Hello, and welcome to episode number one thirty three of The Chief Stakes The
Controllers podcast presented by Fox PHL The Gambler one or two point five FM,
fourteen eighty AM, iHeartRadio or wherever you get your podcasts. You can hear
this voice every single week talking about the latest and greatest in video games and
competitive gaming. Got EVO coming up in August. Very excited about that.
A bunch of stuff we're gonna be talking about this week in regards to two
major publishers and I guess one major publisher and one major franchise that had some
news come out this week. We're gonna focus on those. The first one,
we're going to get into Capcom franchises because there's been some talk during the
shareholders meeting about, you know, potential reworkings of some famous franchises. Now,
like throw a couple more names into the mix if I could. And
then we're in the second third segments of the show, we're going to talk
about Mortal Kombat one and go through the selections of the roster so far,
including cameos and the main roster, and then my picks for who I think
will make the playable roster or who will only be a cameo at best,
or who won't show up at all. MO cap fans. Unfortunately, I've
got some bad news for you as far as this episode goes, but we'll
get into that later on. First and foremost, let's talk about Capcom because
earlier this week the shareholders meeting, those annual share maybe quarterly shareholders meeting,
took place over there in Japan, and somebody asked about a few different franchises,
one being ony Musha, one being Sengoku Basara, and one being MegaMan.
And the MegaMan one in particular set off some alarm bells for folks because
it mentioned how Mega Man is a storied franchise for Capcom and how they're always
looking to make new games, but they need new concepts and stuff like that,
and it got a lot of people's minds racing as to what might be
the next part of the Capcom of Capcom's historic franchise their words, not mine,
and it got me thinking, if they're thinking about MegaMan and other franchises
too, what else could we have asked them about if we were in that
meeting, What other games or franchises that they are familiar with or they developed
they have in house. Should they also be exploring I have a couple of
ideas here, some of which have not been revisited for a while, some
of which have been revisited fairly recently, but could still use perhaps a new
game as opposed to a remake or a redo that might tip off one of
the things you're about to hear in this segment. But first and foremost,
I can't go without mentioning it. I will scream it from the rooftops.
I just want a new Marvel versus Capcom game, please. And there seems
to be a lot of smoke in that regard, because, first and foremost,
Ultimate Marvel three is in the EVO lineup for this year, which I
mentioned EVO at the beginning of the show, and now this week, apropos
of nothing out of nowhere, I got an email from Marvel Entertainment telling me
to watch EVO. Now, why would they be doing that if the only
thing they wanted was for us to watch a competition for a twelve year old
game. I'm happy to do that. Love Ultimate Marvel three. I'm probably
gonna watch it anyway, But there has to be something else, right.
They can't just be like, hey, watch EVO, you should watch it.
If they wouldn't have something planned now, is it possible that they could
have other games, you know, available there? Like I know they have
the mobile game Contest of Champions, which is technically a fighting game. Might
that show up at EVO two in some regard, maybe on the show floor
or whatever. Yeah? Probably, maybe that's just what they're talking about.
But they're telling me to watch EVO, not to go to EVO. So
I am holding out hope that Marvel versus Capcom might have a thing, or
at least the Versus series in general might have a thing to talk about at
EVO. I have no idea. I would also like to put in Capcom
versus SNK into this little part as well. Basically, the crossover fighters for
Capcom were amazing, and whether it's a you know, collection that brings them
back, a Marvel collection and an SNK collection, or new games in either
franchise, I think it's been long enough and Capcom in SMK seemed to be
cool now, so we definitely get that one. We're not definitely that that
one definitely seems like a possibility. Marvel versus Capcom After Infinite who knows,
but there seems to be new leadership at Disney. UM, and I will
talk to whoever I need to talk to to get that to happen. UM,
I have no poll. I have very little poll. Um, no
poll at all, not very little. But I would love to see that
so UM Marvel verus Capcom and by proxy Capcom versus AK definitely one I would
like to I wish someone who would have asked about they did ask about One
Musha, which is great. I think one Musha would be a great UM
new deserves definitely deserves a great new game. Uh in the near future.
I know they have the one coming out Kami. What the heck was it
called? It was revealed at Xbox Um I think it was Capcom Kami.
