Mortal Kombat designs Peeked in MK3 and UMK3.
Mortal Kombat 4 is one of the ugliest games i have ever seen, both in the graphics department and character designs, even on release date, i remember playing it at the time and thinking to myself, who greenlit this travesty?
I WANT A MK COLLECTION ON CURRENT CONSOLES GODDAMIT. (MK1-MK2-MK3-UMK3)
I'd be happy with a revised/expanded MK Trilogy. Fixed soundtrack, decent AI, maybe some rebalancing and throwing the Aggressor mechanic in the trash where it belongs.
Mortal Kombat 4 is one of the ugliest games i have ever seen, both in the graphics department and character designs, even on release date, i remember playing it at the time and thinking to myself, who greenlit this travesty?
I liked how the ninjas actually weren't just recolors in the dragon king trilogy, some designs are a bit too 2000's era but overall they tried to give them more unique look.
Mortal Kombat designs Peeked in MK3 and UMK3.
Mortal Kombat 4 is one of the ugliest games i have ever seen, both in the graphics department and character designs, even on release date, i remember playing it at the time and thinking to myself, who greenlit this travesty?
I WANT A MK COLLECTION ON CURRENT CONSOLES GODDAMIT. (MK1-MK2-MK3-UMK3)
My dream is for them to somehow release a hack of the arcade games that is an updated version of MK Trilogy. Includes ALL versions of every character from MK1 - UMK3 (i.e. you would be able to do MK1 Johnny Cage vs UMK3 Jade or something). But the old characters play exactly as they did in their original game (think Hyper Street Fighter II), so no added moves or run for the old characters (and definitely no damn aggressor bar). Basically that Ultimate Mortal Kombat Trilogy hack that exists for Genesis but for arcade hardware and a bit less ambitious
In a universe of timelines and realms everything and anything is kanon. MK vs. DC happened in some timeline, Scorpion, Sub-Zero, and Raiden have krossed over to the Injustice universe, and there's no reason not to imagine dudes like Leatherface and Rambo have actually stumbled into portals and engaged in KOMBAT. Kanon is serious business folks.
Missed the Deception post but I really thank that game for bringing back so many forgotten MK characters, reinventing/refreshing them and essentially saving them from obscurity. I fully credit Ermac's surge in popularity to Deception by giving him a great design and really just making him stand out from the other ninjas.
I have a lot of love for this era of MK in general despite the games themselves not really playing that well. A lot of the designs are super nostalgic to me and though elements of them aren't great, I really love them and wish future MK games would use for them influence sometimes. For Deadly Alliance I really liked Sonya, Johnny, Frost, Sub-Zero, Scorpion, Reptile (yes I love DA Reptile and I will die on that hill) and Kung Lao's new designs. For Deception I loved Ermac, Sub-Zero, Jade, Tanya, Havik, Hotaru and Noob-Smoke's redesigns. For Armageddon I was a fan of Reptile, Rain and Chameleon's designs. All in all there was a lot of cool shit during this period of the franchise and I wish NRS would use them and the characters more because there's a shit-ton of potential there.
Looking forward to the MK9 post where I can gush about how Ermac had the best redesign of a fighting game character ever (and then complain about how he had the worst in MKX).
Imagine being excited to wear your hot new dress at the prom. You get to the prom and another girl is wearing the same dress. It's the same situation with the Shirai and the link kuei. These MK warriors take fashion seriously.
Considering 11 had Scorpion and Sub-Zero in particular actually looking distinctly Asian compared to their previous designs, I just can't agree with this statement at all.
I don't know. The Lin Kuei aren't actually ninjas, and apparently Scorpion only initially wore a yellow version of the outfit to mock the cowardly nature of his Lin Kuei adversaries. But now, yellow's just his thing and the Shirai Ryu's thing.
So here we are. The reboot of Mortal Kombat, titled Mortal Kombat. This game, the ninth in the series but directly following the seventh, returned to the 2D plane for its gameplay while taking the story back to the events of the first three installments when Dark Raiden sent a message to his younger self after Shao Kahn came out on top during the Battle of Armageddon. The gameplay may have gone back to its pre-2002 style, but the kostume designs more or less feel in line with where the series had been going for nearly a decade up to this point. Design work from the newly formed Mortal Kombat team at NetherRealm Studios was assisted by Atomhawk Design, another successor studio to an ex-Midway developer (Midway Studios – Newcastle, previously Pitbull Syndicate). I suppose it's appropriate that the gameplay and the design shift were largely internal revolutions rather than a full-on passing of the torch.
I should note that this game was a pain to gather images for. It's always been a thing of the post-1996 games to have some kharacters with more promotional renders than others, but this game seems to lack easily available renders for multiple kharacters. Some don't even seem to have general promotional art, and the promotional art that is there isn't always what I'd consider aesthetically pleasing. So I've had to make do with a combination of renders, promotional art, concept art, ripped models, and ending art for the rebooted kombatants. My apologies in advance for more right-column discrepancies than usual. Let us begin with the new beginning's new designs.
Friends, a great revolution has arrived. After over 17 years, Liu Kang's pants have finally lost their red stripes. Society has entered a new age, and this age sounds like Bruce Lee. Liu Kang's appearance in the "reboot" is mostly traditional, but since Liu Kang's almost always traditional, any alterations are worth noting. Gone are the stripes on the pants, and in return, his leg bindings have become red to compensate. Liu Kang's also sporting a...breechcloth? A kilt? Something that's layered and wrapped around his waist and also red. The champion belt has been retooled into a golden medallion of the Mortal Kombat dragon to add some flair to his martial artist outfit, and it works well in completing the look. The wrist gauntlets look mostly the same as they did in MKvsDCU, they're just missing the straps. It's a fine retooling for our series protagonist.
