MK’s developers clearly want to go beyond just a handful of set-pieces and thin excuses for battle-they want to elevate the stakes and get the player to care about each chapter. By contrast, Mortal Kombat 9 and MKX’s campaigns stand out-not because of their narrative quality, per se, but because of their decision to embrace the shallowness and corniness of their own world, and their willingness to create stakes based on that world. Capcom and Street Fighter have limited dialogue, a rare cut-scene or two, and only the vaguest of attempts at explaining why this colorful collection of characters can’t seem to stop beating on one another. Recent campaigns in Soul Calibur, Marvel vs. Mortal Kombat does have a story mode to help bolster its characterizations, and its story is one of the more impressive ones out there. These are not complicated or nuanced stories, of course-but when done well, they can still be emotional, memorable and relatable. Even without a story mode or a manual packed with back-stories, fighting games manage to tell straightforward character-based stories on the same level as a morality play or a fairy tale. ![]() This means that fighting games have to tell a story with a very limited set of tools: the character’s physical appearance, their fashion choices, the one-liners they spout before and after matches, their facial expressions, and-of course-their combat style. In some fighting games, there is no “story mode,” or if there is, it’s little more than a series of matches with brief interstitial dialogue. Much like a ballet or a puppet show, fighting games often rely on very simplistic signifiers to encapsulate their characters. ![]() You’ll want to pick a fighter who you enjoy enough to keep inhabiting, over and over and over. The experience is as much about aesthetics as it is about technique. Selecting a character in any game feels a lot like putting on a mask-or in the case of a fighting game, like learning a dance. ![]() Fighting games are a form of participatory theatre, too-especially for the majority of us who don’t compete on a high level, and who choose our favorite characters based on coolness. The old “are videogames art, or are they sports?” argument is often applied to fighting games, but it seems to ignore the fact that sports are theatre. But this instant obsession with Scorpion and Sub-Zero is a neat encapsulation of the small ways that fighting games tell stories: by establishing simple, basic character traits, and repeating them over and over again. Some of this glee will likely wear off after the dust settles on MKX’s release competitive players will discover which characters have the best tactical advantages, and that knowledge will trickle down to other fighting game fans. MKX also invites players to join a “faction” at the game’s outset this designation is meant to provide themed rewards according to which team they choose, and Sub-Zero’s faction still has the most members. Scorpion and Sub-Zero are two of the most-played characters in online matches of Mortal Kombat X when the game first came out, Scorpion topped the charts, but this week Sub-Zero has been muscling his way up. The costumes, the characters, and their rivalry has grown more complex since their inception, and fan fascination with the pair has grown accordingly. The pair began life as a palette swap, both wearing black body suits with colorful quilted vests on top (Scorpion in yellow, Sub-Zero in blue). They’re two visually similar ninjas from rival clans with a vengeance-packed backstory. If you’ve heard even a sliver of information about the Mortal Kombat universe, it’s probably that Scorpion and Sub-Zero are enemies.
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