Uh, what the heck is the name of that game? Um oh kin
Kunitsugami Path of the Goddess not COMMI Kunitsugami. Path of the Goddess was revealed
at the Xbox showcase, which very much had Onimushia vibes but wasn't One Musha
much in the same way that Exoprimal had Dino Crisis vibes until it wasn't Dino
Crisis. So another Onimushia game would be awesome. I'm all about that Dino
Crisis I mentioned it. It used to be that Dino Crisis and Resident Evil
were companions using the same engine. One you were fighting zombies, the other
you were fighting dinosaurs. Resident Evil continued on Dino Crisis fell by the wayside.
Not sure why that is, but I would like to see that return
an official setting, a full survival horror. Imagine a survival horror in like
the Resideval four remake style, or even the First Person or seven and eight
style, but dinosaurs instead of zombies. That would be fantastic. Maybe there's
more development challenges and making giant reptiles as opposed to walking, shambling humans,
but if they want to give that a shot, they should go right ahead.
I'd be all about that. Another one that we have scene in a
while. In fact, I think twenty fourteen was the last time that we
saw this person with their own games, So if they wanted to come back
into the limelight, I would be very happy with that. That's Strider,
hear you. Twenty fourteen Strider. The Metroidvanius sort of reboot, remake,
whatever you want to call it. Game was fantastic phenomenal. I played the
heck out of that, played it all the way to the end, one
of my sleeper hits from twenty fourteen, and I would love to see something
like that again, maybe a continuation of that, or perhaps a different sort
of maybe like a not open world, but like a Devil May Cry style
action game for Strider. I think that would fit quite nicely with all of
his like robotic animal weaponry and that massive sword and you know, for an
ultimating grab an enemy and do Ragnarok. I'm all about that. So to
when they give Strider hear You another chance, they should, I'm fine with
that. Excuse me. Also would have in the same vein as we haven't
seen it in a while, but it's been it's been around more recently than
others. Dead Rising. Dead Rising four I liked more than most, I
think I feel like. But that is another one I wouldn't mind them going
back to. I kind of like the inherently silly side of Dead Rising.
Dead Rising for me, was always at his best when it was leaning into
the goofiness of its concept, being able to build weapons out of nothing and
you know, slaying thousands and thousands of zombies in a mall or in the
Fortune City, which was built on the ashes of Las Vegas. In that
world, I always found the bosses interesting to the quote unquote psychopaths who just
were normal people that went crazy because of the zombie epidemic and turned into these,
you know, jerks basically. I always found that very fascinating and would
like to see that again. Maybe. I don't know if you'd do it
full reboot, if you could build on the ending of Dead Rising four,
which based on the DLC, I don't think you'd be able to do.
I'm not sure, but that's another one that if Capcom wanted to revisit that,
I would be open to seeing a couple more here, one of which
I know this is a blind spot for me personally. Dabbled in the first
game, didn't play the second game, but I know that it has a
big cult following and is definitely one that is worthy of for me. I
would I would definitely give it a shot if they wanted to give it a
remake treatment maybe or a remaster treatment. That's beautiful, Joe. I know
a lot of people love that game. I loved him in Marvel three.
I thought that was a really cool addition. But if they wanted to give
that franchise, I think one and two, a remaster of one and two
in one package would be pretty cool, and you could use that to build
heat for to see what kind of response you might get to a sequel to
a brand new game. I think that's a I think that's a very worthy
candidate, actually, now that I think about it, so I wouldn't actually
be surprised if we saw that in the near future. If they're really going
to be digging into old franchises again, they certainly seem to be firing on
all cylinders, don't they Capcom Right now? Everything they make, with very
little exception, has been phenomenal. Reside Before Remake and Street Fight or six
just this year, Resideval Village, you know, in recent past, and
other games that I know I'm forgetting. Devil May Cry five is in there.
So now would be the time, I think, while they're you know,
so hot, to resurrect some of these older franchises and see what kind
of new spin they could put on it. And Beautiful Joe Beautiful Joe would
be the put the remaster out first and then see where we go from there.
So yeah, give me some more beautiful Joe would give me an excuse
to play them, Like I said, blind Spot for me, and they've
actually played them before. But I think if I had to pick one,
oh man, there's so many like Rival Schools I'd love to see again.