Raiden...
Goodbye, cape ☹️. Raiden's not looking too different from how he appeared in Shaolin Monks. There's more detail around the waist sash, and the shinguards from the prior mainline game have been retained in some fashion, but this is a very open-and-shut design translation. I do find it interesting that the shoulder pads seem to call back to MK4's Raiden a fair deal, which I can pretend is some gracious nod to that game as MK9 is basically serving as the logical evolution of the 3D graphics, 2D gameplay format the former game was using back in the 90s. His undertunic has also been retooled into what might be a changshan or similar article of clothing, featuring black and gold. Raiden's most notable addition is the new amulet that he's apparently always had, which serves as a plot point in this game. And said amulet is first used by...
Dark Raiden...
Despite the two Dark Raidens you see above, they are supposed to be the same kharacter at roughly the same point in time. Mortal Kombat has always been kind of weird with outfit consistency when retelling the exact same events between games. For this outing, Raiden's more militant persona has embraced dark blue in addition to his black armor, and his hat again features a crest reminiscent of the one seen on Shao Kahn's helmets. I like the look, giving him a more prominent accent color (one that's seen on Raiden's usual outfits) helps the "evil" kostume avoid becoming outright monochromatic. A suitable upgrade.
Sonya...
No. This sucks. Her designs over the past decade have all sucked in various ways, but few have so succinctly demonstrated their lameness and in doing so highlighted a longstanding problem of the designs that came before as this kostume does. What is this? It's like they just gave up trying to make Sonya look cool or like an actual military professional. It doesn't even have the "ornate" fanservicey nature of the Edenian women's kostumes, it's just boring. Designs post-Tobias make Sonya look boring, and the attempts at sexy Halloween military lady somehow exacerbate the boringness. Also, it's a design element -- mostly originating from the 3D era -- I didn't dwell on much before as it was applied to other kharacters, but Sonya's shoes have honking high heels in this game. I find they look out of place on her more so than anyone else in this game, and that's probably down to Sonya ostensibly being more of a no-nonsense "grounded" fighter from Earthrealm. Probably not fair on my part, but I was willing to excuse combat stilettos on the kostumes of the outsiders as an in-universe cultural aspect. Kira's existence tosses a harpoon through that line of thinking, but Sonya's redesigns in Shaolin Monks and MKvsDCU (for whatever other issues I had with them) generally looked practical enough as far as footwear was concerned. Now, all the female kharacters basically dress the same, right down to the shoes. But hey, she kept the green pants and lost the thong and tanlines!
Johnny Cage...
Cage has gotten his most famous look restored with some further tweaks. The stripes on the pants from MK4 are back, now colored blue to make up for the loss of blue around the waist (and the blue in this render looks notably more faded than it did on previous Johnny designs). He's back to wearing sports shoes in the mainline games for the first time since the 90s, and his shades are less colorful and probably closer to the average person's idea of sunglasses than Johnny's wider lenses from the 3D era (and the original trilogy for that matter). His blue arm wrappings have been swapped out for white ones, and Johnny's missing a lot of his ornaments from the past several years in general. This is a cleaner, younger, and somehow more arrogant Johnny Cage. Behold the "CAGE" belt complementing the newly gained "Johnny" tattoo on his chest. Only thing he's missing is a back tattoo that reads "Ladies' Man" with one of those Stussy S's. Probably the most faithful retooling of any fighter's klassic look. I might've gone a bit further just to help set it apart from its predecessors (which might be missing the point), but this design works.
Scorpion...
Scorpion really began embracing the whole scorpion exoskeleton as armor motif here. The themed mask returns from MKvsDCU and his shoulder pads look even more like stingers than before. Even his swords have stinger ornaments attached to them. He's still got pretty edgy -- in the literal and metaphorical sense -- shinguards, now plated in what looks to be a vibrant gold. The general shininess of everyone's fabrics in this game (an element I love) makes Scorpion look like he's wearing more gold overall. The kostume works, though for some reason I don't think I'm too fond of the black encroaching on the yellow parts of the tunic. It keeps the outfit from looking a little too basic, but I do wonder if it should've been removed for color balance purposes.
Sub-Zero (Bi-Han)...
Sub-Zero the Elder returns to the mainline series after a roughly 15-year hiatus, and he's got a design that's moved away from the V-shaped tunic. His attire now seems to loosely resemble a modified changshan, with silver arm- and shinguards and a whole lot of belts. Why are there so many belts? Otherwise, it's a good, simple design that gives Bi-Han the individuality he was largely lacking in the mainline games.
Sub-Zero (Kuai Liang)...
And now on to his brother. His design's also pretty simple, though featuring a lot of flowy strands around his limbs and cowl. His mask from MKvsDCU has been retained, much like Scorpion's. Unlike Scorpion, I'd say the black/non-black balance is better, with the blue cloth being allowed to mostly...exist, I guess. I'm not sure how readable they are from the image provided, but there is a good deal of intricate sculpting going on with the limb armor and belt. A well-done redesign all around.
