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I miss Midway Mortal Kombat
- Thread starter Uzumaki Goku
- Start date
Funny you mention the multiverse stuff being fanficky, because Midway's MK wrote itself to a corner so hard with Armageddon they were forced to reboot the whole thing.
Wich is a pretty fanficky thing to do.
Honestly, what i miss is the wackyness. Mortal Kombat had an inherently wacky quality that started fading from the reboot onwards, and the lastest MK feels too serious and realistic for its own good.
Wich is a pretty fanficky thing to do.
Honestly, what i miss is the wackyness. Mortal Kombat had an inherently wacky quality that started fading from the reboot onwards, and the lastest MK feels too serious and realistic for its own good.
The next screen talks about how he can't be with his family because he's a spooky skeleton man.
There's a million of these retcons. In MK II Reptile's story says his race is still alive and in his ending they live in peace. In UMK3 his ending talks about how he'll never know them because they're extinct. I mean, in MK1 Raiden enters the tournament for the lulz and ends up destroying the world. Kontinuity has been fluid since day 1.
Sorry Stephanie since you are not responsible, but these are not necessarily retcons and definitely not to the level they are at under NRS. It's clear your team wants to establish their own lore, their own version of Mortal Kombat and it's just not clicking for a lot of die hard / old school fans. And one of the main reasons is y'all have changed characters to the point where they are beyond recognition. Havik is just a guy who bears the name Havik, but might as well been called somenone new or even Dairou since that's who he is supposedly. Making a guy burn his mouth skin to make him resemble Havik is not enough to be him for example. He's still screaming and bearing very little resemblance to what Havik originally stood for, embodied and looked like.
And MK9 people were more forgiving due to the nostalgia and it had been a long time since we got a game. But every single game you are completely changing the story, rebooting and every story ends with a big Marvel-esque battle which is where the problem started in the 1st place with Armageddon and MK9. Having a group of characters be part of a story within the bigger arc like in the 3D era was so much better than this. Now it's this whole Avengers deal where it's two big groups battling and we're tired of it.
Last point relating to this is that nothing matters anymore since in the multiverse options are endless, especially since lore consistency went out the door and based on Dominic's comments he makes changes that just fit his (NRS) version of the lore. And some of it is completely unnecessary and just plain wrong, like the whole deal with demi-gods and half-gods. It would serve NRS well to be more humble about how "great" their story mode is - writing wise it's far from it - and just go back to the basics, understand like all other fighting game companies that the classic characters need to feel like that and not every iteration to play and look different, on top of having their backstory changed.
My advise: be confident in that Mortal Kombat can carry itself and doesn't need for silly end of the world battles with titans, multiverse Marvel-esque implications and similarities.
Do you mean production or gameplay? Because while MK1 certainly suffered from some very limited/jank game mechanics, they pretty much rectified it with MK2/3/U to the point where UMK3 is still a tournament favorite for MK fans.
Did Scorpion actually have a simple, straight forward origin? Because "Hanzo Hasasahi was murderered along with his clan and family" is a retcon. Originally his family and clan were alive. :)
MK1 was weird like that lol.
Edit:Ah you talked about it oops.
OP
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Fun fact. Tobias has said Raiden was always meant to be the mentor and this ending was thrown in as a joke
MK1 was weird like that lol.
Edit:Ah you talked about it oops.
All they have to do is announce a Mortal Kombat Trilogy remaster, that era is when MK was its most fluid with the combos
The new lore is bad. All of the mystique has been completely stripped away. Shang Tsung became an iconic villain because he was so enigmatic. I will never care about this new Shang Tsung knowing that he is a literal snake oil salesman jobber who was given his powers by the real Shang Tsung. Scorpion, Quan Chi, Nitara, Shao, Raiden, Havik, and a few other characters have been similarly bungled. People were excited for the morning star-wielding "Cleric of Chaos" Havik, but we'll have to pay extra for a story expansion to experience him as an NPC. The playable version of Havik is actually just Hot Dairou with a Karen haircut who seemingly doesn't understand the difference between anarchism, antifascism, and communism. He's like a bad parody of what the right thinks the left is.
