Board 8 > ITT I Rank Mortal Kombat Kharacters

(+) Yeah! (+)

5 Reasons to Play Mortal Kombat: Special Forces

Not even Top 5 (although you can make it so if you want), just any 5 reasons.

On point Friendship list. Top 2 were the only two I'd ever make a point to do.

Good list so far, only problem is overhyping Scorpion. Otherwise, great and fun reads.

Something that's occurred to me regarding Hsu Hao - if Midway hated him so much, why did they put him in the game in the first place? Couldn't they have given him a design they liked better? Alternatively, Dairou was meant to be in Deadly Alliance, and there's concept art of him in the Krypt, but he was cut and held back until Deception. Why not cut Hsu Hao and give his story role as a Red Dragon henchman to Dairou instead?

GavsEvans123 posted...

Something that's occurred to me regarding Hsu Hao - if Midway hated him so much, why did they put him in the game in the first place? Couldn't they have given him a design they liked better? Alternatively, Dairou was meant to be in Deadly Alliance, and there's concept art of him in the Krypt, but he was cut and held back until Deception. Why not cut Hsu Hao and give his story role as a Red Dragon henchman to Dairou instead?

I've wondered that's too.

I guess once the characters actually make it into development, it's hard to go back and drop them completely. Depending when they decided they really disliked him, they might not have had time to fully create a character like Dairou who never made it past koncept art, as well as edit stirs, bios etc.

The most important revelation about Mortal Kombat 1.

https://twitter.com/TQT1995/status/1673320200274411520?t=sBs55h88b_6ihZ9SCQGCPg&s=19

Hsu Hao is not good, but I don't really view him as the worst thing ever either. Like there are a lot of boring characters that people lose their shit over just because they came from the 2D era. Hsu Hao is really just guilty of being kinda boring and uninspired. Initially he was named Kublai Khan, and presumably had nothing to do with the Red Dragon, but they reworked it to add more bulk. I feel like they've always done that for the Special Forces related storylines though, but really only Hsu Hao gets the overreaction that he's superbly awful. He had one of the better fatalities in MKDA also.

Speaking of MKDA, I really enjoyed the game's Krypt. Not because it was like really immersive the way they've made it these days, but I enjoyed all that concept art of scrapped characters. Looking at all those drawings was always super interesting to me.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/2/9/8/AATFBfAAEm_q.jpg
Noob Saibot aka Bi-Han
First Appearance: Mortal Kombat (Klassic) / Mortal Kombat 2
Last Appearance: Mortal Kombat 11 / Mortal Kombat 1

So I'll go ahead and say right now that Noob Saibot is my personal favorite character. I need to get that out of the way for full disclosure. When he's in a game, he's my main. It can't be helped. I just love seeing him around.

Noob Saibot is interesting because he's one of few kharacters who completely evolve as the series goes on. Because in case you didn't know, Noob is the first Sub-Zero, Bi-Han. And after he dies, he turns into this dark ninja MF. And that frankly rules so much and I love how they managed to make this happen. It helps that Bi-Han as a kharacter is actually pretty great too. Very underappreciated, especially by the MK devs themselves.

His appearance rules. He's a pitch black ninja, which as we all know, makes him so much kooler than the rest of the ninjas by default. And then he's got a shadow clone of himself! Naruto eat your heart out, because this was the hypest! Just a weirdo shadow fella you throw at your enemies to help out! It doesn't get much more awesome than that! And then you throw that sickle into the mix? Maaaan they got this kharacter down. Except for that weird Dr. Claw voice. I dunno what that's about.

But he has a rep for being a secret kharacter, first appearing in MK2 with Scorpion's moves after you win 25 or 50 two-player matches and available to fight, but never play as.

He's also a secret kharacter in MK4 as well. You have to beat the game with Reiko and then highlight him in the kharacter select screen, press up up left left, and then hold run and start! He borrows moves and fatalities from other kharacters, and he was actually meant to be in the game originally. He was replaced with Reiko for whatever reason, which is likely why there is this konnection.

Noob-Smoke, a mixture of both kharacters, is unlocked in MK: Deception in the Krypt after getting so many koins.

So that's three surprise appearances our boy Noob has!

