• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

Ed Boon, you are sitting on a goldmine. Why not mine it?

Mortal Kombat has endured for 22 years now, and is an iconic and infamous franchise that has had a lasting impact on the videogames industry. So it's a little disappointing to me that MK did not successfully branch out into genres other than plain fighting, Shaolin Monks not withstanding. I feel Boon and his team can use their beloved IP in more ways than one and no, Puzzle Fighters and MK movies do not count. Best thing about the MK games is undoubtedly it's characters. In my view, some of our favorite characters from MK are ripe for their own standalone entries:

Scorpion. Why don't we have a standalone game starring Scorpion by now? Dude's a ninja, can disappear, breathes fire and can spear people. And he's undead. That's just asking for a game. Imagine playing Arkham Asylum set in MK universe and you're Scorpion. Since you're not Batman, you are free to injure, maim, dismember and kill as many goons as you like. Spear gameplay mechanic opens up so many opportunities. Use it as a zipline, swingrope, climb structures, and of course, GET OVER HERE. Which brings us to brawler part of the game and this is where MK can truly excel when it comes to combat. MK already has a slick roster of bosses to pick from for the levels. Now before someone says why do we want another Arkham clone, this is simply a suggestion. Ed Boon can come up with something comepltely awesome altogether.

Subzero. I guess Subzero can also work in an Arkham Asylum type game as well, but I imagine him more subdued and stealth oriented than his fire-breathing friend from hell. Maybe a bit more Assassins Creed type game? But again, now with the power of next-gen, imagine if you can use Subzero's ice power skills to your advantage. Make your own bridges. Make your own walls. Throw ice bombs which will freeze everyone in the area and give you a limited time to quickly sneak past the frozen guards before they thaw. I'm sure the game designers can think of more ideas. My only question is why hasn't this happened yet. A ninja as awesome as Subzero demands his own standalone game that does him justice.

Sonya/Jax. Only game I can think of with these two is maybe a co-op third person shooter like Gears. They're both elite special forces and in the MK movie, they liked using weapons. It can work. Just needs more refinement.

Again, these are only suggestions. I'm not a creative director so I couldn't come up with a brand new idea for a game, but I think there is a good opportunity for Ed Boon to make some money here. I know their hands got burnt with MK: Mythologies and MK: Special Forces but lets face it, those were very, very crappy attempts at videogames. As for Liu Kang, Kung Lao and Johnny Cage, they don't particularly stand out when it comes to special abilities and the only game where they work best is Shaolin Monks, and everyone who played Shaolin Monks loved it. What does GAF think.
 

Feep

Banned
Subzero. I guess Subzero can also work in an Arkham Asylum type game as well, but I imagine him more subdued and stealth oriented than his fire-breathing friend from hell. Maybe a bit more Assassins Creed type game? But again, now with the power of next-gen, imagine if you can use Subzero's ice power skills to your advantage. Make your own bridges. Make your own walls. Throw ice bombs which will freeze everyone in the area and give you a limited time to quickly sneak past the frozen guards before they thaw. I'm sure the game designers can think of more ideas. My only question is why hasn't this happened yet. A ninja as awesome as Subzero demands his own standalone game that does him justice.
5329_front.jpg


They tried, bro. They tried so hard.
 

Biker19

Banned
Answer: Just too risky. Last time they did that, were MK Mythologies: Sub-Zero, & MK Special Forces, & they both bombed hard & had a lot of bad reception.

Only MK: Shaolin Monks was successful & better.
 

JdFoX187

Banned
Really surprised there wasn't a Shaolin Monks 2, or whatever they'd call it, revealed after Boon kept teasing it a year or so ago. I can't imagine they spent much time on the PlayStation 4 port of Injustice. So they should have a good two years of development on whatever new game they're poised to release eventually.
 

Shaanyboi

Banned
They were making a Shaolin Monks-style Sub-Zero/Scorpion game called Fire & Ice. Obviously nothing ever happened with that.
 

Nemesis_

Member
I could swear that there was going to be a game called Mortal Kombat: Fire & Ice that was basically Shaolin Monks but instead of Liu Kang and Kung Lao it was Scorpion and Sub Zero.

