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  1. #1
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    Default Where Does the Story of Mortal Kombat Come From?

    So I've been reinvestigating the story of Mortal Kombat as it originally was produced. The first game makes almost no mention of the whole Outworld-invading-Earthrealm aspect. That only comes in in the second game. Even then, it is very vague as to the plot points.

    500 years ago, Shang Tsung was banished to the Earth realm. With the aid of Goro he was to unbalance the furies and doom the planet to a chaotic existence.
    By seizing control of the Shaolin tournament he tried to tip the scales of order towards chaos. Only seven warriors survived the battles and Shang Tsung's scheme would come to a violent end at the hands of Liu Kang.

    So, did what we know of the story of MK, Outworld having won 9 tournaments, etc., stuff liike the name of the realm Edenia, did that all just come from the adaptations before we accepted it as part of the games? Or was there other material covering this somewhere, in gaming magazines and such?

  2. #2
    iMan 42s
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    A lot of it comes from tie-in material due to the games not having the memory to support a massive story until later entries like MK4. A lot of things would come from bios or the endings which was for awhile the only thing we'd know about certain characters.

    The tie-in comic for MK2 would be the origin of the 10 tournament rule. The tie-in for MK1 would also be the place we'd see the single fatality of the entire tournament meaning that the recent movie technically got that wrong given Bi Han is the only one who actually died during it. MK Mythologies: Sub Zero is also the origin story for Bi Han and how his rivalry with Scorpion began which was also a tie-in for MK4.

    The games adapt from things like the movie with Raiden's hair color or Kano's accent. A Spin off game like mythologies and to a degree Shaolin Monks would also either take elements or in the case of Sub Zero be where things like the Scorpion Sub Zero rivalry originate. You'd also have the tie-in comics being canon or be like DC where they eat a lot of glue and nobody pays attention to plot points they themselves wrote or just render things non-canon on a whim. The reboot era comics are debatable canonicity.
    Last edited by SuperiorIronman; 04-28-2021 at 06:34 AM.
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    For anyone that needs to know why OMD is awful please search the internet for Linkara' s video's specifically his One more day review or his One more day Analysis.

  3. #3
    Extraordinary Member The Drunkard Kid's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Slimybug View Post
    So I've been reinvestigating the story of Mortal Kombat as it originally was produced. The first game makes almost no mention of the whole Outworld-invading-Earthrealm aspect. That only comes in in the second game. Even then, it is very vague as to the plot points.

    500 years ago, Shang Tsung was banished to the Earth realm. With the aid of Goro he was to unbalance the furies and doom the planet to a chaotic existence.
    By seizing control of the Shaolin tournament he tried to tip the scales of order towards chaos. Only seven warriors survived the battles and Shang Tsung's scheme would come to a violent end at the hands of Liu Kang.

    So, did what we know of the story of MK, Outworld having won 9 tournaments, etc., stuff liike the name of the realm Edenia, did that all just come from the adaptations before we accepted it as part of the games? Or was there other material covering this somewhere, in gaming magazines and such?
    I think that most of it was from the story and endings of MK2 recontextualizing/retconning MK1's barely-there story to be one of a ceremonial interdimensional incursion.

  4. #4
    Ultimate Member Holt's Avatar
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    The entire premise of needing to win ten tournaments to conquer the other realms was created exclusively for the movie, and later became canon in subsequent installments. I think MK9's retelling of the first few games was the first time that plot point had explicitly shown up in the series.

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