But aside from all of that, what I think also helps Noob is his moveset really stands out. He has a little shadow buddy! Fun Fact!: Noob is the name of Bi-Han, and Saibot is the name of the shadow! Let's just run down what he's got though. Noob has a ghost fireball, he's got Shadow Grabs, Shadow Slide Kicks, Shadow Tackles, Shadow Knee Strikes, and he has a TELEPORTING IZUNA DROP. I REPEAT HE HAS A TELEPORTING IZUNA DROP. THERE IS NO MOVE KOOLER I CANNOT BE KONVINCED. And then when you add on the fact that he has the absolutely sickest fatalities? Like somehow they make sure he has some of the best fatalities in the games when he appears. It's crazy! Even starting from when he was Bi-Han in MK1, he still was topping the charts of the best fatalities!

But let's just chat a little bit about his actual story though. Dig into our Bi-Han aka Noob Saibot.

Before he was Noob Saibot, he was Bi-Han aka Sub-Zero! He was the Lin-Kuei's best thief and assassin, and because of this Quan Chi enlisted him to get a fancy scroll from a Shaolin Temple. This is the start of the MK Mythologies: Sub-Zero game, where you actually play as Bi-Han. In any case, Quan Chi enlisted Scorpion to do the same thing, and both men did battle over the scroll, with Bi-Han winning and tearing out Scorpion's spine! When he returned it, Quan Chi made good on his promise to destroy the Shirai Ryu for the Lin Kuei Grandmaster as a result. The scroll was a map which led to an amulet, where Bi-Han went through and defeated four elemental guardians, including Fujin, and retrieved it. When he gave it back to Quan Chi, it turns out it was Shinnok's Amulet! Now Shinnok could return at full power and take over Earthrealm! Oh no!

Quan Chi leaves and Raiden appears and says "Wtf dude?" Then he told Bi-Han to get it back and sent his ass to the Netherrealm. On the way, he fought and defeated an undead Scorpion again who blamed him for his whole clan being massacred. And then he kills all of Quan Chi's Angels except for Sareena and goes to fight Quan Chi. And Quan Chi says he can only be in Netherrealm because he's so fucking evil for being an assassin shitbag. Sareena goes to help Bi-Han beat Quan Chi, but then she gets killed by Shinnok and turns into a big ugly demon and Bi-Han ends up beating him and taking the amulet (which was a fake lolwhoops) and gave it back to Raiden. Bi-Han asked Raiden about how evil he is and Raiden was like "Yeah dude you're so fucking evil and you can change it if you want, but if you die then you're going to get super fucked by the Netherrealm." And then he left.

Mortal Kombat comes around, and Bi-Han joined to kill Shang Tsung! But Scorpion appeared and challenged him to a fight to the death! And Bi-Han got fried to death and his soul went down to the Netherrealm and he was transformed into the very evil Noob Saibot, and he was a part of the Brotherhood of Shadow which is Quan Chi's really lame club. He would creep around at the second Mortal Kombat tournament, and then he worked for Shao Kahn during the Earthrealm invasion. Which Shao Kahn lost. Quan Chi would then summon him to help fight against the good guys when Shinnok came back around and then they lost and Quan Chi's really lame club disbanded, leaving him to go back to Shao Kahn. And then during a battle between Outworld and Edenia, Noob Saibot struck and mortally wounded Goro like a total boss, putting an end to that battle.

Then Shao Kahn died and Noob decided to flex his sick hacking skills and reprogrammed Smoke to serve him, thus merging with him as Noob-Smoke and creating a bunch of other cyber ninjas. He would then be attacked by his brother, Kuai Liang and the current Sub-Zero, and Sareena! The girl who died before he could be in love with her in some awkward sexual tension. He would later attempt to take over the Lin Kuei with his fancy cyber ninjas but fail, and then Sub-Zero would attempt to save his soul. We don't know what happened, because everyone died in Armageddon!

Reboot timeline time! Things start out mostly the same, with Bi-Han being burned to a crisp by Scorpion who thought he killed his family and clan. He was Quan Chi's assistant after that, helping with the resurrection of Sindel and summoning the SOULNADO. His brother, the current Sub-Zero battled with him and they both denounce their blood ties. And then Nightwolf kicks Noob into the SOULNADO, which destroys it and presumably destroys him. I guess.