But yeah OP, I totally agree. Shaolin Monks was an amazing game. Not sure how I'd feel about a more subdued game like the Arkham ones but I would definitely be more for character focused spin-offs. Yes, Special Forces and Sub Zero kind of sucked but Shaolin Monks really redeemed the series IMO.
 

akira28

Member
They can mine it, just make sure they're digging over gold and not a septic pool.

I think an MLP/Mortal Kombat crossover would do quite well, actually.
 
Haven't read the op yet. But i will.

Warner Brothers Interactive own them now. Its in there hands. Warner Bros seems to only want to make DC or Lord of the Ring games. WB does seem like they are open to new games branching from existing franchises but only time will tell.
 
How about a mortal kombat done Double Dragon arcade version style?

Or maybe tenchu series some of the characters, when I say tenchu, I mean the gameplay and setting.

Something like Onimusha?
 

KissVibes

Banned
Answer: Just too risky. Last time they did that, were MK Mythologies: Sub-Zero, & MK Special Forces, & they both bombed hard & had a lot of bad reception.

Only MK: Shaolin Monks was the successful one.

So basically, make great games and they'll be successful. Crazy.
 

Ocaso

Member
Really surprised there wasn't a Shaolin Monks 2, or whatever they'd call it, revealed after Boon kept teasing it a year or so ago. I can't imagine they spent much time on the PlayStation 4 port of Injustice. So they should have a good two years of development on whatever new game they're poised to release eventually.

He teased an HD port of Shaolin Monks at one point but it never materialized. I missed out on the original so I'd have loved it. I agree with the OP, the material is rife with potential, it just needs good games to actually pull it off.
 

Ploid 3.0

Member
Really surprised there wasn't a Shaolin Monks 2, or whatever they'd call it, revealed after Boon kept teasing it a year or so ago. I can't imagine they spent much time on the PlayStation 4 port of Injustice. So they should have a good two years of development on whatever new game they're poised to release eventually.

Oh man, I loved Shaolin Monks. Played that with my brother, good times.

"It's like they planned to make this game. It has all of the MK settings in it. OMGosh"
 

drexplora

Member
Answer: Just too risky. Last time they did that, were MK Mythologies: Sub-Zero, & MK Special Forces, & they both bombed hard & had a lot of bad reception.

Only MK: Shaolin Monks was the successful one.

I think Shaolin monks is more akin to what people would want from a non fighting MK game. It played and felt great very cohesive.
The new consoles should only open up more possibilities.

How bout an MK smash bros style game :D
 

Furyous

Member
I respect the OP and the intent of this post. At its core MK is a fighting game with history based on in-game events. We've seen what happens every time the MK team tries to stretch out the game with different modes. Letting other devs use the characters in this manner would piss off the core audience. Imagine Johnny Cage in Sleeping Dogs code set in the MK universe. *cringes*

With that said, MK needs the Sonic treatment. Release versions of all games on different platforms. Sell them piecemeal if they want. I'm talking $15 MK 1 definitive editions. Nintendo Land is wide open waiting for games.
 

terrisus

Member
Glad to see the first 3 posts in this thread mentioned Mortal Kombat Mythologies: Sub-Zero

Don't forget about this version though:

AaDSvnf.jpg
 
I could swear that there was going to be a game called Mortal Kombat: Fire & Ice that was basically Shaolin Monks but instead of Liu Kang and Kung Lao it was Scorpion and Sub Zero.

That was definitely real. Boon said that Paradox started working on it right after completing Shaolin Monks, but it was eventually canned because they couldn't do it within the amount of time and budget that they were given. It's actually really strange that they didn't go with Scorpion and Sub Zero for the first co-op game since they're by far the most popular and recognizable characters in MK. It'd be like Capcom making a Street Fighter co-op game and not choosing Ryu and Ken.
 
I can't believe MK is 22 years old. That's fucking crazy. I still remember seeing the first game for the first time at my friends house and his cousin putting in the blood code. 22 fucking years.
 
Point and laugh if you must, I rented SZ Mythologies back in the day and couldn't figure out what to do and returned it the next day.
 

EulaCapra

Member
I would love a Shaolin Monks/Power Stone 4-player free-roaming fighter where the stages can move and stage fatalities can count as points.

What they should really do is revive comic book series or do some graphic novels. It already has a rich mythology.
 

L Thammy

Member
I know their hands got burnt with MK: Mythologies and MK: Special Forces but lets face it, those were very, very crappy attempts at videogames.

