Well personally I feel like I'm more open minded than most in the MK fan kommunity(lol) to poorly received and/or underdeveloped kharacters from the past returning. I think even the most poorly executed and bland of kharacters from the past can be made into a cool, functioning character. Some characters who failed had good concepts but were poorly executed either in design, move set, the story or all three.

You could probably even find a way to redeem Hsu Hao but they would have to get very creative.

I've wanted a new tarkatan since Deception. But I wouldn't want him to take Baraka's place, but instead be his own character. And at the same time I wanted Baraka to develop his own story. I'm tired of Baraka being the token Tarkatan.

If the character stays true to its roots as a character, but is improved on, then I can accept that. But when people say they want... e.g. Tremor... but would like to change EVERYTHING about him, then I'd much rather NRS just made a whole new character, because the essence of that character is gone.

And while on Tremor, I don't like the essence of his character. Only his power. So instead of making Tremor, I'd rather have a new character. However, that's just a personal opinion of mine.

Also, I just used Tremor as an example, not as an intention of turning this thread into yet another Tremor discussion, so please don't turn this into something it isn't. ^^

There's truth in the statement "You never get a second chance at a first impression." For me, that goes for Dairou, Darrius, Kira, Kobra ect. ect. Yeah, that list. These are the folks I just prefer them let die so they CAN improve on better, existing characters. At least they can be martyrs.

When it comes to the veteran and preferred characters, I'm not opposed to them bringing back Baraka instead of a new Tarkatan, or Hotaru instead of another Seidan, Reptile/New Zaterran and so forth. I'm pretty open-minded either way. My main concern is that they manage to actually improve them if included.

Also, there's still a shroud of mystery around all the new characters in MKX. Not to mention a roster spot for the returnees is more coveted this time around. So I think a lot of the talk is just hype.

Well, here's my thing. Characters like Hotaru or Sareena who really haven't got a lot of chance to develop deserve to be explored. Characters like that deserve to be developed.

However, on the other side of the coin there are characters who have had chance after chance to do something. These are the Kano's, Reptile's, and Baraka's. They have had multiple chances and what can you say about them? Kano has never rose above being Sonya's rival really. What does Baraka even do? Reptile's most relevant story is being a vessel for the dragon king. So, basically he had to become a TOTALLY different character to do anything.

Since MKX has already introduced an offspring of Sonya and Johnny, why not more interesting "Descendants" of other characters. Personally, I hope that they explore the dragon king route again. This time though just call him Reptile, the dragon king. He could even try and revive his race. It would give Reptile some importance. Otherwise, his shit has grown stale and he can be replaced by a descendant.

Imagine an ultra smart tarkatan that can actually THINK. You know, what baraka is supposed to be. That would be DEADLY as hell. Imagine what he could do with an army of Neanderthals like the Tarkatans.

I've listed some of the villains, but they're not the only ones who are stale with multiple appearances. Good guys do it too. I'm staring at you Jax.

The problem with trying to develop these characters further is there is only so much character development you can accomplish in a series of fighting games that releases one new installment every 2-4 years. There are obviously limitations on how deep the character development is going to be for certain characters when you have so many.

Damn, you know what? MK needs some extended universe stuff to delve deeper into story and the MK universe without having to worry about the game. I doubt anyone would ever write a MK novel so "extended universe" novels like Star Wars has are unlikely but maybe we could get an MK comic universe?

Allow me to point out the obvious: these characters are owned by Warner Bros who also own DC COMICS.

I've been saying for a long time that MK needs some type of Anime or a series of animated movies like justice league does now. Something that expands on what we already have. I think someone like adult swim would do well to pick up an anime based on MK though. Hell, doesn't WB have a deal with Cartoon Network to air DC comics exclusive animated series? Make this happen WB.

Yeah, that could be awesome. MK could be really great done as an adult anime. MK just has too much story and mythology to be confined to these games every few years.

I was with you until you mentioned Hotaru. He really isn't any different than the characters you listed above.

Unfortunately MK is not focused on the story. The story has never held as much significance as it does for other series, so I don't believe that many characters will ever be fully realized.

I'd much prefer to have better done old characters, but Boon said the game is 25 years in the future and with characters like Cassie Cage people are just trying to predict similar outcomes with other characters. Really hoping Hotaru and Baraka make it in and I'd love to see Baraka come into his own a bit more, they were kinda on the right track with him in Deception but made him a lacky in MK9. It would be cool to see a new Tarkatan, but not if they're just using them to replace Baraka.

There isnt a right answer. Some want old characters, some want new. The question of "should" is really silly. Should there be lots of new characters? Should lesser used characters get another shot? Should known characters take precedence over new ones?

No. The only thing that "should" happen is good ideas being seen through. If that good idea involves Hotaru, then great. If it involves another orderrealm character, then awesome. If it involves saying orderrealm never existed, then rad. I dont want anyone being given the job of making Hotaru cool. I just want things that come from good ideas.