And now we have Kuai Liang's robotic form, whose existence is one of several deviations from the original timeline thanks to Raiden having advance notice of certain developments. Instead of Smoke becoming an unwilling member of the Cyber Lin Kuei, Kuai Liang is captured in his place and becomes LK-52O, AKA Cyber Sub-Zero. Cyber Sub-Zero's design is in line with Cyrax and Sektor's, retaining the Predator locs on a sleeker, more Iron Man-inspired body. In Cyber Sub-Zero's case, his secondary color is silver instead of black like the other Cyber Lin Kuei, making him stand out a bit more. I like it, it's a cool take on an old concept, and I might actually prefer his design over Cyrax and Sektor's new looks.
EDIT: I've added another piece of concept art of Cyber Sub-Zero on Friday, July 21st, 2023 to provide a cleaner look at his armor design. Also, I like the deeper blue used.
Reptile...
Reptile's Armaggedon image comes from this video.
Even the cosmic rewind couldn't restore Reptile's human skin. He's settled into a happy medium of sorts here, with (mostly) human posture featuring the scaly skin and probably the most lizardlike framing of his face he's ever had without his snout also getting elongated. He's abandoned his traditional "ninja" looks of the 2000s games for a black and green chestplate, black loincloth with green trim, asymmetrical shoulder pad, and green pants with dark brown limb guards. It's unique among Reptile's designs, and kind of looks like something Baraka would've worn in the 2000s. Not my favorite Reptile design, but I appreciate they were able to make the multiple shades of green not look like a mess.
Kano...
Now this is what I call a composite design. It's Kano returning to his excellent MK3 kostume with the Trevor Goddard inspiration he's had in the games since 2000. There's not much more to say other than I love it. I like the diagonal shapes of the bandolier components and belt, I like the armored parts on the legs and wrists, and...actually, that's it. I love it.
Goro...
At last, a new design! Goro's ditched the underwear and sash for a new loincloth and some more detailed (and spiky) bracelets. It's still Goro, just with some new embellishments, like that spiked bandolier/shoulder pad combo. I especially like the arrow patterning on the loincloth.
Shang Tsung...
Beyond downplaying the yellow in favor of more red, this kostume isn't too different from what we saw in MKvsDCU. New boots with gold coiling that resembles ribcages, and a loincloth that looks like a forked snake tongue provide some new embellishments to help the design stand apart from its predecessor. He's also got some green jewelry to complement the black. Between the two, I'd say I prefer MK9's take for being a bit less busy with its color coordination and for having that snazzy gold patterning on the shoulders.
As this is a reboot covering the events of Mortal Kombat and Mortal Kombat II, Shang Tsung also has an older form seen at the start of the game:
For once, it seems the devs decided to standardize the color schemes of old Shang Tsung and young Shang Tsung. It's ornate garb that looks like it provides more mobility than other Shang Tsung kostumes that went for the evil martial arts B-movie wizard aesthetic. Probably my favorite old man Shang Tsung outfit so far. And I think this is where we'll end for now. I want to try and see if breaking game rundowns into multiple posts will benefit all of us. Gives me a chance to get content out without having to write big chunks (especially for games where up to 30 kharacters got new designs) and spares you all from having to read everything at once.
Replaying MK9 playing as jade and Mileena and I feel so weird and uncomfortable right now. The female designs of the characters are the most fanservicey of the entire franchise in that game to a damaging fault. It hasn't aged well over time and I'm kinda glad they toned it down in the next games.
This is dumb and random, but 520 is the one of the area codes for my home town, Tucson, Arizona. The fact that Cyber Sub-Zero's designation is the area code for a town in the middle of the Sonoran desert is kind of funny to me.
Replaying MK9 playing as jade and Mileena and I feel so weird and uncomfortable right now. The female designs of the characters are the most fanservicey of the entire franchise in that game to a damaging fault. It hasn't aged well over time and I'm kinda glad they toned it down in the next games.
I popped it in to play the story mode and Sonya being up on the screen popping out of her vest and trying to be taken seriously as a military type had me cringing. Even worse when the wife was watching. We had to mock it together like it was some cheesy skinemax flick.
Yep, Edenian fashion is here in full force. The leotard has been retired in favor of a long loincloth and some kind of halter top bodice. The high heels have returned as a part of her new patterned boots. All of her fabric is pretty patterned actually, probably to make Kitana not look like she was just wearing basic spandex that she bought from a cosplayer webstore. Also, Kitana's swapped out her usual complementary black for silver highlighting her boots, loincloth, bodice, mask, armbands, wrist sleeves, and of course, the fans. It's as fancy as a ninja bikini can be with this game's art direction. I actually do dig the tiara hairband she's got. Kitana's never really embodied the ninja parts of her background as much as she should, but the tiara at least lets her display the royal parts of her background in an aesthetically pleasing way. This is a Mortal Kombat 9 design, alright, though one that feels a bit more thought-out than Sonya's. Though honestly, I'd say Kitana's equally fanservicey alternate kostume looks better. Might be the detached bell sleeves, or the removal of the mask and ensuing dropping of pretenses of the ninja look feeling more honest to me.
Jade...
I elected to not use a render for her MK9 design due to there not being many good ones that keep consistency with the in-game model's skin tone. Jade's new kostume looks like a modified version of her alt from Deception and Armageddon with a thin loincloth and a considerably deeper neckline. The gold trim and gold chains of the Deception default have been magnified here to great effect, and the green jades on the boots have been retained as well. I also like the tri-color mask. This kostume I don't really hate, but I do think it looks kind of...flimsy? While it resembles the corset design of Deception's alt (and UMK3 Jade's kostume before it) in the front, it's largely a backless outfit being held together by programming and a prayer. Even the loincloth looks more like a short sash someone decided to hang around the crotch area when you compare it to the one from Deception (to say nothing of the wedgie MK9 Jade has). I'd hesitate to call this a misfire; in fact, it's probably my favorite of the Edenian trio's default outfits, but I think it could've used one more revision.
