Board 8 > ITT I Rank Mortal Kombat Kharacters

(+) Yeah! (+)

Worth noting in Alien's ending that the Xenomorph army includes a Shokan Xenomorph and what may be a Centaur Xenomorph on the left, though it's hard to tell for sure because the nest is dark and it's not in the foreground of the artwork.

mcflubbin posted...

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

Calling this the best the cyborgs have looked is crazy talk. Lol

Mortal Kombat Klassic Stage Ranking

So let's take a look at the iconic stages from the very first Mortal Kombat game! For the most part, a lot of them have been updated, and for good reason. They stand out, and they rule. These are all on Shang Tsung's Island, which is a fun little location for them all, and I like them all for the most part. There's also only six, so I might as well just rank them all instead of doing the top 5.

6. Palace Gates
Yeah, this one is my least favorite. It has a cool backdrop, but nothing makes it stand out. It's one I always forget about. It fits with the theme of the island really well, but... the rest are simply better. I think the song is great though.

https://youtu.be/wkHcTe7M24A

5. Courtyard
This one stands out a little bit more than the last because we have the Shaolin Monks all watching over this otherwise generic stage. It makes it seem like a legit tournament, with spectators. And I always liked that.

https://youtu.be/BBr5ztR6_qI

4. Throne Room
This one has Shang Tsung on his throne, watching over the fighters. I dig it a lot! Having Shang there helps make it stand out, as well as gives a good vibe of how important he is, and how the fight is too. Makes you anticipate fighting him even more!

https://youtu.be/VnwJSvYWaFs

3. Warrior Shrine
They have statues of all the fighters surveying you fight, with Goro's ugly ass right in the middle looking like a complete monster. That's all this stage needs. It's basic and kool as hell.

https://youtu.be/xAn_z1QAkXg

2. Goro's Lair
It's a dank little prison where you have to fight Goro, who is stuck there. Where so many people are sent there to be torn apart by him. Where creepy crawlies are in the background watching in the shadows. The battle music is also a lot more low key than the rest, bringing more dread to your fight with Goro. And then a little more faster paced, but still grim song for Shang Tsung's fight, where he has to intervene after Goro loses to try to get a win for Outworld!

https://youtu.be/bYpJ9asTPdU

1. The Pit
Truly a special stage, in so many ways. Yeah, you're on a basic bridge. Big whoop. Who cares about that? Nothing flashy there. Well, beyond having a killer track, there's a little bit more here. Because if you kill someone with an uppercut here, they go falling off the bridge way, way down until they land on a bed of spikes to their death! The first stage fatality in the game! Even Liu Kang's non-lethal Fatality with his cartwheel uppercut sends them to their death! And as a bonus, if you unlock the Reptile fight, he hangs down there to mop up the other corpses and ensure nobody survives. Easily the best stage in MK Klassic, and it's often replicated.

https://youtu.be/x0CwqK-HWqg

I only had a vague recollection of those stages with exception to The Pit which is unforgettable.

Did you play Mortal Kombat 11? The Krypt Mode has a recreation of all of these areas in glorious 3D!

I have not. But, that sounds pretty cool.

PrivateBiscuit1 posted...

Did you play Mortal Kombat 11? The Krypt Mode has a recreation of all of these areas in glorious 3D!

Shaolin Monks has several of the original stages in somewhat less glorious 3D too.

Let's have another first Mortal Kombat ranking.

Top 5 Mortal Kombat Klassic Music

I don't know if the track listing is small enough that you could just rank them all, but I know there's not that many tracks on it.

I actually played through the first Mortal Kombat last week, albeit the SNES version, and....it's pretty rough. But at least some of the music is pretty good.

So does anyone play the modern Mortal Kombat games on an arcade stick?

If so, do you stay with the default button mapping or change it around?
Because the default mapping puts the X-ray attack on the 2 trigger buttons, but that's awkward to do on a fight stick since those are the bottom-right 2 buttons.

