Introduction
Mortal Kombat has had a long history in video games and pop culture. Starting with the 1992 release of Mortal Kombat on Arcades around the world, Mortal Kombat has become one of the top and most memorable fighting game franchises in the world. The impact of Mortal Kombat is still felt to this day, from its use of extreme graphical violence, which in turn created the ESRB rating system in the United State, to being one of the first games to use motion capture of people to be used as in-game characters, this franchise has been detrimental in shaping how video games today are created as well as influenced in culture in general.
But Mortal Kombat has not been without its failure too. From the terrible reception of Mortal Kombat Annihilation in the cinemas to the 3D era of video games, Mortal Kombat is no stranger to missing a few steps. So in that vein, we are going to take a look back into Mortal Kombat history and list 10 of the worst characters that have come from the minds of Midway & NeitherRealm Studios.
Mortal Kombat has had a long history in video games and pop culture. Starting with the 1992 release of Mortal Kombat on Arcades around the world, Mortal Kombat has become one of the top and most memorable fighting game franchises in the world. The impact of Mortal Kombat is still felt to this day, from its use of extreme graphical violence, which in turn created the ESRB rating system in the United State, to being one of the first games to use motion capture of people to be used as in-game characters, this franchise has been detrimental in shaping how video games today are created as well as influenced in culture in general.
But Mortal Kombat has not been without its failure too. From the terrible reception of Mortal Kombat Annihilation in the cinemas to the 3D era of video games, Mortal Kombat is no stranger to missing a few steps. So in that vein, we are going to take a look back into Mortal Kombat history and list 10 of the worst characters that have come from the minds of Midway & NeitherRealm Studios.
10. Kurtis Stryker
It would be no surprise that Stryker makes a list of the worst Mortal Kombat characters. Since his introduction in Mortal Kombat 3, Stryker has been the character people have always asked "why?" when thinking about his inclusion. In a world full of gods, demons, monsters, ninjas, and more, why would a street cop think he could do anything of damage in this type of world, let alone the Mortal Kombat tournament. Luckily for Stryker, there have been a lot more bad decisions when it comes to characters in the Mortal Kombat franchise, plus his change in Mortal Kombat (2011) to a more hard-hitting street cop with some awesome moves really helped lower his bad character standing over the years.
It would be no surprise that Stryker makes a list of the worst Mortal Kombat characters. Since his introduction in Mortal Kombat 3, Stryker has been the character people have always asked "why?" when thinking about his inclusion. In a world full of gods, demons, monsters, ninjas, and more, why would a street cop think he could do anything of damage in this type of world, let alone the Mortal Kombat tournament. Luckily for Stryker, there have been a lot more bad decisions when it comes to characters in the Mortal Kombat franchise, plus his change in Mortal Kombat (2011) to a more hard-hitting street cop with some awesome moves really helped lower his bad character standing over the years.
9. Geras
If there is anything I hate about video games is that sometimes there are characters put into the game just to be frustrating, and Geras is one of the newest examples of this. Geras was invented to be annoying and just piss people off through the story mode of Mortal Kombat 11. Being nothing more than a literal mountain to put in the path of players to stop them from progressing too fast through the story mode, Geras works your last nerve by having "Super Armor" that absorbs a hit before anything can hit, something that is usually reserved for cheap boss characters like Shao Khan. However, Geras is a normal character who has no reason to have this ability other than to piss you off, and he doesn't have it when you play as him which makes it even worse.
If there is anything I hate about video games is that sometimes there are characters put into the game just to be frustrating, and Geras is one of the newest examples of this. Geras was invented to be annoying and just piss people off through the story mode of Mortal Kombat 11. Being nothing more than a literal mountain to put in the path of players to stop them from progressing too fast through the story mode, Geras works your last nerve by having "Super Armor" that absorbs a hit before anything can hit, something that is usually reserved for cheap boss characters like Shao Khan. However, Geras is a normal character who has no reason to have this ability other than to piss you off, and he doesn't have it when you play as him which makes it even worse.
