Mortal Kombat 1 Reboot

[Silverfish]

Fingers crossed that Ghostface is the Laurie Metcalfe version from Scream 2.

 

[oddech_wymarlych_swiatow]

Lady Cyraxia:

 

[oddech_wymarlych_swiatow]

Now, full trailer of Lady Cyraxia including Miss Sextor:

 

[BadassNonbinaryPrincess]

I haven't played any MK game since the first trilogy. Arena beat em ups/fighting are barebones as fuck to begin with, but MKTrilogy I found to be rather shit in this regard. Cool gore/music/aesthetics though.

One thing I do respect with this genre though, is they stick firmly to their roots. Almost too much, even.

Do you know any good fighting games? I don't really like these kinds of games either. I wish there were more realistic fighting games, boxing games too.

 

[Carceri]

Now, full trailer of Lady Cyraxia including Miss Sextor:

Whaakandah forevah!

 

[TC Jr]

boxing games

You're probably best off emulating one of the fight night games, don't know the consensus of what the best one is but fnr3 was decent iirc.
I recently bought the new boxing game (forget what it's called, sorry) but refunded straight away, gameplay was fine from what I could tell but there was zero content.

 

[Ash]

I haven't played any MK game since the first trilogy. Arena beat em ups/fighting are barebones as fuck to begin with, but MKTrilogy I found to be rather shit in this regard. Cool gore/music/aesthetics though.

One thing I do respect with this genre though, is they stick firmly to their roots. Almost too much, even.

Do you know any good fighting games? I don't really like these kinds of games either. I wish there were more realistic fighting games, boxing games too.

Here's what I found myself enjoying when it comes to arena beat 'em ups:

1. While the show is soap opera for lame men, WWE games (back in the day at least, no idea about any modern) were fun arena fighters. Lots of variety of game modes (cage match was always fun), create-you-own character systems, fun combat mechanics, they had a lot of love put into them. Fundamentally (core combat and longevity) they were very solid too, but lacked a elite-tier skill cieling for autists to play over and over to be the very best and catch 'em all. Overall they were still complex games though.
2. Also a lame show for people that never sought out better, but a good game: Dragon Ball Z Budokia Tenkiachi series. Again, a lot of love, intelligent creative vision and labor put into it unlike most in the genre, and perhaps for the first time ever an arena beat em up with a singleplayer mode worth a damn.
3. Marvel vs Capcom games. Straightforward game, worthless singleplayer, but mechanically complex with a high skill ceiling. Good for couch fun.
4. All else fails good ole Street Fighter. Back in the day Mortal Kombat was its bitch, as a game it just had more substance. There's been a shitton of Mortal Kombat games made since then, I simply don't know what the games are like anymore, but still seems like style over substance upon a glance. Nothing about it draws me in like the old MK games would for a brief moment (tasteful gore instead of lame overly edgy, generally better style choices and aesthetics, and cool music), and it seems like the gameplay has tried very little since 1991. Nonetheless, some players claim there are some good modern MK games and that wouldn't be surprising since there has been a lot of them.

Generally for singleplayer gaming with melee combat emphasis I would just recommend looking to other action gaming subgenres. But DBZ perhaps broke the mold for arena beat em ups here.

I started with the genre in the early 90s, SF and MK. My information pertaining to the genre is generally uninformed when it comes to modern developments because I just don't care for the genre anymore beyond occasional buddy battles, but from what I can tell they had their golden age in the early-mid 2000s. There was a lot of variety at that time and a lot of fighters that were fairly complex for what they were. The games I mentioned and many more. Most genre's golden age was the 90s, but definitely not here. Those 2000s-era fighters were a marked improvement overall and very little was lost except some beautiful hand-drawn pixel art. No nuance beyond that whatsoever though. Except arcades falling out of popularity I guess but who fucking cares about that lol. They closed down for a sensible, natural reason - the games made for home PCs and consoles were far better, and more cost-effective for players too.

I am super curious about the UFC games, but given how little I hear about them (never), well, probably just another mediocre modern game series designed to milk simpletons or the uninformed with microtransactions.

 

[Just Locus]

I would also include TEKKEN in that list.

Fast-paced (excluding TEKKEN 4), intuitive control scheme, open-ended combo system, and has a monumental roster size in all of their games.

If you want something else, I would include Soul Calibur, 8-way movement, one of the first games to use motion capture and even the older games still look graphically decent for their age, dozens of melee-weapon fighting styles that are all interesting to use and play, also includes Virtua Fighter's "Ring out" system where you can push characters off the stage.

 

[Just Locus]

I also massively dislike MK1 tbh.