Granted, I've only tested with MK9. I don't know if they made the mapping better on MKX or 11.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/7/4/9/AATFBfAAEqxF.jpg
Havik
First Appearance: Mortal Kombat Deception
Last Appearance: Mortal Kombat Armageddon (Playable) / Mortal Kombat 11 (Kameo)

So we're finally on one of the most requested for and beloved 3D era kharacters that I also kind of love. It's Havik! And he's one weird bastard that Netherrealm Studios seems to love as well! In a sea of relatively forgettable kharacters from the 3D Mortal Kombat games, Havik managed to find a way to stand out by being just freaky and weird and oddly compelling.

We can start with his appearance. He's got a ghoul-like face where half of it has been melted into a skull, which is his defining feature. Other than that, he has an asymmetrical sort of warlord outfit in black and red. It's all about his face though because that thing is nasty.

But he has the absolute strangest moves in the franchise (aside from maybe one other kharacter). Let's just look at them right now:

TORSO SPIN - You know Zangief's Double Lariat? Instead of spinning his whole body, Havik spins his torso upwards to smack his opponents with both fists.
DIVING CORPSE - He just dives forward in a full on slide, taking out the opponent's feet.
CRACKLING LEG PROJECTILE - He snaps his legs at the knees and falls back, shooting an energy blast from his fists. What the fuck seriously.
HEAD SNAP - Havik snaps his head to one side, then the other, and heals himself.
CORPSE TAUNT - Havik heals for MORE health by snapping his body back and curling into a little ball, then pulls himself back up.

Absolutely goofy ass moveset. And then you add in his fatalities, which are equally bonkers. He will rip off his opponent's leg and then use it to bat their head off like a baseball. And then he'll just eat the entirety of their arms and then throw it all up. And his Hara Kiri is outstanding because he just rips off his own head and then presents it to the camera before falling over.

The Cleric of Chaos indeed, because the guy is just so freaking bizarre, and you can tell they had a ton of fun making him. I assume limitations in the game engines is what makes him harder to bring back, because a lot of his moves are just breaking the rigs of the models outside of a fatality setting, which is a shame! Because Havik is tons of fun!

It's a shame he's wrapped up in the Chaosrealm/Orderrealm nonsense because it's such a stupid and convoluted addition to the lore and ultimately means nothing. And that puts him as Hotaru's rival, who is not nearly as interesting. I feel like they've tried to pull him away from that stuff in his briefer appearances.

A final thing before we get to his story: he also does not have the voice you expect. He has a kalm, eerie, and quiet voice. It's a strange contrast to his absolutely fucking krazy moveset and everything else.

Alright, finally the story!

Havik is the Cleric of Chaos and high ranking member in the Chaosrealm, he meets a young Shujinko and basically challenges him to a fight to the death because he's a cheeky fuck then goes "lol Actually I was trying to train you, but I couldn't just have a regular training session, so I tried to kill you, also I would have killed you fr fr but anyway have fun buddy lol" Just a bizarre start with him.

But in the present day Deception storyline, Havik finds a nearly dead Kabal and heals his wounds after getting his ass beat by Movado. He convinces Kabal to start up the Black Dragon again so they could all defeat the evil Onaga! And I like to think part of his plan was for Kabal to also recruit the two biggest dopes in Kira and Kobra. But Havik ended up guiding all of the heroes to Onaga so they could fight him, because if Onaga united the realms under him, then how could there be CHAOS? But ultimately Havik's plan was to eat Onaga's heart so he could resurrect the dead after.

Shinnok would then made an illusion of Havik to fight Taven for reasons. And then Havik would fight the forces of evil and die with everyone else in Armageddon.

