Overall Series Roster Stats, with Commentary

[ImperatrixSindel]

Allow me to put on my tinfoil hat for a second:

In MK9, in the scene where Kitana meets Mileena for the very first time, you can see what appears to be two fully-functioning Tarkatan-Edenian hybrids, the one on the table that we've come to know and hate love, and another that's still in her test tube. Now, i don't know how far ahead Neatherream's writers have planned things out, but what if the Mileena in that test tube is the one that can return in MK11?

Now, it's a hell of a stretch, and one that could be written off for a variety of reasons ('test tube Mileena expired over the 25 year time-span.' 'She wasn't actually a fully-functioning clone'. etc, etc), but looking at it from a visual story-telling standpoint, why show two? Why not have all the test tubes be filled with obviously failed experiments so that we as the viewer can clearly tell, 'Alright, this one Mileena is clearly the only successful experiment in here.'

It could be a red herring, it could just be an oversight, but I have a gut feeling that NRS was counting on most of us completely forgetting about that Mileena in the test tube so that they can surprise us with her appearance in the next game.

They didn't even want us to forget -- her ladder ending in MKX is explicitly about how she can transfer her consciousness into one of those other bodies Shang Tsung made in his lab. They put a built-in excuse right in the game where they killed her.

 

[FoughtDragon01]

They didn't even want us to forget -- her ladder ending in MKX is explicitly about how she can transfer her consciousness into one of those other bodies Shang Tsung made in his lab. They put a built-in excuse right in the game where they killed her.

inb4 lol not canon.

But seriously, with Kitana being a revenant and Outworld being completely yanked out of her hands, it sets up scenarios and potential interactions for Mileena that I don't believe were present in the original timeline. Even if she sits this game out, it'd be a shame if all of this resolved without her involvement.

 

[xXRagingFlameXx]

They've put in so many hints for Mileena to return that it just seems obvious imo.

They could've done anything with her ending. But, they specifically decided to mention the clones and how they were exact copies?

Of course, they could be throwing us for a loop and it could definitely be wishful thinking on my part. (Mileena and Kitana are my two favorites. It'd suck to have one without the other. I also really want to see how Mileena and Kitana would interact in the story now that Kitana's evil af. I just hope that with Kitana playing a heavy role for the foreseeable future as the co-ruler of Netherrealm alongside Liu Kang, that that's a storyline they might tack on. But, it seems unlikely as the story seems like it'll already be packed full. But I have hopes!)

 

[DelSchokoladenSaft]

They ca also make Mileena a skin for Kitana.
Let's hope

 

[ImperatrixSindel]

Oh there's definitely some wishful thinking on my end -- I am desperately longing for a game with all five Edenian ladies (my favorite characters): Kitana, Mileena, Jade, Tanya, and Sindel all on one roster. It has never happened apart from Armageddon, which is terrible. Deception came closest, but Kitana sat out for the only time ever since her debut.

But I also just think Mileena is so iconic to the franchise at this point that it'd be weird for her to sit out.

They ca also make Mileena a skin for Kitana.
Let's hope

This I can't see them doing. They don't play anything alike and the fan response would not be positive.

 

[DelSchokoladenSaft]

Oh there's definitely some wishful thinking on my end -- I am desperately longing for a game with all five Edenian ladies (my favorite characters): Kitana, Mileena, Jade, Tanya, and Sindel all on one roster. It has never happened apart from Armageddon, which is terrible. Deception came closest, but Kitana sat out for the only time ever since her debut.

But I also just think Mileena is so iconic to the franchise at this point that it'd be weird for her to sit out.


This I can't see them doing. They don't play anything alike and the fan response would not be positive.

I understand where you're coming from. I'm just spitballing right now because I don't know what to expect. Also, people wanted Waluigi in SSBU, but he's just an assist trophy. I'm not saying that I'm right and this is going to happen. I myself can go a game without Mileena. My favorite characters are a drunk, a telekinetic, and sun worshiper, but they can make anyone into a skin if they try hard enough.

 

[xXRagingFlameXx]

I am desperately longing for a game with all five Edenian ladies (my favorite characters): Kitana, Mileena, Jade, Tanya, and Sindel all on one roster.

Yes, yes, yes. The Edenian characters have always been so dope to me. It would mean the world if we got all of them in the game, and it'd suck ass if we got Kitana, Jade, Sindel, and even Rain without Tanya and Mileena. (I'm assuming the others will be in due to demand, but you never know.)

they can make anyone into a skin if they try hard enough

Not if that skin has a completely different personality and animations. That'd literally just be another character....why make her a skin then? That wouldn't translate well at all imo. Even with premiere skins in Injustice all they did was change or add effects.

