Awesome / Mortal Kombat X

Spoiler pages are Spoilers Off by default, so all spoilers have been removed, and all entries folderized. Proceed with caution. You Have Been Warned.

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Gameplay

• The pre-battle animations right before intro dialogues are usually nothing to write home about, except these:
  • Liu Kang. If he's the second person to talk, he'll walk onto the stage on fire.
    • His post-win animation shows him summoning a fiery dragon apparition that exhales streams of flame!
  • Goro, who casually rips a man in half as he walks into the fight if he's the second to talk.
  • Quan Chi carries the head of Moloch in some intros. In the original timeline, Moloch tortured the sorcerer alongside fellow Oni Drahmin.
  • Jason Voorhees pulls a knife out of his neck and throws it away if he's the second to "talk" while his other intro if he's the first has him dragging a dead teenager in with his machete.
  • The Predator and Xenomorph share an intro which is nothing but the two warriors drawing blades and roaring at each other.
  • The Predator performs a spine rip on the opponent and stores the skull in his ship if he does not perform a fatality.
  • One of the best intros has to be the one between Jason and Bo' Rai Cho. Keep in mind this is Bo' Rai Cho saying this.
    [Jason drags a dead teenager across the arena]
    Bo' Rai Cho: You have claimed your last victim!
• The X-Rays are more detailed in this game, gaining tons of "OUCH! Factor" points. Some examples:
  • Erron Black's is one of the most badass in the game: he fires a Marked Bullet at his opponent, which bounces around inside their body in a way that makes the JFK magic bullet theories look boring in comparison, breaking their hip, shoulder, and jaw all in one shot. And the bullet he saved just for Predator is marked "Ugly Mofo".
  • Raiden's is an epic reminder of just what the Thunder God is capable of- he sends them flying up into the sky, surrounded by storm clouds, shocks them in the back for a bit, then slams them all the way to the ground with a Bolt of Divine Retribution, before warping right underneath them and breaking their spine with his knee.
• The new Brutalities are...well, brutal, and a joy to watch (and even moreso to use). They also bring fights to a quick and climactic end. Just imagine the levels of hype in Tournament Play. Some examples:
  • The Kombat Kast for March 19 saw a thrilling back-and-forth between Kitana and Mileena that ended with Kitana suddenly cutting off Mileena's head after suffering an extended beatdown from her.
  • One of Quan Chi's is great: he opens a portal, shoves his opponent in, then does a Badass Arm-Fold as another portal opens above him and drenches him in the liquified remains of his opponent, topped off with his victim's head falling at his feet.
  • Sub-Zero finds a new use for his Ice Clones for one of his Brutalities: making them explode and having frozen shards tear into his victim like shrapnel. Then, just to top it off, have the victim's body slowly freeze over the next few seconds.
  • Jax has one where he shoots you midair... With a rocket launcher. Ludicrous Gibs ensues.
• And, of course, the Fatalities are as good as ever.
  • Sub-Zero's proves that even the klassics are still good in his new variation of his infamous "spine rip": he freezes a part of his victim's torso, punches a hole through them which exposes their spine, then grabs the spine, breaks it in two, then lifts his opponent overhead and breaks them in two.
  • Reptile's second Fatality is yet another wonderful spin on a klassic: he spits acid at his opponent's feet, and they start melting away. Before they completely dissolve, Reptile lashes out his tongue and makes a snack of his victim's head.
  • Erron Black's first Fatality: he shoots a hole in his victim's chest, throws a sand grenade into the new orifice, then shoots the grenade, causing sand to gush out the hole and blowing out their mouth, eyes, and ears, the sand blowing out of these myriad holes, burying them "alive".
  • Jason gets a nice Shout-Out to his sleeping bag kill with a fatality where he slams the opponent several times with their limbs breaking off with each hit, stopping when he's only holding their leg.