But wait! He's actually the biggest deal in the reboot timeline in the Mortal Kombat X Komics! After Shinnok is beaten the first time, Quan Chi reaches out to Havik and offers him that Blood Magik if he could recover Shinnok's Amulet, so he can revive Shinnok. Havik had planned to betray Quan Chi anyway, but went about a plan to use his new Blood Magik powers to make a prophecy of "Reiko's Blood Reigns" in the past, meaning that Reiko was destined for greatness! Reiko was not, in fact, destined for greatness and upon realizing it he almost committed suicide before Havik told him "lol do it loser" and said he must lose some blood first to reign with it. He stabs Reiko and gives him a little bit of that Blood Code godhood power and Reiko is convinced to go for greater power, and Havik swears his loyalty to him.

Havik is then able to use the Blood Magik and the link with the Kamidogu to possess various fighters (you've seen me explain the bulk of them in write ups before this). Basically, he's manipulating them all from the shadows to get the Kamidogu pieces. Basically, he's actually really smart, strong, and manipulative in this. I mean, he destroys the Lin Kuei, Shirai Ryu, possesses the Thunder God, kills Hanzo, among other things. Dude is a freaking boss.

Eventually, Havik walked in on Kotal Kahn, Mileena, and Ermac killing Reiko super hard and he's more amused than anything. So he used his pet Raiden to wreck house while he revived Reiko again. He uses the Champion's Blood from Cassie Cage and then has Reiko drink it to start the ceremony, then has Reiko stabbed with all of the pieces of the Kamidogu. Reiko then absorbs Kotal's forces to build up his power. When he asked for even more, he soon realizes that Havik has been playing him, because Reiko has all the power but he has an unending desire to consume more blood of his enemies. Havik then taunts Reiko and tells him that he was never destined to be a god, as Reiko's body begins to tear apart. Then Havik crushes Reiko's god damn skull, enacting his real plan of using this ritual on Reiko to summon Shinnok's Amulet and unlock its power.

Then Havik begins the next part of his plan, stabbing many of the fighters who came to stop him to let their blood flow and boost the amulet's power, and then starting to absorb the souls from Ermac into Shinnok's Amulet so he can access all of the realms and take them over and spread Chaos to them too. Takeda, Cassie, and Jacqui stop him though and Takeda makes off the with the amulet. Havik catches up with him and is ready to kill him, but then out of nowhere a revived Scorpion comes up and rips his god damn head off.

Scorpion then teleports to the Netherrealm with the severed head of Havik and gives it to Quan Chi's goons. Quan Chi would then take Havik's head and squash it under his boot. And that's a wrap for Havik! Oh, but I guess he's alive in MK11 Aftermath somehow but who cares.

So if you were ever a Havik enthusiast, then reading the Mortal Kombat X Komic is an absolute must. He's so completely awesome in it in every way and they really maximize his potential in it. He's great because he is so methodical about bringing about Chaos to the realms, a complete antithesis to the idea of Chaos itself. This is the kind of wacky shit I want to see from Havik, where he's just some kind of horrible, strange mastermind.

And Ed Boon has very clearly implied Havik is involved in Mortal Kombat 1! Which is great! Havik could stand to have another appearance. He has a following and I have no doubt his great appearance in the MKX Komics really helped motivate them to do something with the guy. I'm really hoping we get a good showcase out of Havik. I'm always leery when it comes to the MK stories nowadays, but I do hope that Havik gets his time to shine now.

This ranking relies heavily on his MKX Komic appearance, which helps him a ton.

Ranking: C+

Relevant Fatalities:
https://youtu.be/7tjCTD3YlRI
https://youtu.be/WttZ6Ph9-oQ

Agree Havik was a fun but weird addition to the series.

I actually forgot he was so prominent kn the MKx comics.

Agree hs is also fairly middle of the road overall, in terms of where I'd put him. He definitley has potential to be a big evil force I'm the series though.

Rumour has it he will be in MK1 and I'm looking forward to it.

the sudden introduction of chaos/order realms in Deception was pretty weird, as was spending three roster slots on Orderrealm people. but Havik is good.

And lately Ive come to the conclusion that Hotaru has potential to be good too. I like his look and his lava powers could be cool. You could probably bring him and Havik into the story without actually wasting time on their goofy realms.

