Mortal Kombat: Difference between revisions

Undo revision 2014595 by DemonDuckofDoom (talk) - this is too well-known to be "cult"
(Adding some stuff.)
(Undo revision 2014595 by DemonDuckofDoom (talk) - this is too well-known to be "cult")
Tag: Undo
(6 intermediate revisions by 6 users not shown)
Line 11:
In its prime, for about three games, ''[[Mortal Kombat]]'' was the very essence of cool. It had style, [[Rated "M" for Money|that passed for maturity at the time]], a certain ''[[Family-Unfriendly Violence|something]]'' that more family-friendly games couldn't replicate. Packed with secrets, [[Easter Egg|Easter Eggs]], and hidden characters (and largely predating the Internet), the first few games lent themselves well to an [[Urban Legend of Zelda]] or two and it seemed like just about anything was possible.
 
What started as a fairly typical ''[[Street Fighter II]]''/''[[Enter the Dragon]]'' [[Tournament Arc|global tournament]] ripoffpastiche quickly transmogrified into a interdimensional war and the mass genocide of the human race, which still somehow managed to shake out in the form of a series of one-on-one matches. The series, once a heavy hitter in the video game world, struggled with the [[Polygon Ceiling|inability to transition smoothly to 3-D]].
 
''[[Mortal Kombat]]'' iswas nothing special today in the age of ''[[Tekken]]'' and ''[[Virtua Fighter]]'', but in its heyday it was incredibly risqué. Especially when Nintendo practically owned the video game franchise, most games did ''not'' include overt, bloody violence. Pre-''MK'', most designers kept some sort of plausible deniability in their games, claiming that nobody was ''[[Non-Lethal KO|really]]'' [[Never Say "Die"|dead]], or it was [[What Measure Is a Non-Human?|only monsters]], or some other excuse. ''[[Mortal Kombat]]'' was the first game to ditch that pretense, with copious amounts of [[High-Pressure Blood]], screaming, impaling, and [[Finishing Move|Finishing Moves]]s that delighted in how many body parts they could sever. The [[Moral Guardians]] went through the roof, but the series was a smash hit anyway.
 
The designers, encouraged by their success, racked up the body count in subsequent installments, devising entirely new methods of dismemberment and decapitation. Eventually, the violence grew cartoonish in its excess, and the gameplay engine was not enough to sustain its popularity once other companies caught on to the idea that violence was nothing to be scared of. And while other series have made a successful leap to 3-D, MK had [[Polygon Ceiling|"hit and miss"]] luck there. Add that to the fact that [[Death Is Cheap|virtually no one ever actually died in the story]] despite the ultraviolent nature of the games -- a move that virtually guarantees stagnation -- and you've got a series that has seen better days...
 
... Then Midway goes bankrupt and [[Warner Bros]] promptly picks up the studio that produces the series (now known as Netherrealm Studios). The end result: a complete [[Continuity Reboot]] (with an in-game explanation, no less!) in 2.5d with the [[Executive Meddling]] that caused the [[Sequelitis]] done away with. This has generated significant buzz for the reboot.
 
The series' main games are the following:
Line 52:
The general story is about a universe with several different dimensions (called "Realms") and how one of these, called Outworld, is on a mission to take over all realms. They are bound by laws set up that they must challenge the greatest warriors of whatever realm they wish to invade to a tournament. If the Outworld warriors win, they have free rein, but if the realm's warriors win, Outworld cannot enter the realm. Outworld's next target is Earth, and it's up to a select few warriors to determine the fate of their realm.
 
Besides that, we have [[Loads and Loads of Characters]] and their special moves and backstories. Character sheets can be found [[Mortal Kombat/Characters|here]], and are currently [[Needs Wiki Magic Love|in need of some love]]. Especially those of later games.
 
{{tropenamer}}
Line 60:
** [[I Don't Know Mortal Kombat]]
** [[I Know Madden Kombat]] (Partial)
* [[Mirror Match]] - ''MK'' [[Older Than They Think|wasn't the first to do it]], but they were probably the first game to call it this way.
* [[MK Walker]], former [[Trope Namer]].
* [[Passive-Aggressive Kombat]]
* [[Your Soul Is Mine]] - Thanks to Shang Tsung in the first movie.
 
