No more than 2 new characters. Take it slow and they will be good. id say a complet roster between 20-25. But make half of them unlockable by completing arcade on the ahrdest difiiculty with a linked character.

I always thought Tekken2's way of unlocking characters was the best. It makes us paly as every character, at least giving them a chance. and opin beating it with every character (i believe). you got the final characters. Devil and Angel (if i remember correctly)

If I had it my way there, would be two new characters max. The second of the two being the final boss.

As I've said over and over again, we're not going to be able to revive good characters in previous games if we keep making new ones. No matter how many games there are, there will never be more than 15-25 character slots in the roster.

Retire the bad ones, rotate the good ones, and cap the new ones.

I'm extremely happy to see that I'm not the only that's against new characters.

There are already 60 something characters in the MK universe. We dont need anymore. 1 or 2 max.

I'd like to see as many new characters and get rid of as much of the old guard as possible. A lot of the MK characters are just outdated or played out in my opinion so a SF3 style cleaning of the proverbial house would be refreshing. Loose the old baggage and inject some fresh blood, ideas, and concepts.

I'm all for injecting new life into the series, so a roster with plenty of new characters sounds like a good idea to me. However, this is MK, so I want to see some familiar faces too. But only 2 new characters seems like too few considering Boon was saying he wants as much newness as possible in this one.

I hope it is a roster of 30-35 characters, and I say there should be six new characters.

My ideal would be 5-6 sacred cows, 10-12 of the more recent "young" characters, and 8-10 brand new characters.

Kill off or retire whatever remaining old characters and build off that.

While I understand your points here, if there was 20-25 characters total with only 2 new fighters, that would fall under the "Same shit, different game" category to me.

I would like a larger amount of new fighters. I was hoping this game was going to be a reboot, but of course that isn't going to happen now seeing as how Kitana, Sonya, Sub-Zero and Scorpion are all but confirmed. However, I would want more new fighters than returning, but I know that isn't going to happen.

Just based on the 4 fighters that we pretty much know of so far, I'm a bit worried about this game.

Hmm... My choices:

5-6 Sacred Cows
Raiden, Kitana, Sub-Zero, Scorpion, Sonya, Kung Lao

10-12 Newer Characters
Quan Chi, Kenshi, Sareena, Ashrah, Ermac, uh.... this is harder than it looks. Damn. Khameleon, Taven, Nitara, Drahmin, Havik, Noob Saibot.

Judging by my roster, this could make for a good Netherealm chapter. Lots of monsters and demons in the mix.

I figure Taven and Kitana could have some interesting interactions, being both residents and protectors of Edenia. And also, considering how Armageddon left us hanging as to what really happened, I'd want Taven there to wrap things up. See what state Outworld and Edenia are in now.

At this point I'd be more interested picking up with Khameleon and retiring Reptile permanently. I'd like to know what she's been up to and where she's going from here. As a resident of Outworld for years, she may have some ties to Kitana to build on.

Drahmin, Ashrah, Sareena, Noob, Sub-Zero, Quan Chi, Havik, Nitara, and Scorpion could all play off of each other somehow. Big family reunion waiting to happen there.

Sonya and Kung Lao represent Earth realm (Subby and Kenshi too). Maybe have Jax there. It seems odd not to have him nearby whenever Sonya's around. I like Kenshi and he's got history with the OIA even though he's no longer a member. Nice, tight group.

Raiden, of course, is just a shoe-in.

I don't really want to see any of the big bosses from previous games. Shang, Shao Kahn, Shinnok, Onaga, Blaze, Goro, Kintaro, Motaro- they all have to go. If they're not outright dead, then keep them simmering in the background like in people's bios or something. I need a break from the usual suspects.

There's a very important point that, from what I'm reading, doesn't seem to be understood.

