The Mortal Kombat series is the best-selling fighting game series of all time, and a new installment in the series will be released in mid-September. The success of the series can be largely attributed to the unique abilities of the characters. This gaming franchise has two of the most well-known characters in gaming history, Sub-Zero and Scorpion. These rivals both have easily recognizable outfits, and they are both known for iconic lines such as “Get over here” and “Death is more honor than you deserve.” The game also has one of the most well-known catchphrases throughout the gaming world, which is “Finish him.” The series also has finishing moves that no other fighting game has – fatality and brutality. These allow the player who wins the two rounds of fighting to kill the other person in the most gruesome ways possible.
The franchise started in 1992, originally developed by Midway Games, which was later rebranded as NetherRealm Studios. Throughout the years, the development studio has produced 26 games, 3 movies, 11 television shows, and 23 books within the Mortal Kombat world, including “Mortal Kombat (2011),” “Batman: Arkham Origins,” “Injustice Gods Among Us,” “Injustice 2,” and “Mortal Kombat 11.”
The Mortal Kombat 1 story is based on the ending of Mortal Kombat 11, where Liu Kang, a fire god, defeats Kronika, the keeper of time after Kronika tries to delete Raiden, the protector of Earthrealm, from existence. Liu Kang then becomes the keeper and resets the universe's timeline.
This game will have tons of new features that were not previously in other installments of the series. One of the new features is “Kameo fighters.” This is the option during a match to use a second character to aid or assist an attack. There will also be a separate roster for the Kameo fighters. The next big change is the ability to do combos in the air. In most Mortal Kombat games when the player tries to attack in the air, they can release one to three hits, but with the additions of Kameo characters, they will help string longer combos together. Lastly, the developers are adding a feature called “flawless block.” It is a perfect parry system, similar to the one in Street Fighter 6, where players can punish the opponent and slow their fatal-blow meter build-up.
One of the main features that has appeared in most Mortal Kombat games and will continue in Mortal Kombat 1 is the guest fighters. Some guest characters from previous games were Freddy Kreuger (A Nightmare on Elm Street), Predator (Predator), Jason Vorhees (Friday the 13th), Leatherface (Texas Chainsaw Massacre), Joker (Batman), and Kratos (God of War). New guest characters that have been announced this year include Omni Man (Invincible), Homelander (The Boys), Peacemaker (Peacemaker), Harley Quinn (Batman), Deathstroke (Batman), and Doomslayer (Doom).
The gaming audience that would be most interested in Mortal Kombat 1 are fans who love gory fighting games. It will be available on Sept. 15 on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch, PC, Steam, and Epic Games Store.