MoogleKupo141 posted...

the sudden introduction of chaos/order realms in Deception was pretty weird, as was spending three roster slots on Orderrealm people. but Havik is good.

And lately Ive come to the conclusion that Hotaru has potential to be good too. I like his look and his lava powers could be cool. You could probably bring him and Havik into the story without actually wasting time on their goofy realms.

I've never seen the appeal of Hotaru. I think he is very generic all round.

Dairous sadly was too, but I like his design. They obviously used his design from MKDA, but couldn't find a way to bring in a Samurai as originally intended....so they just stuck him in there as an orderrealm dude. Ugh.

Darrius was just a waste of space all round. No redeeming qualities IMHO.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/0/4/1/AATFBfAAErFR.jpg
Johnny Cage
First Appearance: Mortal Kombat (Klassic)
Last Appearance: Mortal Kombat 1

The one and only Johnny Cage, and probably the most beloved kharacter in the whole franchise. And for good reason! He's a regular in the series and constantly stands out ahead of most of the cast! Personality, moves, everything. Johnny's got it all!

Appearance-wise, he's slowly evolved into some outstanding outfits and... less outstanding ones. He's usually just a shirtless goof and eventually gets his own fucking name tattooed on his chest like a goober. Probably most memorable is that he always wears sunglasses, and it's great! I think his Special Forces outfits are kind of boring though. It's such a weird contrast to who the kharacter is and they're absolutely some of my least favorite outfits in the series.

But he does have fancy green shadows powering up his moves! Those are cool, and the effects are normally great. They still look great in Mortal Kombat 1, even though they lost the green factor. Everything else rules though.

And what great moves they are! He's got the Shadow Kick, Flash Kick, Nut Punch, and Force Ball as staples! Everyone knows those moves and loves them! I also kind of really like the moves they gave him in MK11 too. Stunt Doubles, Mime Counter, throwing sunglasses, taking photos. All fun little additions that fit the kharacter. It also helps that he has some of the best light-hearted fatalities in the game. Some of them crack me up something fierce, and there's something about the charm of a lot of them that only Johnny can pull off.

Because it will be a long one, let's chat about his story though.

Johnny Cage was a famous martial artist turned actor who decided to join the Mortal Kombat tournament to prove he's a complete badass. When he got there, he started palling around with Liu Kang and Sonya Blade, and were mentored by Raiden. While Liu Kang fought Shang Tsung, Johnny teamed up with Sonya and Kano to defeat Goro. When Shang Tsung's island began to collapse, Raiden saved him and dropped him off with a Special Forces ship, where he ran into Jackson Briggs and told him everything that happened on the island. Jax didn't believe it, but Johnny decided to make a movie named Mortal Kombat based on his time on Shang Tsung's island!

Jax would later come back to Johnny while he was filming and apologized for not believing him. Shang Tsung and his goons would then attack, and Jax and Johnny fought them off. Raiden and the other heroes came in to put an end to the fight and Johnny Cage joined them to save Earthrealm. And then when Shao Kahn invaded Earthrealm, that punk bitch Motaro killed Johnny Cage. But it's okay! His soul ascended to a higher plane of existence so that it could return to his body and revive him with help from Raiden who has resurrection powers too apparently! Don't worry about it! Don't ask questions! He would then also help fight back against Shinnok.

Johnny was then trapped filming Mortal Kombat: The Death of Johnny Cage, but he hated the movie and tried to get out. When Raiden informed him that he needed help again, Johnny found some kind of loophole to escape the movie to help fight against the Deadly Alliance! And then he was murdered with most of the heroes by Tarkatans. Onaga would later revive him as an undead slave for his army, and Ermac would restore his soul after! Johnny's alive again!

And he has visions now and tried to stop Shinnok and Quan Chi from doing some evil stuff before Armageddon, only to be stopped. He then starts to form a group of heroes to help fight against the baddies, and he's very successful at that! But then he dies again like everyone else during Armageddon.