{{tropenamer|The ''Mortal Kombat'' franchise is also the former Trope Namer for:}}
{{tropelist}}
* [[Perfect Play AI]]: Formerly named [[MK Walker]], both for this franchise being a famous source of examples and for those instances giving the impression of ''walking'' all over players.
 
{{franchisetropes}}
* [[All There in the Manual]]: If the info's not available in the game, it's mentioned in some hard to find strategy guide. For example, Kintaro's fate (death at Raiden's hands) was only known in the ''MK3'' strategy guide.
* [[Almost-Lethal Weapons]]: Getting shot in these games really doesn't hurt any more than getting punched.
* [[Animated Adaptation]]: Two; of them: [[The Animated Series]] ''[[Mortal Kombat: Defenders of the Realm|Mortal Kombat Defenders of the Realm]]'' and ''[[Mortal Kombat the Journey Begins]]''.
* [[Another Dimension]]: Outworld, Edenia, Netherealm, and many others.
* [[Anti-Hero]]: In [[Crapsack World|a universe]] like Mortal Kombat, sometimes it becomes necessary to kill. But the ridiculous gruesome and painful ways in which some characters do so does call their motives into question...
* [[Anyone Can Die]]: [[Kill'Em All|And]] ''[[Kill'Em All|will]]'' [[Kill'Em All|die]].
* [[Ascended Meme]]: Nearly anything that could be listed under [[Urban Legend of Zelda]] eventually made it into the series (Ermac, Animalities, Skarlet, etc.). It'd be shorter to name what ''averted'' this, such as characters like Hornbuckle.
* [[Attract Mode]]
* [[Awesomeness Meter]]: In the killings, at least.
* [[Badass Normal]]: Many of the good guys have no special upgrades to fight with. Sometimes overlaps with [[Badass Abnormal]].
* [[Beat'Em Up]]: The genre of quite a few [[Spin-Off]]s: First came '''[[Mortal Kombat Mythologies: Sub-Zero]]''', which fleshed out the origin story of the original Sub-Zero and introduced Sareena. Next came '''[[Mortal Kombat: Special Forces|Mortal Kombat Special Forces]]''', which starred Special Forces agent Jax as he takes on the Black Dragon. And most recentlythird, '''[[Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks]]''', where players took control of Liu Kang and Kung Lao as they fight Shang Tsung's forces, shortly following the tournament of ''[[Mortal Kombat (video game)|Mortal Kombat]]''.
* [[Bladder of Steel]]: The earliest installments had ''no pause mechanism whatsoever''. The Start button was used for blocking.
* [[Bloodier and Gorier]]: Compared to other games in the genre, which was its selling point.
Line 112 ⟶ 114:
* [[Gorn]]: Being a series flooded with over-the-top violence, this was expected.
* [[Gosh Dang It to Heck]]: Despite all the violence, ''MK'' has almost little to no swear words uttered at all. So far, Scorpion has indulged in it in ''Shaolin Monks'', which sometimes he'll alter his iconic "Get Over here!" into more profane versions. It's subverted because they (mostly) avoid the phrases where the swears would go, obviating the need for narmy substitute words. Sonya also swears a few times in ''9'', with most of her profanities [[Curse Cut Short|being somehow interrupted.]]
* [[Guest Fighter]]: Since ''9'', the games are notorious for having these characters. They mostly consist of horror film characters and '80s film characters.
* [[Guide Dang It]]: Every [[Secret Character]], and fatalities in the older games.
* [[Highly-Visible Ninja]]: In all the colors of the rainbow.
Line 149 ⟶ 152:
* [[Purely Aesthetic Gender]]: In the early games, while all of the normal attacks looked/were performed the same, moves tended to have slightly different effects for each character. Also, the hitboxes were determined by the poses and body size of the actors who were greenscreened.
* [[Really Seven Hundred Years Old]]: Nearly everyone who isn't from Earthrealm is several centuries old, even if they don't look it. An extreme case are Edenians: Kitana, for instance, is around '''10,000 years old'''. And there's her mother Sindel, too!
* [[Trope Codifier]]: While not the first Fighting Game where the idea was to kill the opponent, this was certainly the one that made the idea of a [[Fatality]] in games like this popular.
* [[World of Badass|Realms Of Badass]]
* [[World of Buxom|Realms Of Buxom]]: Apparently, [[Pettanko|Pettankos]] don't exist in the ''MK'' universe. This is ''especially'' true [[Hotter and Sexier|as]] [[Fan Service Pack|of]] ''Deadly Alliance''.