Mileena...
I don't really know how to approach this one, it's like comparing chocolate sauce to chocolate syrup. The designs are the same, yet different. Instead of a skimpy swimsuit with flowy sleeves and a breechcloth, Mileena's now rocking a skimpy swimsuit with compressed gloves and no breechcloth. Both are shameless, the former just has a slightly more distinct silhouette. I'll miss the veil, but the new mask with fang patterning is a worthy substitute. The new boots and the mesh at the top of them work as well. There isn't much else I can really say. It's hard to talk about a kostume when there's so little of it. Half of the observations I could make about the MK9 outfit are observations I've already lobbed at the Deception outfit: lots of seemingly random straps that presumably exist because the kostumes would probably be wardrobe malfunctions waiting to happen otherwise, "panties" that ride way too low to provide actual modesty, and some other third thing to make my list seem presentable. I like the return to purplepink purple as a central color, and the gold trim is nice, but there's not really enough kostume to apply the gold trim to outside of the aforementioned boots. It's largely a lateral move for Mileena's design, though I like that she's absolutely shredded in this game.
Jax...
Has anyone else noticed that Jax doesn't seem to be able to just voluntarily upgrade his arms anymore? In his MK3 bio, it's stated that he got the bionic implants when he realized that Earthrealm was going to need a greater defense against the oncoming Outworld invasion. In everything since the 90s, he just gets his regular arms ripped off and has the bionic arms given to him as an emergency measure. In this reboot, he gets them because of Ermac. They certainly have a darker silver finish than they did in most of the prior games. They also feature the glowing yellow lights MKvsDCU's rendition had, though they're not featured on the right piece of art seen here. As for his pants, they look like general military attire. Dark green, almost black under certain lighting, with some kneepads and straps, and what looks to be one of those squeeze buckle straps wrapped around his waist to hold his ammunition. It's a Jax design, just more grounded. Appropriate for the reboot setting and perhaps a welcome return for many after years of more extravagant looks in the mainline titles, but a bit vanilla.
Kung Lao...
Deadly Alliance alternate kostume Kung Lao+Shaolin Monks Kung Lao=MK9 Kung Lao. Diagonal sash gone, red tassels retained. Gold trim from the former design gone, silver trim from the latter design retained. He's rocking new boots and caged bracelets (learning all sorts of new clothing terms for this thread) with some pretty detailed sculpting I must say. His hat also now has red trim around the centerpiece, replacing the gold trim previously seen in the Dragon King trilogy. A suitable redesign. Also, this is apropos of next to nothing, but Kung Lao hardly ever wears this kostume in MK9's story mode. It's largely seen in Raiden's visions and the opening cutscene where we see the fate of everyone in the original timeline (Shinnok's clone is apparently who did him in).
Baraka...
It's interesting to think that Baraka's most iconic look was only featured for two mainline games before being retired/shunted off to the alternate space for about 15 years. He's rocking the red, white, and black ensemble again, with some notable updates. The metal-plated loincloth of old has been replaced with basic cloth (featuring some nice black and red trim around the borders) and he seems to have skull-shaped kneepads to really drive home that 90s reboot energy. It's a pretty straightforward reworking of the MKII design, though I'm not sure how I feel about the skull patterning on his tunic.
Smoke...
At last, every humanoid male recolor gets a unique design in the mainline titles (which means this is likely the last time I'll ever be using any of the 2D sprites for comparison). Smoke has been restored to his human form due to the time reset and unlike his counterpart in the original timeline, he keeps his human body. For his appearance in MK9, our Lin Kuei friend has decked himself out in silver plating in lieu of the usual softer cloth most of his former palette swap brethren wear in this game. The armored look is unique for him next to everyone else's default outfits in this game, and I especially dig the cross-stitched loincloth. He's also ditched the cowl to allow his glorious mane of silver hair to flow freely. Smoke got a great redesign. He looks like an action figure and I mean that in the most complimentary way possible.
Noob Saibot...
Noob's abandoned his slick purple afterglow and in return gained a sweet hood. He's had a martial arts movie Grim Reaper vibe for a while, going back to MK4 giving him a scythe as his weapon of choice, but this game seems to really embrace the whole spectre of darkness aesthetic, what with the aforementioned hood and skull mask that reminds me of Batman's Phantasm a fair deal. Outside of adding sleeves and gloves, MK9 Noob doesn't look too different from his counterpart in Armageddon. I do like that his appearance here does very much look like a twisted reflection of Bi-Han's Sub-Zero attire. Backported kharacter development at its finest.
Kintaro...
Since Goro took the whole red armor thing, Kintaro has opted to go for all black and silver to complement his fur. The spikes on his shoulder pads have also become shorter and more numerous while his kneepads have taken a look closer to their appearance in MKII and Trilogy. The silver chainmail on the loincloth is an interesting choice and makes me realize that chainmail as most people know it is a surprisingly rarely used visual element in most Mortal Kombat designs. A passable redesign, though I feel the red armor popped more.
Shao Kahn...
Shao Kahn has not changed too much, though he's definitely added more armor to his limbs. Such armor apparently includes strapped-on shielding around his thighs. Likely far more practical than what he had previously, but they do kind of give off the appearance of incomplete pants.