In the reboot timeline he has a better go of things though. He's still a Hollywood superstar, but with the added explanation he is a descendant of an ancient Mediterranean Cult who has abilities beyond humans. Which explains his Shadow moves. And I bet you're wondering how that fits in to everything else. And let me tell you,

Anyway, Johnny Cage joins the Mortal Kombat tournament and immediately gets attention and ends up wanting to hang out with Sonya because she's hot. Fair. She isn't receptive to him hitting on her though. Johnny helps out Sonya a couple times though and is actually eliminated by Cyrax in the Mortal Kombat tournament.

He joins the second tournament as well and is in the mix of all the drama around it, but loses to Ermac in the tournament. But when Shao Kahn invades Earth, Johnny Cage is about to be killed by Motaro again, but Raiden gets a vision of it and helps out our boy and absolutely murders the shit out of that centaur freak to save him! Sindel later attacks the heroes when she's super powered and kills all of them but Johnny and Sonya. Whoops. And then later, they watch the end of Shao Kahn and also Raiden killing the hell out of Liu Kang too. He helps Raiden up after though.

Many years later and Johnny Cage is part of Special Forces now, working with Raiden. They stop Shinnok from gaining his full power and after that, Johnny and Sonya get really close. Also notable is that Johnny's shadow powers make him resistant to Shinnok's powers too. They hooked up and then Sonya got pregnant with their daughter, Cassie. They tried to make a relationship work, but Sonya was too focused on fighting and not focused enough on taking care of their daughter. So they ended up splitting up as a result. He does join in on a fight in Quan Chi's fortress that leads him to almost dying again, but being saved by Raiden.

A lot of this is in the MKX Komic, so I'm doing my best to summarize. Cassie Cage and Jacqui Briggs are kidnapped and Johnny Cage tries to follow them with Sonya's help, as well as various members of Outworld under Kotal Kahn. Johnny also engages in the Kotal/Shokan battle, fighting against many Shokan. However, he and Sonya refuse to partake in any more of the battle once Kotal brings on the Black Dragon. Kotal takes him and Sonya to Shang Tsung's island, where Havik has Cassie, and they notice Kano, who is also there, brought a WMD. He and Sonya reconnect a little when Sonya talks to him about how much time she's missed with Cassie. He fights a possessed Jacqui on the island before a possessed Raiden knocks him out. Reiko is going to kill them, but Havik says he wants to study Johnny's green energy, so he's spared. He does get possessed though and chases down Takeda, who is trying to stop it, and is attacked by Sheeva until Havik's plan ends and he's back to normal.

He later works with Raiden and the Special Forces, including the Kombat Kids, to fight back against a revived Shinnok. Notably, towards the end he is kidnapped by Shinnok and tortured by D'Vorah before Shinnok starts draining all of Johnny's shadow power. Cassie later beats a juiced up Shinnok to save her dad and then he, Sonya, and Cassie all bond a bit.

Then later, Johnny and Sonya get back together. And Johnny is back to acting again. Johnny tries to convince Raiden, Sonya, and Cassie not to do the attack on Netherrealm. And Sonya sacrifices herself, and Johnny is there to console Cassie when she comes back. Kronika then does her bullshit and a past Johnny Cage is there too, who is a big immature dummy and modern boring Johnny doesn't care for him. Johnny also has to contend with the fact that past Sonya isn't his same Sonya who died. He fights on the forces of good and eventually gets a tank at one point before it gets destroyed. Kano eventually shoots present Johnny in the leg to keep him out of commission for the rest of the story. And past Johnny is kidnapped by Kano instead.

Present Kano eventually has past Johnny at knife point, ready to kill him, while past Sonya has past Kano and shoots him, killing both Kanos and saving Johnny. After that, past Johnny asks out past Sonya and then they go out. And he fights with the forces of good for the last portion of the game.

And in the new timeline Liu Kang kreates, Johnny Cage is a washed up movie star now and desperate to stay relevant.

