I think we need 1 C/Khameleon character and I prefer her so I say STAY.

I completely agree with you on the point that Khameleon actually having a thrown together story works against her, whereas Chameleon's blank slate is at least not a negative against him. To this day, are we even sure that Chameleon is even of the same race as Reptile? He could take off his mask one day, go by a real name, and people could think he is the most awesome character ever. That ambiguity is not there for the exposed Khameleon -- she's Reptile's stalker.

That might be a little harsh. There were some elements of potential there now that I think about it. Reptile was working for the guy who killed their people, and that put Khameleon in a position of knowledge and power -- which is always good for a female in fiction. She almost seemed more "grown up" than Reptile, which I also could have liked. The Hitchcockian male ego inside me loves the concept of a woman waking up and the last man on Earth is one that she feels almost disgusted by. Khameleon could have been pretty interesting if she had to clean up after this mess of a boy that she had no choice but to shack up with in order to keep her race alive.

Now, the problems with this are that her gameplay was a gimmick, and that this storyline with so much potential was thrown onto a character that was going nowhere fast. Also, it bothered me a little how she managed to survive. It just seems so convenient that she managed to survive and had all this knowledge somehow. Just a tad melodramatic for me. Could have been used to present us with a female survivalist character, which could have been cool.

The story itself felt too "Disney" to me at the time, but in retrospect, it could have really given us a particular character in Khameleon. Maybe she held onto her human appearance because she is vain? Maybe her evolved state meant so much to her, and she needed Reptile to maintain that? It's just that I get this "Help me, Reptile -- you're my only hope!" vibe when I think about her story, and she feels like a Disney princess at times. For me to like Khameleon, she would need a better name, a better image, her own moves, and some sort of psycho-analysis that would let me identify with her struggle, and not wish she was dead just so we can move on.

Man, I hate the Raptors. I'd be happy to see the whole race go extinct. No more Reptile, no more C/Khameleons. Ever.

i actually want to see more of her...i say stay to Khameleon

Why do people actually want her to stay? I'm curious.

Another downside to her returning would be that Reptile would more than likely be back. I have no interest in seeing her still try and get Reptile in heat so she can make baby lizards. I think Reptile's story reached a great finale with Deception, in him becoming the new threat to the realms after being spat on by everybody. For him to return -- yuck. Just let him die, icon or not.

If Khameleon returned, I would hope it would be in story without Reptile, where she has pretty much been condemned to a life as the last of an all-but extinct race. She gets royally pissed off at this, and looks for an sort of unnatural way to keep the raptors alive. Could let us see the darker edges to Khameleon that so far have not even be alluded to.

But that fucking name!

i'd rather not have khameleon come back. just didn't seem like an interesting character.

Kintaro: I liked Kintaro as a sub-boss in MK2. He was a bigger, badder, cheaper version of Goro. I don't really understand the whole half human, half tiger, shokan thing, but he did look pretty cool. My problem with Kintaro is that he was only in two games. I figured he would be Goro's replacement, but nope he never followed through. So with that basis we only need one four armed guy, and Goro is the original and more iconic.

Verdict: He may be a tougher than Goro, but Goro is the only shokan I want to see. Gone.

I've always liked Kintaro better than Goro. I absolutely despised the fact that they brought Goro back in Deception. That should've been Kintaro's story. Siding with Kahn would have been a great way to establish his personality and how he's different from the prince, instead of fucking Goro up by undoing his heroic death just to have him turn on Kitana's army.

Goro WAS a strong, principled "I fight for honor" character, now he just seems like a wishy-washy "I side with whoever I think will win" pussy. Characters for whom good and evil are a revolving door and they can't decide what side they're on are always weak.

If it had been Kintaro instead, and he said something like "I thought we should never have signed that peace treaty. Goro was soft and now it's my turn to lead and I'm sticking with Kahn because we're like-minded", it would've made both characters look strong and consistent.

That said, I dunno if I want to see any of the old Shokan come back. Like I said earlier in the topic, I'd rather they introduce a new one, of a breed that's neither brown with green spots nor tiger striped. Expand on and flesh out the race some more. Make them and the Tarkatans more interesting than just the Trolls and Orcs of the MK universe.

Kintaro should stay i like Kintaro.

i liked the way he looked in mk2 mka he did look as cool.

loved the way he shot fireballs from his mouth. The teleport was alot better the goro imo.

and to me He looked scarier the goro ever did.

Kintaro Should Stay!!!

Kintaro has always been my favourite Mortal Kombat character since I was about 5 (as you can probably tell from my username), and I would definitely love to see him back. But even I would admit that he has an incredibly tiny chance of returning.