  • Mileena jumping on her opponent and savagely clawing at their torso, ripping them apart while they can only scream until their cries turn into a death rattle as blood fills their trachea, is very impressive (and a little nauseating) to watch.
• The fact that you can even kill Jason Voorhees is amazing. Seeing all the ways he can die after his years of killing defenseless teenagers is down right cathartic.
  • Speaking of catharsis value, you can give the Alien species a taste of its own medicine with D'Vorah's "Incubate" Brutality. Also vice versa, if you're not a D'Vorah fan.
• The Predator compatibility update added a secret Brutality for Erron Black. If you defeat the opponent with his X-Ray attack after landing 3 Tackles in a single round, the bullet will cause the opponent's head to explode, and you get a cool, dynamic view of their decapitated body slumping backwards onto the ground.
• Some pre-fight intros are pretty badass:
  • Johnny Cage vs. Shinnok:
  Shinnok: Do you really think you can defeat an Elder God?
  Johnny Cage: Former Elder God. And yes.
  Shinnok: Proceed.
  • And again:
  Johnny: Grandpa.
  Shinnok: I WILL RIP YOUR INSOLENT TONGUE FROM-
  Johnny: Yeah, yeah, shut up.
  • Mileena vs. Bo' Rai Cho:
  Mileena: Who disturbs the Empress?
  Bo' Rai Cho: The "Empress" is disturbed as is.
  Mileena: I WILL RIP OUT YOUR THROAT!

Story Mode and prequel comics

• Issue #1 has Kenshi and his son Takeda (then a child, whose mother has just being murdered) being chased by the Red Dragon. It seems that Hsu Hao's hordes were gaining the upper hand, not knowing that the Red Dragon was trespassing Shirai Ryu territory. Cue Scorpion first…
  Scorpion: GET OUT OF HERE!
  • …and the remaining Shirai Ryu latter:
  Scorpion: Last warning. GET OUT OF HERE!
• Issue #5 has Cassie vs. Frost: the latter, with a record of 21-0-21 (both 21 being "wins" and "fatalities"), has been dominating Cassie during the entirety of the match. So she decided to give her a "The Reason You Suck" Speech. Cue the retaliation:
  Cassie: Hate to disappoint you, Elsa, but like my "rich daddy" says, "you cannot fake a comeback".
• Issue #6 gives us Kotal Kahn's Rousing Speech:
  Kotal Kahn: Ages ago… the realm of Osh-Tekk was ruled by proud warriors. Helmed by my father, Kotal K'etz, we conquered all enemies. Growing so wealthy and powerful, we forgot the meaning of "defeat". Until the day we met Shao Kahn, emperor of Outworld and his champion Goro, prince of Shokan. I thought my father a coward that day…
  [Cut to dialogue]
  Shao Kahn: In recognition of your obedience and service to me, you may keep your treasure.
  Kotal Kahn: You sacrificed our peoples' dignity… for a gem?
  Kotal K'etz: It is not a gem. It is a portal stone. It is time for you to fulfill the rite of realmwalk. Survive the harsh Earthrealm atmosphere… and you inherit my helm.
  Kotal Kahn: What good is your helm? You just relinquished it to a conqueror.''
  Kotal K'etz: If you'll hear no other advice, hear this: the people of Earth are locked in eternal war. You are not ready to join their fight.
  [Cut to present]
  Kotal Kahn: Surviving in Earthrealm was daunting. When my legs would go no further, I reflected on my father's words: "You are not ready". Perhaps he was not warning me… but challenging me to conquer this place. I journeyed until I reached a land that reminded me of home… the Amazon. This tribe stood no chance against an Osh-Tekk warrior. I knew at a glance, as did they. By fate, I was not the only warrior they encountered that day. I was just the only warrior on their side. I reflected on my mission. What if I wasn't here to conquer… but to save this tribe, as my father could not save ours? My father had spoken true: war was constant for the tribe, against their own neighbors, and against the men from the sea. Forged by battle, I became more than a warrior. I was a god. I taught the tribe to conquer their foes in the Osh-Tekk way. In exchange, they gave me a new name: Buluc, the War God. But as their enemies dwindled, I grew restless. I elected to return to Outworld, expecting my father's pride.