But that's a that's a legal nightmare. Okami I feel like deserves more than
what it got because it was such a great Zelda esque sort of game,
like an Okami not not. I don't want it to use surp Breath of
the Wild that seems a little you know, easy, but like a like
an open world sort of adventure in that vein with Okami in that style would
be phenomenal. Clover Studio is obviously closed now, so that would would it
would need to be a different internal studio or licensed out elsewhere. But I
think I feel like I'm a TaRaSu deserves a a resurgence. Okami Den was
good, but that was the last game even so give me Okami two that
would be awesome. And then finally, um, I think one that we
were teased for a while and then the guy that was teasing it left.
So many people may think this is dead, but Dark Stalkers I think it's
time for Dark Stalkers, and I would be okay with Some people may not
agree with me on this one, but I would be okay with a moving
away from the fighting game genre if it meant Dark Stalkers could come back,
right Like, I would play a dark Stalker's side scrolling beam up, I
would play a Dark Stalker's three D action game where you switch between a couple
of different heroes and fight against like Dmitri or Pyron or or you know,
Huitl or whatever's name is. I'd be fine with that if it meant Dark
Stalkers came back. I would be open to it not being a fighting game
because then you could introduce it to people in a different medium and then maybe
make it a fighting game later on, or put characters from it in other
fighting games like Street Fighter, or or if you brought Marvel versus Capcom back,
like I keep way asking you too, you could put them in there.
It's just another way to introduce those characters again, see if you can
get more of a following from them, and then maybe go back to fighting
games, because right now Capcom Street Fighter they're big fighting franchise, putting a
lot of focus on that, as they should, but if they were to
bring back a crossover game or you know, something like that, there are
ways to get Dark Stalkers back into the mainstream. Granted, there are some
hurdles to cross. There were some things about Dark Stalkers that make them so
popular that may not fly in the current age, like character designs specifically to
come to mind. But whatever it is, whatever they want to do to
get Dark Stalkers back into into the zeitgeist, I guess would be the word.
I'd be perfectly fine with it, because the franchise deserves it. It's
a cult hit, it's got a great following, and yeah, so Dark
Stalkers would be my number one choice, I think even if everything I said
there, well, no sorry, number two more of us Capcom's number one
with a bullet Number two. Dark Stalkers for sure, But there are plenty
other Capcom franchises to choose from. Some that I did not mention here.
Ghosts and Goblins recently had a resurrection, but could could stand for a new
game. Lost Planet might be an interesting thing to return to. A lot
of retro games are getting you know, new and improved versions like Double Dragon
Guiding, a teenage inter Turtle Shredders Revenge, so perhaps a final fight in
that vein would be cool. Streets of Rage four is also in that collection
as well. But there's plenty of opportunity, I think for Capcom to expand
their portfolio by expanding on franchises they already owned. If you have any thoughts
of what you might like to see, hit me up at Big Man Finale
on Twitter. I'm happy to hear your opinions or thoughts on that because I
might have missed one. There might be a game that I completely forgot about
in the Capcom franchise or Capcom portfolio that you want to see again, whether
it's a game you played as a kid or one that you'd just like to
see them return to. I have a feeling that the Breath of firefolks might
come after me. But and again, that's another one. So we'll say,
we'll see what's up. We'll see what Capcom has on the pipeline right
now. But like I said, right now, anything they seem to be
making is it's pretty good, too great, So let's see if they can
continue that role. But with games that they haven't made in a while.
I think that would be cool. But coming up after the break, we
have two segments worth of figuring out what the heck the Mortal Kombat one roster
is going to be, whether it's going to include your favorites, if your
favorites get stuck in a cameo, or if they're not in there at all.
Again, as I warned at the beginning of this segment, mo,
cap fans, don't get excited. I don't think this is your time stick
around, all right, welcome back The Chief steaks in Controllers. Episode number
one thirty three just went over the future of Capcom, possibly thanks to the
little teases and the shareholders meeting this week. Obviously, they've only talked about
Mega Man one, Musha should go saying Goku Basara, and one other one
that eludes me. But if the well is full for those franchises, I
feel like it could possibly be full for the rest of their portfolio. So
those that I mentioned earlier are the ones that I would like to see come
back in the future. But now we're going to talk about Mortal Kombat.