That's Johnny's story. And honestly? It's got it's ups and downs. I don't like old man Johnny as much as the fun Johnny. I think there's a mix of the two that make a good and balanced kharacter, and that seems like it's being struck with MK1. I just think a more mature Johnny doesn't work as well, and is far less interesting. He usually remains entertaining though.

But Johnny is a legend. I love seeing him in every game, and I think he brings a much needed levity to most of the series. In a world of serious death fighting, you have Johnny Cage here trying to fight but making it look good. And I think he fits so well into the franchise as a result. I'm very optimistic for him in Mortal Kombat 1, because I absolutely love everything I've seen from him so far. His mechanics and animations are just perfect in it so far.

But in any kase, Johnny Cage is one of the best kharacters in Mortal Kombat, and there's never a time I'm not happy to see him. I'd be kompletely fine if he was in every single game at this point. He's found his stride! Even if I'm not a fan of all of his story stuff, it's made up with his style, personality, and his place in the franchise.

Rank: A

Relevant Theme Song:
https://youtu.be/M8At9KIzt7Y

Top 5 Mortal Kombat Games for Beginners

5. Mortal Kombat 2

Very old school but I feel like it's the most accessible of the original trilogy of games. The gameplay is basic and they don't add in running and other mechanics. Just a very basic fighter that works well.

4. Mortal Kombat Deadly Alliance

Deadly Alliance is the first non-jank 3D game and a good jumping on point. The tutorial they have is actually pretty solid and the gameplay is basic enough.

3. Mortal Kombat Deception

Deception sports a pretty good tutorial mixed in with Konquest mode. While more complex that Deadly Alliance, the lengthy Konquest mode allows you to enjoy the game and get pretty good with it, as well as learn how to play as many kharacters.

2. Mortal Kombat 11

The mechanics in this game are kinda komplex, but there's a pretty great tutorial mode to help you out. There's also a story mode and towers to encourage practice. But what helps is that this game also has dial-in kombos to help beginners with their moves, as well as ways to kustomize your kharacters' moveset to include moves that may kater to your playstyle.

1. Mortal Kombat 9

Mortal Kombat 9 was absolutely kreated with new players in mind. They wanted this to be the big reboot of the franchise and they added so many tutorials in this to help you learn how to play, along with the Fatal Blow comeback mechanic. It also has the story mode and many bonus game modes that can help you hone your skills.

Kuai Liang konfirmed as Scorpion! Sorry Hanzo bros.

https://twitter.com/UppercutLLC/status/1682890334227890177?s=20

Heads up for anyone on Playstation, Mortal Kombat XL is currently 85% off, while Mortal Kombat 11 base game is 80% off and Aftermath upgrade which includes all the DLC is 85% off. I picked up Mortal Kombat 11 because I didn't have it before and I haven't seen the price get that low before. I don't know if versions for other systems are currently on sale, but it might be worth checking just in case.

Thanks for the heads up!

PrivateBiscuit1 posted...

as well as ways to kustomize your kharacters' moveset to include moves that may kater to your playstyle.

was this a first for the series?

redrocket posted...

was this a first for the series?

Yup!

MKX allowed you to choose one of three variations, which each had a couple different special moves between them. But MK11 let you fully kustomize your moveset.

It doesn't look like that's returning for MK1 though.

Bumpality!

PrivateBiscuit1 posted...

And Ed Boon has very clearly implied Havik is involved in Mortal Kombat 1! Which is great! Havik could stand to have another appearance.

And he is!

This returns.

Soon.

Soon!!

Sweet, I was hoping you wouldn't quit right before mah Kitana.

I feel unloved

One day Liu Kang is gonna get ranked. I can feel it!

Heck yeah lets gooo

You're not getting off that easy!

I wonder if the new game will affect any of the write ups

I can only guess that Liu Kang had been held off until MK1 came out.

You thought I forgot didn't you? Well I did!

Feel your Animality