  [Cut to past]
  Kotal K'etz: You have grown stronger, yet you disappoint.
  Kotal Kahn: Disappoint who, father? I protected the weak…
  Kotal K'etz: And you have doomed them! You are blind to the consequences of your actions. Return the portal stone to me—
  [Kotal Kahn punches a wall]
  Kotal Kahn: Forgive my anger. Keep your helm, father. Now that I have my own… I will never surrender it.
  [Cut to present]
  Kotal Kahn: I returned to my Amazon tribe… but they had fallen in my absence. We defeated the men from the sea, but I had never considered the enemies in their blood. That was long before Shao Kahn died and the mad empress, Mileena, drove Outworld to the brink of disaster. Before I deposed that illegitimate clone to restore the realm. Over the past decade, we have driven Mileena's forces deep underground. Her threat to our empire is so reduced, we barely sense it, we may even forget she's there. This was my father's lesson: even the mightiest warriors are defeated by the smallest threats. We will hunt Mileena and her co-conspirators… We will crush every rock they hide under… Until we eradicate all opposition to this empire… no matter how great or small!
• Kotal Kahn gets one in the comics when after his father's death he goes after the ones that killed him, Rain and Goro. He fries Rain with his sun powers and after a brief struggle with Goro, manages to tear of the Shokan's arms. When Goro begs Kotal to kill him the emperor responds with an Ironic Echo where he refuses to do so under Shokan tradition, something Goro had invoked to justify his betrayal.
• The following issue had Johnny Cage deactivating a tense standoff between Kotal Kahn's forces and the Special Forces after an enraged Sonya taking a SF team with her with all of the intentions of killing Kotal Kahn. In a series where misunderstandings are usually solved with violence, Johnny's goofy mediation managed to prevent a war between Earthrealm and a severely weakened Outworld without resorting to it. There's a reason, after all, of why Raiden chose him as Earthrealm's champion.
• In a later chapter, Cassie Cage finally gains her will to kill, and murders Mavado, with help from her friend Jacqui, before the Red Dragon clan can kidnap both of them. The best part? While Cassie had the heritage (by inheriting her father's powers) and Jacqui was an Olympic kickboxing champion, both of them never had been in a true combat situation. And this is way before they officially enter the Special Forces!
• Scorpion managing to overcome duels against Raiden and Sub-Zero, both being possessed by Havik in issues #10 and #14 and managing to de-infect them.
• The last issue of the chapter has Goro showing that even without his four arms, he's still a former champion of Mortal Kombat by beating the shit out of a Red Dragon member who insulted him with kicks and his race's trademark stomping move. He then convinces Daegon go make an alliance with him… by giving him Kenshi, whom he personally defeated and captured.
  • Goro's last scene is quite an achievement as Kenshi was strong enough to defeat Nightwolf and eventually Kabal years later and Goro was capable of defeating him with just his legs in spite of Shokan relying heavily on their four arms to fight.
• From Chapter 1 we have the first QTE, with Scorpion throwing his kunai-spear at Johnny Cage. How does Johnny respond when the prompt is hit? By catching Scorpion's spear out of the air and Shadow Kicking Scorpion away.
  Johnny Cage: Damn, I'm good!
  • The next prompt (when met) has Johnny pulling Scorpion over to him.
  • Later, Johnny is laying into Sub-Zero, he suddenly stops and finds that Scorpion is right behind him. Hit the button prompt and he whoops them two-on-one in three moves: elbows Scorpion, ball punches Sub-Zero and then slams theirs heads together, stunning Sub-Zero long enough for Kenshi to toss him out of the carrier.