It should also be noted that Shao Kahn actually uses a caped design in the opening of this game, which is apparently the MKvsDCU model just recycled wholesale. That's clever given how closely MKvsDCU Shao Kahn resembles the proper Armageddon Shao Kahn who should be finishing off Dark Raiden in the old timeline. That's it for now. Part three will be coming soon.
Thank you for the kind words, Ramsiege and for saving me from having to double-post.
Happy Pride Month, everyone. This should be the last part for MK9's kharacters. We'll cover this game's playable fighters introduced from MK3 onward and talk about the non-playable kharacters' designs as well.
Stryker...
For the MK3 portion of MK9's story mode, Stryker returns and has been recast as a S.W.A.T. officer defending New York from Shao Kahn's forces. As such, his design is largely a "serious" version of his original kostume, most notably with the hat facing forward to display the S.W.A.T. insignia for all to see. It's Stryker but beefier, can't really say much else.
Nightwolf...
Our then-Lakota/future Matoka friend has also returned to a reworked version of his earliest design, though unlike Stryker, Nightwolf has opted for earthier tones. Very earthy tones. It's the "gritty" live-action movie version of Nightwolf, though I appreciate him having a pair of pants not made of Swiss cheese. The wolf pawprint insignia on his headband is a nice touch as well.
Kabal...
Kabal returns again, sans longcoat. He's got a sleeveless vest (with loincloth!) and bares his visibly burned arms. His breathing apparatus also seems to be attached to a bandolier of sorts, with glowing blue lights that are complemented by similar lights lining his boots. It's not a bad update, though I kind of wish they would've touched up the mask a bit more.
Sindel...
Another general retooling of an older outfit, but with more fabric removed. Sindel's basically got an armored singlet at this point, with some neat silver binding attached to the boots. It seems the designers did try to go for a more "regal" appearance this time around, emphasizing Sindel's collar and adding tailcoats to her armor to keep it from looking too basic. The purple plating on the torso and sides of the boots are pretty to look at, just wish there was more outfit to complement it.
Sheeva...
MK9 Sheeva is MK3 Sheeva with some added patterning to the sling bikini and spikier bracelets and anklets. I do sort of wonder if the designers got bored with overhauling the pre-Ermac MK3 newcomers. They got the least changed appearances from their 90s counterparts on average, with the exceptions of the old palette swa-oh.
Cyrax...
As mentioned in Kuai Liang's section, the Cyber Lin Kuei have gotten a notable visual overhaul. The larger guy-in-a-suit helmet designs of old have been retired in favor of more formfitting head sculpts that retain the wiry locs while also incorporating what I've been repeatedly referring to as an Iron Man-inspired design. Cyrax's body has been altered to match this change accordingly, going for a sleeker look with yellow and black plating prominent. He kind of looks like a walking hazard sign due to all of the patterning. I appreciate that the venting on Cyrax's old helmet was retained for the new helmet, and his prominent green eyes not only address a design element of his prior looks that I wasn't too fond of, they match the glowing green lights on his chest as well. I've lamented the Cyber Lin Kuei moving away from their "ninja" influences for some time now, but MK9 Cyrax is alright. The idea of him evolving from discount BMX gear Predator to discount MCU Iron Man over the years feels like a form of metacommentary on special effects in film and certainly shows where the devs' influences were drawn from over time.
Sektor...
Amusingly, Sektor's new design looks closer to what Cyrax circa Deadly Alliance likely would've evolved into. The notably segmented red between the chest and waist and the more prominent shoulder pads just scream it to me. Sektor's helmet looks almost skull-like compared to Cyrax's. He's boasting a good deal of sculpted stripes on his arms, shoulder pads, and chestpiece. I'd personally say Armageddon did the modernized Sektor take better, but this one isn't bad, just a bit busy at points. I do like that he and Cyrax have metal tabi boots basically molded around their legs, though.
EDIT:
Let's look at their human forms as well:
Cyrax and Sektor appeared in one episode of the animated series Defenders of the Realm, appearing unmasked before their roboticization. They wear the standard UMK3-era Lin Kuei garb, but with white on the bracers. Interestingly enough, their human designs almost look like they were swapped around for their appearances in MK9. Here, they wear far more individualized outfits, Cyrax's taking on more black and featuring some metal shinguards that wouldn't be too out of place on his Deadly Alliance rendition. Sektor for his part goes adorned with a red sash, metal shoulder pads, and a large medallion. It's cool to see that their non-robot counterparts get to maintain their klassic colors without looking like knock-offs of Scorpion and Ermac respectively.
And for fun, let's look at "Cyber Reptile":
In one of this game's Challenge Towers, Reptile is accosted by a gray Cyber Lin Kuei simply referred to as Unit 5. Reptile kills his would-be assassin and dons his armor (as seen on the left of the above image) to lure Cyrax and Sektor into a trap and serves as their non-playable opponent for their specific challenge. Since he's just a bonus enemy, Cyber Reptile is basically Cyber Sub-Zero with the blue parts colored green.
Ermac...