It all comes down to the writers intention. What or what shouldn't happen is entirely up to the creator and no one else.

The taste of the writer is determinant to the overall end product: could I make Reiko into the pinnacle of dramatic complexity in MK? Perhaps. Do I want to? No.

You are free to enjoy or leave it, it's that simple. Also, you do not have to like every installment of a series, nothing is obligatory.

Newer characters, sure. But for people like Reptile and Baraka...they're these unchanging (save physically) folks who are just there to fill the same role, over and over again. Baraka's not about to get deep or interesting. Better to introduce someone else for intrigue; not meaning original characters necessarily have to be replaced.

I have been thinking maybe Kobra will return instead of an newer character to take his place. He could be Cassie Cage's husband.

It depends on the character.

For example, while Baraka isn't even one of the most hated guys (that list of Darrius, Dairou, Kira, Kobra...), I always considered him a very bland character because he was just a tarkatan, everything special he had, all the other members of a whole race had it too. You could use (and it was used) the character as "generic tarkatan soldier and it wouldn't make a difference.

In fact, I was a bit mad when I saw Baraka's ending with some sort of tarkatan squad where everyone looked like different characters and in the middle of them we had Baraka looking like a generic guy (for tarkatan standards).


Hotaru was another case of a guy that was exactly the same than a whole army (his alternate outfit was a generic seido guard that is basically Hotaru with a helmet). I guess being an "absolute order and equilibrium" guy it could make sense, but still if he comes back I want to see some spice added there. Johnny isn't even a canon seido character and he's already the coolest seido guy for a lot of fans.

The characters from the "most hated" list were ultra bland too in the sense that there wasn't anything that made them special or have a reason to belong in the game. I guess some of them could be ultra revamped, but it would be a hard task and honestly I think I'd be fine if they never return.

I was very afraid of having too many new characters in MKX because we had a lot of ultra bland characters the last time they added new characters, but this time all the revealed characters have their own uniqueness to stand up, you may like them or not, but at least they look like unique characters with traits that you won't find on everybody else.

In the new Tarkatan's case, as far as I'm concerned anyway, it has nothing to do with Baraka being uninteresting, but so we can finally meet a Tarkatan other than Baraka, get an insight into Tarkatan culture from someone other than Baraka. It's all about having an alternative to him. It'd be nice to get a new Tarkatan who actually is her/his own character, rather than a nameless Baraka-lookalike.

Said new Tarkatan's gameplay, if NRS didn't get lazy, could also differ in interesting ways. The same way we were introduced to a new race of Shokan through Kintaro, and the females through Sheeva, who both played differently from Goro, gameplay-wise (hell, Goro copied Kintaro and Sheeva, but especially Kintaro, more than they copied him).

I have a hypothesis that Kira and Kobra would have been far better off if they had been introduced in MK1 or MK3. Kobra moreso.

A psychopathic martial artist who hurts people for fun is more appealing to me than an animal what has blades attached to it's shoulder,

I am sorry, Baraka is basically THE jobber of the MK roster. nothing is done with him, his nomadic culture isn't explored, the only thing we know about them is that they work on strenght principles.

Fan-fucking-tastic. They basically took Tolkien's orcs and R.E. Howards barbarism and made henchrace no. 55.


And do not get me started on stufflike the Ch/Khameleons, Meat, Reiko...

He barakas.



Oh definitely. But it's not like they couldn't have been good in Deception. They just... weren't. Call it what you like, time constraints or just idiotic neglect, but a lot of these characters just weren't handled very well for one reason or another and first impressions are everything.

With his maracas! HEYO!

... sorry.

Hate to say it, but new MK characters have a horrible rep. We've seen many new characters over the years and most are forgotten. They can introduce all the new characters they want. Doesn't mean they'll stick around. Look at Shujinko, Hotaru, Kobra, Daegon, Taven, and a bunch of others. Why the hell must we give chance to more disappointment? Hopefully these new characters are great, but I agree with wanting more developed returning characters.

Every character added after the first MK is "new" to the franchise. If the MK team never added new characters to the franchise we wouldn't have Smoke, Noob, Kung Lao, Sindel, Jade, Kitana, Mileena... You get my point.

Because a lot of later MK characters were pretty craptacular with little redeeming qualities. Why shackle yourself to retconning / overhauling a character within certain parameters when you could just as easy make a new and better character. Especially if you're retconning a C-list character to the point that they're barely even recognizable.

This is exactly what I thought when I read the topic. Characters like Hotaru that have only appeared in one game have room for development. Baraka isn't exactly a character that hasn't had the chance to be fleshed out. He has been in several games and by now it's quite obvious that the team isn't planning to make him character with a deep storyline or something. So yes to a new Tarkatan, but no to a new Seidan. Or at least flesh Hotaru out first before introducing a new one.

Characters like Baraka and Reptile are just "classic fillers" the only reason they return is for "nostalgic reasons". They represent the old MK era, even though their stories are not the best. They fill in the roster for other reasons.
In that case, we might as well get someone new and better.