8. Kobra
Do you know what makes some fighting games worth playing? Parody characters. With a good parody character, like Dan in Street Fighter, for example, you can troll other players and be seen as a good player who has enough skill to overcome the handicap that usually comes with playing a parody character. However, Kobra is not a good parody character. Given that Kobra is meant to be a parody of Ken from Street Fighter (Kobra's placeholder name was Ken Masters, same as the Street Fighter character), he is a really bad version of all the Shotokan fighters from a far superior game. It would be understandable that Midway would make their parody of their biggest rival weak as hell, but Kobra is so weak that he is completely unfun to play, not even worthy of trolling with.
Do you know what makes some fighting games worth playing? Parody characters. With a good parody character, like Dan in Street Fighter, for example, you can troll other players and be seen as a good player who has enough skill to overcome the handicap that usually comes with playing a parody character. However, Kobra is not a good parody character. Given that Kobra is meant to be a parody of Ken from Street Fighter (Kobra's placeholder name was Ken Masters, same as the Street Fighter character), he is a really bad version of all the Shotokan fighters from a far superior game. It would be understandable that Midway would make their parody of their biggest rival weak as hell, but Kobra is so weak that he is completely unfun to play, not even worthy of trolling with.
7. Jacqui Briggs
These next two entries basically have the same problem: They are Next Generation replacement characters. Jacqui Briggs is just her Father, Jax, as a younger female version of the exact same character. Jacqui doesn't bring anything new to the series other than being "The new Briggs character" for the other characters to work with during the events of Mortal Kombat X. All the young new characters just come off as lazy, written to remove old characters so they can use the same move set, or a familiar name, to please the Gen-Z crowd, giving them someone to connect with. This is made even worse in Mortal Kombat 11 where Jacqui's whole story revolves around her troubled relationship with Jax and how different the generations are in mindset. A waste of a roster slot.
These next two entries basically have the same problem: They are Next Generation replacement characters. Jacqui Briggs is just her Father, Jax, as a younger female version of the exact same character. Jacqui doesn't bring anything new to the series other than being "The new Briggs character" for the other characters to work with during the events of Mortal Kombat X. All the young new characters just come off as lazy, written to remove old characters so they can use the same move set, or a familiar name, to please the Gen-Z crowd, giving them someone to connect with. This is made even worse in Mortal Kombat 11 where Jacqui's whole story revolves around her troubled relationship with Jax and how different the generations are in mindset. A waste of a roster slot.
6. Cassic Cage
Take everything I said about Jacqui Briggs in the previous entry, and place it here for Cassie Cage. A next-generation character who comes off even worse than all the others because she becomes the protagonist of the whole story when it comes to Mortal Kombat X, in a story where NeitherRealm somehow took the joke that was Johnny Cage and made him into someone actually worth giving a shit about. However, they then go and blow all that good rebuild by creating a character who is the worst of both Johnny Cage and Sonya Blade, and giving her the ball for a whole game, and making her run with it. Making things worse is that Cassie does everything that makes Gen-Z unbearable. The rude, brash, entitled, selfie-taking, social media grubbing, pain in the ass that Cassie is as a character, mixed with "eh" level versions of Johnny's moves, really makes Cassie a Cage worth breaking out of.
Take everything I said about Jacqui Briggs in the previous entry, and place it here for Cassie Cage. A next-generation character who comes off even worse than all the others because she becomes the protagonist of the whole story when it comes to Mortal Kombat X, in a story where NeitherRealm somehow took the joke that was Johnny Cage and made him into someone actually worth giving a shit about. However, they then go and blow all that good rebuild by creating a character who is the worst of both Johnny Cage and Sonya Blade, and giving her the ball for a whole game, and making her run with it. Making things worse is that Cassie does everything that makes Gen-Z unbearable. The rude, brash, entitled, selfie-taking, social media grubbing, pain in the ass that Cassie is as a character, mixed with "eh" level versions of Johnny's moves, really makes Cassie a Cage worth breaking out of.