 

[Alec]

Great minds!

It makes sense that the MK1 and MK2 roster comes back again and again, honestly; those are the characters with the most extensive and consistent fandom over decades of the franchise. But I agree that bringing any of the parents back in MK11 is a weird story choice given the torch-passing storyline in MKX.

The fact is, though, that fighting games which largely discard the iconic cast in sequels tend to get huge blowback -- look at Street Fighter 3's initial reception, or the lukewarm response to Soul Calibur V. Both those franchises have gone back to heavily nostalgic casts starting with SFIV and SC6.

I would be surprised if NRS was bold enough in the current moment to actually do away with all four of Sonya, Johnny, Jax, and Kano. And I can't see Kenshi going anywhere -- he's the only PS2 era character who's ever approached the fanbase level of the Trilogy kast.

This is the important stuff. I see many people talking about the passing of the torch on MKX, but I find deep down, most of those to just be people who don't really want Johnny or Sonya to be on the roster. Because, is torch-passing really a thing on fighting games? We're talking about a genre which seems to always suffer when it steers away from its core.
The most sucessful instance ever is Tekken 3, but I feel like that warrants another conversation, because of its implementation.

A lot of people pretty much say that we don't need Johnny or Sonya when there is Cassie. But do Johnny/Sonya mains really feel that way? Or Jax players towards Jacqui?
Next generation characters should never "replace" their parents, that's a recipe for disaster, they should stand on their own, if we feel otherwise, it's because bad writing/design. That is why we hardly hear about Takeda replacing Kenshi or Scorpion. I feel like I have A LOT to add towards this topic, but I don't want to rant.

Just to be clear, I do realize(and hope) that's not what you're saying though, and I can see them sitting a game out, I also agree that it would be bold to just do away with all of them.

 

[ImperatrixSindel]

This is the important stuff. I see many people talking about the passing of the torch on MKX, but I find deep down, most of those to just be people who don't really want Johnny or Sonya to be on the roster. Because, is torch-passing really a thing on fighting games? We're talking about a genre which seems to always suffer when it steers away from its core.
The most sucessful instance ever is Tekken 3, but I feel like that warrants another conversation, because of its implementation.

A lot of people pretty much say that we don't need Johnny or Sonya when there is Cassie. But do Johnny/Sonya mains really feel that way? Or Jax players towards Jacqui?
Next generation characters should never "replace" their parents, that's a recipe for disaster, they should stand on their own, if we feel otherwise, it's because bad writing/design. That is why we hardly hear about Takeda replacing Kenshi or Scorpion. I feel like I have A LOT to add towards this topic, but I don't want to rant.

Just to be clear, I do realize(and hope) that's not what you're saying though, and I can see them sitting a game out, I also agree that it would be bold to just do away with all of them.

I think narratively the end of the MKX story is weird if the intent is not for Johnny and Sonya to retire from active kombat duty. I think it would make sense to have them at least sit out one game.

But I also recognize the facts -- fighting games don't really work that way, traditionally. Unlike pretty much every other genre of game, having core characters return for sequels is pretty much essential to keep fans happy for gameplay reasons.

Tekken 3 is a rare bird as the only "next generation" game without the parents that people actually liked, but even then almost all the parents came back for sequels. (RIP Jun Kazama, but otherwise...) The ones who didn't, like Michelle Chang, essentially had a child who 100% replicated their moveset. Cassie, Jacqui, Kung Jin, and Takeda don't actually play much like their elders.

The alternate timeline premise suggested by the trailer gives them a solid narrative excuse to keep all the older characters around, and I imagine they'll take it.

 

[aj1701]

Great minds!

It makes sense that the MK1 and MK2 roster comes back again and again, honestly; those are the characters with the most extensive and consistent fandom over decades of the franchise. But I agree that bringing any of the parents back in MK11 is a weird story choice given the torch-passing storyline in MKX.

The fact is, though, that fighting games which largely discard the iconic cast in sequels tend to get huge blowback -- look at Street Fighter 3's initial reception, or the lukewarm response to Soul Calibur V. Both those franchises have gone back to heavily nostalgic casts starting with SFIV and SC6.

I would be surprised if NRS was bold enough in the current moment to actually do away with all four of Sonya, Johnny, Jax, and Kano. And I can't see Kenshi going anywhere -- he's the only PS2 era character who's ever approached the fanbase level of the Trilogy kast.

