Mortal Kombat just celebrated its 30th anniversary this past October and it got me thinking. Not about where the franchise can go from here, or who the top tier character is in Mortal Kombat 11 (it’s Cetrion, thank me later). No, instead the anniversary got me thinking about one of the more controversial aspects of the series. Not the blood and gore or scantily clad women, but one thing that has seemed to divide the fan base: guest characters.
Perhaps known for its roster of original characters as much as it is the gore, Mortal Kombat has always prided itself on unique spins of basic concepts (how many ninjas are there again?). But things changed when Mortal Kombat 9 came out in 2011. Not only was it a return to the series’ roots after the weird experimentation of the franchise as a 3D fighter, but it also featured guest characters for the first time. At launch the Playstation 3 version featured Kratos from Sony’s God of War series and he fit right into the roster of the brutality-driven cast of fighters. It seemed like a neat one-off to reward Playstation fans but also seemed to lay down the foundation for Netherrealm Studios to experiment in other ways with the game’s roster.
Towards the end of the game’s season pass, the most bizarre thing happened. The game’s last DLC character was revealed to be Freddy Krueger from A Nightmare on Elm Street!
But maybe it wasn’t as random as people thought? Maybe it was Netherealm again testing the waters for the future of the series? After all, Mortal Kombat was the subject of many playground debates over who would win the Mortal Kombat tournament if they were somehow allowed to enter, with various pop culture characters being included in those debates.
The fruits of Netherrealm’s experiments finally came to fruition in the following game, Mortal Kombat X. Receiving double the support of the previous entry, it seemed as though the sky was the limit in who they could bring in as guest characters. Would it be a DC comics character due to Warner Brothers owning Netherealm? Could it be another off the wall pick like reboot Freddy? Well, fans and players got their answer with the first “Kombat Pass” that added none other than Jason Voorhees from Friday The 13th and the Predator from the namesake series.
Rather than focus on the reboot rendition of the character, Mortal Kombat X’s Jason is a celebration of the legacy of the character. His appearance borrows most from his look in Freddy vs. Jason but Mortal Kombat X’s variation system allowed some deeper cut references to slip in such as Jason being struck by lightning from Jason Lives or him sporting a chain from the same film. The move list included special moves such as Jason being immune to opponent attacks for a limited time and even rising from the dead if he loses the round. His slower speed was a bit unorthodox in a speedy game like X but the attention to care on his portrayal let him fit right in.
Predator on the other hand was a natural fit for the roster. With the agile speed and a host of weapons from the Alien vs Predator series, the Predator was long overdue for a fighting game appearance. Obviously players were able to choose a maskless variation of the character but also a version sporting darker-colored armor in a rare nod to Predators. Predator uses its signature cloaking to go invisible and take less damage as well as a shoulder-mounted laser cannon, and a smart disc that seeks out and damages opponents. Not only that but additional Predator-related content was also added in the form of a dedicated Carl Weathers skin for Jax based on his appearance in the first Predator film and a “body heat signature” skin for Scorpion (which might be one of the worst skins in the entire series).
Unexpectedly, “Kombat Pass 2” added four more characters. Two of them being a Xenomorph from the Alien franchise and Leatherface from the Texas Chainsaw Massacre films.
The Xenomorph is an original rendition of the character not seen before and wholly unique to the game. The in-game explanation is that the Xenomorph was born from a Tarkatan host. For those reading that don’t know what that is, imagine if famed Mortal Kombat character Baraka played host to the weapon of mass destruction. Using this intriguing setup, the Alien has a base move list inspired by Baraka involving blades that come out of its forearms and even the ability to use a bladed tail as a weapon. In an already brutal game, the Xenomorph remains one of the most violent and wince-inducing characters to play as.
Leatherface, on the other hand, feels like the dark horse choice in this game. I mean aside from chasing unsuspecting teens in the films we’ve never really seen him throw down in hand to hand combat. Featuring variations that sport looks from both the original Texas Chain Saw Massacre as well as the 2003 reboot, Netherrealm took several creative liberties with the character that see him using a sledgehammer as a primary weapon all the way to throwing a chainsaw across the battlefield. It’s entertaining as hell and I won’t lie and say that there isn’t something insanely alarming about seeing Leatherface jumping around a fighting arena.
But why did I choose to reminisce about these fighters in particular? Well, Mortal Kombat always held tradition of sparking schoolyard debates of who the best/most powerful fighter is, and let’s be honest – as horror movie fans we don’t get many movies along the likes of Freddy vs Jason or Alien vs Predator. In our younger years we probably all always imagined what a showdown between Jason and Leatherface would look like and Mortal Kombat X gave us that chance to see it play out. Hell, it even gave us a chance to see Leatherface and Jason go up against Alien and Predator and the entire Mortal Kombat cast. Though the tradition would continue with action movie characters in Mortal Kombat 11, there’s something oddly and uniquely appealing to me about seeing Leatherface throw a chainsaw across the room, only for it to be blocked by Sub-Zero.
It’s the stuff horror fan dreams are made of.
Tales from the Console is a series looking back at some of your favorite horror or horror-adjacent video games and the legacies they leave behind in a scary modern gaming world.
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