Let's get into Mortal Kombat one, shall we. So we had some more
news yesterday. Combat Cast came back after a huge hiatus. I don't think
we've seen combat cast since what twenty twenty when Ultimate came out, and those
last three characters where the Rambo, Molina, and Rain I think were the
final three characters in Mortal Kombat eleven. And they did full breakdowns for those
We have not seen combat cast since, which is pretty crazy to think about.
So they went and they showed us some new footage, brand new trailer,
plus a breakdown of Scorpion of Johnny Cage. The new trailer showed off
Smoke and Rain as playable characters, as well as four new cameos in Syrax,
Sector Frost, and Classic Scorpion. The entire trailer was themed around the
lin Quay, the famous Ninja Ninja faction in Mortal Kombat. So very cool
trailer, very cool stuff, very gory. Smoke's fatality, I'll make your
draw drop literally and I liked what I saw. I'm continuing to like what
I see. I think the versatility of the cameos is going to be very
very cool. In fact, in the there was a trailer that this was
shown or in the breakdown on much Shore, but Classic Scorpion as a cameo
has one of the coolest utility moves I think I've seen yet from any of
these cameos, and that is he uses his spear to pull you back.
So like if you're if you're a Poe and it's closing in and about to
go for a big move and you see it coming, you can activate the
cameo and Scorpion will basically help you dodge out of the way faster than you
normally would. And it's not like the character has to pose first and then
the spear comes in. It's bang, the spear is there and you're out
of the way. That I think could have a lot of implications for competitive
MK one, depending on how versatile the rest of his kit is. But
with someone choosing classic Scorpion as a cameo, you never know when that dodge
is coming out. That was really really cool. Also, I love that
Rain was turned into a mage. I think it's a great idea just to
give a little more versatility to that character. The whole like water effects coming
out of the ball floating on top of the staff, very very cool.
I've always had a small spot for Rain since Ultimate Mortal Kombat three. I've
always thought it was a really interesting character and injured, the control the weather
or you know, just water in general. So I'm excited to see how
they build his kit out as well. But it got me thinking, as
many people do, as to where the roster goes from here. So I
went over to tier Maker, the great website if you want to rank things,
as you've seen it all over you know, the internet, all over
YouTube, people use it all the time. And I decided to make a
tier list of the known playable characters in Mortal Kombat and where I think they're
going to fall as far as MK one. Now, I have five ranks
here, so I technically have six on my image, but five ranks are
definite likely maybe cameo at best or straight up nah, the sixth one being
the characters that are already confirmed for the playable roster. I wasn't going to
spend a lot of time debating those because there they are. I'm gonna break
this discussion up into two sections. We're going to talk about my definites likelies
and maybe's first, and then we're going to get into the cameo at best
or nah section. In the final segment. I will post this image on
Twitter along with the link to the podcast, So if you want to,
you know, follow along, you can check that out if you want to.
If I hope maybe the image even makes people want to listen to my
logic in some of these which some of them obvious. Honestly, my reasoning
is just nat So if the image makes people want to listen to see why
I think the way I think, this power to them welcome. Feel free
to debate me on the social media that you saw the image on. Happy
to have that discussion, always happy. And if you can convince me that
somebody that I have ranked lower here might be a little bit higher in the
tier, go for it. But I'm feeling pretty good about where I landed
here. So let's begin with the confirmed. The people we already know are
on the roster that is riding lu Kang Katana, Shank song As, DLC,
Kong Law, Kenshi, Molina, Smoke Rain, Subzero Scorpion, and
Johnny Cage, all of them already in not up for debate, no thank
you. I have three definites here could be four, but I have three
definites that I landed on, and they are Sonia because she's an Og,
Kano because he's an og, and Reptile because so many people have been asking
for Reptile. I feel like Reptile is slowly filling in the Melina portion of
the fan bases wears Reptile Wears Reptile, just like it was Wears Malina Wears
Malina from m K eleven. So I think Reptile does show up here with
the Reformed Universe aspect as lu Kang by the Fire God lu Kang as per
the story. I don't know that he will necessarily look like a Ninja anymore.