First off, the kameo system is just lazy and half-assed, instead of adding all of these characters into the game itself, they have to be added as "assists". Another problem is the lack of offline content, only Arcade, Practice, and (very bad) Story mode. Minigames like Test your Sight and Might, are online-only.

Invasions are extremely unfun, and I honestly despise that all MK is now, is that "guest fighter game with gore", everyone is more excited about the guest characters than the actual launch / returning characters, speaking of which; The Kombat Pack 1 is out-of-place in a game like Mortal Kombat (coupled with the somehow gutted intro dialogues) whereas they feel much more fitting in a game like Injustice, I would much rather be interested in what Omni-man has to say to someone like Superman or Batman, why should I give a shit what he has to say to someone like fucking Baraka?

The game just feels hugely rushed, the story mode is fine up until halfway where they start introducing multiverse shit and just messes it up beyond repair, and taking a knife and cutting Quan-chi and Shang Tsung to later be resold as DLC is just scummy. No amount of "WOAH BRO THEY ADDED GHOST FACE!" is gonna save it.

 

[luj1]

MK should have never went 3D

 

[Poseidon00]

I haven't played any MK game since the first trilogy. Arena beat em ups/fighting are barebones as fuck to begin with, but MKTrilogy I found to be rather shit in this regard. Cool gore/music/aesthetics though.

One thing I do respect with this genre though, is they stick firmly to their roots. Almost too much, even.

Do you know any good fighting games? I don't really like these kinds of games either. I wish there were more realistic fighting games, boxing games too.

The modern UFC games are probably the most realistic fighting games to date, they are pretty good.

Bushido Blade 1 and 2 are an older, but still fun attempt at the concept

Deadliest Warrior almost technically qualifies but it's really only good if you have someone else that wants to play

Fuck Modern MK, the series died with Armageddon, so I guess it was a fitting last hurrah

 

[Ol' Willy]

1. While the show is soap opera for lame men, WWE games (back in the day at least, no idea about any modern) were fun arena fighters. Lots of variety of game modes (cage match was always fun), create-you-own character systems, fun combat mechanics, they had a lot of love put into them. Fundamentally (core combat and longevity) they were very solid too, but lacked a elite-tier skill cieling for autists to play over and over to be the very best and catch 'em all. Overall they were still complex games though.

Used to play WWF Smackdown on PS1, was quite good actually

 

[BadassNonbinaryPrincess]

Seems a bunch of us have similar thoughts on these games. I liked an old wrestling game too. I tried to get a modern UFC working with an emulator but the characters didn't display. I am gonna try the Fight Night games for sure.

 

[oddech_wymarlych_swiatow]

Miss Sextor, World War 1 Cage and Rhino Animality:

 

[oddech_wymarlych_swiatow]

 

[Assisted Living Godzilla]

I haven't played any MK game since the first trilogy. Arena beat em ups/fighting are barebones as fuck to begin with, but MKTrilogy I found to be rather shit in this regard. Cool gore/music/aesthetics though.

One thing I do respect with this genre though, is they stick firmly to their roots. Almost too much, even.

Do you know any good fighting games? I don't really like these kinds of games either. I wish there were more realistic fighting games, boxing games too.

Capcom vs SNK 2
Street Fighter 3: 3rd Strike
Fatal Fury Mark of the Wolves
Street Fighter Alpha 3
Marvel vs Capcom 1-3
Virtua Fighter 5
Guardian Heroes

Not really fighting games in the traditional sense, but also:

WWF No Mercy
Ultimate Muscle: Legends vs. New Generation
Def Jam: Fight for NY
Urban Reign
Power Stone
Power Stone 2

I only ever played the GameCube Ultimate Muscle game, but AKI made a direct sequel to it on the PS2 called Galactic Wrestling: Featuring Ultimate Muscle that has more characters in it. Their Ultimate Muscle games are essentially an over-the-top version of normal stuff wrestling games. They’re functionally the same, but you’ve got a jump button that functions as a off the turnbuckle from anywhere attack.

I haven’t played them in years, but I really liked Evander Holyfield's Real Deal Boxing and it’s sequel Greatest Heavyweights back in the ‘90s.

Guardian Heroes is really interesting, it’s a fighting game made with single player in mind, so much so that it’s usually called a beat ‘em up because of the normal enemy sections before you get to the boss fight. But it’s not a beat ‘em up, it’s not a belt scroller, it’s like an expanded version of Fatal Fury, even using that games Line System. The campaign doesn’t really function like a traditional fighting game, but it does have a VS mode that lets you play as every character you come across in the campaign. Move inputs are more like Mortal Kombat than Street Fighter, and they only go one way...which allows you to do something like throw a fireball backwards and forwards if you want. Despite the Xbox 360 stuff recently going down, it looks like it’s something you can still buy.