I miss when Mortal Kombat felt like horror-meets-Enter the Dragon and not an AI trained on the MCU, Game of Thrones, and the "subtext is for cowards" meme. I fell in love with Mortal Kombat as a kid because its world felt simultaneously scary and unsettling and mysterious and goofy and just plain weird -- but it doesn't feel like any of those things anymore. It's become a generic, boring, muted fantasy game with ill-fitting Fatalities that no longer make sense in the context of its own universe.
I miss when Mortal Kombat felt like horror-meets-Enter the Dragon and not an AI trained on the MCU, Game of Thrones, and the "subtext is for cowards" meme. I fell in love with Mortal Kombat as a kid because its world felt simultaneously scary and unsettling and mysterious and goofy and just plain weird -- but it doesn't feel like any of those things anymore. It's become a generic, boring, muted fantasy game with ill-fitting Fatalities that no longer make sense in the context of its own universe.
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OPs reasons are definitely Old Man reasons, but I respect them if only because I agree with the sentiment that MK has kind of lost its way but not with the reasons given.
I legit feel like once MK started to actually take itself kind of seriously it stopped being fun. MK9 definitely started that trend, maybe even far back as MKvDC.
I legit feel like once MK started to actually take itself kind of seriously it stopped being fun. MK9 definitely started that trend, maybe even far back as MKvDC.
They're only retcons if you take ALL of the endings to a given game as canon all the time, which they literally cannot be (multiverse shenanigans aside). Almost no, in any, fighting game endings do that. Best we get is some kind of mentioning of families or clans or whatever, like Scorpion up there. It's not like Raiden and the other gods ending the world is canon. Or some of the fatalities in MK3 even being a thing considering how many of those end the world, too. Hell, most of the fatalities are just the gameplay gimmick and don't actually happen.The next screen talks about how he can't be with his family because he's a spooky skeleton man.
There's a million of these retcons. In MK II Reptile's story says his race is still alive and in his ending they live in peace. In UMK3 his ending talks about how he'll never know them because they're extinct. I mean, in MK1 Raiden enters the tournament for the lulz and ends up destroying the world. Kontinuity has been fluid since day 1.
The endings are not kanon in the sense that the events described didn't happen because they didn't win, but the backstory and world building still mostly would be. The status of Scorpion's family and clan prior to the tournament taking place isn't going to change depending on if he had won the tournament.
It's also not just his ending. His biography in the MK1 comic and included in the instruction manual mentions his family.
The whole point is the MK story has never been simple, straight forward, and never shifting. Like the counter for my example is "well, ok, but that part isn't canon" lol
It's not a big deal, fans are going to like what they like, I just think it's funny to use Scorpion as your example.
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Mortal Kombat has been around for 32 years and what, like ~20 games in the timeline? MK11 ended with a gloriously, deliciously 90s campy plot and ending.
It's ok for Boon to want to do something else. And the whole point of MK1 is that it's NOT a full reboot. That no matter what, the past will haunt us and "it's in our blood". Like, idk how much more subtext you need.
Calling it fanfiction is lazy critique.
It's ok for Boon to want to do something else. And the whole point of MK1 is that it's NOT a full reboot. That no matter what, the past will haunt us and "it's in our blood". Like, idk how much more subtext you need.
Calling it fanfiction is lazy critique.
They were clearly different in their gameplay and story. You take Ken and Ryu, they are more like palette swipe with one having a big Shortuken while the other has a big Hadouken.
Scorpion day 1 had the hook mechanic while SZ was about freezing from afar. 2 completely different ways of playing.
Scorpion was the cheese too.
I'm all for multiple timelines like MK11, but hated how it was handled in MK1. It was so absurd (the bad absurd bad) that it ruined the ruined the entire story. There's literally so much you can do with that and turned it into joke that was funny for a minute.
Ah, a purveyor of good taste I see.
I just miss the art direction of the original trilogy. Everything after that was so, so needlessly ugly. They ruined so many great character designs over the years. It seems they're finally turning the corner in that dept but it's too little too late for me.
I miss Midway in general, games like Gauntlet Legends and Rampage on the N64. Some fun times playing with my brothers and family.
I miss the more simplistic designs. I really don't need to see the ninjas' faces and there's actually some charm to them looking nearly identical with minor cosmetic and color changes.