I think he will definitely lean more into the reptilian aspects of his character,
thinking like not MK four because that one was particularly dumb, but like
kind of like how he looked what It's Deadly Alliance, where he looked like
a lizard, not so much AI ninja, like a humanoid lizard. I
think that's the approach that they'll take in the design, even MKX to an
extent as well. But I think they'll leave even more into it and just
make him like a lizard man as opposed to a lizard ninja thing. But
I do think Reptile is a definite I really do, just because the ground
swell of community support is so high for this character after not seeing him forever
or in the entirety of m K eleven, I should say I think he
makes come back here at m K twelve on the main roster, and I
do think that's the launch roster too. I don't think they'll save him for
DLC. The argument can be made that, of course they'll save him for
DLCA because people are going to purchase him, but I don't think. I
think we'll see Reptile on September nineteenth or fourteenth. A few have early access,
whatever it is when the game first launches. Now moving into likely,
first one is Irmak, another one very popular character that was not in MK
eleven. This one, this one I only put likely instead of definite because
I think you get into too many Ninja's territory, which is always a worry
when these Mortal Kombat games come out because there are so many Ninjas. You
don't want to overload the roster with Ninja or Ninja based characters. That's been
something that people from the complaining about since Like Trilogy back on PS one,
And when I put Reptile and Irmac next to each other, I feel like
Reptile would get the top billing or would get billing over Irmak just because of
the crowd swell that I mentioned earlier. Nothing against Irmac. I actually like
Irmac more than Reptile myself, but I just think if between the two of
them, I feel like Reptile would have a better chance of getting into That's
why I bumped Irmac down to likely and not to definite as Reptile is.
Next step is this is another one that has a lot of people asking for
her, and she has shown up in different places, whether it be cut
scenes of story modes or stuff like that, and I feel like, maybe
this is the time you bring her in. That's Serena Black half black,
half white hair Mortal Kombat four, I believe, And then I wish she
and Deadly Alliance as well. I'm not entirely sure, but this is a
character that I feel like has another bit of a cult following, cult backing
or something like that that may push her into the main roster as like a
you know, here you go sort of thing. Now, this is I
think of the two Reptile and Serena, I think Serena is the more likely
DLC candidate because I feel like this is one that you could get away with
just making DLC so that the people who want her can purchase her, whereas
Reptile, I feel likes a more universal appeal and should be in the main
roster. But I do think Serena can make the opening roster just based on
what I have here. Now, I do want to point out too real
quick that the way that the characters are listed in each section, I did
not put them in priority, So I'm only talking about them in the order
they're listed now. But like Serena is not more likely or it isn't necessarily
more likely in my opinion than the next person. I'm going to mention,
and I'll explain why in a minute. And if you're looking at the image,
you know who it is. But it's just the order that I picked
them from the bottom as I was putting them in to each list. But
Serena here, I see a lot of people asking about Serena, and I
have since MKX. So this is another one that I think, you know,
if Boone is listening to, if Boone is trying to avoid the mistake
of Molina, this is another one that might get in just based on that.
But we'll see, We'll see We'll see what he decides to do there,
but I think Serena might have a potential for this roster if the next
one is Jackson only. The reason Jackson isn't likely is because I think he
isn't not an OG, but he's an older one that doesn't have a place
in the story yet, and I feel like he might be another candidate for
DLC. Now that this is the one I think I'm most wrong about.
If I'm looking at this, this is the one I'm least confident in.
I feel like I should have moved him up to definite because how this trailer
was all about the lin Quay, the next trailer could very well be all
about special Forces. And then there's Sonya and Jacks in the playable roster,
and I'm a dumb dumb I feel like I'm being my mind is being colored
by the fact that Jackson was also a cameo, but it was classic Jacks,
and I put Sonya and Kano, who were also classic cameos, indefinite.
