Highlights
- Mortal Kombat 1 is wrapping up its marketing cycle and features old villains in the re-engineered universe.
- The new trailer for Mortal Kombat 1 introduces two surprise characters, Motaro and Shujinko, highlighting the game's focus on making all aspects of Mortal Kombat feel fresh.
- Mortal Kombat 1 pays homage to the franchise's history by bringing back lesser-known characters and giving them a chance to shine alongside returning favorites.
It won't be long before Mortal Kombat 1 is out, and the game is nearing the end of its marketing cycle. As part of Gamescom 2023, a new trailer came out showing gameplay and story scenes featuring Queen Sindel and General Shao. Mortal Kombat 1 takes place in a universe re-engineered by Fire God Liu Kang, meaning that these old villains aren’t quite the threats they used to be. Still, it's good to see them in a title celebrating Mortal Kombat’s past while also forging onward to a new future.
A couple of other things were revealed in the trailer as well, including the now-human Raiden finally receiving some attention after being in trailers since MK1's reveal. However, of greater note are the two additional Kameo Fighters that premiered in this trailer: the monstrous centaur Motaro and the old copycat style master Shujinko. By themselves, these characters might not seem notable, but taken as part of Mortal Kombat 1’s full package highlights its focus on making even the furthest reaches of Mortal Kombat feel new and relevant.
Motaro and Shujinko Are Surprising Additions to Mortal Kombat 1
While not part of the original Mortal Kombat trilogy’s roster or the cast Mortal Kombat 2011 trilogy built based on it, Motaro and Shujinko should be familiar to Mortal Kombat veterans. Motaro stands with Goro and Kintaro as one of the series’ classic sub-bosses and may be the hardest thanks to his teleportation and projectile immunity.
Because Motaro also breaks the standard humanoid template Mortal Kombat uses for its characters, he has only been a bonus character in a couple of games, and was reduced to two legs in Mortal Kombat: Armageddon. Shujinko, meanwhile, was the protagonist of Mortal Kombat: Deception’s Konquest mode, where his fighting style could be exchanged for any other character’s at the player’s discretion.
Neither is terribly obscure, but they are old and only showed up as brief cameos for the past decade of Mortal Kombat. Even that is better than some of the other playable characters on Mortal Kombat 1's roster, as Shujinko at least held protagonist status once, while Li Mei and Ashrah remained in obscurity. Other Kameo Fighters include classic faces not present in the rebooted plot yet, but Sareena and Darrius are practically unknown even among the Kameos. Assembling all of these details and character reputations helps nail down Mortal Kombat 1’s intentions in bringing less popular characters back alongside the stars.
Mortal Kombat 1 Wears Its Love of the Past On Its Sleeve
Mortal Kombat 1 is devoted to introducing the latest iteration of the MK universe while also ensuring that the franchise’s storied history isn’t forgotten. To that end, bosses, one-off protagonists, and even frequently mocked nobodies were lifted from older MK titles alongside the expected returning characters. It's telling that there have been no new fighters introduced so far, with Mortal Kombat 1 solely concentrating on either reintroducing characters or reinventing them.
Using its clean slate to highlight deep cuts from the Mortal Kombat franchise seems like a central theme for Mortal Kombat 1. With 3D MK-era fighters like Havik given playable status alongside the staple color ninjas, while Sonya Blade and Jax find themselves as Kameo Fighters alongside the likes of Motaro and Shujinko, character relevance has essentially been reset. As Geras is the MK 2011 trilogy's only representative so far, Mortal Kombat 1's focus on reminding players of its past hasn’t been broken yet.
Mortal Kombat 1 will be released on September 19 for PC, PS5, Switch, and Xbox Series X/S.
