Mortal Kombat 1’s defining new function is the “Kameo” system, which is an help mechanic the place a personality briefly comes into battle to assist gamers flip the tide. They will help gamers by extending combos or breaking combo chains from opponents. Kameos may even knock opponents out of midair when timed proper.

Kameo characters include iconic Mortal Kombat characters which have proven up all through the franchise over the previous three many years.

Nevertheless, the Kameo system regarded extremely completely different throughout early improvement in comparison with what was put within the closing product. Mortal Kombat collection co-creator Ed Boon defined to Recreation Developer how the mechanic took a protracted journey from drone warfare to a tag team-themed, fanservice-ready function.

Mortal Kombat 1’s Kameos started as “sidekicks”

Initially, NetherRealm’s design group approached Boon with the concept every character would have their very own little sidekick—it wasn’t even an individual. For instance, the army officer Sonya Blade would have a small drone to help her in preventing.

Boon stated that if the sport was going to incorporate some type of help mechanic, he actually needed to make them interchangeable. In Mortal Kombat 1, each single playable character can group up with each Kameo character. The emphasis was on participant selection and selection. He additionally needed to do one thing extra with the characters themselves, so the event blended each concepts into what turned the Kameo fighters.

Moreover, if the preliminary idea proceeded because it was, some pairings wouldn’t thematically make any sense. “Why would Kung Lao have a drone with him?” he requested rhetorically. “We actually needed to make the assists much more [thematic],” Boon requested. “The primary function I used to be pushing was that any help mechanic that we make can be utilized by any character.”

2011’s Mortal Kombat, the franchise’s ninth major entry and delicate franchise reboot, had a full tag group choice. Boon famous that many gamers loved the mechanic, nevertheless it wasn’t the most well-liked function within the sport. When the NetherRealm improvement group researched why, it boiled right down to the truth that gamers didn’t wish to memorize full movesets of two characters. It was already laborious sufficient for extra informal gamers to be taught one character.

Consequently, the studio needed to make Kameos simple to make use of. “It is simply the push of a button and also you get this free transfer,” stated Boon. “Whereas I do like tag-team options, we actually needed a extra easy, simple method with it.”

One of the vital widespread questions Boon saved getting requested was which characters might be performed as a major fighter or is just a Kameo, or each? For instance, Sonya is just a Kameo character, whereas the most well-liked and iconic characters within the Mortal Kombat franchise, reminiscent of Sub-Zero, will be each.

When deciding which characters so as to add to the primary roster and the Kameo roster, there have been a number of elements thought of. One issue was Mortal Kombat 1’s story. Since Mortal Kombat 11 concluded with a universe-wide “reset,” the brand new timeline is in its origin section. So occasions just like the mini-saga of Mortal Kombat Particular Forces involving Sonya Blade, Jax, and Kano haven’t occurred but. That led these characters to be included as Kameos.

Further elements included what number of occasions characters appeared in the previous couple of video games. The group needed to provide some characters a relaxation and others time to shine. Some characters may come again as future DLC too. Boon defined, “We’re simply type of spinning 100 plates, proper? What we’re actually making an attempt to do is give different characters an opportunity to be within the forefront as a result of we’re bringing again a number of characters that gamers have not seen in a very long time.”

When it got here to altering present characters and giving them new backstories due to the timeline reset, there have been some that the event group needed to drastically reinvent, whereas with others, they solely needed delicate variations.

The examples that Boon talked about had been Raiden and Liu Kang. Within the unique timeline, Raiden was the thunder god, and Liu Kang was only a Shaolin monk. Now it’s the opposite manner round, with Liu Kang being the fireplace god. Bitter rivals Sub-Zero and Scorpion at the moment are brothers in arms. Kitana and Mileena have a distinct relationship with one another as nicely, however not as radically completely different as Sub-Zero and Scorpion.

Why is the sport known as “Mortal Kombat 1?”

Ethical Kombat 11’s timeline reset incentivized NetherRealm Studios to rethink how it could title the subsequent sport. Internally, Mortal Kombat 1 was unsurprisingly known as “Mortal Kombat 12.” The purpose of calling the sport Mortal Kombat 1 was to point a complete new universe.

Another names thought of had been “Mortal Kombat 0” and even simply “Mortal Kombat” once more, just like the 2011 sport. Boon stated he all the time thought the “zero” moniker was odd, and likewise that simply utilizing “Mortal Kombat” a second time was too quickly. After the official identify was determined, somebody recommended Boon ought to observe within the footsteps of Naughty Canine’s The Final of Us franchise.

“We may have stated, ‘Mortal Kombat Half 1.’ The following one, we may have stated, ‘Mortal Kombat Half 2’,” Boon notes. “It might have been a complete new line of video games, proper?” However so far as Mortal Kombat 1 goes, Boon provides that the identify is easier, and the quantity synergizes nicely with the sport’s brand.

Mortal Kombat 1 is ditching the dungeon-crawling Krypt function this time round, so the sport’s long-term monetization will look completely different. Boon hinted that NetherRealm will announce a substitute sport mode in a few month or so. He did, nevertheless, verify that there could be some type of retailer with purchasable in-app forex.

2023 is a titanic 12 months for preventing video games. Road Fighter 6 was launched earlier this June to important and industrial acclaim. Mortal Kombat 1 is gearing up for a September launch, and Tekken 8 is presumably on monitor to reach later this 12 months. Boon is assured that the bloody fighter can have its time within the limelight.

“Having the three huge, heavy hitters, all inside a time period goes to be thrilling. I believe Mortal Kombat goes to utterly have its personal [success]. It will stand out with our Kameo fighters,” stated Boon. He continued, “If you see our new sport mode, and naturally, our story mode, I believe it’s head and shoulders above any preventing sport on the market.”