Deception really did wonders for Ermac, didn't it? His MK9 design is basically the 3D-era one with more emphasis on the black around his pants and sleeves. Even his boots are largely similar. The most notable changes come from the glowing green gem on his belt and the head wrappings being slightly different (they cover more of the area around his eyes, but expose more of the nose now). It's a good redesign that sets itself apart from its mainline predecessor better than Shaolin Monks' take, though -- and I must apologize to Scotia in advance -- it's one that I feel lost something special because of those differences. Frankly, it's just the abundance of black that I believe takes away from Ermac's Ermacness. Black is of course a key component of all the ninjas' designs, but the red needs to be more readable from a distance, otherwise, you run the risk of just having a slightly more colorful Noob Saibot. I don't think there's enough red up top. Deception's Ermac lacked the red on his mask, but the solid red sleeves and more prominent lining on the chest made up for that. On the reboot's Ermac, these elements are downplayed -- not enough to ruin the design, mind you -- to the point of making me prefer his earlier incarnation just a little bit more. But I know plenty of people think MK9 Ermac is the best he's ever looked. They are many, I am but one.
Quan Chi...
As Midway originally intended Quan Chi to be playable in the last game as DLC, it seems NRS just decided to port his design over to the next. He's more or less the same.
Kratos...
After trading blows with the DC Universe, Mortal Kombat got its first standalone guest kharacter in God of War's Kratos, featured exclusively in the PlayStation versions of MK9. By 2011, Kratos was no stranger to guest appearances, having previously appeared in Soulcalibur: Broken Destiny, the 2009 PSP port of Soulcalibur IV, and the source of the render on the left seen directly above. From what I know, the visual design of both of his guest appearances largely drew from God of War II and (retroactively) God of War III's prologue, so there isn't much to compare. Mortal Kombat 9's Kratos has more armor on his right arm and more scars on his chest. Otherwise, they're both the same iconic look for the Ghost of Sparta and serve as good snapshots of where God of War was as a series around the turn of the last decade.
Downloadable kharacters
Speaking of DLC, this game is the first in the series to feature it. The pool of downloadable fighters was split 50/50 between two newcomers (Skarlet and guest Freddy Krueger from A Nightmare on Elm Street) and two veterans who were previously playable in Armageddon.
Kenshi...
First of the veterans released was everyone's favorite Deadly Alliance newcomer. Kenshi has reverted to something closer to his original appearance, now featuring red padding(?) on his torso area that reminds me of a turtleneck sweater. In exchange for the added red to the chest, he loses it on one of his sleeves and (thankfully) his crotch area when comparing the MK9 rendition to his Deadly Alliance rendition. It's amusing to see Kenshi already calling back to a codified iconic design with Deadly Alliance being "only" eight-and-a-half years old when MK9's DLC began in earnest. But, I suppose that speaks to the strength of his outfit, especially when so many others from both his era and the era before it were utterly overhauled for the rebooted timeline's inaugural entry and its follow-ups.
Rain...
Not one to be left behind for long, Rain returned to round out the kast of UMK3 ninjas. His new design clearly took inspiration from his appearance in Armageddon, most notably its use of a veil and gold trim. Otherwise, Rain seems to have more openly embraced his "ninja" heritage again, returning to the cowl and ditching the cape. His purple is also a slightly more pale shade in the reboot. It's a happy medium between his klassic and 3D-era kostumes, and it's probably the kostume most indicative of MK9's attempts at reconciling the older 2D and 3D entries' design sensibilities. The shoulder pads do look a bit cumbersome, though.
And I shouldn't neglect to mention that when Mortal Kombat 9 was ported to the PlayStation Vita, additional challenges in the Challenge Tower were added, one of which allowed the player to temporarily control a warrior from Mortal Kombat: Special Forces.
Tremor...
Our old Black Dragon associate has finally made an appearance in the mainline series. He's gone from blocky brown-clad palette swap of MK4-era Sub-Zero to...brown palette swap of UMK3-era Sub-Zero (and the rest of the ninja/Lin Kuei kinfolk). He was allegedly planned to be playable in Mortal Kombat Trilogy, so adopting the mid-90s look of the ninjas feels like everything coming full circle in a way.
Non-playable kharacters
A lot of formerly playable kharacters -- Goro, Kintaro, and Shao Kahn included, who I randomly put in with the playable bunch out of habit -- made appearances in this game, and while many of these guys got tweaked designs, others (such as Sareena, Tanya, Frost, and Armageddon's Daegon) did not, so I have elected to exclude the latter group from this section.
Motaro...
Motaro has returned to being a four-legged centaur, which means he isn't playable. In fact, you don't even fight him in the story mode. Raiden just takes him out of the equation as a preemptive measure to prevent Johnny's death at his hands in the new timeline. In this game, he seems to have shoulder pads made of skulls. Mortal Kombat really is just one of those franchises.
Fujin...
Minimal. Design. Change. His loincloth went from black to red. Why am I even documenting this? Because I like Fujin and think he deserves better? Yes.
Lin Kuei Grandmaster...
The former Grandmaster of the Sub-Zero brothers' clan (who is also Sektor's father) made his debut in Mythologies: Sub-Zero, where he sent Bi-Han on a quest to retrieve the Map of Elements. He's also the one behind the scenes who directed Bi-Han and later Kuai Liang to attend the Mortal Kombat tournaments, setting a whole lot of rigamarole into motion. He cameoed in Deception's Konquest Mode, largely retaining his modified Lin Kuei attire with shoulder pads of doom, and wouldn't receive a notable design overhaul in the games until his cameo appearance in Sektor's MK9 Arcade ending. Here, he looks suspiciously like Shinnok in his Mythologies concept art, headdress and all. His mask has also been removed, revealing facial hair, and he now proudly displays the Dragon Medallion that would later come into the possession of Kuai Liang in both timelines. I like both kostumes, though while the MK9 design is less busy overall the Mythologies design feels more in line with what the rest of the Lin Kuei generally looks like, as opposed to coming off as a generic sorcerer. Maybe I'd like it more if it had gold trim, though...
