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Top 10 Favorite Mortal Kombat Kharacters

Back a long time ago, I made a list of my top 10 favorite Street Fighter characters. In that blog, I said that when I was a kid, I preferred the Mortal Kombat series, mainly for the gore and characters. At the end of the blog, I teased another top 10 featuring the Mortal Kombat kast. The time has finally arrived for me to make that list.

Obviously, this is going to be a very subjective list. What are my favorite characters may not be your favorite characters. The characters were picked based on their personal appearance, move-set, fatalities, and even their back stories. In addition, while some of these characters made their debut on the original arcade, SNES, and Genesis trilogy, others have been introduced much later.

 

10.) Kano

I don’t really know what it is about this bastard, but I couldn’t forgive myself if I left Kano off this list. Kano is a human kombatant with a metal plate and glowing red eye on half his face. This was based off the Terminator in T2.

 

Kano made his debut in the original Mortal Kombat. He is the leader of the Black Dragon Clan, and obviously one of the bad guys. His sly tongue, quick wit, and ruthlessness earned him Shao Kahn’s favor and he quickly rose through the ranks to become a general for the Outworld armies. He is enemies with Jax and more specifically, Sonya Blade.

 

Kano relies more on weapons than special powers. He often uses butterfly knives to throw and slash at his opponent, he can curl into a ball and hurl himself across a stage, or sometimes his eye shoots a laser. Kano is well known for his fatality in the original Mortal Kombat. It’s almost as iconic Sub-Zero’s spine rip and just as bloody. As the screen goes dark, Kano emulates Temple of Doom and rips out his opponent’s heart.

 

9.) Kenshi

Kenshi is the blind swordsman who didn’t make his debut until Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance. I included him, because I always liked characters with a disability they overcome and kickass, like Daredevil and Toph.

 

Kenshi was an Earthrealm warrior who was determined to be the best and defeat everyone. One day he was tricked by Shang Tsung to release a well of souls (which Shang Tsung absorbed), the power blinded Kenshi, but he did get a kickass sword and telekinetic powers out of it… so it wasn’t all bad.

 

Now Kenshi wants to find and kill Shang Tsung. He joins Sonya’s Special Forces and competes in numerous tournaments and missions just to find and kill Shang Tsung.

 

There’s not much else to say about Kenshi. He’s a telekinetic, blind swordsman on a mission of vengeance and deserves the number nine spot.

 

8.) Bo’ Rai Cho

Even Mortal Kombat can have some jokey character and Bo’ Rai Cho is that character in the Mortal Kombat Universe. He’s a drunk and obese martial arts master who specializes in the Drunken Fist style of fighting.

 

Bo’ Rai Cho is a martial arts master who trained Shujinko, Kung Lao, and Liu Kang. He doesn’t participate in the tournaments themselves because he’s from Outworld, so he’d have to fight under Shao Kahn. He secretly spies on Shao Kahn while aiding the Earthrealm forces.

 

Bo’ Rai Cho’s gimmick is that he’s a drunk. Even his name is a takeoff of the Spanish word for drunk “borracho”. He uses his drunkenness to his advantage, by being difficult to predict but also in his special moves. Bo’ Rai Cho belly bashes, farts, and vomits on his opponents to win. Since he trained Liu Kang, that means a drunken martial arts teacher is responsible for saving Earthrealm.

 

7.) Noob Saibot

Noob Saibot is the one of the only characters in the entire series to make an appearance (in one form or another) in the first seven Mortal Kombat fighting games. In addition, he’s one of the few Mortal Kombat Kharacters with a backstory I care about.

 

In the original Mortal Kombat, Sub-Zero was murdered by Scorpion. His younger brother took on the role of Sub-Zero while the original was consumed by evil in the Netherrealm and reborn as the wraith known as Noob Saibot (which is Boon Tobias backwards, which is the names of the Mortal Kombat creators.) He is evil. He is seen serving Shinnok or Shao Kahn, but is more on his own team.

 

In the older games, Noob Saibot borrowed his move-set from other ninjas in the game, but as he grew as a character he showed more manipulation of shadows. He can teleport, and possess physical beings. His powers weren’t fully realized until the Mortal Kombat reboot in 2011. In this game Noob’s shadow is called Saibot and has a liquid/human form that Noob can manipulate at will. This leads to the most disturbing fatality in that game, that is pictured above.

 

6.) Quan Chi

I always prefer a smart and cunning villain over a strong and vicious one. That’s probably why I just love Quan Chi so much. He’s the only character on this list that made his debut in the Mortal Kombat cartoon or should I say kartoon?

 

Quan Chi made his video game debut as a villain of Mortal Kombat Mythologies: Sub-Zero and was playable in Mortal Kombat 4. He is a powerful sorcerer, with equal magical prowess of Shinnok, Shang Tsung, and Shao Kahn, but better than all that is his tactical knowledge. Quan Chi wants to rule all of existence. He will team up with anyone to get what he wants. He is also responsible for many of evil deeds in the series. He revived Sindel (kinda), he stole Shinnok’s amulet, and is responsible for the demise of Scorpion’s clan.

 

Quan Chi uses his magic in kombat. Since he is a Netherrealm sorcerer he specializes in necromancy. He shoots flaming skulls, can hypnotize enemies, and has a really annoying teleport stomp that’s overpowered in Mortal Kombat 4 and pissed me off!

 

For being the mastermind behind many plots, Quan Chi deserves his number six spot… also he can turn his enemy into a giraffe. So there’s that.