The original MK movie is peak MK aesthetic for me. Realistic enough, campy enough, an unparalleled visual and musical vibe with mid-nineties pre-rendered visuals realized in practical sets (and cg green screen).
I've watched it 2 times (falling asleep to it technically) this week alone, maybe a couple shy of a dozen since MK1's release.
I've watched it 2 times (falling asleep to it technically) this week alone, maybe a couple shy of a dozen since MK1's release.
Yes, this should happen again. Would be interesting to see how they would be made these days.
The story was in a great and interesting place post Deception, the reboot killed a lot of my goodwill towards the lore. But this topic is just so melodramatic, calling Mortal Kombat 1 "MK12" is just peak entitled fan whining, and not even going to touch the Wakanda comparison.
And I think Edenia and Outworld being separate places is a retcon to begin with, I think the endings in MK3 heavily imply Outworld used to be called Edenia, not that Edenia was a separate place taken over by Outworld.
And I think Edenia and Outworld being separate places is a retcon to begin with, I think the endings in MK3 heavily imply Outworld used to be called Edenia, not that Edenia was a separate place taken over by Outworld.
In MK3 Sindel's ending does mention that Edenia was her former realm and that it was once seperate from Outworld.
However, you're right, it's a retcon. In Kitana's MK II ending it is said her parents ruled Outworld and when she wins she will restore it back to a realm of nobility.
They were always making it up as they went. There's a million examples. "Win 10 tournaments in a row" came later. Originally it was this nebulous concept of "unbalancing the furies". The entire idea of the stakes being invasion from Outworld isn't actually part of the original game. Shang Tsung was said to have been "cursed by his gods" and Liu Kang is just trying to win back the tournament so it can be hosted by the Shaolin again.
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Making up as they went is different from completely re-writing the story. Plus, all of those things were not detrimental to the origins, feel, mystique and in line with the essence of MK. Turning Sindel into "evil" for MK11 because she always looked that way is one of those things that us fans take as a clear indication that NRS doesn't care about the origins and have very little care for nuance, depth and just changing things for the sake of change.
Again, this is not against you Stephanie, since you having to explain that Sindel is now and always has been evil felt very much like you actually didn't agree with it either. You definitely did not seem excited to explain that one. And if it wasn't enough that it was like that in 11, we got a great Sindel for MK1, only to turn around and force that abomination on us once again while killing off the Sindel that was the closest to the great one we had come to know and love from the classic era. MK9 was bad enough, but no, Dominic and whoever else had to give us their own version of Sindel and make sure that even in this "new era" we cannot have the version we love.
That seems to me like we got the new Sindel only to appease us for a bit and then in the end go back to the one y'all created so it's still yours (NRS). There seems to be such a concerted effort to change things and force us to accept these new versions, this new story, this new explanation that contradicts with a lot of what we have come to know, understand and want from an MK game, a story and feel. Also a lot feels like it's just a joke to y'all. The explanation of Quan Chi now being white because a ghost scared his melanin off his skin is just too stupid for words. The worst one is probably that Reptile joined the freaking circus to be paraded around. With all of that, this just cannot be what MK once was.
Again, this is not against you Stephanie, since you having to explain that Sindel is now and always has been evil felt very much like you actually didn't agree with it either. You definitely did not seem excited to explain that one. And if it wasn't enough that it was like that in 11, we got a great Sindel for MK1, only to turn around and force that abomination on us once again while killing off the Sindel that was the closest to the great one we had come to know and love from the classic era. MK9 was bad enough, but no, Dominic and whoever else had to give us their own version of Sindel and make sure that even in this "new era" we cannot have the version we love.
That seems to me like we got the new Sindel only to appease us for a bit and then in the end go back to the one y'all created so it's still yours (NRS). There seems to be such a concerted effort to change things and force us to accept these new versions, this new story, this new explanation that contradicts with a lot of what we have come to know, understand and want from an MK game, a story and feel. Also a lot feels like it's just a joke to y'all. The explanation of Quan Chi now being white because a ghost scared his melanin off his skin is just too stupid for words. The worst one is probably that Reptile joined the freaking circus to be paraded around. With all of that, this just cannot be what MK once was.