And then he returns in MK11 to fuck with Sub-Zero and Scorpion and said he's just too damn tuff to be murdered by any SOULNADO. And then he runs away. He guards the Well of Souls and Kronika's crown before getting beat by Young Jax and Jacqui. It's notable that Noob does have some of the best lines in this game. He's completely awesome in it.

But Bi-Han will be returning in MK1 as Sub-Zero, and he is delightfully a complete and total dick. Because that's always been Bi-Han: he's an asshole. They did him perfectly in the latest Mortal Kombat movie too! And there, we're likely to get Noob Saibot in the sequel! What a time to be alive and a Noob Saibot fan!

So yeah, Noob is criminally underutilized in the MK series, but any time he's around? He's so damn good. I love seeing him at all times, because he's got such a good presence and fun moveset. As I said, he's my absolute favorite, and I feel that they just continually don't take advantage of his inherent story beats he has with Sub-Zero and Scorpion. He can do a lot more, but they just never let it happen. Maybe with the reboot he can finally get his due, but I'll just patiently wait for my main to come back.

I have to grade this based on presentation, which I think is tops for the most part, his story he has, and his wasted potential. Thankfully the two skew the last one pretty well.

Grade: A-

Relevant BEST TRAILER LOOK AT THIS GUY:
https://youtu.be/CS5rCkskI2g

Noob is an interesting character - I love the backstory and he had that great wishbone Fatality in MK9. But really, I've never been a massive fan of his look or gameplay. And I didnt like the Doctor Claw voice in MK11 either.

His story give his plus points, the uninteresting look/gameplay for me drop him into the middle of the pack.

I think Noob Smoke was the only time I actually particularly liked him. That tag team gameplay was pretty fun.

He's not bad or anything and I do appreciate his existence but yeah the gameplay never clicked with me otherwise.

Surprised you didn't mention his appearances in console UMK3 and Trilogy, where he's also incredibly busted. More than Kabal.

Landing a ghost fireball puts the opponent in a state where they can't hit or block for 10 seconds....yup

Trilogy noob is hilarious because his dial a Kombo is literally run and mash LK

I absolutely forgot to mention that Noob was completed busted in UMK3 and Trilogy.

Noob was so busted that he was actually banned in competitive play in both of those games because the Ghost Ball just kept opponents unable to do anything for too long, and there were set ups to hit a ranged throw to nail the opponent with it on the way down. And in Trilogy he had an easy infinite if you just hit his Teleport Izuna Drop, which was always a solid punish to catch someone with that literally just ended the round after with a combo they can't escape out of.

Noob is like my spirit animal I think. He's so over the top in MK11, definitely one of MK's most improved characters from when he was first imagined.

Can I just say I really appreciate the way the writeups replace Cs with Ks? It's very korrect and it adds so much to them, j/s

Noob is great and I agree it would be nice if they gave him more content with Scorpion and Sub-Zero because there's a lot of potential there.

Mortal Kombat 1 bio for Scorpion konfirms he's Kuai Liang now, so that's interesting!

I wonder what Hanzo will be up to, if anything at all.

https://twitter.com/DNOpls/status/1674197251785121792

Honestly I hope this happens more than anything. Just Liu Kang mixing up lore in his universe like a casual.

https://twitter.com/Evil_Emperor_X/status/1674769901355933698?t=twqEmHA84PGmHwE5ilIssw&s=19

Or maybe it's like Liu Kang's fanboy fanfiction

"wouldn't it be so dope if Sub-Zero became Scorpion"

PrivateBiscuit1 posted...

Mortal Kombat 1 bio for Scorpion konfirms he's Kuai Liang now, so that's interesting!

I wonder what Hanzo will be up to, if anything at all.

I didn't see the bio mention his name though, just that he's Sub-Zero's brother. He still could be Hanzo.

Also poor Baraka in this universe is basically a leper now probably. Liu Kang did the Tarkatans dirty in this universe.

GeneralKenobi85 posted...

I didn't see the bio mention his name though, just that he's Sub-Zero's brother. He still could be Hanzo.

Also poor Baraka in this universe is basically a leper now probably. Liu Kang did the Tarkatans dirty in this universe.