Honestly I think the reason the older cast keeps coming back is because MK4 and onward until MK9 say the series declining, with people either not caring about the 3D games or actively disliking them. And rightly or wrongly, the characters debuting in those games are not well liked. (I'm one of those people, BTW).

And I don't think it would be weird to bring back the parents, if it turns out the whole "passing the touch" and MK kids were not well liked too. What would they do, continue down a path that leads to killing the franchise? Hopefully they learned that lesson already. I suspect they haven't though, as no sooner do they get back to basics and what made MK great with MK9 do they start adding the same crap gimmicks that started killing MK to begin with (run, interactables, variations).

I guess we'll see, but I was pretty disappointed with MKX, I was really hoping for more an MK9.5. Minor tweaks that fixed problems with the game, not having to restart almost from scratch.

 

[Jhonnykiller45]

The fact is, though, that fighting games which largely discard the iconic cast in sequels tend to get huge blowback -- look at Street Fighter 3's initial reception, or the lukewarm response to Soul Calibur V. Both those franchises have gone back to heavily nostalgic casts starting with SFIV and SC6.

I would be surprised if NRS was bold enough in the current moment to actually do away with all four of Sonya, Johnny, Jax, and Kano. And I can't see Kenshi going anywhere -- he's the only PS2 era character who's ever approached the fanbase level of the Trilogy kast.

This is a very valid point, but I think it doesn't apply very well to MK in its current state. SFIII and SCV's rosters weren't particularly well-received, I feel like, because they were very sudden changes. The two franchises went from rosters filled with classic characters to rosters with completely new characters, with no in-between whatsoever.
In MK, we've already had an entire game to get used to the newbies, having them be set up to be the main stars for future games; seeing the parents sit out a game would feel like a natural thing, coming off of MKX.
Another thing to consider is how SFIII and SCV both replaced or removed completely a very large portion of their classic casts, for MK it'd only ever be the parents and the MKX story deaths (probably), while at the same time we'd very likely see other klassic characters make their way to MK11. Like, Sonya/Jax/Kano etc. are out but Noob/Smoke/Kabal etc. are in, this is something that didn't happen at all with SFIII and SCV.

 

[ImperatrixSindel]

This is a very valid point, but I think it doesn't apply very well to MK in its current state. SFIII and SCV's rosters weren't particularly well-received, I feel like, because they were very sudden changes. The two franchises went from rosters filled with classic characters to rosters with completely new characters, with no in-between whatsoever.
In MK, we've already had an entire game to get used to the newbies, having them be set up to be the main stars for future games; seeing the parents sit out a game would feel like a natural thing, coming off of MKX.
Another thing to consider is how SFIII and SCV both replaced or removed completely a very large portion of their classic casts, for MK it'd only ever be the parents and the MKX story deaths (probably), while at the same time we'd very likely see other klassic characters make their way to MK11. Like, Sonya/Jax/Kano etc. are out but Noob/Smoke/Kabal etc. are in, this is something that didn't happen at all with SFIII and SCV.

I agree it's not quite the same thing. But I do think that for many players, cutting Johnny/Sonya/Jax/Kano/Mileena all at once would feel like a very sudden change, even if they had MKX to get used to the idea.

To people who aren't major fans, I don't think Noob, Smoke, or Kabal are anywhere near as iconic as the five we're talking about.

In any case, I imagine we'll find out on the 17th.

 

[ILuvFightGames]

Raiden was in mk3?

 

[aj1701]

Raiden was in mk3?

He may not have been in base MK3, but he was in UMK3, which came out the same year as MK3. The OP say he's considering vanilla MK3, UMK3 and MKT all the same game, which really they are.

 

[HeavyNorse]

but he was in UMK3

Close, he joined in MK Trilogy, along with Johnny.

 

[aj1701]

Close, he joined in MK Trilogy, along with Johnny.

I thought Raiden was added in UMK3, and they added MK1 Raiden (in addition to UMK3 Raiden) to Trilogy.

 

[Crimea]

I'm confident almost all classic characters will return. And this timetraveling setup is just another excuse for their including (like Cassie will meet her young parents)

 

[ImperatrixSindel]

I thought Raiden was added in UMK3, and they added MK1 Raiden (in addition to UMK3 Raiden) to Trilogy.

Nope, @HeavyNorse is correct. Raiden, Baraka, and Johnny Cage were the additions for Trilogy (alongside the playable bosses, the MK1/MK2 variants, and C/Khameleon).

