Sean Akizuki's Fantasy Critic

While I'm waiting for my PS3 version of Mortal Kombat X (which I assume Netherrealm will focus on PS4 soon which is quite understandable), I have observed the existence of Stage Brutalities.  I don't really know if this will really appeal to everyone but let's take a look at what we've gotten as of late.  I think the delay has to do with trying to make sure PS3 owners will get a proper send-off before they will inevitably have to buy the PS4 but hey, I am in no hurry!  Just me crossing my fingers for the release of Mortal Kombat X which I hope will happen with Fall as the latest because the delay got too long and Ed Boon wasn't happy with it either. The Stage Brutalities are an instant kill on the stage which instead of waiting for "Finish Him/Her", you can kill an opponent the moment the life bar is flashing like the Ultra Combo in Killer Instinct.  Unlike Killer Instinct, you don't need to do a heavy hitting combo to send them to their deaths ...

Playing through Mortal Kombat Deception up to Mortal Kombat (2011), I started to think of how Liu Kang ended up becoming like... That's right, Evil Ryu!  During the time he appeared in Mortal Kombat Deception as a vengeful corpse (other half) and his soul (other half), I always felt like there was some inner evil in him.  Unfortunately this struggle would soon be carried over even to the next life.  I was thinking did him beating Shinnok way back in his past life also create the taint in the next life?  It's not yet known nor confirmed if his encounter with Shinnok really destroyed his soul. During Mortal Kombat (2011), the reincarnated Liu Kang showed a darker side.  I always felt like that while Liu Kang started as a Bruce Lee inspired character, he instead became a Chinese version of Ryu .  After he saw Kung Lao die at Shao Kahn's hands during the Outworld Tournament, he revealed inner rage which continuously built up.  Heck, he even soon...

I always had my fetish for a Batman/Poison Ivy fan pairing of sorts where Batman must struggle against a lust on Poison Ivy. Batman is no self-righteous villain like Dom Claude Frollo. The whole setting would have Batman struggling with his role as a punisher of the wicked while Poison Ivy has truly cast a spell upon him. So it had me thinking what if Poison Ivy's kiss on Batman actually had cast a spell so dangerous, Batman fears the end of him has come because he's now lusting after Poison Ivy? Batman is a vigilante and anti-hero. He keeps the city safe. He would be a righteous version of Dom Claude Frollo, but a much younger version of the villain. Like Frollo, he has fallen into the dilemma of falling for a woman he believes would bring to his doom. He is now in a dilemma unlike any before and it's Poison Ivy. Just one kiss was enough to bring Batman to a serious psychological dilemma. I can view Poison Ivy as a twisted version of Esmeralda. Esmeralda in the novel...

When I think of Ferra/Torr the whole duo is not anything so new but it is among the list of unusual playable characters.  You might consider some past video game characters or two, Master and Blaster from the Mad Max movie.  For me, the duo reminds me of Luna and Amok in the Thundercats series considering Ferra is a female and Torr is a male. Chang is a playable character in King of Fighters where he had his tiny partner Choi who he can use as an assist partner in Capcom vs. SNK 2 though back then, Choi was just a spectator.  The concept was also used in Marvel vs. Capcom where Megaman had Rush all the time in battle.  Though the whole similarity is with Chang and Choi since Choi was the the brain, Chang was the brute force and main player and the same can be said for Ferra/Torr.  Torr is the main player while Ferra rides on his back, she's not even killed during the time fatalities are done on the opponents.

Knowing Ed Boon is a Tekken fan, it can be seen how Mortal Kombat developed throughout the years. Just think of how Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance entered into the 3D Plane like Tekken did. But the most blatant example of Ed Boon's favoritism for Tekken was in Mortal Kombat Deception with Onaga. You might remember Onaga in Mortal Kombat Deception looked like... True Ogre. In Deception, Onaga had some moves similar to True Ogre like the flame breathe or both could fly. Ed Boon's favoritism of Tekken didn't really stop with the PS2... you might as well observe how Sonya Blade in Mortal Kombat (2011) looks more like Nina Williams. Or in Mortal Kombat vs. DC, notice how every character has a one button per limb attack system... which is taken from TEKKEN itself. When I was discussing with my friends, all they said was, "Woah he looks like True Ogre!"

Mortal Kombat had the enigmatic character known as "The One Being" who was first mentioned in Mortal Kombat Deception. Although he was mentioned, he never became a full character and remained a background character like Jerrod (Sindel's husband and Kitana's biological father), King Gorbak (Goro's father) and the Elder Gods. In Taoist cosmology, there is the first conscious being known as Pangu. In the ancient Chinese creation myths, Pangu was born from a giant cosmic egg. He saw the importance of splitting the Earth from the Sky. Later, his decayed body soon formed the Universe itself. The creation of the Universe and all the realms was a result of Pangu's death after 18,000 years. Out from his body were born the realms. Doesn't that sound like the One Being in Mortal Kombat?

I do acknowledge that Robocop came first before Jiban and Janperson, one can still think of how Robocop's spirit was kept in both shows. I'd discuss about Jiban which came in 1989 and Janperson which came in 1994. First, let's discuss Mobile Cop Jiban. I remembered how IBC-13 called him as the "Japanese Robocop" which it was partially right. The story of Jiban had its hero Naoto Tamura a rookie cop who got killed by the Biorons. Naoto Tamura like Alex Murphy gets revived as a cyborg by Dr. Kenzo Igarashi known as Mobile Cop Jiban. Unlike Robocop, he could actually revert back to his original identity and only a few people know the truth that he's really the cyborg hero known as Jiban. Unlike Robocop, the sci-fi element was taken to a whole new level. Jiban only fought one organization known as the Biorons, which misused biotechnology for their selfish means. Its leader Dr. Giba was planning to take over Japan with his Bioron monsters. However there was ...

Goro is back and he's playable (via download) in Mortal Kombat X!  Now some people are saying, "Ed Boon caught Corporate Commander's disease!" when he made Goro DLC only.  Back in Mortal Kombat (2011), Goro was playable in Level 150 of the Challenge Tower and he can't jump and he was an incomplete character... but he was very hugely damaging.  Now let's go back to some Goro gameplay in the past. Now do you remember Mortal Kombat Trilogy when you could play as Goro in Playstation 1/Sega Saturn/PC versions?  Goro was super cheap as a character but not as cheap as Kintaro (who can teleport stomp) while he didn't but he did render huge damage.  Motaro and Shao Kahn were also playable with super huge damage.  However in Mortal Kombat 4/Gold, Goro was basically powered down that while he was still a tough opponent, he wasn't all that tough nor were his damage points that big.  He wasn't all that difficult to defeat in Armageddon neither was his damage...