As NetherRealm Studios begins work on the next entry in its most famous franchise, the developer should follow the lead of Nintendo’s family-friendly fighter, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, and make Mortal Kombat 12 a crossover celebration of the studio’s storied legacy. Ever since a Warner Bros. executive confirmed that Mortal Kombat 12 is in development during a quarterly earnings call earlier this year fans of the franchise have been speculating about what’s next in store for the series. By bringing together characters from across the studio’s past for an all-out bloody brawl, NetherRealm could let Mortal Kombat fans finally determine which fighter stands above all the rest.
While taking cues from Nintendo’s colorful, kid-friendly brawler Super Smash Bros. Ultimate may seem like an odd choice, it could help the Mortal Kombat franchise reinvent itself once again as it’s done so many times over the years. Although the roster of fighters in Mortal Kombat has continuously grown over time, some fan-favorite characters have been missing in action for years and their return in a crossover title would surely be welcome news to players. And with multiple games in its back catalog to draw from, there’s no shortage of forgotten faces that could make a long-awaited reappearance.
A NetherRealm Mega Game Would Have Over a Decade of Titles to Draw From
Over his decades in the gaming industry, Mortal Kombat co-creator Ed Boon has helped bring some of the most iconic characters in fighting game history to life, so it makes sense to finally bring them all together. Serving as a rebirth for the franchise after lackluster entries that failed to garner critical or commercial acclaim, 2015’s Mortal Kombat X already brought many classic characters back into the fold. Follow-up Mortal Kombat 11 added even more fan-favorite combatants, but there is still room to revisit some fighters who’ve yet to return to the series.
Mortal Kombat 11 saw the return of fighters like Mileena and Rain that had been missing as playable characters for years, but other popular fighters appeared only as NPCs or remained absent altogether. Making Mortal Kombat 12 into a NetherRealm mega-game with a roster spanning the developer’s backlog would let players take control of some of these long-dormant characters, like the cybernetic ninjas Cyrax and Sektor. Mortal Kombat 12’s roster wouldn’t just have to be limited to the heroes and villains of Outworld, though.
Going the Crossover Route With MK12 Could Kill Two Birds With One Stone
In addition to its signature Mortal Kombat franchise, NetherRealm has also dipped its toes into the DC universe with fighting games like its acclaimed Injustice series of titles. While the two universes have remained largely separate apart from occasional cameos, a mashup Mortal Kombat 12 could serve as a way to bring the duo together in a way that hasn’t been seen since Ed Boon’s last title for Midway Games, 2008’s crossover fighting game Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe.
Although DC would be unlikely to allow characters like Superman to be seen pulling off grisly fatalities on dazed opponents, the appearance of The Joker as a DLC character in Mortal Kombat 11 shows that it may be open to letting some of its more villainous characters spill some blood in Mortal Kombat 12. With both franchises featuring timeline-hoping storylines, the appearance of some DC characters in MK12 could even be written in such a way that it helps lay the groundwork for Injustice 3 and explain what some of the comic universe’s more bloodthirsty combatants were doing between sequels.
With highly anticipated releases like Bandai Namco’s Tekken 8 and Capcom’s Street Fighter 6 just over the horizon, NetherRealm is set to face some of its fiercest competition in years in the genre it helped popularize. By bringing together characters from across the developer’s storied history for Mortal Kombat 12, NetherRealm could ensure that its flagship franchise not only stays competitive in the face of new threats but also raises the bar for the genre yet again.
Mortal Kombat 12 is in development.