 

[Poseidon00]

1. While the show is soap opera for lame men, WWE games (back in the day at least, no idea about any modern) were fun arena fighters. Lots of variety of game modes (cage match was always fun), create-you-own character systems, fun combat mechanics, they had a lot of love put into them. Fundamentally (core combat and longevity) they were very solid too, but lacked a elite-tier skill cieling for autists to play over and over to be the very best and catch 'em all. Overall they were still complex games though.

Used to play WWF Smackdown on PS1, was quite good actually

Smackdown: Here comes the Pain on the PS2 was the ideal formula for a wrestling game, I don't know why they changed it.

You could add your created characters to the Season Mode roster, assign them as good or bad guys

There wasn't a singular story mode, it had branching paths and you couldn't see all scenarios within a single year

There were optional fights and backstage interactions based on what you did

The Smackdown Vs. Raw and 2k series that came afterwords were an undeniable downgrade.

 

[oddech_wymarlych_swiatow]

Khaos Reigns is easily best story mode since MK9, great love letter to Deception and Armageddon Konquest modes and finally we got the true Havik as he was portrayed in mentioned games.

 

[BrotherFrank]

It's been confirmed, sales of Khaos Reigns was so bad that kombat pack 3 and upcoming expansions got cancelled, at best according to some reliable leaker, there will be some dlc characters that might get finished and that's about it.
So mk1 is done, so much for that ongoing live content and support crap xD

There's also lots of people doomposting MK might be dead for good now, that mk1 has killed the franchise. We will see, but seeing the direction the franchise went in I can't say I'm sad at the idea.

 

[Cat Headed Eagle]

it was a horrible idea to name it mk1 to begin with. it was also an horrible idea to do all the shit they've done with liu kang too tbh

 

[Just Locus]

We will see, but seeing the direction the franchise went in I can't say I'm sad at the idea.

Mortal Kombat turned from a dark, gothic-themed fighting game to that one guest-fighter game-with-gore.
The fatalities used to be entertaining in how far the characters would go to turn their opponents into absolute mush, but now they've worn out their welcome (selling holiday-themed fatalities certainly didn't help)

I know fighting games have terrible stories but MK certainly didn't help its case by introducing multiverses and other copouts that terrible writers use to wiggle their way out of any story sinkhole, and any of the characters who previously had some level of intelligence (like Shao Kahn) are widdled to room-temperature-IQ morons. With MK one foot in the grave, Ed Boon only has himself to blame.

 

[Melcar]

The short revival of the franchise died with X.
Guest fighters, time travel, multiverse, the covering up of female ninja characters. Fuck those guys.

 

[BrotherFrank]

Let's not overlook how the chase for short term profits and maximizing revenue didn't actually mean more money in the end.
Mk1 was designed more like a f2p gacha title then it was just a fun game like in the olden days, MkX was already like this and MkXI more so but these greedy fucks just gotta keep pushing it more and more until they go bust.

Oh you want a certain cool costume? Well you can grind that realm invasion for a few hours every day like it's a job but...oh wait, it's a timed exclusive! Omg you have to get that cool costume now or you might not get another chance D: Buy now, don't miss out!
That bs filtered me from mk XI and Mk1 more then anything and am grateful for it. Paying for fatalities is the kind of thing was memed about as being absurd until they had the balls to actually do it.

Compare and contrast to say...Mk Armageddon: Wow i play any match, earn some coins, go to krypt and unlock the thing i want with coins! Simple, clean and no headaches or FOMO bs.

As an aside I will big up Khaos Reigns for one thing though: the animalities are good. They didn't go the jew route and have you pay extra for it either. But too little too late and not enough to fix the many underlying issues.

 

[The Nameless One]

Khaos Reigns is easily best story mode since MK9, great love letter to Deception and Armageddon Konquest modes and finally we got the true Havik as he was portrayed in mentioned games.

It does bring back the feeling when Armageddon was considered a poor and cheap idea by needlessly bloating the roster and the franchise - although Armageddon at least had replayability.

 

[BrotherFrank]

So mk11 was the best selling game of the franchise, but mk1 more or less plateaued at 3 million at launch and only inched over 4 million with the dlc.
Mk11 ended up selling 15 mill so that gives an idea of the potential size of the modern mk audience (then to that add in malcontents like me who didnt buy the recent games but would like to if the series stops sucking), yet most of those decided to pass on mk1.

And those 3 mill mk1 owners clearly didn't buy enough 10$ skins to make up the difference, how sad.