Shinnok...
Shinnok's in-game Armaggedon image comes from this video.
Shinnok appeared at the end of MK9's story mode via spectral hologram to tee up the events of the sequel, and the devs opted to reuse his appearance from Armageddon. Not his default appearance, but his alternate appearance with the blue longcoat that was featured in most of the earlier game's promotional art. Frankly, I think it's Shinnok's best design in the mainline games for coming the closest to really embodying the self-important fallen Elder God who probably still fancies himself an ornate being deep down. The gold trim (take a shot) around the coat and loincloth (take another shot) really does work. It's actually kind of interesting to have such an openly evil kharacter using pretty bright colors for his kostumes. It stands out next to the black-and-red ensembles that many of his fellow MK villains had around this time.
Meat...
Meat would become a recurring background kharacter throughout the reboot games, usually getting experimented on. In MK9, he's just a slab of Meat on a slab. Hope he got his eye fixed.
Bo' Rai Cho...
Bo' Rai Cho appears in at least two kharacter endings. In the right image above, he's seen featured with the Great Kung Lao in his descendant's ending. He's wearing more traditional monk attire. Bo' Rai Cho also appears in Shang Tsung's ending, wearing an outfit similar to his Deadly Alliance default.
Havik...
Based on his cameo in Noob's ending, Havik's largely unchanged outside of missing a sleeve and one of his gloves in one still.
Kira...
And now we have Kira. For her appearance in Shao Kahn's Koliseum, Kira is one of several prisoners chained up, and for whatever reason she's in her alternate kostume from Deception and Armageddon. It's a collared jacket and hotpants with belts and straps out the wazoo. I prefer the new haircut, but am kind of ambivalent about the kostume otherwise.
The Great Kung Lao...
Only previously alluded to in the bios and endings of prior games* (with his on-screen depictions limited to expanded universe media), Kung Lao's ancestor and namesake makes his first in-game appearance in Kung Lao's Arcade ending. As a Shaolin Monk and former Champion of Mortal Kombat, GKL looks very much like Liu Kang (or rather, Liu Kang looks very much like him). The far left image seen above is from the 1995 animated feature Mortal Kombat: The Journey Begins, depicting GKL at the feet of his rival and eventual murderer Goro. The middle image is a young Great Kung Lao as seen in the TV series Mortal Kombat: Conquest.
*Barring a headshot and a silhouetted body shot in Kung Lao's MKII and MK3 endings respectively.
Jerrod...
The late monarch of Edenia, Jerrod was the father of Kitana and the loving husband to Sindel. He made his first appearance in the Malibu comics before appearing in the final episode of Defenders of the Realm via flashback. In the show, he seems to share his daughter's penchant for blue and even bedecks himself in a pretty sweet cape. For his appearance in MK9, Ermac's otherwise non-canon ending reveals that the long-deceased Jerrod's soul had been made a part of him by Shao Kahn. Jerrod becomes the dominant personality of Ermac and his spirit form is allowed to rule alongside his family once more. He wears vaguely "exotic" robes with limb wrappings -- there's a word for this and I don't know what it is -- that would make Bi-Han and Liu Kang blush.
EDIT: Again I forget about...
Dan Forden...
After more than a decade's visual absence (his voice could still be heard in MK4, Deadly Alliance, Deception, and Shaolin Monks), Dan "Toasty" Forden returns to the forefront of the franchise to provide us with the world's most nasally jump-scare once more. In this reboot, he is now wearing a shirt with a literal image of toast, signifying his gradual evolution into his namesake much like Reptile and Smoke before him. Speaking of Smoke, Forden's switched to a gray shirt as a nod to the alliance the two of them struck back in the 3D era. Their team-up was one of the highlights of Armageddon's plot, so to see the dev team backport elements of it into the new timeline is nice. And there you have it. A game of visual highs and lows...so another Mortal Kombat game. Though MK9 is the first of the current reboot trilogy (and probably more to come), I'd argue there wouldn't be a true design paradigm shift until the next game released four years later.
Deception really did wonders for Ermac, didn't it? His MK9 design is basically the 3D era one with more emphasis on the black around his pants and sleeves. Even his boots are largely similar. The most notable changes come from the glowing green gem on his belt and the head wrappings being slightly different (they cover more of the area around his eyes, but expose more of the nose now). It's a good redesign that set itself apart from its mainline predecessor better than Shaolin Monks' take, though -- and I must apologize to @Scotia in advance -- it's one that I feel lost something special because of those differences. Frankly, it's just the abundance of black that I believe takes away from Ermac's Ermacness. Black is of course a key component of all the ninjas' designs, but the red needs to be more readable from a distance, otherwise you run the risk of just having a slightly more colorful Noob Saibot. I don't think there's enough red up top. Deception's Ermac lacked the red on his mask, but the solid red sleeves and more prominent lining on the chest made up for that. On the reboot Ermac, these elements are downplayed -- not enough to ruin the design, mind you -- to the point of making me prefer his earlier incarnation just a little bit more. But I know plenty of people think MK9 Ermac is the best he's ever looked. They are many, I am but one.
