Playable bosses are awesome. I welcome them.

I think bosses should have 2 forms. One playable and one not.

With the creation of characters like Tor, you can get huge menacing bosses that are playable. I wouldn't want the monsters playable from the get-go so they can still get a sense of mystery and fright in the story, but I don't mind unlocking them.

And really, no matter how great Goro and Kintaro were as unplayable arcade bosses in MK9, their less than impressive failures in story mode made them as frightening as Baraka.

I agree that non-playable, very difficult bosses are awesome. But I think the majority of people feel otherwise. If NRS didn't have to worry about making them playable and restrict them to the same gameplay mechanics as the other characters, I think we would see more unique bosses and sub bosses like Motaro.

I think the playable boss will have specific mechanics during their fights, like access to all variations or for example Shinnokh turning into his Mythologies monster form during the second round.

We know there are faction war bosses and that there is an achievement for hitting them a number of times, so some kind of mechanic could be applied here that we don't know yet and that would make the boss version of the character much more powerful.

Why is it that these people who don't like playable bosses can't, you know, just NOT play as them? Why is it so easy to ruin the immersion for them?

But as already been said, it's possible for bosses to be playable and still threatening. I do think that they should make the AI-controlled versions different though, be it through a unique death animation when they lose and/or some gameplay advantage, like being able to switch variations.

Lazy? Money? Uhhhh no...I'd say demand.

Since the dawn of MK time people have wanted to play as bosses. I believe it's pleasing-the-fans-based. That's why they added the stupid tremor fight on the Vita, because too many fans b****ed enough to get them to do something. Can you tell I hate tremor? I refuse to even capitalize his name. Sorry tremor fans. Anyway...

Shang Tsung is the perfect example of a big bad boss fight with different mechanics. Obviously a boss fight should be hard and crazy, but the fact that they can be playable doesn't diminish their value. MK9 Shang Tsung is perfectly balanced like the rest of the characters but the boss fight against him is completely different.

If they're a boss that's unfair to fight against, just don't let them be playable online or even ladder, but at least let us throw around Sindel with Shao Kahn or Kintaro for the hell of it in our free time if we please.

I think the people that would want to at least mess around with bosses outweighs the people that don't.

I always thought bosses not playable was bs. I can understand not using then in tournament play but no excuses to not play as them in single player or mp offline

Yeah I'm on the side of making bosses playable.

MK9 bosses would piss me off when they would glow and you would hit them and it wouldn't phase them.. Taking that cheapness away if you play as them would make a big difference..

I remember with MK2.. I LOVED Kintaro but was so bummed I couldn't play as him... bummed I couldn't play as SMOKE, even though he instantly became my favorite character as soon as I saw him...

Making them playable is a GREAT way to please the majority of the fans.. Make them Cheap extra Strong bosses keeps them from becoming less intimidating.

Quiet please. I don't want Ed to read this thread because if he does my dream of playing as the bosses will come to a sad end.

To be fair, had Goro, Kintaro, Motaro and Shao Kahn been playable from the start, we would probably not remember them the same way. I did like how they were still insanely strong in Trilogy.

You know what makes bosses intimidating? Being a tough boss. Size has nothing to do with how hard a boss is. Shao Kahn, Goro, and Kintaro were big in MK9 but were pushovers. A boss can take up half the screen and be cheap as hell but if the AI sucks then what's the point?

I agree with whoever said 2 versions of said boss. You can very easily give the "boss" version buffs, more health, immunity to certain things, armor, etc. But the playable version would be a balanced version of that character. You can still have a playable boss be tough.

I honestly hope they do away with Big brute = Tough boss. That shit worked in the 90's but it's 2015.

Unfortunately, NRS love themselves some big bosses. Moloch, Onaga, Blaze, Dark Kahn....

Then again, with the advent of characters like Tor, maybe making big bosses won't be seen as important anymore.

Playable bosses do make them seem less special to me, especially if you don't even have to unlock them and they are just there, like IGAU Superman didn't feel like a boss to me, but I understand he needed to be playable since it was a DC fighting game.

One reason I like the unplayable bosses is because they can make then as unfair and hard as they want, while the playable ones have be balanced/fair.

I imagine that they will still be able to make playable bosses hard when actually fighting them in the story or ladder, like have the boss be an "all in one" kind of thing, meaning he/she would be able to do all the things the separate variations allow when fighting them in story/ladder.


I'm sure ill be cool with whatever, I just hope the boss playable or not is a challenge.

I don't/wouldn't have wanted it available from the start. I can agree with that, but give me at least an objective or a code that would at least allow me to mess with them when I'm drunk.

A lot of this is because you're seeing these with rose colored 1995 glasses. Yes, I do admit, bosses being unplayable does add a bit of mystique to them- but when it comes to RETURNING bosses like Goro, Kintaro, Kahhn ect- I don't see the issue with making them playable. They have been around for 20+ years- that "mystique" is gone. They've also gotten a huge number of fanbases over the years- hell, we have one guy here who was a Goro fanatic but was totally disappointed when Goro was proven unplayable in MK9- Now of course with MKX he's happy as a clam. Good on him. Returning bosses or returning characters who become bosses(Liu Kang or Reiko or Havik or whoever is running the show in MKX) should be playable- end of story. Their fans shouldn't have to be forced to wait until a game where they aren't a boss to play as them.

Now, as far as all new characters debuting as bosses- It's a mix bag. I for one preferred Onaga being unplayable, but I felt Shinnok didn't need to be. It's up in the air but you probably know what side I'm leaning towards.

Fact of the matter- If you don't like playable bosses, then just don't play as them. Everyone gets a happy ending! PS. And there's no fucking way you can call MKX Shinnok "boring"- even a normal playable character -he alone shits on underwear clad Shao Kahn. That shits not scary anymore lmao.

Great response, and it reminded me to say that I almost learned how to hack a console game in order to unlock the unplayable NPC's just for the hell of it.

Unplayable bosses lead to illegal hacking

I think bosses being playable is fine. I mean really the only reason they were these giant hulking unbeatable forces to being with was because Midway wanted your quarters. That's obviously not the case anymore. More than likely if you're playing an arcade ladder you just want that good ole' ending.

Playable bosses isn't really anything new. Look at Tekken with Devil & Jinpachi. Then SF with Akuma Gill and Seth.

It's something that draws in fans of NPC bosses and adds to those who like the character or designs and want a feel for the character. Unless it's characters that are freaking hulking like Azazel from tekken. Those types really aren't needed tbh.

Once there time has come and gone as a boss they should be added to the roster instead of locked away never to be playable.

And seriously Goro is such a staple character he should have been playable from MKDA onward.

I was all for making them unplayable in the last game because that game was all about nostalgia and I felt it would have taken something away from those characters if they were playable. Now it doesn't matter anymore.

I agree!