I like the idea of several battles, but not just a sub-boss followed by the boss. Here is what I would like, either:

1) Start with a few revenants outside of the temple with the red clouds forming, so against Kitana, Jax and whoever else is influenced. For this battle, they should be 1 round, one after another and stronger than their usual playable selves. Then inside the temple or wherever that red ghost moves to, play the big bad (Shinnok) in the classic 3 round battle.

2) Battle Shinnok inside the temple who then becomes a red demon / dragon who you have to battle right after.

Goro

Goro's father.

Goro's grandfather.

Goro's father.

Motaro!

I think it should be Shinnok. In the story mode, he should be fought at the end of the netherrealm war. So that way, instead of facing the final boss twice like in MK9, you'd get two different bosses.

Goro sounds likely, but there's no reason it couldn't be both him, and Shinnok in the ladder mode, as well as others, just like in the last three games (MKA, Vs DC Universe, and MK9). There should even be endurance sub-boss fights, sometimes.

chameleon

Steve from accounting

This is kinda what makes me hopeful there may still be some surprises left.

Honestly, I remember leading up to the release of MK9, everyone thought the roster was a foredrawn conclusion, and they still snuck in some last minute surprises on us. No one expected Sheeva or Stryker in MK9 at all before the demo got hacked. Had the demo not gotten hacked, they'd have been surprises.

This time we have no demo hack, and there could still theoretically be cards NRS is holding close to the chest.

We haven't heard word one about any confirmation of the boss or sub-boss in any of the roster leaks (Many of which for all we know, still aren't even confirmed as true, even if they may be close to true.) We also haven't heard any hard evidence about the DLC guest characters beyond rumor. None of the leaked lists seem to acknowledge them with any sort of confidence. About the most we've gotten is a couple articles that suggest maybe Predator and Spawn. (And that thing about the Apollo Creed guy from Predator just strikes me as complete BS)

I'm sure... we probably have a fairly strong idea of about 90% of the roster at this point, if not complete confirmation. But I'm hoping and praying there are one or two characters that will just be a complete surprise out of left field, that Netherealm has successfully kept under their hats, and no one sees coming. Like Stryker and Sheeva in the last game. A couple characters. Not a whole third row of 12 on the select screen or anything... but a little something they've successfully kept hidden.

And considering we still know nothing concrete about the boss or sub-boss, beyond guesses... is a good indication we may still have a couple twists coming.

We honestly don't know a lot about the story on the whole either. Despite alleged roster leaks, they've kept most of the plot (beyond general knowledge) pretty damn successfully hidden.

I think we still have some surprises in store. I don't think we should all get completely down on the leaks just yet.

It would be cool if they had a big monster boss type that you could have to slowly dismember it to beat it...kinda like that bonus level in street fighter where you had to destroy the car... i think it would be cool if they added that bloody twist to the fight

If Onaga IS the final boss, then what if there was something like..

Shujinko with every special move in the game. Don't know if that's possible from a technical perspective, but it'd be cool.


I think the sub boss could be a new character though.

Goro is not the sub-boss, he was spotted down on the ladder so..

Argus either sub or main boss.

Smoke! Smoke! Smoke! I like this character but I do not want him to be playable so being a sub-boss is perfect for him; it would be a nod to how dangerous he was in the original timeline as a cyborg.

#GorbakKonfirmed

A new big brute that we haven't seen or heard about would be my preference. We haven't had a new one since Moloch in MKDA.

Motaro with ten legs.

I'd say Onaga and Blaze both count as new ones since Moloch.

I realize they were both the final boss in their games, not the sub-boss, but the role of the big invulnerable monster boss was still filled by them. Just kinda got reversed in those games. Onaga was a big boss w/ small sub-bosses (I still don't think anyone was clear on why Noob-Smoke were the sub-boss though... other than they had a unique gimmick)...

Armageddon was a little more of a crapshoot, and Blaze technically wasn't a new character. But "Big" Blaze was.

Blaze honestly wasn't a terrible idea in retrospect. He was pretty neat in both of his forms.

Too bad we'll never know what Armageddon's story would've been like if it was allowed to have been fleshed out. Just for curiosity's sake. I'd still have liked MK9 to have the same gameplay.

Onaga was great too. As far as Noob-Smoke being the sub-boss, it was because of their gimmick, the fact that you always fought them just before Onaga, and Noob Saibot was quickly making huge ass plays for power in that game. He was building that army of Netherrealm demons and catching attention from characters in the game like his brother and Ashrah.

I've been wondering about Noob-Smoke lately, what with the 99% likelihood that the leaked roster is accurate, and the image of the grey dude Kotal slams in his Sun God variation pic at the select screen still unexplained after all this time.

That was Sub Zero

I vote Balor, the one-eyed, one-armed, one-legged giant from Irish lore. MK can use a smidge of Celtic influence, and Balor would make a great Tormentor.

Or....

Nope. Doesn't look a thing like either costume seen so far.



Whoever that is looks bare chested and is rocking brown pants that go roughly knee-length; everything below that is much too bright as well. Not the first time I've heard this, but it does not match Sub at all. Who was it that claimed that in the first place?