The bio talks about their mutual father, the former grandmaster that Bi-Han apparently killed to take leadership from. And considering Bi-Han is Chinese and Hanzo is Japanese, it's very unlikely they're both actual brothers, so I think we're getting something different with Kuai Liang as Scorpion. That seems to be the prevailing theory, at least.

PrivateBiscuit1 posted...

The bio talks about their mutual father, the former grandmaster that Bi-Han apparently killed to take leadership from. And considering Bi-Han is Chinese and Hanzo is Japanese, it's very unlikely they're both actual brothers, so I think we're getting something different with Kuai Liang as Scorpion. That seems to be the prevailing theory, at least.

That's a good point. You probably wouldn't have Hanzo be a Chinese guy. Of course Mortal Kombat isn't always known for making sense.

Been very busy so I haven't been able to post! Holidays do that.

But uh, the entire roster for MK1 has been leaked. Do you guys want me to shy away from talking about anything that hasn't been officially revealed or say screw it and talk about the leaks during these?

probably avoid it, or maybe make a separate topic for it?

Im concerned that even spoiler tagging stuff in a write-up could be like an implied spoiler for people trying to avoid the leaks. Like if the Mokap write-up had a spoilered section, the readers mind would go oh, so Mokap is in MK1. maybe

but i think Ive seen most of the leak as of now and I definitely have thoughts so I am down for a place to discuss it

new trailer with reveals (officially stated to be plural) tomorrow at 12 central btw

Never got the appeal of the franchise.

Only one I ever played was Armageddon.

I actually had more fun with the Mario Kart-esque minigame, than the actual fighting.

There were like 64 characters in the game and most of them played the same to me.

you chose a bad one to be the only one you played

Imagine Armageddon being the only MK game you ever played

I like Armageddon more than most but yeah, worst choice for an only MK.

I only ever played MK9, but it did prompt me to delve into the all the MK story/lore. I've watched all the cutscenes for MKX and 11 as well.

Even though MK is probably the best fighting game franchise for people who prefer single player, fighting games are still ultimately meant to be played with other people. And I'm pretty bad at them. So I will almost certainly not get MK1, but I enjoy following along at least.

GeneralKenobi85 posted...

I only ever played MK9, but it did prompt me to delve into the all the MK story/lore. I've watched all the cutscenes for MKX and 11 as well.

Even though MK is probably the best fighting game franchise for people who prefer single player, fighting games are still ultimately meant to be played with other people. And I'm pretty bad at them. So I will almost certainly not get MK1, but I enjoy following along at least.

MK1 is likely the first time I won't buy an MK game. At least at release - possibly a lomplete edition or sale. The series has lost its appeal to me since MK9, and I suck at competitive play which it is naturally and obviously geared toward. So I always lose interest fast.

Yeah I just don't have time to invest in fighting games anymore

I pretty much just follow them from afar now and occasionally dabble

Top Five Fatalities in Mortal Kombat 9

I went ahead and made the call to go for the best fatality in MK9 for Moogle's rec. It's a lot easier to just break them down per game. And this is the first game that I feel really leveled up the idea. Before it was all cartoony and had little giblets flying around in the 3D era. It was fun, but it wasn't a big deal. Starting with MK9, they just completely overhauled it. It's all realistic physics and gore now. And it's all gruesome as hell. It's one of the many reason Mortal Kombat 9 was such a breath of fresh air and really revolutionized the series again.

Oh, and for all of these I'll do one per kharacter.

5. Take a Spin - Baraka
I like both of Baraka's fatalities a lot, but I've always loved how this one is. He just grabs the opponent with his arm blade and raises them up, spinning them around over his head. Then he raises his other arm blade up in the way and they body just gets shredded! I've always liked this one for how over the top it is, and just how horrifying it is too.

https://youtu.be/iug02KDSsak

4. Heartbreak - Kano
Kano does a variation of his original fatality. While a lot of the originals are variations, I think Kano's is one of the best upgrades. This time, he turns his opponent around and then punches through their back, ripping out the beating heart of his opponent through the front, effectively showing his opponent their heart! And after they let out horrified screams, he crushes it right in front of them. Unimaginably cruel and vicious, and I love that from Kano.