    • It's even better when you remember that Johnny was the Butt-Monkey in the previous games while Scorpion and Sub-Zero were among the strongest characters. In just a few years, he Took a Level in Badass too many times to make child's play out of them before defeating them in single combat. For further examples, he easily moped the floor with Smoke (now Enenra) and then saved Sonya from a revenant Jax, incidentally avenging his defeat against him from the previous game.
    • Even the other characters in that chapters showed how badass they were. Raiden and Fujin go Bash Brothers against Shinnok's forces, even defeating a team of revenants that consisted of Quan Chi, Stryker, Kabal and Sndel. Similarly, Kenshi fights against Nightwolf and defeated him in an Offscreen Momentof Awesome. Considering that Nightwolf killed Sindel when she was empowered and killing his fellow Earthrealm warriors at the cost of his own life, Kenshi's victory against him is pretty impressive.
  • When Shinnok attacked the downed Sonya, Johnny, coated with his green shadow energy, dives in front of the blast… and No Sells it!
  • Johnny going toe-to-toe with Shinnok and beating him by effortlessly winging his amulet using his foot to Raiden. Yes, a mere (though empowered) mortal defeating a (fallen) Elder God.
• In Sonya's chapter, we see during a flashback how she pays Johnny back for saving her life from Shinnok; after Johnny is stabbed through the chest by the corrupted Jax, Sonya beats down her old CO. While Raiden casts a spell to prevent Johnny from also turning into a revanant, Sonya keeps Quan Chi from interfering. She not only beats the necromancer, but to sever Quan Chi's mental link, Sonya gives him what has to be the most satisfying beatdown QTE in the game, stomping on Quan Chi's head and then finishing him off with a stomp to the nuts that Johnny would be proud of.
  • Even better is that Sonya shows that she also Took a Level in Badass when she fights at Quan Chi's lair. The fight starts with Scorpion and Quan Chi teaming up on her, only for Sonya to knock the sorcerer aside and then face Scorpion in a one on one fight, in the Netherrealm, where he gets stronger due to Home Field Advantage and win.
    • Johnny also shows that he is still a badass, easily handling Jax and Sub-Zero, to the point on which the latter preferred to fight Sonya over Johnny in spite of having Jax as an ally. Sonya then proceeds to make short work of him. Finally, Johnny actually beats Jax again…the only reason Jax nearly killed him was because Johnny lowered his guard when he thought the fight was over.
    • Quan Chi shows some Villainous Valor when he attacks Raiden and prepares to fight him as he tries to save Johnny's life. As weak as he may be in this timeline, that sure is brave of him despite his reputation as a coward.
  • Sonya later beats the piss and the smugness out of Kano, and she very nearly chokes the life out of him with her bare hands after he implicitly threatens Cassie. Not even something as swift as a Fatality either—she is literally choking him to death, agonizingly slowly, for over thirty seconds. One of the most arrogant, persistent villains in the franchise is reduced to bargaining for his life and trying to breathe at the same time, and it very nearly doesn't work. It takes Johnny Cage to talk Sonya down by telling her not to do things she knows she'd regret, but it's still very satisfying to watch her put a treacherous scumbag like Kano in his place. Also, Kano finally seems to be behind bars, his Karma Houdini Warranty finally expired.
• In Chapter 8, Jackson "Jax" Briggs is back in the game. After a little visit from Sonya, he decides to help the squad tasked with capturing Quan Chi. Not only does he mow through the revenants, but he kicks Sindel's ass along the way. Yeah, the Shang Tsung-empowered Sindel, the one who killed him and 6 of his allies back in the previous games. And after that he dodges/deflects Liu Kang's Fireballs, closing in on him and Quan Chi. After that, he proceeds to rightfully uppercut Quan Chi, knocking the sorcerer out cold. The best part is that, while Jax was capable of doing all of this, he was also facing his fears and the source of his trauma in order to make it a little heartwarming as well, not to mention the interaction between him and Jacqui at the start of the chapter. And he also stood up for Raiden's actions in the past despite it was something of Raiden's fault.
