a bad thing whatsoever.)

If they're going to keep anybody from the Black Dragon, please let it be Kano and not Jarek...

i would bring back jarek just for another funny ending with jax like in mk4. lol

but being serious no.