https://youtu.be/x3EPoboK2VE

3. Scissor Split - Sonya Blade
This is based on the MK4 fatality, in which Sonya grabs her opponent with her legs and holds them in a hand stand. Digging her heels in, the pulls them in different directions by the waist with her strong leg muscles, and then she completely tears them in half with it! What I really love about this one is how impressive it is, and how much velocity there is when the opponent breaks in half. Their pieces just go flying!

https://youtu.be/p10eYUu-45s

2. The Scarecrow - Sektor
Sektor shoots something at the chest of his opponent. After he presses a button on his wrist, the device extends, shooting through their neck and limbs, and ripping them apart, effectively making a gruesome scarecrow out of them. It's really one of the most creative ones, and I completely love how horrifying they look after it.

https://youtu.be/lSEQWMJyZbk

1. Make a Wish - Noob Saibot
Number one was soooo easy. The rest don't come close. Make a Wish might even be the best in the whole series! Noob Saibot brings his shadow clone out, and they both grab an arm and leg and pull and pull until the opponent slowly rips in half. And then Noob and his shadow hold up each half of the opponent. It's slow, gruesome, terrifying, and everything you want in one of these fatalities.

https://youtu.be/OpoRR7tOPdA

Honorable Mention (in no order): Blood Bath - Skarlet, Half Mast - Jade, Nothing But Net - Cyrax, Razor's Edge - Kung Lao

Make a Wish is my second favorite fatality in the entire series. The first belongs to Quan Chi, a kharacter I've otherwise never been that attached to before!

I played some deadly alliance today on the original xbox. That game is surprisingly pretty dope. They did a great job translating mk to 3D, every character has a buncha different fighting styles, theres a ton of cool new characters, and konquest and krypt modes are really fun

I actually like bo rai cho, even though i seem to remember people hating him lol. Just a sloppy fat guy with drunken master style. Moloch is dope basically a cave troll from lotr with a mother fucking boulder as his weapon. I even like the dude with the flies all over him

oh yeah and this

https://youtu.be/3PUmBe3xV4o

Top 5 kharacters who deserve their own spinoffs (and what genre those spinoffs would be)

actually like bo rai cho, even though i seem to remember people hating him

I think hes decisive, not outright hated like Hsu Hao or Drahmin. I always liked him, and they did bring him back as DLC in X, so he cant be totally hated.

Wish bone is def the best Fatality in MK9 but I didn't agree with the other top 4.

MoogleKupo141 posted...

I think hes decisive, not outright hated like Hsu Hao or Drahmin. I always liked him, and they did bring him back as DLC in X, so he cant be totally hated.

BoRai Cho wasn't particularly well received in MKDA and it was a bit of an unwelcome return for him in MKD too. But I think people preferred him second.time round.

Drahmin is such an underrated character IMO.

I was fighting hsu hao, and thought he was some kinda weird yellow demon. But nope. Thats just the color of his skin. Yikes. Also doesnt help that his moves are boring

Why do people hate drahmin? Hes some smelly dude with a club. Its so stupid its good in my mind. Classic mortal kombat

yellowwolley posted...

Wish bone is def the best Fatality in MK9 but I didn't agree with the other top 4.

It was a bit harder for me to pick a lot of the others, but please share your other favorite MK9 fatalities! There's a ton of great ones to choose from!

PrivateBiscuit1 posted...

It was a bit harder for me to pick a lot of the others, but please share your other favorite MK9 fatalities! There's a ton of great ones to choose from!

My favourites were

Noob Wish bone

Kung Laos buzzsaw

Sheevas one where rips their arms off, bitch slaps them with their own hands, then uses them to applaud herself

Kabals one where they fall on the hooks words

Cyraxs one where he slices them with the saw

Both of Kenshis were great too

That's most than 5 haha

Sheeva's clapping one always cracks me up, especially since she holds her top set of arms behind her head to do it.

I've always enjoyed Cyrax's net fatality more though. Kenshi's screen smashing fatality is really fun as well.

All very fair choices though!

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/9/8/5/AATFBfAAEp2R.jpg
Xenomorph
Only Appearance: Mortal Kombat X

Sorry Baraka fans.

So I'm a big horror fan, and I absolutely love the first two Alien movies. The rest kinda suck, but those first two are just near perfect movies. But the Xenomorph itself is just so perfectly made. I love the style with it, and it's hard to think of a lot of creatures more terrifying and dangerous than it. I could ramble about what I love about the first movies, but I'll spare you.

