Shang Tsung is one controversial character. I remembered one of the reasons why Mortal Kombat was rightfully bashed was due to the lack of balance. One of them happened to be where Shang Tsung who started out as the FINAL BOSS of the first game became a playable character along with Reptile. Reptile was given his own moves and was toned down. However, Shang Tsung wasn't exactly toned down. Sure, Shang Tsung's fireballs were now less damaging but one attribute made him that OP - it's the fact he could morph into ANY playable character. That imbalance just got worse during the PSX's version of MK Trilogy where bosses were playable. Fortunately, it came with a price that there was the lag.
The 3D era of MK just gave a better balance by removing the morphs altogether since MKDA except for the crap handheld version. The morph ability, however, was somewhat returned in MK9. The boss version of Shang Tsung could morph into any character at will but NOT Shang Tsung as a playable character. What was the best compromise? Shang Tsung could only morph into the opponent AND he could only do so using the Soul Steal move. Also, the duration was only about 8-10 seconds before Shang Tsung returned back to normal. That means you had to make sure that you knew how to use your opponent's character even before you attempt the Soul Steal move! Though the Soul Steal move didn't really make you play as the bosses against them - you still had a damage boost. Though I wish the Arcade Shang Tsung didn't do the random morphing - it was just SO ANNOYING!
MK11 did give Shang Tsung two ways to morph. The first default variation was through the Soul Steal move. The second default variation had him accessing the moves of other palette-swap ninjas. That means you saw Shang Tsung perform different moves that turned him into different ninjas while doing the move. It was quite similar to what happened to Chameleon in MK Armageddon - a game that I don't play anymore due to how garbage it was.
So how did Shang Tsung do the moves of other characters? By default, his shape-shifting is just like Mystique. He can only copy the form but not the moves. However, when he absorbs certain souls - he also learns certain abilities. For instance, he can use a freeze move with Sub-Zero's form since he's stolen the soul of an unknown Cyromancer, or that he could use Scorpion's spear since he also stole the soul of a Shirai Ryu member. Without the souls, his shapeshifting is just simply cosmetic the same way that Mystique's powers work in the X-Men franchise.
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