Lol it's fine, I totally get that not everyone liked his design in MK9 but it just really resonated for me when I first saw it back in 2010/11 when he got revealed. Story time I guess but his reveal was a total shocker to me because I believe it was before we really knew MK9 was essentially a remake of Trilogy and all of those characters were going to come back, so I had doubts Ermac would make it as I guess I didn't know how popular he was after Deception. Anyway, I was flicking through a gaming magazine one day (back when they were still relevant lol) and I just saw a big ass version of the MK9 render you posted above and I just lost my mind because I didn't expect him to be in the game. The shock of seeing him and him, imo, looking awesome really just stuck with me and even now I have a lot of love for MK9 Ermac purely because of the circumstances of how I first saw him. I was already a big fan of him after Deception, but I really credit MK9 Ermac with helping solidifying him as my favourite MK character.
I do think he should have had more red on him but IMO I can still tell it's Ermac so it's a win for me. His Deception design is godly though and it's what made me fall in love with the character so if there's an Ermac design to prefer, that one is not a bad one to favour lol. For me his X design (which I'm looking forward to hearing your thoughts on) did more to take away from Ermac but I'll save my full thoughts for that when you get to it.
I don't know about you people, but I'm a huge fan of UMK3's palette-swap ninjas, and would love it if each ninja character had their klassic UMK3 look as an alternate outfit. The MK1/2 alternates Scorpion, Sub-Zero and Reptile got in MK9 were ok, but UMK3 was peak palette-swap ninja design.
I agree with your closing line, OP. MKX really shifted the art direction, for the better, I think. I'm happy, visually, where the series is at, right now.
Mortal Kombat 2 and 3 mess me up. Somehow they get tangled in my head where some 'canonical' sprites are from 2 and others are from 3. Probably because when I played them, I was really young. For nostalgia sake, lots about Mortal Kombat 4 feeds that. I think that was the first Mortal Kombat I actually bought, or Mythologies. Conversely, only Shaolin Monks from the Gamecube/PS2 era sticks out to me. Total blind spot with the fightning games.
Like most people, I think Mortal Kombat 2011/9 got me back into the franchise by basically retelling the "classics," and going back to basics.
Also the worst design of the series is probably Mythologies Shinnok turning into a polygonal bug monster who also looks like a robot because it was on the PS1.
This thread has been incredible to read. Some of those 3D era designs are great. Makes you kinda wish they were in better games. I actually like the bulkier Sheeva in Armageddon. Most of MK4's designs in my opinion are kinda underrated. A lot of them are pretty good. Reptile's alternate is a good hybrid between his ninja and reptilian designs. It's a nice compromise.
What a tease that freddy and jason are in different games so they can't fight. At least robocop and terminator did make it in the same game.
I wish we would get a dragon king trilogy collection but it seems we'll never get it because they grew to have a bad reputation despite being liked when they first came out.
I don't know about you people, but I'm a huge fan of UMK3's palette-swap ninjas, and would love it if each ninja character had their klassic UMK3 look as an alternate outfit. The MK1/2 alternates Scorpion, Sub-Zero and Reptile got in MK9 were ok, but UMK3 was peak palette-swap ninja design.
MK9 and MKX feature UMK3-inspired kostumes for most of the ninjas as paid DLC. MK11 is currently the outlier despite its announcement trailer featuring (a) Scorpion wearing something similar.
Lol it's fine, I totally get that not everyone liked his design in MK9 but it just really resonated for me when I first saw it back in 2010/11 when he got revealed. Story time I guess but his reveal was a total shocker to me because I believe it was before we really knew MK9 was essentially a remake of Trilogy and all of those characters were going to come back, so I had doubts Ermac would make it as I guess I didn't know how popular he was after Deception. Anyway, I was flicking through a gaming magazine one day (back when they were still relevant lol) and I just saw a big ass version of the MK9 render you posted above and I just lost my mind because I didn't expect him to be in the game. The shock of seeing him and him, imo, looking awesome really just stuck with me and even now I have a lot of love for MK9 Ermac purely because of the circumstances of how I first saw him. I was already a big fan of him after Deception, but I really credit MK9 Ermac with helping solidifying him as my favourite MK character.
I do think he should have had more red on him but IMO I can still tell it's Ermac so it's a win for me. His Deception design is godly though and it's what made me fall in love with the character so if there's an Ermac design to prefer, that one is not a bad one to favour lol. For me his X design (which I'm looking forward to hearing your thoughts on) did more to take away from Ermac but I'll save my full thoughts for that when you get to it.
That's totally fair. For what it's worth, I do think MK9 Ermac embodies the whole mummy sorcerer angle better, I just feel like the more prominent red carries the 3D-era design a bit further.
What a tease that freddy and jason are in different games so they can't fight. At least robocop and terminator did make it in the same game.
I wish we would get a dragon king trilogy collection but it seems we'll never get it because they grew to have a bad reputation despite being liked when they first came out.
MK9 and MKX feature UMK3-inspired kostumes for most of the ninjas as paid DLC. MK11 is currently the outlier despite its announcement trailer featuring (a) Scorpion wearing something similar.
MK 2 is peak character design for the series. It took them...until 9 to even approach that level. Well maybe MK versus DC, that game has lovely costumes for the MK part while all of the DC characters look awful.
I'd completely forgotten that, then I googled it and...
Holy shit, that's awful. The oversized mask, as emperor bohe said, and the weirdly-sized pads on his shirt completely kill this design. Then thin black lines on his arm guards also look kinda weak when compared to the original UMK3 design.
This is what I think of when I think of UMK3 ninjas:
Seeing Tremor's design in MK9's tower challenges really got me daydreaming about UMK3's ninjas in today's graphics.