But since I have you reading this, let me share my favorite Alien movie story. The first Alien movie was not a success. It did not do well in theaters, but it had a cult popularity. Ridley Scott constantly pitched a sequel to his movie, over and over again, and they wouldn't make it. So one time, Ridley Scott wrote "ALIEN" on a chalk board. And then he added an "S" on the end. And then he put a line through the "S". It said "ALIEN$", and that was the pitch that he was able to get the sequel greenlit.

And like most guest kharacters that everyone is angry about, the reason Xenomorph got in this game at all was precisely because of the $. And I think the Xenomorph is... kinda good! It was the focus of the Kombat Pack 2 and probably for good reason. Even if the Xenomorph ruthlessly kills Baraka in it, who everyone wanted in the game.

But his implementation feels equal parts weird and kool though. He looks and feels a bit klunky, mostly because you have to scale down Xeno to a size of everyone else. And I think his moves are a delightful mix of serious, doofy, and OH MY GOD THEY GAVE IT TARKATAN BLADES. Giving Xeno Tarkatan Blades is probably the best thing that Xeno's gotten aside from a couple decent games in ages!

But the moves are basically, acid spits, mauling, tail whips, which are all expected and cool. The acid is neat because it does damage over time. But then you get a freaking face hugger summon which is so wild. It pops out and stuns the opponent. And then it can also use Tarkatan Blades and basically grifts different takes on Baraka's moves. Overall, it's pretty solid. But like I said, it feels a bit weird.

Its X-Ray move is kool too, but I never really liked the fatalities? It feels like they are too... methodical? They don't really feel like the Xenomorph to me. Where I DO think they're done right are the simple Brutalities that just tear them apart. Simple, quick, easy, and just what I think the Xenomorph should be. It's just weird that it's more humanoid and I think that's where a lot of it stems from.

The story they gave it is basically that the Xenomorphs went to Outworld, laid an egg, it hatched, took a Tarkatan as a host, and now it just murders them. The ending has Xeno killing Shinnok, going back into hiding in a nest, making an army of Xenomorphs, and then Kotal Kahn tries to stop it but since he's too bitch made he fails and Outworld is ruled by Xenomorphs now. Reptile and Goro are among those who got taken to the nest btw.

I mean, it does the job I guess. Nothing special. Doesn't really need to be.

So yeah, I feel like they tried to make Xenomorph work, but it doesn't actually fit entirely, especially with the rigs they had and MKX being notorious for uh, spotty animations. I really like some parts of Xenomorph, but I think for the most part I'm not a huge fan. Just doesn't do it for me. Do not give me another humanoid Xenomorph again pls.

Grade: D+

Relevant Kombat Pack Trailer:
https://youtu.be/F0bBrH5t1b4

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/7/7/2/AATFBfAAEqCk.jpg
Sektor
First Appearance: Mortal Kombat 3
Last Appearance: Mortal Kombat 9 (Playable) / Mortal Kombat 1 (Kameo)

We got Ketchup in the house.

So as far as cyber ninjas go, I honestly think Sektor is the most unappreciated one. I'll have a lot of compliments for him here, so brace yourself.

He's basically the figurehead for the entire Cyborg ninja initiative, and I think they use him well for that... usually. Not nearly enough though. He's really only there to be the pain in the ass evil leader cyber ninja, which is great, but it usually feels so secondary in everything.

As for his appearance, it's difficult in that he hasn't really been able to differentiate him from "red cyborg" like how a lot of the regular ninjas have solidly found their own visual appearance. Sektor and Cyborg are forever so similar to one another, and that kinda sucks and I wish they figured out a way to differentiate them more. I think that's what usually hurts the chances for them getting more appearances, if I'm honest.

That said, Sektor still looks great. He's got a Predator vibe for the most part, with the dreads going off. He never really evolves in design too much more, but he does look sleeker from MK9 onward. I think even his MK11 evolved design is really good too, with all the white in it. Problem is, he just doesn't stand out still. I think a more drastic design choice ought to be made with him for future appearances. And I actually really liked his MK9 human appearance too! It was kool to see his human form.