If a character has a fanbase, s/he will never be retired. The pattern I'm seeing so far is that the people who want new characters want to PERMANENTLY retire the older characters. That just isn't going to happen. Kabal is coming back one day. Kung Lao is coming back one day. All of the ninjas are going to return at some point or another. This isn't a certainity, but history and probability side with my argument.

New characters will result in longer pending times for returning characters who have already justified their existence. Less than 1/3 of the new characters from the last three games were spectacular. That's probably not going to change, and I would hate to see Li Mei and Kenshi have to sit on an 8-10 year waiting list because we had to make room for Belokk the Man Dog! RAWR!

Which is probably why I'm going to be giving up on Mortal Kombat sooner rather than later...

No, it's perfectly understood. I was speaking from what I'd want to see happen though.

My only concern with having no more than 15 characters is that after playing BlazBlue, which only has 12 fighters in it, it gets boring after a while. Sure every fighter plays differently, but if you don't like how a certain fighter plays, then an already short list just keeps getting shorter.

I wouldn't like too many new characters. 4 new characters per each game is enough for me. And to be honest, between ALL NEW CHARACTERS and NO NEW CHARACTERS AT ALL, I'd prefer the second option. Why? The main reason I like MK is because of its characters and I'd hate if they would just ditch all of them. Sure, there are some shitty characters, but there are plenty of good and interesting ones too that I would just hate to lose.

Why I wouldn't go for more than 4 new characters?

Well, 4 new characters means 4 new decent (hopefully) stories, 8 new decent (hopefully) designs (if each character is going to have 2 outfits) and 20 new/original (hopefully) special moves (if each character is going to have 5 special moves). I think that's a big enough task for MK team. And also, I'd like to see major improvements in gameplay and other stuff. So with all of that to do, I think 4 new characters is enough.

I say 30 returning and 6 new 4 male 2 female for a total of 36. Three rows of 12

5 or less new characters. There's no reason to bring in a bunch of new characters. What would be the reason? So they can just sit up and rot like the new characters from MK4/MKDA/MKD/MKA?

I would like about 4/6 new characters.
I actually missed having new characters in MK Vs DC.

New characters are a must. I'm not concerned about the quantity of them as many seem to be though for this new game and generation, although around 5-10 new characters would be welcome.
I'm more concerned with their design and their story. If they can make solid new characters with interesting stories and decent designs then the more the merrier. Classic characters will be there regardless of the newcomers so I think it's better to focus on the quality of the newcomers rather than their quantity. They have alot to live up to, afterall.
More recent new characters haven't always lived up to expectations or been as popular as hoped but unlike them the new characters for this new game and generation now have a bigger weight on their shoulders. They are to represent the next step in MK and its future. As such, it is crucial they are of a high standard so that they are accepted into the MKverse. A backlash on them by the fans could spell disaster not to mention these characters are going to stand alongside some of MK's greats. They need to prove they are worth of doing so and worthy enough to stay.

I thought every MK games has new characters, no??
Kinda sucks if there isn't any new characters in the game. I would like to see that male vampire that noob took out in MKA Since we have a female subzero(FROST) they should have a female Scropain

Female Scorpion? No, that's pushing it too much.

I think we should have brand new characters, just maybe not as much. Several MKDA and MKD new characters need to be in more than brand new characters.

I mean, not to blow my own horn, but in my head I can come up with 12 new characters for the next Mortal Kombat. Each with their own personality, distinct image, special moves, Fatalities, intersecting relationships and contribution to a new story. That includes the boss and sub-boss. So that'd be about 10 playable new characters in my dream for a new Mortal Kombat. Maybe have that make up about 40-50% of the roster and you are all good.

You offer the fanbase something "new" and "refreshing," as well as updating classic characters that have this huge following already. Through that, you sell more copies, establish these new intellectual properties so you can make money off them, and you carry them forward. You don't drop them off like you did after MK:DA.

I think basically, the villain cast should be all new; it makes very little sense that in the battle to end all battles, any of the original MK villains would survive.