We already have an urban stage... the Outworld Marketplace... it's just not... Earthrealm urban. :P

I agree though, I love urban stages in fighting games, with spectators and funny things happening in the background, instead of empty fields and bridges... so many bridges...

No offence, but your ideas sound more like Tekken/SF than MK

+ Not a big fan of Urban stages myself.

You know, I'd freaking love to have a Chinatown stage. With a familiar looking truck parked nearby.

In what way, exactly? Why do you think these stages wouldn't fit MK's style?

We've had a few stages that are located outside the US and they were quite beautiful. Personally I'd love those Earthrealm stages to return:

Sky Temple:


Special Forces Base:


Wu Shi Academy:




Lin Kuei Temple:




If MK9's stages came out that great think those would look absolutely breathtaking in next gen consoles!

A multi tiered zoo: no. A zoo does not fit with the MK style. Unless its a run down, degraded zoo where the animals are rabid/starving and no one wants a depiction of that in a game we play for enjoyment. Furthermore, no way do NRS put that in the game. People tend to be much more emotional when it comes to animals than people (including me) and to purposefully design an arena where we see animals suffering in an unfortunately all too realistic scenario is just negative publicity which NRS don't need. It's not like the Deadpool, where we saw captives of Kahn being lowered into acid, thats a clear disconnection from reality. Animals starving and whining for food is not and I'm depressed just thinking about it.

However, what I could be down with is a similar concept: a Netherrealm/Outworld battle pit with one of Kahn's pet tigers in a lower level: stage fatality. Could even do it in an Earthrealm zoo I suppose, Madrid Zoo at night in front of the Barbary Lions enclosure would be cool but boring.

A movie theater: good lord no. Explain to me how that fits in with an MK game? Especially the darkest MK game we've ever had. All I can see in my head is Raiden, the God of Thunder and Lightning, Protector of Earthrealm, fighting Scorpion, an undead ninja spectre who can summon demons and hellfire, fighting on a sticky floor covered by popcorn. No.

The Pyramids: best idea you have, if done in an MK way it could work. I could see it if we were retelling the invasion or an invasion storyline, with a huge portal in the sky and in the dead of night. But its too cliche. It sounds like a Tekken 1 stage for an Egyptian character. It reeks of "oh the Pyramids are recognizable and cool, lets have a stage there". The next step is to have a stage for the Taj Mahal, Great Wall and International Space Station.

Think of the stages we've seen:
The Forest: cold, eerie, sparsely beautiful with a load of corpses in the background
The Cove: stunningly detailed, amazingly atmospheric. Personally, I think it's the best stage I've ever seen in an MK game, its amazing
The Marketplace: set in a desert, has that kind of exotic vibe going, great background details, crucial world building in Outworld and probably really handy in story mode.

Can you honestly see a Zoo, a Cinema and the Pyramids in beside that?

I like where this is going.

Earthrealm will always be a big realm in the MK universe, someone is always trying to take over it so yeah there should be more urban stages, the roof tops and Subway are two of my personal favourites but some new ones would be great.

I was about to say the same thing. I didn't really like the urban areas in MK9. Only when they were dark, but the Subway was easily my favorite urban area. The depth was really nice, The Street was pretty ugly for how bright that map was. Having dynamic lights really what made some stages gorgeous.

I like the thought of fighting inside a cinema with audience members in their seats watching the original MK movie! with ''shhhh'' sounds as you fight near them lol

I'm not a big fan of urban stages, but they did fit the whole invasion story. A stage I really want to see, is something like Edenian Gardens. Beautiful, lush gardens with waterfalls and birds, vibrant colors. Example

Does that count as urban Edenia?

That's just way too beautiful. Would feel kinda wrong to fight there.

What you say about the likes of Raiden and Scorpion (and your pretentious description of them that's supposed to make them sound so respectable and such) fighting in a theater only makes me want such a stage more. The contrast of these two and such a mundane setting, and the chaotic nature of it, just makes it sounds exciting. Also, during an invasion, the warring sides don't always find themselves fighting in "fitting" areas. So Raiden and Scorpion could find themselves fighting in a movie theatre, or a nightclub, or even a bathroom. The last two could be part of another multi-tiered urban stage. Hell, maybe my suggested drowning stage fatality for the waterfront could be saved for the bathroom, instead.

As for your attempt at sarcasm with those fake suggestions, like the International Space Station, I'll just say: why not? Heh.

And yes, I could see my suggested stages alongside those mystical and otherworldly backgrounds. Because I like diversity, and just because the game is supposed to be dark, doesn't mean every stages have to be dark. MKD was dark, yet it still had a jovial Bo Rai Cho farting either to get up, or to fry people. The lighter half of the Yin/Yang stage was pretty goofy, with it's cruise ship in the background, and it's theme. It's not like the lighter half had to be this goofy.

You can want to see Scorpion and Raiden in a cinema all you want, its not happening. It's a very unrealistic prediction, no offence.