I think something else that hurts Sektor is that his moves are... well, pretty generic. He's got missiles. And... a lot of missiles. So many missiles. And then he has his teleporting rocket punch too, and the flamethrower in the modern games. But I feel like there's a lot more you could do with his moveset that differentiates him from Cyrax that just isn't explored enough. But where Sektor shines are that his fatalities, which for the most part are awesome. I always love seeing his fatalities in play.

But let's go into his very windy story.

Sektor is a member of the Lin Kuei and the son of the Lin Kuei Grandmaster. When they took volunteers for the cyber ninja initiative, Sektor was the first one to volunteer for the procedure, believing in it more than anyone else, and was the most ambitious and loyal cyborg. He, along with the other cyborgs, were sent to kill Sub-Zero for his betrayal. He and the others ultimately don't succeed, and his programming got corrupted. And then, Sektor was the only cyborg ninja left for the Lin Kuei.

As a result, he changed his directive to taking over the Lin Kuei. Killing his father, the Grandmaster, he was about to take the Dragon Medallion and rule the Lin Kuei, but Sub-Zero stopped him and took over, and Sektor retreated to make his own cyborg clan. He fights Taven at some point and is driven off by the Special Forces with all of his fun cyborg buddies.

And then he dies in Armageddon like everyone else.

And then in the reboot timeline, things are mostly the same. They give him a little bit to flesh out the difference between him and Cyrax, with Sektor being far more dedicated to the cyborg ninja thing. Cyrax actually ends up defeating Sektor after an argument.

The MKX Komic is where Sektor shines a lot though. He took over the Lin Kuei and killed anyone in it who did not submit to the cyborg ninja transformation. Sektor is a complete asshole in this, and he's awesome. Sub-Zero wants to free the Lin Kuei and end Sektor and his reign, and he uploads a virus into their system, fighting through them all. The virus shuts off the slave protocol, and Sektor taunts Sub-Zero and tells him that they're all clones and had no free will anyway. Except for Cyrax, who turned on Sektor. He is then defeated by Sub-Zero, who manages to power his way through to a super powered Sektor and takes off his arms and head, ending the cyber Lin Kuei.

In MKX, Sub-Zero uses Sektor's memory banks to expose that Quan Chi was behind the destruction of Scorpion's clan to Scorpion, which means that Sektor is the one that made Sub-Zero and Scorpion besties.

In MK11, Kronika brings back a past Sektor and he proceeds to kidnap all of the modern Lin Kuei and turns them into cyborg ninjas, alongside Cyrax and Frost. Sub-Zero and Scorpion work together to fight Sektor, and Sektor reveals that he was the one who set fire to the Shirai Ryu to set it up for Quan Chi's attack. After getting a glow up, Sektor and his Lin Kuei army attacks the Special Forces base, and then Kano blows Sektor up so he destroys it.

So yeah, here's Sektor. It's a shame that he normally doesn't get opportunities to be a menacing, evil SOB. Because the little bits we get through his MK4 ending, fatalities, and MKX Komic makes his seem legitimately sinister. He has loads of untapped potential, and if they find a way to make him stand out more and be his own threat instead of a pawn, I think Sektor would be able to leap up in popularity easy.

But for now, he's still just sort of the red cyborg, which is a shame. Hopefully that changes here in the new timeline.

Grade: C

Relevant Komic Panels:
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/7/7/3/AATFBfAAEqCl.jpg
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/7/7/4/AATFBfAAEqCm.jpg
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/7/7/5/AATFBfAAEqCn.jpg

Sektor was a character that I found pretty fun to play as in MK3 and I loved his compactor Fatality.

But I always preferred Cyrax pretty much since.

Neither have been used to the best of their potential though. Like you say he is the poster boy for the cyber initiative but not much else. He and the tekunin couldve become a force, but yeah, Armageddon and Timeline shenanigans thwarted that.

In terms of him returning, im in two minds. I don't think the human forms would be nearly as interesting though I think thats where the potential jn the new timeline is, and I sort of don't want the cyber initiative to be a thing this time around. So it's an odd situation.

I had no idea there was this much more to Mortal Kombat of all things.

It's always amazing to watch someone discover for the first time that fighting games have lore

https://twitter.com/RitsuRizer/status/1677006974876282881?t=2rQj69zEzmYfrXJvgIXD8g&s=33