  • Another example, surprisingly enough, is failing his QTE. With the other kombatants (barring Sonya), this leads to them getting their asses kicked. With Jax? He simply tanks Liu Kang's Fireballs like they're nothing and proceeds to fight him afterwards!.
  • An earlier one in a Noodle Incident mentions that Jax broke Johnny's jaw when he heard about Jacqui enlisting in Special Forces. While this is taken as a funny memory, it is an amazing feat considering how easily Johnny kicked his ass a revenant twice and Jax had retired from fighting after his resurrection. It looks like being a Papa Wolf more than makes up for retirement.
• In Chapter 9, Scorpion and Sub-Zero finally bury the hatchet (and not in each other's backs) after they are freed from Quan Chi's sorcery, with Sub-Zero extending an olive branch to a reluctant Scorpion after discovering Quan Chi's complicity in the Shirai Ryu's extermination. What follows not long after is a long-overdue No-Holds-Barred Beatdown against the one truly responsible for his clan and family's demise. Also consider this: Quan Chi has been known to be a proud owner of Karma Houdini. Scorpion would have none of that shit, tore his warranty and killed him on the spot. Maybe at least he and everyone in this timeline will be finally free of one gigantic Manipulative Bastard with the tenacity of a cockroach…
  • Not to mention how he killed Quan Chi. He was so hellbent on killing him, that even after D'Vorah stabs him, Quan Chi finds himself with a kunai in the back and Scorpion shouting "GET OVER HERE!" before delivering the coup de grace. If not for the fact he damns the rest of the revenant kombatants and indirectly freeing Shinnok, this would be the biggest CMOA in MKX.
  • And before that, he gives Quan Chi the much-needed Shut Up, Hannibal! treatment he deserves by first giving him the stiff backhand he sorely deserved, then retorts the sorcerer's calling him "Scorpion" with a mighty bellow of "My name… is HANZO HASASHI!"
    • Even if you're not a Scorpion fan, after all the years and all the games of him being just an undead monster seeking vengeance, having him back as the living Hanzo Hasashi and rebuilding his clan is a trifecta of awesome, heartwarming and tearjerker. Also, after the years of their rivalries being ignited again and again, Sub-Zero and Scorpion finally making honest peace and respecting each other as fellow Earthrealm warriors is another trifecta.
    • Or, to put it another wat; after almost a quarter of a century and God only knows how many games and spinoffs, Hanzo Hasashi finally, finally has his bloody vengeance.
• In Chapter 11, Jacqui lays the beatdown on Ermac, somewhat avenging the loss of her father's arms at the hands of the soul construct.
  • Just moments after Kotal Kahn and his army kill the team, Sub-Zero comes out of nowhere and freezes Ferra/Torr and a couple of soldiers before his Lin Kuei push back the Outworld invaders. He even takes a moment to compliment Cassie and her squad before casually walk into the battle with a face that means serious business. Kuai Lang does not even say he'll slow Kotal down, he clearly states he will push him back like there is no way the Lin Kuei will lose.
• Chapter 12 has two:
  • The first is a reprise of the ending of Chapter 1 with Cassie Cage managing to coat herself with the same green energy which allowed her father to save her mother and taking a full shot from Shinnok's Corrupted form. Then proceeding to beat said NR demon.
  Johnny: And to think I was worried when you started dating.
  Cassie: Afraid that I come with someone like you?
  Johnny: Funny… beautiful… saved the world. My work here is done.
  • The second, just right after that scene, is Raiden sacrificing his "good" self in order to cleanse the Jinsei from Shinnok's corruption. Like in the past MK games, he's the one to save the day, the world and everyone's lives. Not to mention reducing Shinnok to a bare head.
• The Stinger has Dark!Raiden give a grave warning to the new Netherrealm rulers Liu Kang and Kitana, telling them that threatening Earthrealm WILL have consequences. Severe ones. He makes damn clear to them that scum threatening his world will NOT be tolerated on his watch, and to prove his point, he presents them the severed, still-living head of Shinnok.