As for fighting in unlikely locations, why not the Sahara Desert, Antartica or the Mongolian Steppe? They cover huge swathes of Earth, its more likely you end up there than a nightclub. Hell, if we're going for realism, if they can't choose where they fight, we could just see the invasion appearing over the Pacific Ocean and drowning. We could have a beach stage where we fish the bodies out of the sea and drink mai-tais?

Look, you've clearly taken this as a personal attack on your opinions, it wasn't. I don't think your opinions are very good, but that doesn't mean my opinion should make any difference to you

You know what MK needs?


A cornfield. Or we need a stage set in Iowa, with an endless stretch of wheat.

I'm not a big fan of Urban stages.. I gues two or three wouldn't be that bad.

Well, that's kinda the point. Edenia is supposed to be a very beautiful realm, and it gets violence forced upon it. It doesn't work in favor of violence, like acid pits or battlefields or the likes, but it amplifies the feeling of how Mortal Kombat is 'wrong'... but that it's necessary in order to keep that beauty. It shows you what you are fighting for. At least, that's the idea I get for a stage like that.

God, I would love an MK prequel with Kahn's conquest of Edenia

Yes, I'm sure the forces of Outworld would gain control of Earth by invading largely desolate areas. Though such places could always be used as bases, I suppose. As for your other failed attempt at sarcasm, with the Outworld minions drowning in the Pacific Ocean, heh. Yeah, they'd probably be dumb enough to open a portal over an ocean.

Like I'm going to believe that when a town is being invaded, that the fight couldn't be taken to several places. Like a theatre, which, you know, you can find in several towns. Why would anyone go inside a theatre during a war? Oh, I don't know. Maybe to hide from the invaders, or from the invader's perspective, find the enemy.

Or in a nightclub's case, maybe Outworld minions found it, liked it, and used it both as a base of operation, and because they liked the music, and the booze, and are forcing captured humans to provide these things for them. Ever thought of that?

It's not like a movie theatre, or a nightclub, have to be treated as anything but joke stages anyway. But don't act like such places couldn't possibly be visited during a war.

Now, I'm getting tired of this little debate. I've argued my case.

There's no need to get upset about it. If you're going to air your opinions and suggestions on a forum, they're going to be criticised.

I thought you were arguing that the invaders couldnt choose where a portal opens and thus, that's why they end up fighting in random locations like zoos, cinemas etc. My counter-argument was that the majority of the Earth is ocean and desert, and thus if they cant control where the portals open, thats where they would likely end up.

If you're arguing that they can choose where to invade then our Earthrealm stages are:

UN Headquarters
White House
Kremlin
EU Headquarters
Chinese Premier Residence
Lin Kuei Temple
Shaolin/White Lotus Academy

Why would they be dumb enough to try and take out each town individually when they can just decapitate Earth's leadership and then finish off the rest in the resulting chaos? Shao Kahn has guys like Kano to tell him how Earthrealm works. He's done this shit dozens of times so he'll recognize the value of eliminating the enemy leadership, e.g. King Jerrod. If we're arguing for MK in a realistic invasion sense, the first attack would be on the White House and if we can fight MK in the Oval Office, why would we do it in The Viper Room? Maybe you argue that this has happened and thus we're in the stage of extermination. But if so, we don't play it for jokes: we show people being exterminated. Which is not the joke stage you describe

I think it's highly unlikely that an invading army of aliens, monsters and mutants from a pseudo-medieval dimension would like nightclubs for booze and music. Furthermore, this argument is whether these arenas fit MK in style. Can you really imagine a horde of Tarkatans chilling with some Coors and a bit of Kanye with some throbbing lights? That would be ludicrous. The Outworld forces are supposed to be insanely violent, barbaric aggressors. Their idea of a good time is not a night at the club, it's eviscerating an entire civilization, person by person. The DJ would be brutally murdered and people wouldn't be getting them drinks, the people would be consumed by the Tarkatans.

I agree that in an invasion, people might hide in a movie theatre. But that doesn't mean that, if Outworld were to invade Earth, Raiden would direct his forces to hang out in cinemas, just in case Baraka and Reptile pop in. Not when, as we've established, humanity will need its leadership. Average people are largely expendable in war, thats the brutal truth.

If your argument was that we should have urban arenas so we can see average people being brutally butchered, I could maybe go with it, heighten the realism. But its not, you've described the stages as being joke stages. And this MK is the least likely to play for laughs we've had in quite some time. There will be the traditional MK humour, but it won't extend to whole joke stages. If they were, let's get in Jay Z and do what Tekken did with Snoop. But MK won't do that, because its not in keeping with the style of MK. Which is my whole argument.

Also, you can't just defend an idea by saying "well its a joke stage, its supposed to go against the theme of the game, the feel of the game and the logic of the game". That's just poor debating.

Look, I don't want to make you feel as though I'm personally attacking you. I just don't feel that your ideas make sense in MK

Easy with the quoting, guys. Some of your posts are taking up almost half a page.

With Kotal Kahn's appearance, I wouldn't mind seeing an Aztec Pyramid level

I like the idea... I loved MK3's urban stages, they were a nice change of pace and they fit really well. But since this game is going to be darker I don't think they will go for it... maybe in a next one, who knows.

I think they could have some urban stage tied to story mode.