Awesome / Mortal Kombat 1

You have chosen to defy peace… then you have chosen war with a god.

Moment pages are Spoilers Off by default, so all spoilers are removed. Proceed with caution. Also, meta moments are forbidden as well. You Have Been Warned.

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Gameplay

• Liu Kang's second Fatality has him open a portal to outer space, then do a Badass Fingersnap that summons a black hole which sucks out the opponent's insides and skin. This is by far the most extreme, over-the-top finisher in the entire series, even surpassing Cetrion's "Good And Evil" fatality, and it's beautiful.
  Youtube Comment: "If the twin dragons from the trailer was his Fire God fatality, then this is his Titan fatality."
• Incorporating the "Test Your Might" minigames into the story as quicktime events, featuring awesome scenes like Baraka breaking down a door to allow him and the other heroes to escape Shang Tsung's gas-filled laboratory, Sub-Zero breaking free from Ermac's telekinesis, and Scorpion escaping getting shoved into a vat of molten gold by Darrius and Havik, instead shoving Havik into it.
  • Speaking of "Test Your Might", the klassic version of the minigame appears as well, and every character has their own ways of breaking the blocks. Some use their trademark weapons, some break it by hand with assistance from their powers... and then we have Shang Tsung, who merely snaps his fingers to succeed.