  Raiden: Too long have I allowed Earthrealm to endure the horrors of war. Time and again we've defeated our enemies, but we've exacted no retribution. Demanded no remuneration. What have we gained for our mercy? More intrigue. More senseless violence! As the new rulers of the Netherrealm, heed me! No longer will I simply defend Earthrealm. I will seek out and destroy all who threaten it. No mercy will be shown, no quarter given!
  (Raiden tosses Shinnok's still living head out of the satchel he was carrying with him. Shinnok sputters ineffectively.)
  Raiden: Shinnok was an Elder God, impossible to kill. There are fates worse than death. (warps out, leaving Liu Kang and Kitana to contemplate this warning)
• In the new continuity, Johnny Cage has only canonically used his supernatural powers in one fight in his entire life; 30 years fighting gods and monsters without any supernatural powers, high technology or even basic weapons, just world-class martial arts.
  • The one fight he did use his powers in? Against Shinnok, the Physical God, less than one minute after finding out he had them. Beat him to a pulp, too. Seeing his kid take down Shinnok in the same way must make him a proud dad.

Other

• While everyone gets this in one form or another in their arcade mode endings, special mention should go to the Predator and Tremor;
  • The Predator realizes that the application of the powers of sorcery could make him an even deadlier hunter than before, and after analyzing Shinnok's amulet he decides to put his new powers to good use. He winds up being a force of death and destruction that can decimate entire planets, and thus making him not just The Predator, but The Apex Predator.
  • Tremor, forever the Ensemble Dark Horse, manages to harness the powers of the Dream Realm and become an Earth Elemental, a demigod along the lines of Raiden and Fujin. For a guy who was just a bonus character in two games, this is a HUMONGOUS step up.
• The trailer for Kombat Pack 2 has dropped. The four new characters? Bo Rai Cho, Cyborg Hybrid, Leatherface, and the Xenomorph. Wanna have a fight between Jason and Leatherface? Go nuts. Recreate AVP: Alien vs. Predator? Go. Fucking. Crazy.
• Let's talk about Triborg. In the reveal, it is seen taking Sektor's head from the Lin Kuei temple and assimilating kombat data. Know what this means? Sektor is coming back, but because of the Variation system, it copies Cyrax and Smoke as well! Furthermore, the Kombat Pack 2 gameplay trailer confirms that all three cyborgs are returning as one character. Each stance is dedicated to each cyborg while their fatalities have the trio gang up on their target. So you can have any cyborg of your choice take on the creature who inspired their designs AND get to see Cyber-Smoke's new moveset which combines the new attacks his human form received in 9 with the Sektor/Scorpion moveset hybrid from 3. And if that wasn't enough, Kombat Kast #16: "The Cyber Initiative" confirmed that the three of them only share a few brutalities and the finishers, meaning that we indeed have Smoke, Cyrax and Sektor as individual characters instead of a cyborg with some features from each of the previous cyborgs. And if that isn't enough, the end of the stream shows that EVEN CYBER SUB-ZERO IS IN. Collective "HELL YEAH" anyone?
• The sheer amount of variations in the game. There are 33 playable characters in the game (including DLC) and each one has 3 variations. Do the math and that makes a total of 99 variations and 99 different movesets! With Cyber Sub-Zero being included, that makes a grand total of 100!
• A minor one for Erron Black. His intro quote to the Xenomorph is "Haven't seen one of your kind in a while." He's faced a Xenomorph before and lived to tell the tale.
  • Since he has a bullet addressed to a certain "Ugly Mofo", he's faced down the likes of Predators before as well. And knew that they'd come for him again eventually.
• The "Carl Weathers as Jax" costume paints a triumphant What If? for the original Predator film where Dillon survived having his arm blown off and was rebuilt as an anti-Yautja combat cyborg.

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