I agree with those who say that Kintaro should have returned in Deception instead of Goro and that it ruined both of their stories. Although it does give me a few ideas of what could be done with Kintaro.

I think that Kintaro should be either on the Neutral or maybe even the Good side. Maybe he doesn’t like Goro’s sudden change to Kahn’s side. Maybe he idolised Goro and saw him as this great, invincible warrior who while very brutal in battle, was also incredibly honourable and noble, as shown when he was willing to make peace with Kung Lao and the centaurs in MKG (You know, kind of like how we saw Goro before Deception). Seeing him just turn on Kitana and join the man they’d just been fighting because he offered to banish those he had made peace with, as if he never actually meant to stick to the treaty between the two races, could have completely changed his view of Goro. Who he thought was a great and noble warrior was actually a coward who would switch sides to whoever gave him a better offer.

As for why he’s on the evil side in MKA, maybe (there’s a lot of maybes here) he’s only on that side because even though Goro has shown his true colours, he’s still the prince, and maybe Kintaro believes that he can’t just attack Goro as he believes Goro would own his arse, despite him being the stronger one. Or maybe he’s in denial, and he tries to trick himself into believing there is nothing wrong and that Goro is doing the right thing, even after cursing the Centaurs, who they had previously made peace with, he still tries to believe that Goro is doing the right thing for their race.

During the battle itself, Kintaro could see Goro fight against and trying to kill either Kitana or Kung Lao, and that is what makes Kintaro snap. He attacks Goro from behind and lets Kung/Kitana fight their other enemies. The two of them do battle and Kintaro emerges the victor and kills Goro.

After this there two possibilities.

1) The Shokan’s reputation across the realms is totally ruined by Goro, they are all seen as treacherous cowards with no honour. Kintaro decides to lead the Shokan himself and try fix this damaged reputation by proving that they are still the honourable warrior race they always have been (or he try to do it alone without the leading, whichever works best). He would be a Neutral character, as he does not care for the battles between good and evil, he wants to mend the broken relationship between the Shokan and the other races.

2) The Shokan are not the honourable warrior race they once were. They were on Goro’s side and want Kintaro dead for killing their prince. Maybe he could get a few followers who agree with him, but not many. Maybe the new leader of the Shokan race (who could or could not be a new enemy/rival for Kintaro) allies with the new villain for pretty much the same reason Goro allied with Kahn, they were given a good offer. Kintaro and his few followers could join the Forces of Good against this villain and show them just how wrong Goro was.

I know its a lot, and that there’s no chance of Kintaro getting this much story. And I admit I’m not really all that good at thinking of where the story could go or storytelling at all, but it’s one possible direction for Kintaro. And if some of that makes no sense and is written badly, it is because it's 11:30PM here and I'm quite tired, so I apologise in that case.

Verdict: STAY, even if his chances are nonexistent.

Btw, first post! Whoo and all that.

Hello, UltraKintaro! I've never seen you post here, but I quite enjoyed reading your suggestions on how to make Kintaro relevant. You've actually changed my stance on him returning.

Like many, I believe that Kintaro should have been the Shokan who returned for Deception. It would have fleshed out Kintaro more, and we could have seent his huge contrast between him and Goro. It just did not make sense to keep changing Goro's alignment. But what you have suggested for Kintaro, UK, has got me thinking of Kintaro as a bad-ass who returns pretty consistently throughout the series looking to prove the honour of the Shokan. Think Scorpion's story without the pussy tale of revenge.

The Shokan are iconically associated with Mortal Kombat, so it makes complete sense to bring someone of the race in. To be honest, I was thinking that it best be a new character, but if Kintaro returned, his popularity alone would make it a good thing for the series (providing they give him a proper story).

But Ed Boon is apparently not a fan of the character, so I don't think we shall see him too much unless it is to do with that MK2-era of the games. Shame that personal feelings get in the way of a potential cash-cow like Kintaro.

I actually prefer Kintaro to Goro.
I like his tiger stripes and the fact he looks tougher than Goro.
If you played as him in Trilogy you were most likely going to win if you got a good string of uppercuts together. So me and my brother had a rule that no one could play as him lol.

I 'm gonna say STAY!

Well, I missed one again (dang it!)

So real quick:

Khameleon: Don't care. Don't care. Don't care. I put Khameleon on the level of Meat and Mokap. Some might be cool with having either C or K back as a hidden character but personally, I'd rather they take a crack at a new hidden character.

Huh, that one was easy.

VERDICT: GONE

Kintaro: Ah, my ALL TIME favorite sub boss! Where Goro looked way too claymation and didn't seem to move very well, Kintaro felt like you were facing this beast that was half the size of the screen.