 

5.) Scorpion

Mortal Kombat fans are split on who the better kharacter is… Scorpion or Sub-Zero. I’m not going to lie to you. Sub-Zero is making an appearance on this list, so I like him better… but Scorpion is still a badass.

 

Scorpion is basically the poster child of the Mortal Kombat series. His iconic “Get over here!” will be forever in the mind of gamers. He has appeared in nearly every game in the series, and people love this guy. People love Scorpion so much, I’m going to be looking out for flaming bags of poop on my porch tomorrow.

 

Scorpion was originally a ninja assassin in the Shirai Ryu clan. He joined the clan to provide for his family. His entire clan was destroyed (by Quan Chi) but Scorpion blames Sub-Zero’s clan (I think, it’s really hard to keep these Mortal Kombat timelines in my head). Now Scorpion is an anti-hero. He is a hellspawn from the Netherrealm who joins the bad guys because they vow to revive his family and clan, but he will also assist the good guys (in his own brutal way). I suppose that’s why everyone loves him so much.

 

Scorpion is iconic for many reasons. You might remember his skull, his spear, his teleport punch, his Toasty fatality, but I remember him for his design and brutal actions.

 

4.) Sub-Zero

Even though I like Sub-Zero more, not even he can crack the top 3. Sub-Zero is like Scorpion and Noob in that all of them appeared in almost all the Mortal Kombat games. Sub-Zero even got his own spinoff game called Mortal Kombat Mythologies: Sub-Zero… that game wasn’t so good.

 

Sub-Zero is a cryomancer of the Lin Kuei clan. His older brother was the original Sub-Zero but became Noob after his death. When Scorpion killed the original Sub-Zero, the younger brother swore revenge. He entered the second Mortal Kombat tournament in order to kill Scorpion and anyone who got in his way. Since then, Sub-Zero has allied himself with the forces of good… well basically the forces of destroying Scorpion.

 

I’m sure I mentioned this before, but I always preferred ice-users over any other element. That’s the main reason I prefer Sub-Zero over Scorpion. He has the ability to freeze his opponents (even suspend them in midair somehow), he can create an ice clone, and of course there’s his famous spine rip fatality that had adults everywhere up in arms.

 

He’s just a cool dude.

 

3.) Kung Lao

Kung Lao’s gimmick is that he has a bladed hat, and that’s really all I need to put him in this spot, but I suppose I should talk more about the kharacter.

 

Despite appearing in numerous Mortal Kombat games, and carrying a razor-bladed hat, Kung Lao is a pacifist. He’d prefer to live a life of peace than fight and be a champion in the Mortal Kombat tournaments. Nevertheless, he will defend himself or his friends if pushed too far. There have been numerous timelines in the Mortal Kombat universe, but two things remained constant. Kung Lao joins the tournament to prove himself/defend his friends and he’s close friends with Liu Kang.

 

Kung Lao’s most notable feature is his hat which was based off of Oddjob’s hat in James Bond: Goldfinger. This hat is used as a projectile, and magically teleports back to Kung Lao’s head. It is also used in Kung Lao’s fatalities where he often decapitates or splits his opponent in half.

 

The best thing about Kung Lao is that in one of the games he pulls a killer rabbit (like the one from Monty Python’s Holy Grail) and it kills your enemy combatant.

 

2.) Smoke

Smoke is one of the few characters who has been both a ninja and a cyborg. He was an unplayable secret ninja in Mortal Kombat 2 (who was basically a fast palette swap of Scorpion), and then became a playable cyborg in Mortal Kombat 3.

 

Smoke is a Lin Kuei assassin who was turned into a cyborg against his will to be a better kombatant. In the 2011 reboot he is shown to be close friends with Sub-Zero. Smoke as a ninja or cyborg is shown to be constantly emitting smoke from his body. In addition, he has the ability to teleport and turn invisible making him the ultimate silent assassin.

 

Smoke stands out for two reasons to me. First off, in Mortal Kombat 3, one of his fatalities involved blowing up the entire planet Earth. I always got a laugh out of that. Instead of killing his opponent, he ends ALL LIFE ON EARTH! That’s overkill right there. In addition, while the Mortal Kombat cartoon was hit and miss, the best episode involved Smoke. He was able to overcome his programming, reclaim his soul, and vowed to not hurt Sub-Zero. I don’t know what it is, but I just really enjoy this character. He was awesome as a robot, and just as cool when he was a ninja in the 2011 reboot.

 

1.) Kabal

This is where I’m sure my list differs from the vast majority of Mortal Kombat fans, but Kabal is my favorite Mortal Kombat Kharacter.

 

Kabal was introduced in Mortal Kombat 3. Not much was known about the respirator wearing fighter except he survived one of Shao Kahn’s attacks on Earthrealm. It is later revealed he was a member of Kano’s Black Dragon clam, then he became a leader of that criminal organization, then the backstory was retconned and he became a cop with Stryker with a criminal background.

 

After Shao Kahn’s attack, Kabal was unable to survive without the respirator attached to his face. In addition, his face was horribly disfigured. Not everything was bad though, because he gained the ability to travel at supersonic speeds and grabbed a pair of hookswords to fight against/for evil.

 

I can’t logically explain why Kabal is my favorite. It could be his speed, or his hookswords. Honestly, I think Kabal is my favorite because he was the kharacter played the most in Mortal Kombat 3. Some people thought he was overpowered or top-tier, I just thought he was a badass.

 

 

Honestly, I have no idea what list is next. I’m starting a new job that’s going to take up a lot of my free time. So stay tuned for… SOMETHING!