Story Mode

• The fact that Baraka and Reptile, the resident Butt Monkeys of the franchise, finally get their own chapters where they kick ass and help the heroes is amazing and doubles as heartwarming as they finally get to shed their status as jobbers.
• Kombatants tend to suffer from The Worf Effect whenever they aren't the focus character of a chapter but the introduction of Kameo Fighters manages to finally subvert this as it allows Kombatants to finally be able to win fights outside of their own chapter, with Kenshi's performance in Ashrah's chapter being a standout example.
• Chapter 1: The New Era:
  • Shang Tsung is introduced in this timeline now as a man selling fake potions, including one that he claims could cure the Tarkat disease. However, an angry customer reveals to everyone that he's a fraud that sold him an expensive elixir to heal his dying daughter, which turned out to be just tea. After throwing him to the ground, Shang Tsung is beaten off-screen, and his business is trashed by the man and the people he was trying to con. It sucks being an evil snake when you can't steal souls anymore.
• Chapter 2: The A-Lister:
  • Counting also as a funny moment, we're introduced to Johnny Cage in an Indiana Jones expy and we get to act for the movie in the sense of playing as Johnny and fighting bad guys in the film based on Nitara and Havik.
  • Johnny later manages to beat up Kenshi, who's a member of the Yakuza in this timeline, and then Sub-Zero and Scorpion after Bi-Han gets pissed off with him and throws Johnny into an expensive Japanese Hichuli vase.
• Chapter 3: The Chosen One:
  • Liu Kang shows that his godhood has done little to change his desire for peace. When General Shao comes to goad and gloat at the Earthrealm Champions, he warns them to not let him rile them up, and when Kung Lao inevitably snaps, Liu Kang is quick to literally step in and defuse. But much like his past self, his preference for peace should not be mistaken for passivity. As when Shao makes the mistake of mocking the strength of Liu Kang's people to his face, he's quick to deliver a sharp Armor-Piercing Response so effective that the General can do nothing but spout a toothless threat and stomp away.
    General Shao: Have you still not told most Earthrealmers that Outworld exists?
    Liu Kang: It is safer that way, General.
    General Shao: I suppose so. Your people's frail minds couldn't handle the truth.
    Liu Kang: (Expression hardens) …You presume them frail, General? Should you? Given how frequently they win this tournament?
• Chapter 5: Weird Science:
  • Baraka's chapter begins with a fight against five Tarkatan clones. Since a different clone is fought each round, as each of the clones dies after losing a round, one could make the argument that this actually counts as five fights, which brings the number of fights in Baraka's chapter up from four to eight, not only surpassing Raiden's chapter of seven fights but also making Baraka the character to win the most fights within a single chapter in the entire story mode (not counting the final chapter where a character of the player's choosing wins ten fights).
• Chapter 6: Upward Climb:
  • The newly created Ermac has been singlehandedly beating up the heroes. Not wanting his friends to die, a blind Kenshi charges at Ermac with Sento only to be blasted away. Just as when all hope is gone, Kenshi's ancestors, through Sento, empower him with a new kind of sight, becoming the Kenshi that fans know and love. Now capable of seeing, Kenshi stabs Ermac with Sento, absorbing the souls within him. This weakens Ermac enough for Kenshi and Ashrah to subdue him.
• Chapter 7: Narrow Escape:
  • When Geras reports about what he's learned from the Hourglass, he not only makes mention of how an outside player feigning to be Kronika is interfering with the New Era, but notes approvingly that Liu Kang's efforts were so thorough that if not that, none of the story's events had a chance of happening at all. With the implication being that Warts and All, Liu Kang got it right the first time, something that the real Kronika never achieved.
• Chapter 9: Civil War:
  • After witnessing his brother's betrayal of everything they stood for and admitting that he let their father die so he could take over the Lin Kuei, Scorpion (Kuai Liang) goes berserk and proceeds to decimate Shao's soldiers with his hands still bound in chains. He then goes on to beat down Shao, Shang Tsung, a whole squad of Dragon Army soldiers, Rain, Quan Chi, Darrius, Havik and Sub-Zero completely solo. That's right; he manages to defeat multiple former Big Bads in a row with nothing but his own powers, skills, weapons and quiet rage at Bi-Han's actions.
  • His brutality in the opening scene is nothing to scoff at, as he beats the crap out of Bi-Han, Shang Tsung and several of General Shao's soldiers with his heavy chains, decapitates one of the soldiers by heating up the chains, stomps another guy's head to a pulp and almost strangles General Shao before the latter throws him off, but breaks Scorpion's chains in the process, leading to their fight. Kuai Liang may be the nicest of the Lin Kuei brothers, even as Scorpion in this timeline, but do not mistake his morals for weakness.
• Chapter 11: For the Empire:
  • We finally get to play as a heroic Sindel in Story Mode, and she does not disappoint. Not only does she prove herself a fair Empress by giving Liu Kang and Li Mei a chance to prove their case, but she viciously admonishes General Shao for his treachery and almost dragging Outworld into an unnecessary war with Earthrealm. And then we see her kick Shao's ass and free her daughters from the amulet of Shinnok he imprisoned them in.
• Chapter 12: Queen's Gambit:
  • It's revealed that King Jerrod's soul was part of the collection that made Ermac and was able to take control of the creature, not only finally following up on Ermac's MK9 Arcade Ladder ending where this was first revealed over a decade ago, but also making this the first time Jerrod not only takes an active part in the game's story, but also is technically an actual playable character!
  • Mileena herself defeats not just Ermac and Shang Tsung, but also Dark Raiden and Dark Sindel. It's even all but stated she outright killed the latter two. Not bad for someone who used to merely be a Perky Female Minion.
  • One of the symptoms of Tarkat is spells of blind rage, which we see earlier in the story mode when Mileena blinds Kenshi. But in her chapter, when Tarkat takes over, she lets it happen and directs her rage towards the villains.
• Chapter 13: Deadly Alliance:
  • When Shang Tsung and Quan Chi find out they have been tricked by Titan Shang Tsung, the one who in his timeline defeated Fire God Liu Kang in Mortal Kombat 11, they decide to do the most unthinkable thing that has only happened once in the series - which is to genuinely join forces with the heroes to stop the greater evil. Not since MK vs. DC have we seen this happen. During this chapter, he fights with Quan Chi as his Assist Character, fitting for the chapter's title.
• Chapter 15: Armageddon:
  • The entire final chapter basically culminates in a multiversal war between Liu Kang and Titan Shang Tsung, specifically the Shang Tsung from Aftermath's bad ending, where they each summon an entire army of Kombatants to fight at the Pyramid of Argus for a great recreation of Armageddon. But that's not the best part. After the title chapter appears, you'll notice that, unlike the other chapters, this chapter has no character mentioned as the focus. Instead, you're taken to the character selection screen, and whoever character you choose will be the focus character, with Liu Kang acting as the Kameo. This means even a franchise Butt-Monkey like Baraka can become the ultimate savior of the Mortal Kombat multiverse.
  • And even better? Among the warriors that Liu Kang brings to the final fight are honestly good and heroic variants of Mortal Kombat villains. Shang Tsung and Quan Chi were among them and those two almost manage to fell their Dark counterparts, but sadly lost because they got distracted by the Final Warrior.
  • If you choose Shang Tsung, you'll notice that it's the exact same Shang Tsung we've been following since the beginning of the game. For every other character that turned evil by this point of the story, including Bi-Han and Rain, you only get to play as their alternate timeline counterparts. This means that out of all the villains Liu Kang tried to recruit from his timeline, Shang Tsung is the only one that agreed to help him. He may be ruthless and greedy, but he is no coward.
  • It is important to note that, for a story mode that is usually quite static by its design, the final chapter has tons of replay value. Not only can you choose from the entire roster, no strings attached, but each fight is random. There is always a new opponent with a combination of skills to plan around. Replay value for the win!