5. Ferra & Torr
Ever see a character in a game that just makes you wonder what the fuck they are doing, or what the developers were smoking when they came up with them? Well, meet Ferra & Torr, a weird tribute to "Master Blaster" from Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome. The second time the NeitherRealm Studios has played with the idea of a two-person character, Ferra-Torr has one of the weirdest play styles to be seen in recent Mortal Kombat video game entries, a combination of the hard-hitting Torr, and his projectile/partner Ferra (Voiced by Tara Strong of My Little Pony and Batman fame) who gets thrown around like Wolverine in a speedball special. A one-time character, Ferra-Torr is a weird experiment that just didn't hit the mark at all.
Ever see a character in a game that just makes you wonder what the fuck they are doing, or what the developers were smoking when they came up with them? Well, meet Ferra & Torr, a weird tribute to "Master Blaster" from Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome. The second time the NeitherRealm Studios has played with the idea of a two-person character, Ferra-Torr has one of the weirdest play styles to be seen in recent Mortal Kombat video game entries, a combination of the hard-hitting Torr, and his projectile/partner Ferra (Voiced by Tara Strong of My Little Pony and Batman fame) who gets thrown around like Wolverine in a speedball special. A one-time character, Ferra-Torr is a weird experiment that just didn't hit the mark at all.
4. Reiko
Hear me out, Reiko isn't that bad, but he was just given a really unfortunate backstory and ending in Mortal Kombat 4, leading to him becoming a huge joke in the Mortal Kombat series. Reiko's Mortal Kombat 4 ending had him entering Shao Khan's throne room, where Khan's helmet would lower and cover Reiko's face, leading many to believe that Reiko was either Shao Khan reborn, Shao Khan's son, or Shao Khan himself returned to life by Shang Tsung or Quan Chi. The truth was that Reiko was nothing more than a rushed project, replacing Noob Saibot in Mortal Kombat 4's original arcade release near the end of development due to there already being too many ninjas in the series already. The ending was made to give a bit of mystery to the character, and then when Midway pushed forward in future games, they played upon the Shao Khan rumors by making Reiko's move sets and weapons resemble Shao Khan even more. So yeah, Reiko is nothing more than a joke that got worse as the developers tried to play the consumers even more.
Hear me out, Reiko isn't that bad, but he was just given a really unfortunate backstory and ending in Mortal Kombat 4, leading to him becoming a huge joke in the Mortal Kombat series. Reiko's Mortal Kombat 4 ending had him entering Shao Khan's throne room, where Khan's helmet would lower and cover Reiko's face, leading many to believe that Reiko was either Shao Khan reborn, Shao Khan's son, or Shao Khan himself returned to life by Shang Tsung or Quan Chi. The truth was that Reiko was nothing more than a rushed project, replacing Noob Saibot in Mortal Kombat 4's original arcade release near the end of development due to there already being too many ninjas in the series already. The ending was made to give a bit of mystery to the character, and then when Midway pushed forward in future games, they played upon the Shao Khan rumors by making Reiko's move sets and weapons resemble Shao Khan even more. So yeah, Reiko is nothing more than a joke that got worse as the developers tried to play the consumers even more.
3. Drahmin
Drahmin is just a weird character. An Oni by species sent to the Netherrealm and becomes a torturer... Suuuuuuure. The thing that makes Drahmin so awkward as a character is his big metal club that was attached to his arm, and only one arm, which made a lot of his attacks mean next to nothing unless it had something to do with the club arm, and even then it was only special moves that would be effective with it, meaning normal punches with the club arm mean nothing. Drahmin was such a bad character that he is known as one of Mortal Kombat co-creator, Ed Boon's, least favorite characters, meaning that Drahmin wouldn't see an official character ever again in the Mortal Kombat series, though he has appeared in cameos in other games since the reboot timeline took place.