I'm confident almost all classic characters will return. And this timetraveling setup is just another excuse for their including (like Cassie will meet her young parents)

I agree. That seems like a pretty obvious way for this to go.

 

[aj1701]

Nope, @HeavyNorse is correct. Raiden, Baraka, and Johnny Cage were the additions for Trilogy (alongside the playable bosses, the MK1/MK2 variants, and C/Khameleon).

Well, then fuck Midway for the obvious cash grabs that were UMK3/MKT. (Which really, is admitting they rushed MK3.).

 

[theotherguy]

Which really, is admitting they rushed MK3.).

Hmmm, i don't know. Out of all 3, MK3 is the most polished by far, looking at the overall game. UMK3 dropped all the ending images for generic win poses. The attract sequence only cycled the new characters (that i recall), the stages seemed to be in a loop as well. No intro storyboard like MK3

I think they had a plan, and it probably didn't work out how they intended. Then UMK3 was born (or possibly always on the cards) but possibly timelines changed and they did what they could in the time period they had to make it work. Partly leading to the cuts etc.

 

[aj1701]

Hmmm, i don't know. Out of all 3, MK3 is the most polished by far, looking at the overall game. UMK3 dropped all the ending images for generic win poses. The attract sequence only cycled the new characters (that i recall), the stages seemed to be in a loop as well. No intro storyboard like MK3

You're mentioning cosmetic stuff, nothing that affect gameplay. And those cuts were more to due with the hardware limitations at the time; if they did MK3/UMK3 today, none of those changes you mention would have been done, because today space is cheap.

But there were a number of substantial gameplay changes between MK3 and UMK3.

I think they had a plan, and it probably didn't work out how they intended. Then UMK3 was born (or possibly always on the cards) but possibly timelines changed and they did what they could in the time period they had to make it work. Partly leading to the cuts etc.

I think UMK3 had the gameplay changes they wanted, and the cosmetic changes they didn't; it was literally a choice between "ending renders" and "kitana being playable at all."

 

[ImperatrixSindel]

I've updated the chart in the OP with today's konfirmations of Sub-Zero, Sonya Blade, Baraka, Skarlet, Geras, and Liu Kang (seen in the Gameplay Trailer).

Kung Lao, Kronika, and Kabal are also safe bets, but I'll wait for something official.

 

[ImperatrixSindel]

Updates!

With the Story Trailer confirming the latest big leak as legit, I've updated my chart:
https://privatereferencecg.fandom.com/wiki/List_of_playable_Mortal_Kombat_kharacters

Note that I've preemptively marked several characters deconfirmed, for the following reasons:

• A piece of gear equipment is named after them: Sektor, Reiko, Mokap, Havik
• One of their moves is a non-playable tower assist: Reptile, Cyrax, Rain, Shinnok
• Past DLC apparently not on this base roster: Rain, Tanya, Kenshi, Bo' Rai Cho, Tremor
• Dead (or a head) in a stage background: Goro, Shinnok, Moloch

These are educated guesses and could turn out to be wrong!

As I surmised in my initial post, the MK1/MK2 cast has almost entirely returned -- Reptile seems to be sitting out, and Shang Tsung and Mileena are TBA, but everyone else is in. My other guesses seem overall sound, except for the pretty surprising apparent omission of Kenshi.

At the moment, here are the overall standings:

• 11 games (flawless victory): Raiden, Scorpion, Sub-Zero

• 10 games: Liu Kang

• 9 games: Johnny Cage, Sonya Blade, Jax, Kitana

• 8 games: Kano, Baraka, Kung Lao

• 7 games: Mileena, Reptile

• 6 games: Shang Tsung, Cyrax, Noob Saibot

• 5 games: Kabal, Sektor, Smoke, Jade, Ermac, Goro, Shao Kahn, Quan Chi, Kenshi

• 4 games: Nightwolf, Sindel, Tanya, Bo' Rai Cho

• 3 games: Sheeva, Stryker, Rain, Shinnok, Frost, Li Mei

• 2 games: Chameleon, Khameleon, Kintaro, Motaro, Fujin, Jarek, Kai, Meat, Reiko, Blaze, Drahmin, Hsu Hao, Mavado, Mokap, Nitara, Ashrah, Dairou, Darrius, Havik, Hotaru, Kira, Kobra, Shujinko, Cyber Sub-Zero, Skarlet, Cassie Cage, D'Vorah, Erron Black, Jacqui Briggs, Kotal Kahn

• 1 game: Daegon, Moloch, Sareena, Taven, Ferra/Torr, Kung Jin, Takeda, Tremor, Cetrion, Geras, Kollector