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I miss Midway trying to churn out other fighting games too. I really liked Mace The Dark Age as a 3D weapon based fighter that was ow the edge. Also Biofreaks!
They were kinda not cooked perfectly but feel like lots of 3D fighting games in this era could have been improved with sequels but because they never took off immediately they were dropped.
They were kinda not cooked perfectly but feel like lots of 3D fighting games in this era could have been improved with sequels but because they never took off immediately they were dropped.
I miss Midway cus they had balls to try other ideas like fighters with injured limbs like Tao Fang and Action MK games eventhough all flopped so badly but they tried nevertheless.
I miss the faster interactions of classic 2D MK games, I mean non cinematic throws, faster animations, etc. Also the vibe was totally different, MK1~MK3 had pretty distinguible and memorable soundtracks, I can't remember a single stage track from MKX 'till MK1.
IMO Modern MK peak was MK9 and MKX as complete packages, gameplay+content. I don't like MK11 gameplay but I've enjoyed my time with all of its content, can't say the same for MK1 even tho I think MK1 still has great potential to be a much better fighting game than MK11.
Anyways, I would love to see a complete collection of classic 2D MK games with rollback and tons of extra behind the scenes gallery mode. Specially MK Trilogy with both the N64 and PC / PS1 versions.
IMO Modern MK peak was MK9 and MKX as complete packages, gameplay+content. I don't like MK11 gameplay but I've enjoyed my time with all of its content, can't say the same for MK1 even tho I think MK1 still has great potential to be a much better fighting game than MK11.
Anyways, I would love to see a complete collection of classic 2D MK games with rollback and tons of extra behind the scenes gallery mode. Specially MK Trilogy with both the N64 and PC / PS1 versions.
Tao Feng wasn't Midway, it was John Tobias' game after he'd already left Midway. He made it with Dave Michicich who previously did 3d stuff at Midway including assets for MK3/UMK3 and also MK4, and Josh Tsui -Of Insert Coin documentary fame- and one of the main developers of Mythologies: Sub-Zero.
It always took itself kinda seriously, that's what made it fun. "Here's a bunch of corny bullshit from bad 80s movies, watch us give it some verisimilitude and pathos."
The problem, if there is one, is that the series has gotten less and less, for lack of better terms, "gritty" and "kitschy" over time. Both in aesthetic and in ideas.
I actually think this has been happening for a very long time. Well before NRS. And it's hard to describe what I mean by it, but if I had to narrow try: The games used to have this slapdash "that sounds cool, make it work" sorta feel to the stories and designs. Which, independent of blood and fatalities, made it feel less "clean" than something like Street Fighter. But also a love and care that made it stand out from its imitators. It never felt "dirty" like those games.
The last game to really feel like that, IMO, was MK4.
And I don't really think there's any way to get back to that. I don't think it was something they were trying to do. It was a consequence of the circumstances under, and technology with, which the games were developed.
But it would help, I think, if characters and stages got a little less elaborate in their designs. A little less sleek. For all the things I like aboht MK1, it does feel a little too clean. A little too Street Fighter.
Edit: And when I say less elaborate, I don't mean less colorful and weird. Just less intricate.
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I mean more like there is were goofy things. Dropping arcade cabinets on people, knocking their head off three times (glitch and intentional), some of the weird endings. Just some b movie silliness that was kind of endearing. I would go so far as to say it had a lot of slapstick.
Now it's all serious all the time, like the one episode of TTGo. No goofy jokes, no 4th wall breaks, nothing done weird but played straight as part of the joke.
I mean come on, the name of the main character in Deception is Shujinko.
Bring back chess kombat. That is all. Hopefully Injustice 3 is there next game. I liked the back and forth between the two games. Kinda feel like that's why MK1 felt a bit rushed and mediocre compared the MK11.
Clap for bravery, clap when a plane lands and clap when dinner is ready.
Mk1-3,MK9 and MK11 are the only ones I think people would go back to.
The 3D era was weird and definitely dated, would you go back to those games if they didn't have the extra modes? The characters in those games are fun, but I'd much rather play the MK1 versions of those characters that are fleshed out.
The 3D era was weird and definitely dated, would you go back to those games if they didn't have the extra modes? The characters in those games are fun, but I'd much rather play the MK1 versions of those characters that are fleshed out.