Drahmin is just a weird character. An Oni by species sent to the Netherrealm and becomes a torturer... Suuuuuuure. The thing that makes Drahmin so awkward as a character is his big metal club that was attached to his arm, and only one arm, which made a lot of his attacks mean next to nothing unless it had something to do with the club arm, and even then it was only special moves that would be effective with it, meaning normal punches with the club arm mean nothing. Drahmin was such a bad character that he is known as one of Mortal Kombat co-creator, Ed Boon's, least favorite characters, meaning that Drahmin wouldn't see an official character ever again in the Mortal Kombat series, though he has appeared in cameos in other games since the reboot timeline took place.
2. Hsu Hao
The official most hated character in Mortal Kombat ever, according to both fans of the games and the people behind the production of the game, Hsu Hao is so bad that he is one of the only characters to have two official deaths in the series. Practically unplayable Deadly Alliance, Hsu Hao did bring something to the table that was later used in Mortal Kombat X with the return of Kano, which was the chest laser, which was added to Kano's design for all three variations. Nothing much else to say, but when the developers decide to make your character's head one of the ones that roll out of Erron Black's bag in Mortal Kombat 11, you know that your not worth giving the light of day too... But at least there is still the Hsu Hao wristwatch, maybe that'll be his time in the spotlight.
The official most hated character in Mortal Kombat ever, according to both fans of the games and the people behind the production of the game, Hsu Hao is so bad that he is one of the only characters to have two official deaths in the series. Practically unplayable Deadly Alliance, Hsu Hao did bring something to the table that was later used in Mortal Kombat X with the return of Kano, which was the chest laser, which was added to Kano's design for all three variations. Nothing much else to say, but when the developers decide to make your character's head one of the ones that roll out of Erron Black's bag in Mortal Kombat 11, you know that your not worth giving the light of day too... But at least there is still the Hsu Hao wristwatch, maybe that'll be his time in the spotlight.
1. Shujinko
If there is anything that annoys me more as a gamer in general, it's finding out that I have just wasted a whole game for nothing! Shujinko was created to be the main protagonist of the game Mortal Kombat: Deception, which when thinking back, makes a lot of sense as to what happens with the character. You spend many hours with Shujinko through the story mode of Mortal Kombat: Deception, gathering each realm Kamidogus to bring a god back from its expulsion from all realms, only for Shujinko to release The Dragon King Onaga to start the events that would lead to Mortal Kombat: Armageddon. So this whole story mode, where you spend the whole game thinking you're doing something good, you're the one fucking everything up. Add this to the fact that Shujinko doesn't have a move set of his own, but one made up from all of the popular characters from the first Mortal Kombat. So not only was the character a complete rip-off of several other characters, but his story is one where he was deceived and we wasted a lot of time. Shujinko is the worst mortal Kombat character by design, and it shows.
If there is anything that annoys me more as a gamer in general, it's finding out that I have just wasted a whole game for nothing! Shujinko was created to be the main protagonist of the game Mortal Kombat: Deception, which when thinking back, makes a lot of sense as to what happens with the character. You spend many hours with Shujinko through the story mode of Mortal Kombat: Deception, gathering each realm Kamidogus to bring a god back from its expulsion from all realms, only for Shujinko to release The Dragon King Onaga to start the events that would lead to Mortal Kombat: Armageddon. So this whole story mode, where you spend the whole game thinking you're doing something good, you're the one fucking everything up. Add this to the fact that Shujinko doesn't have a move set of his own, but one made up from all of the popular characters from the first Mortal Kombat. So not only was the character a complete rip-off of several other characters, but his story is one where he was deceived and we wasted a lot of time. Shujinko is the worst mortal Kombat character by design, and it shows.
