New MK to feature 60 fighters

By Ellie Gibson Published 16 January, 2006

And overhauled gameplay.

The latest instalment in the Mortal Kombat series will feature at least 60 playable characters plus a host of exciting new features, according to US magazine Game Informer.

Word is that "all the characters from Mortal Kombat fighting history" will turn up in Mortal Kombat: Armageddon, and the fighter selection screen will be so huge you'll have to rotate it around to view the lot of them. According to Game Informer, Motaro might not make an appearance, however.

You'll also be able to create your own customised fighter, and there will be some significant overhauls to the gameplay. The Fatality system, for example, is set to be completely "reinvented" - though there's no details of how exactly just yet.

The game will also feature an Air Combo system that lets you put combos together while your character is jumping around the place, and you'll be able to direct throws so enemies land exactly where you want them to. As a result, deathtraps will be easier to organise and deadlier than ever. And finally, we're told that the Konquest mode is being built around the Shaolin Monks engine.

Mortal Kombat: Armageddon is due out on PS2 and Xbox this October in the US, with a European release likely to follow by Christmas.

Picture of Ellie.

About Ellie Gibson

Since joining Eurogamer in the mid 2000s, Ellie has written about subjects as diverse as the fall of Gizmondo, the rise of Hollyoaks actresses in Red Alert games and the noise a bear makes under NSFW circumstances.

Read more articles from Ellie by visiting the Ellie Gibson archive page.

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Comments (23) Latest comment 6 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • jonnyreb #1 6 years ago

    Finding it hard to get excited about another chapter in the MK saga.......I can already guess that it will get 6/10 (ie mediocre).

  • knif3r #2 6 years ago

    Deception was good - but only for Puzzle Kombat

  • BrutusBF #3 6 years ago

    I want more 2D fighters!
    I never got into the whole 3D fighter thing.
    More Street Fighter and King Of Fighters please!

  • space_ace #4 6 years ago

    +1 for having liu kang

  • Lagto_Soa #5 6 years ago

    -1 for each palette-swap character.

  • The-Bodybuilder #6 6 years ago

    to many fighters spoilt the something......

  • SeesThroughAll #7 6 years ago

    It will surely be fun, but hopefully the last MK game ever. Enough is enough.

  • TurdBreaker #8 6 years ago

    If it's a return to MKII then yahoo!!! I'm anxious..

    But it won't be -- it will be an extension on the 3d craze of fighting games...

    I still remember when MK1 hit the arcades and that blew me away - still love it. And MKII was just as good as a stunning game. Then it all went downhill with MK3 and on...

    Sadly, I cant see this being any different... :(

  • Blerk #9 6 years ago

    Meh-ality!

  • Glitch #10 6 years ago

    BrutusBF says:
    "I want more 2D fighters!
    I never got into the whole 3D fighter thing.
    More Street Fighter and King Of Fighters please!"

    Go buy a SNES...
    Next Gen consoles are being released and built and the comments people are giving are "I want more 2D fighters"?? Game developers just cannot win!

  • dbeamish #11 6 years ago

    Glitch said:
    Go buy a SNES...
    Next Gen consoles are being released and built and the comments people are giving are "I want more 2D fighters"?? Game developers just cannot win!

    Or wait for a Rev and jsut download them all via the back catalogue system ;)
    Edited by 1 at 16/01/06 @ 12:48

  • kincaide #12 6 years ago

    I'm still plugging away on the recent DS release - some of the missions are a bit of a bugger. I'm finding it quite hard getting triple stars on even the level 1 group of missions. My time trials are getting better, plus I've completed all the Grand Prix - including the Mirror Mode....

    .....oh hang on - this isn't MK!!!!!

  • Ryu #13 6 years ago

    "But it won't be -- it will be an extension on the 3d craze of fighting games... "

    3d fighting games arent a craze, it is an established genre. you make it sound as if 3d fighting games going to disappear or something.

  • SeesThroughAll #14 6 years ago

    ".....oh hang on - this isn't MK!!!!!"
    LOL

  • kangarootoo #15 6 years ago

    Is it really that important whether a game is 2D or 3D? Isn't it just an art style decision?

  • Milbe #16 6 years ago

    Kangaroo, it should be, but due to financing issues, it never will.

    I can imagine some HD 2D graphics combined with 3D next-gen backgrounds to make a game with style. Not rehashed MK5 engine again and again...
    Edited by 1 at 16/01/06 @ 13:18

  • Darren #17 6 years ago

    Deceptions was the best game to date but that's not saying much as the series has always lagged a long way behind all the others in my opinion: Tekken, Virtua Fighter, Dead Or Alive, SoulCalibur are all much better franchises than Mortal Kombat.

  • Milbe #18 6 years ago

    That is probably the problem with MK. It wants to be like the other fighters, though it should not.

    MK should turn into something original, like MK1 was back then. (I hate myself for wishful thinking)

  • valli #19 6 years ago

    60 new fighters? What about the other classes, like Ninjas, Magicians and Soldiers? What about new vehicles and buildings??

    .....oh hang on - this isn't MK!!!!!

    :D

  • BrutusBF #20 6 years ago

    @Glitch

    2D fighters are so much better!
    I've never played a 3D fighter with as much control or playability as the 2D ones.

    And game developers will win with me if they release more of them. :-)

    It's a different type of fighting game and shouldn't be dropped just because 3D ones can now be made because of better technology.

    Should all 2D puzzle games be in 3D now and all 2D ones dropped just because of technology?

  • Freek #21 6 years ago

    It's not technology, it's gamer demand. People want to play 2D puzzle games, but the same isn't true of 2D fighting games, they're just not popular anymore.

  • Jimmy__Fury #22 6 years ago

    Too many fighters spoil the balance. Some characters are going to be ridiculously overpowered. Some are going to be (MK is notorious for this...) palette swaps. The graphics will no doubt be dated. The gameplay will not be up to the standards of almost any other fighter. And fatalities lack any shock value anymore, in a world of gaming which includes things like Grand Theft Auto.

    I'd love this game to be magnificent, and recapture what made MK2 so great, but sorry guys, its not gonna happen... I've always been a fan of the series too. Mortal Kombat was a product of the times, and great in its heyday, but thats now passed. The market has moved on (MK was basically the only rival to Street Fighter at the time... now we have so, so many fighting games). In this regard, I completely agree with the poster who said that MK needs to utterly reinvent itself if it wants to be relevant again.
    Edited by 1 at 17/01/06 @ 00:54

  • Genji #23 6 years ago

    The only thing that made MK a "rival" to Street Fighter was the blood. That's it. Now that blood is passe, games need to have at least a passable fighting system to succeed.