Ladder Mode Endings

• In Syzoth's ending, he not only becomes an emissary of the Zaterrans, but also finds out about a conspiracy that kills Zaterrans born with the ability to take human form. His new goal is to hunt down and end the conspiracy so that others with his mutation won't be killed unjustly.
• In Kenshi's ending, he manages to hold off Shang Tsung with help from Jax. The two then form the Outworld Intelligence Agency for further threats from Outworld.
• In Reiko's ending, he is sent by General Shao to capture a fierce monster so that it can be tamed as a secret weapon for his rebellion against Mileena. Said monster being none other than ONAGA. While the ending itself leaves Reiko's fate up in the air, with Reiko himself acknowledging that he likely won't survive, a few of General Shao's pre-fight intro dialogues reveal that Reiko actually managed to pull it off.
  Tanya: Attack again, and you'll lose again.
  General Shao: Not this time. I've tamed Onaga.
• Ashrah's ending has her going back to the Netherealm and singlehandedly defeating Quan Chi's demons to rescue Sareena. With Sareena free from Quan Chi's control, the two former demons form the Order of Light.
• Sindel's ending follows up on her being absorbed into Ermac where she and Jerrod battle with the rest of the creature's collective souls for control of the gestalt together. And given Jerrod!Ermac's presence in Kitana and Mileena's endings, it looks like they kept the reigns! Sadly, it doesn't last...
• Kitana's ending has her earning the respect of Outworld's soldiers by orchestrating an epic victory against Shao's rebellion. She may not be the queen of Edenia or Outworld in this timeline but that doesn't make Kitana any less of an exemplary leader.
• Omni-Man's ending has him single-handedly defeat both Titans and take over Earthrealm in the name of his homeworld. However, he admits that this is actually a long-term ploy to try and buy his Earth, and his son, as much time as he can before the Viltrum Empire sets its sights back on it.

Pre-fight Intros

• Some of the intros for a Mirror Match have staggering alternate realities. Others show that the past timeline refuses to stay dead.
  • Two Shang Tsungs yields the New Era Shang Tsung standing up to his Titan counterpart despite the implied power discrepancy. Another has the reveal that one of them is Syzoth having learned shapeshifting magic by memorizing his magic while being leashed to him.
  • Two Kung Laos have one of them refer to the other as Johnny Cage, who got the best makeup artists he could find to make him look and even sound like Kung Lao.
  • Two Sindels have the New Era Sindel clash with her bloodthirsty despot counterpart from Mortal Kombat 11: Aftermath.
  • Two Scorpions have the new Kuai Liang get his mettle tested by Hanzo Hasashi himself in both the Klassic "Lone revenant seeking vengeance" and the "Repentant human who wishes for his clan to flourish" eras of his life.
  • The new, mortal Raiden meeting his godly counterpart.
  • The diseased Baraka of the New Era meeting his original self from the previous timelines, where Tarkatans are a species of their own.
  • General Shao meeting his original counterpart, Shao Kahn!
• Sindel does NOT take Omni-Man threatening her daughters kindly. Bonus points for making one of the worst lines in history sound flat-out badass this time around:
  Omni-Man: Perhaps I'll keep you and your daughters as pets.
  Sindel: Pets?! For that, you... will die!
• Geras is sure to let Omni-Man know that he is one of the few people that he can't get rid of so easily.
  Omni-Man: I’ve battled an Immortal before.
  Geras: Then you know I will return to haunt you!
• All of the heroic Mortal Kombat fighters being ready, willing, and able to fight Nolan despite the fact that he is way above their league in terms of strength with maybe Liu Kang and Geras being the only exceptions.
  • This especially prevalent in Badass Normal fighters like Johnny Cage who doesn't even have his supernatural powers to help him out in this timeline. Bonus points to Johnny having the balls to insult Nolan to his face.
  Omni-Man: They don’t make movies about heroes like me.
  Johnny Cage: Because DUH! You’re the villain, bro!
• Peacemaker's reaction to fighting someone who can casually summon black holes? Excitement.
  Liu Kang: This is no time to smile.
  Peacemaker: Hell yeah, it is! "Fight a Fire God" is coming off my bucket list.
• If you're looking for a badass one-word answer, just ask Ermac.
  General Shao: Which one of your souls fights me today?
  Ermac: All.

Other

• The announcement trailer shows that despite Liu Kang erasing him from existence in the last game, Shang Tsung is still around in this timeline. However, he's facing Liu Kang, who is now a god and proceeds to absolutely ANNIHILATE him with his Fatality.
  Liu Kang: You have chosen to defy peace. THEN YOU HAVE CHOSEN WAR WITH A GOD!
• In Invasion Mode, after managing to subdue an alternate version of Hanzo Hasashi, who is hellbent on destroying the New Era for having a Harumi who is married to Kuai Liang instead of him. Liu Kang manages to quell his rage by using the Hourglass to find a timeline that Hanzo could not. In that timeline, Harumi became Scorpion and now with Hanzo at her side, the two of them become a Battle Couple that will hunt down Quan Chi for the tragedies he caused in their lives.

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