I don't think "but this time, don't be crap" is a valid suggestion. If they're not milking Mortal Kombat right now, it's because they tried and it didn't work out.
 

ShadowLag

Member
This concept version of Scorpion:

Featuring these kinds of Asian environments, since Scorpion is/was a Japanese warrior (from the cool AC fan art ideas)

Using the gameplay style of the Arkham games for standard combat: http://youtu.be/c9-81c-pkRI?t=56s

With the ability for Scorpion to go into sword-fighting mode, with MG:Rising-esque mechanics: http://youtu.be/y2ttOXFsS8c?t=16s

Have it be about the Shirai-Ryu vs. the Lin Kuei. No cheese or comic relief, just a dirty, serious story about the rival clans.

Please make this.
 
I don't think "but this time, don't be crap" is a valid suggestion. If they're not milking Mortal Kombat right now, it's because they tried and it didn't work out.

They tried. Its time for Netherrealm to pass it over to someone else. They continue the main franchise. Warner Bros passes it over to someone else. Let them take the risks. Netherrealm are not really capable of making not a fighting game imo.
 

fernoca

Member
"Goldmine". .. yeah right. :p

Mortal Kombat sells, there's no doubt. But here are two small bits that many seem to forget:

#1. Shaolin Monks didn't sold as well as expected. Heck it sold as much as Mythologies (a little over a million across two platforms), and considering Mythologies wasn't well received by people and the media...it kinda showed them that there's not much interest. Even around here SM went mostly ignored outside the "lttp" praise started receiving recently. The PSP port, Fire & Ice (sequel starring Sub and Scorpion) were canned simply because it weren't priorities.

#2. When WB learned that MK was for sale; they bid $30 million first because of their past experience with it through movies and other media. They thought others would bid later so they had extra money just in case. Sale ended...no one else bid. It surprised them because they thought MK would be a "goldmine" that others would love to "mine".

Basically, it's cool to love MK now. The reality is that not many cared to express their love towards it until recently (the games were selling milions anyway) and any spinoff would've been put aside aside as "lol MK"...like with Shaolin Monks back then. So they're cautious. Hopefully soon will see something.
 

ItIsOkBro

Member
I‘d love for some characters to branch out. Mortal Kombat has a quite a few characters that have fluorished, and it sucks that they are basically limited to the realms of a fighting game.

The mythology is rich enough in the Mortal Kombat universe. Between the characters and their powers, the clans, realms, and overall story, there‘s a lot here that I feel can transcend the boundaries of a fighting game. Hell, this is why Deception‘s Konquest worked so well, it was cool running around in the realms and interacting with characters.
 
As for Liu Kang, Kung Lao and Johnny Cage, they don't particularly stand out when it comes to special abilities and the only game where they work best is Shaolin Monks, and everyone who played Shaolin Monks loved it. What does GAF think.

Shaolin Monks is the best MK game by a wide and impenetrable margin.

Johnny and Kung were fuckin awesome. Gimme more of that, but throw in a bunch more playable characters.
 

The Adder

Banned
This concept version of Scorpion:


Featuring these kinds of Asian environments, since Scorpion is/was a Japanese warrior (from the cool AC fan art ideas)


Using the gameplay style of the Arkham games for standard combat: http://youtu.be/c9-81c-pkRI?t=56s

With the ability for Scorpion to go into sword-fighting mode, with MG:Rising-esque mechanics: http://youtu.be/y2ttOXFsS8c?t=16s

Have it be about the Shirai-Ryu vs. the Lin Kuei. No cheese or comic relief, just a dirty, serious story about the rival clans.

Please make this.

Scorpion was a pussy when he was alive though...
 
I just want a full fledged Konquest mode.

Jade Empire RPG stuff, Shaolin Monks combat for fighting normal enemies, fighting game combat for the bosses/other MK characters, all this set in the rich MK universe, I NEED IT.
 

Ploid 3.0

Member
I can't believe MK is 22 years old. That's fucking crazy. I still remember seeing the first game for the first time at my friends house and his cousin putting in the blood code. 22 fucking years.

I remember seeing it in the arcade and having that Reggie LBP.jpg look on my face in a "I need this game" kind of way.

ou9rUrl.jpg
 
Top Bottom