Who does not remember the infamous Mortal Kombat? Scorpion, Liu Kang, Kung Lao, and so on were the most sought-after characters to play. Intense combos paired with the brutalities and fatalities are just as perfect as peanut butter and jelly. What once was a 2D game has gained mass popularity and in turn has become not just a 3D game, but a whole new magnum opus in the franchise.
I still remember the first MK game, where it was a pixelated render of characters, and the constant mashing of buttons created specific and unique combos that made every fight more interesting. Finally, there was the piece de resistance: the brutalities, fatalities, animalities, and friendships.
The thing is that the early MK games were just fighting and nothing more than that. There was the iconic tower where one would have to face opponents before reaching Shang Tsung (the final boss). The developers then thought of taking the perspective to another level.
While the early MK games had a storyline just based on lines of dialogue and ladders, Mortal Kombat vs DC Universe (released in 2008) was the first game that brought in a specific storyline. The developers of MK took this initiative and since the release of MK9 in 2011, which included a story where one would have the opportunity to play with almost all the characters, minus the special endings.
The release of MKX (10) and MK11 showed new things such as intros of various sorts, specific animations (such as X-rays and so on), DLC, and guest characters from other games who were playable. Even in the latter MK series, certain moves still remained that were seen in the early MK games. Even in the latter games, each character had a+ couple of behaviours that would change the way they would fight, which included another level of excitement and experimentation.
MK didn’t go for the big moments or the wild characters and kept changing things up. While Street Fighter and Tekken obsessed over competitive play, MK just grabbed people’s attention with over-the-top violence and personalities you couldn’t forget. Later on, it doubled down with those crazy cinematic stories. It always found ways to stay fresh, even as games like Killer Instinct, Soulcalibur, Dead or Alive, and Virtua Fighter lost their way- taking too long between releases or just not standing out.
Mortal Kombat kept pushing its single-player modes and built bigger, bolder stories, while a lot of the old-school fighters faded out. In the end, MK stuck around because it never forgot that fighting games are supposed to be fun to watch and play, not just competitions for the hardcore. That’s why it kept growing while the other guys just slipped away.