Was he cheap? Absofreakinlutely. Nothing was more frustrating than doing Liu Kang's flying kick in to him or some such move, only to have Kintaro pull him right in to a throw, no blocking animation or anything.

C-H-E-A-P

And you know what? I always came back for more. Sure, I almost always had to use Sub Zero to get past him, but who cares? He was fun as hell to fight against and I loved every minute of it.

His moves were solid, his appearance was somehow more intimidating than Goro's (not sure if it was the tiger stripes or what).

Still though. I'm not a fan of recycling sub bosses. They're the perfect one-off characters to me. I don't think that they should've brought back Goro at all, and I'd be perfectly fine seeing all of the shoken, centaurs and oni named Moloch head off in to that sub boss place in the sky.

VERDICT: GONE. Give me a new Sub Boss. Preferably a human. No more half human dragons, tarkatans, zatarans, robots, vampires or any of that other silly garbage.

I will say this though. If the MK team said "we're bringing back an old sub boss and YOU decide!" I wouldn't even have to think. Kintaro all the way!

I like Kintaro...even though it's not really based on anything other than his appearance and my personal interpretation of his character (I imagine as a raging, hate-filled nutbar).
Having said that, I don't think he should come back.

Gameplay-wise...well, he's an overpowered sub-boss and those types don't contribute to balanced gameplay. I'd rather not see any repeat bosses or sub-bosses.

Story-wise, as others have already pointed out, he got fucked over in Deception. Now, he's kind of in the same boat as characters like Kai or Jade. They could bring them back and flesh them out or they could just as easily kill them off and move on.
As already suggested, if Kintaro comes back, they can have him pissed about Goro's flip-flopping or maybe he never agreed with the Shokan/Edenian Alliance to begin with and this latest turn of events has pissed him off for an entirely different reason. But since I think Goro should be offed one way or another, this doesn't really have to happen.

I'm going to say go, unfortunately.
If however, they decide to bring back any of the existing Shokans and want to throw in an overpowered character as an unlockable bonus or something....Kintaro has my vote.

Yeah, it seems the opinion on Kintaro is pretty unanimous -- people like the character but think that its time in the sun has long passed. He almost represents a more innocent time. *sigh*

He should probably be gone, but I support him returning if they want to bring back a Shokan character. Even Sheeva would be preferred over Goro at this point by me, though.

i would like him to return but not right now...maybe a few games down the road so i say gone for Kintaro

I would prefer for future sub-boss and boss characters to be normal sized, at least for the next 2 games. I wouldn't be too sad if none of the Shokans or Centaurians ever returned again, but on the other side, they do add to the diversity of the species present in MK universe, so I guess it'd be good to keep them.

If they decide to bring back one of the already known Shokans, then I'd prefer Kintaro over Goro and Sheeva. UltraKintaro posted some nice ideas what his story could be. Unfortunately, I just don't care enough for any of those huge characters, so for the sake of streamlining the roster I'll vote for him to go.

Final verdict for Kintaro: GONE.

... ... ...

My verdicts so far:

STAY: 13
GONE: 14

if we do have a shokan warrior i say kintaro stay, but if there is no need for a shokan warrior then gone i say. he always seemed better then goro in terms of look and moves but was never really used properally. which is sad.

I've always liked Kintaro. I like him alot more than Goro. He was always the suprepe boss of MK in my eyes as he was so incredibly hard to defeat on MK2. Also, he alone practiocally raped everyone else on the PSX version of MK Trilogy. Thus, I imagine Kintaro as a mega hardarse.
Storywise there's little to say for him. It's unfortunate that unlike Goro, he never returned to have his story fleshed out. There was always that rumour of Raiden having killed him that would have been nice to address or touch upon. If he ever did return, then he obvious needs fleshing out and a decent story. He cannot just be another generic Shokan henchman as that has been done by all three Shokan and all have been full of fail because of it.
As much as I like Kintaro, there's not much going in his favour so I'll have to say he should go.

I like the big guy and all his tiger stripes, but I have to say GONE for all the reasons already stated.

I think Kintaro should stay, he has a lot of potential, which was not realized in the appearance of two games. I've always liked him better than Goro, his character design is better, and he is suppose to be bigger and badder than the prince.

STAY

Everyone else has basically said all there is to say. I like him, he should have been in MKD, but now he's expired milk.

Love ya bud, but... gone.

Keeping characters just because they are characters is essentially not a good thing. He has nothing to bring us, is a copy, and inventing stuff just for him to come back is superfluous.