Remember When Mortal Kombat Was Scary?

Comments · 1.4K

• GA

  @galanga21890 · 1 year ago

  modern MK is still scary tbf. the fact that Khaos Reigns' script made it past the drafting stage in that state is frightening in and of itself.

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• AR

  @Arceus5555 · 1 year ago

  Old Mortal Kombat’s horror is way overlooked. As a child, that combination between real photos, digital animation, and especially the claymation characters depicting this forbidden martial arts freaked me the fuck out. I remember the Baraka MK2 finisher being particularly terrifying to me. Seeing the way he just stares into your character’s eyes as a he stabs them instead of doing something flashy or crazy felt weirdly real to me when I was first playing.

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• 3L

  @3LaxWithDax · 1 year ago

  Midway MK - Gothic<br>NRS MK - Fantasy

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• WH

  @whyareyoureadingmynickname8158 · 1 year ago

  The moment that really shattered the mysticism and horror of MK for me was when, in MKX, Johnny and Sonya and later Jax and Kenshi just casually walked into Netherrealm with their soldiers and nothing happened to them. Compare it to the old Netherrealm, dark and eldritch place where only those with tainted souls and borderline evil people could enter and survive, which is why Sub Zero being able to survive there was a big deal in &quot;Mythologies&quot;. Heck, there were even parts of it that demons were afraid to go into, making you wonder what kind of horror resides there. <br><br>Now, it&apos;s just another place that you can just casually stroll in. There is nothing mystic, intriguing or scary about it. It&apos;s residents, who are supposed to be super powerful just kept jobbing to good guys - Quan Chi, Noob Saibot, revenants, Oni and other demons, even Scorpion became punching bag after his MK9 chapter and prior to his restoration. And don&apos;t even get me started on Shinnok being defeated by teenage girl thanks to the power of love. I find it ironic that Netherrealm got so butchered given that company&apos;s name is NETHERREALM studios.

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• FL

  @FlymanMS · 1 year ago (edited)

  Another thing that made classic MK games scary was the sound. The yells, grunts and terrified screams of the fighters was just the right amount of intense, funny and chilling. Same goes for the sounds of punches and spells, and boy how great and scary-like the music was.

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• -C

  @-castradomis-1773 · 1 year ago

  OG MK2 was a very dark game. The tone, backgrounds, soundtrack, the violence. It was the game steeped the deepest into that dark supernatural east Asian aesthetic.

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• IN

  @IndigoPhoenix21 · 1 year ago

  The Midway era of MK was definitely scary, and so much has been lost in the series since then. The atmosphere, the music (I can barely remember any tracks after Deception because they lack flair), the aesthetic, everything looks and feels much darker and the minimum detail of both the stages and the lore (in comparison to later games) left a lot to your imagination, questions that may never be answered. The universe of MK felt huge and unknown in an almost Lovecraftian way. There are things to like about the later games, but they have yet to recapture the energy of the OG games.<br><br><br>Also, gonna throw Eternal Champions in here because it never gets enough love, especially the first one. The story, the stages, &nbsp;the tracks, engaging and scary.

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• MA

  @MannerdDesert7 · 1 year ago

  Mortal Kombat has definitely lost its identity without its Dark Fantasy/Horror Aesthetic, even MK4 which looked the goofiest still had that atmosphere.<br>My favourite MK is probably Deadly Alliance, one of my favourite parts about that game besides that atmosphere is that not all of the endings are happy, i Remember the first time i beat it i played as scorpion &amp; instead of scorpion beating the deadly alliance he&apos;s defeated by the Oni &amp; thrown into a soul tornado where his body is ripped apart, at that point i knew deadly alliance was my kind of game.

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• SO

  @SOBEKCrocodileGod · 1 year ago

  MK Armageddon menu ambience was kinda unsettling for real. Like I genuinely didn’t like to stay on that menu for long.

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• VE

  @Vetbro1 · 1 year ago

  MK3 atmosphere scared me as a kid. I always wondered why the spaces were so empty. The graveyard stage gave me the creeps!

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• JA

  @Jasonv078 · 1 year ago

  Indeed MK had that macabre feel and atmosphere, the imagery and the music contributed a lot to that, especially from MK to MK Deception.

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• GE

  @GetWellSoonR.E.M. · 1 year ago

  I personally think the spookiest 3D era game was Shaolin Monks. Traveling to the netherrealm was always so unsettling for me as a kid. Being forced into Kung Lao and Liu Kang’s perspectives as shaolin monks who had to face horrific monsters from these worlds was scary as hell.

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