I've read a ton of threads lately all basically asking the wide open question of "what do you want in MK9?" well, I'm asking basically the opposite here. What game modes, what facets of the previous fighting engines, what characters, story ideas, concepts etc are you really hoping they leave out for the upcoming sequel? Be as small or specific as you want, like "I don't think that Sheeva should be in the next game" or "I don't want weapons anymore" or as big and as general as you want like "no more black dragon/red dragon" or "no more minigames."

Your call.

For me:

1) No nonfighting modes, period. That means no kart racing, no test your might, no puzzle fighter or any other mode that's put in to make MK more of a "complete playing experience." I'm a fighting game fan, I buy a fighting game to play a fighting game, not a mediocre action/RPG.

2) No more minigames in fight: The close kombat, air kombat etc were all relatively fun, but they always seemed to be out of place in my mind. Plus they both looked rediculous. Keep the fighting pure. I shouldn't be sucked out of a regular mode and into some other mode where all I can do are four canned animations for a period of time.

3) No more realms: There I said it. No more Edenia, no more Chaosrealm or Orderrealm or even Outworld. Stick to Earth. I don't mind if one or two new realms are brought in for the next game, but all of the other ones from before are either stale or were never good ideas to begin with.

4) No Outworld Investigation Agency: Sorry, never liked the idea. It just seemed like a plot device to lump a whole bunch of nondescript characters together and label them "good guys." If you're going to do the whole military angle again, and I have no problem with that, how about a more shadowy organization. Think Splinter Cell or Metal Gear Solid. Hint: If you start heading towards big ethnic stereotypes with metal arms, you're headed in the wrong direction.

5) No powerup gimmicks: No aggressor meter, no neijins, no rage meter. If you want something like "taking hits builds up a super meter" type of deal, I can kind of get behind that, but even then, I don't like the idea that one fighter ever has an advantage over another. I despise the idea of having to stop and turtle in a fight because all of a sudden the other character takes on attributes that they don't normally have.

6) No more clunky animations: A fighting game is at it's best when the animations flow from one to the next, like in a real fight. If I jump kick you, and you block it, I shouldn't sit in midair for a second or two as if frozen in time. Make the animations flow into one another and make the fighting more fluid.

7) No skimping out on 1p/2p modes!! This is huge for me. In the last few games it seems like there's story, arcade, versus and training. That's IT for the 1p/2p fighting modes. How about tournament style? Survival mode? 2 on 2 tag? 5 on 5 Team battle? Or go crazy and invent your own! How about create a tournament, where the player creates all of the characters and their special moves, picks their fighting styles, gives them stories and then gets play it as it's own game or even post their concepts to the net?

8) No more "standard" move sets: If you took Kano's standard moves and put them on, say, Ashrah, would ANYONE say "hey, that looks weird, those are Kano style moves." No. because all of the standard moves are interchangeable. Give characters some real identity. MK:DA seemed to try at this at least, having two fighting styles that had some throws in there, but to me, it helps the characters have their own identity if they have a fighting style that is unique to them as well as moves within that fighting style that are signature moves. I'm not just talking about one double flip kick either, I'm talking about 30 standard moves that take advantage of a character's style and physical abilities.

9) No more kid gloves: I know why MK vs DC had a T rating, I can respect that, but the last few MK games have really shied away from the violence. It's become comical, and that's basically the way it's been since MK3. Sure, you have Quan Chi's awesome leg rip fatality in MK4, but stuff like Quan Chi's neck stretch? Jax growing big and squashing someone? Give me some real fatalities that will shock and perhaps even gross me out a little. Show me some fear in the losing characters' eyes, some real, almost cinema quality damage being done. MK once shocked the world, it's time to take that crown back.

10) No more VS games: Probably goes without saying, but as a long time MK fan, I was really disappointed with the idea of MK vs DC when I found out about it. The game itself isn't that bad, but it's not what I wanted as an MK fan. I know that Midway is in dire straits at the moment, and they're probably grasping at anything that might bring in new fans to their games, but I can forgive one concept game. Now that I know who'd win in a fight between Rayden and Superman (which I honestly never cared to know before, but oh well), I don't want to find out if Jax can take out TJ Combo or if Sonya can take Chun Li or if Shao Khan would be able to beat Heihachi.

Just give me a new MK game already!

So yeah, alot of that sounds negative, and perhaps that comes from a few frustrations, but hey, no game is perfect and you always tend to be overly critical of that which you enjoy vehemently.

I love MK and I'm really looking forward to the next game, I just hope that Midway might listen to the fans a little and go with a straight up fighting game with a great new story, great new characters and some great ideas for making a great fighting system that players will love.

Anything you hope the MK team will deep six from past games?