NRS heavily focused on the developing antagonism between him and RayRay, I doubt they would drop it.

In terms of looks, I would prefer something more fitting for a denizen of the Netherrealm than the god of fire look. I loved the Zombie approach, the epitome of goody-two-shoes completely corrupted, by none other than the Rai-man, plus those chains.

Gameplay wise..ehh, I don't really would expect that many changes, since what makes Liu Kang is his moveset. the variation system might help to flavour his gameplay a little bit though.

Liu's my favorite. I'd be sorely disappointed if he didn't return in this game. I always enjoyed his biographies and saw him as a pretty cool character with a lot on his plate. Mortal Kombat isn't really able to explore the drama behind characters that much, but given that he had the burden of being the MK champion, witnessing his home at the Shaolin temples destroyed and all his monk brethren killed, and ultimately having to reject Kitana due to his responsibilities as defender of Earthrealm. Even getting into his deception story, I thought his story arch was pretty cool, and it was a non-hero role. I wish I could have seen that one conclude before MK9.

I did enjoy his MK9 role too, although he was doomed to be a more logical character in an illogical story. I liked how it showed that he wasn't just a blind follower of Raiden, and he was the first (and among the only) good guy to question Raiden and go against him when he felt Raiden was wrong.

Story-wise, I think people see him as bland because his roles have always been "Champion of Mortal Kombat" and the original hero. He hasn't had much time to shine as a character outside of that, although the potential is definitely there, MK Deception began to show that. Hopefully that potential will be expanded on in future games.

I dont know what to think of Lui Kang. The man is aging like alot of MK fighters, but we hold him in a special place in our hearts above maybe Taven & Shujinko for example. Kang is not the first guy most would pick, but he damn sure is not the worst or the last either.


-Lui Kang was harder to deal with back in his 2D era because of AI. He will always be remembered as the guy with the cool bicycle kicks, and could turn into the dragon. You cant take that away from Liu.

-The Kangs Ive seen fight me online in MK:9 to this day dont scare me nearly as much as those damn expert players using Raiden, Jax, Smoke, and Kung Lao. That's not cool if Liu is a MK champ I guess.

- I can understand why some call him bland . After playing Shaolin Monks(a fun game) he grew on me a little bit. The fireballs kinda suck, and are so predictable after more then a decade of the same tricks.

- The vedict. Is Lui the man behind the official MK dragon logo, or is it Onaga?
Do I care? I dont know. Liu Kang can't break or make a game in my eyes, even with his level of prestige. Liu Kang is just Liu Kang.

My opinion of Liu has gotten better with almost every game from Deception onward, and it's a very unique and rare case. I like the split between Zombie and Ghost Liu, and MK9 did an excellent job of making the player sympathize and side with him as Raiden slowly went off the deep end. I do want him back.

Apart from my initial post, I'm saying that Liu has a high chance of 90% to be in the game either playable or as the main big bad. He better have the crispy look to his new design.