But for some reason, Jack's I don't know what it is, but
I don't know if he's one definite like the other two. I'm probably wrong
here. Like I said, if all the ones in likely, this is
the one I'm most feeling wrong about, and if he shows up in the
roster or that, I should have just put him indefinite. But I do
think he's likely either way. I don't think he's a NO, and I
don't think he's reserved cameo only, but I would need I need to see
if he's actually going to be in the available roster or not. And Jax
is actually a candidate for one of those characters where you see him in the
story, but he's a DLC character, right. They've done that a couple
of times, where they've put characters that were had parts in the storyline end
up becoming DLC later down the line. So he is one that I think
might get in there by virtue of his being an older legacy character. But
he's also one that I could see being held for DLC. Not sure who
knows, We'll see about it. And then the last two likelies are Havoc
and quan Chi. Both of these would be returning characters, one from MKX,
the other from the Armageddon Deception era. I think we don't know who
the villain is yet, right, we don't know who the malevolent force is
yet I have a prediction that it's going to be lu Kang himself. He's
going to go drunk with power and turn on his heroes and you know that
sort of storyline. But I do think there needs to be an instigator,
right. I think Quanshi is a good option because I could see in my
head the logic of lu Kang creating this new universe and not wanting anything to
do with a Shao Khan, so he leaves Shao Khan by the wayside.
Shanksum obviously was in the opening trailer. He's DLC. So we have one
there. But maybe we go Deadly Alliance, right, maybe we go Shanksung
and Quanshi are together again. That's where this story goes. You hark him
back to the PS two era of Mortal Kombat, which seems to be happening
elsewhere in this game too, as I mentioned before. So that would be
awesome, like a Shanksun Quanshi as the bad guys, which then makes lu
Kang go mad with power and have to resort to nefarious ends to keep Earth
round protected. I could see that being the storyline. Now Havoc. Havoc
is a wild card He's another one that has been around for a while.
He's another one that people have been asking for, and he is part of
the chaos realm. So maybe, since lu Kang is creating this orderly new
universe, a chaos or a agent of chaos like Havoc would be the perfect
person to be a foil for lu Kang. That's why I put him as
likely, because we need villains, right, we need people to be the
bad guys, and so far other than Cage being a jerk and Rain being
like the Linden Quay we were waiting for you. If that was Rain,
I don't even know if that was his voice or not, but like that
tension there, we don't have like a big bad yet in any of these
trailers, and so a Shangshung Quanshi alliance makes sense, as does an agent
of chaos mucking up lu Kang's new order. So either one of those make
sense to me, and that's why they're in likely, then we moved to
maybe. And there are some Honestly, these are coin flips as far as
like reasoning is concerned. I have them either because they were in the previous
game and they don't need a break. They might come back as DLC things
like that, So noob Sibot fits into that realm, Jade fits in that
realm. Sindel fits into that realm. But I also think I could have
bumped her to cameo at best because of how much people did not like her
story arc, the way that her story ended MK Levitt. I thought it
was awesome to give her extra agency like that, but some people were not
fans, so I wonder if they cool off on Sindel for a game,
possibly too, But she could always come back as a cameo night Wolf same
thing. I don't think anyone particularly like disliked him or his story. I
just think he could cool off a little bit, maybe come back later on
in a different format. Scarlett is another one. She was awesome and MK,
but I feel like that was her comeback story. She was in nine,
didn't, wasn't in ten, came back in eleven, can cool off
in twelve? Maybe DLC down the line, um, but then you know,
come right back in twelve or something like that. Ohnagare the Dragon King.
Now I mentioned we needed a villain, and I mentioned that we um
we needed a malevolent force. Odaga could be that, but I feel like
that's getting ahead of ourselves, right. Um. I feel like that might
be pushing the gauntlet just a little bit. UM And I feel that maybe
you wait on the Dragon King for another game or even like a story extension
to this. UM. I just I'm not I'm not convinced that Onaga needs
to be the big band here yet. You might have one or two more
entries to get to him. Um. Fujin kind of falls into the same
realm as the previous characters, though I could see him coming back along with
Riden. How Riden is like this young character that can harness the power of
electricity. I could see Fuji and being a foil to him, but with
the power of the wind, that could be fun. I have Lee May
in maybe here, just because again I think they're harkening back to the PS
two era, and of all the characters in the PS two era that I
could have chosen from, Lee May is one that I think has a good
shot. She has featured recently, I believe in the I want to say
the MK X or eleven storyline. She was in there somewhere but just never
made it into the game. So I feel like she is one that could
be considered here if you're following along with the image, I'm skipping the next
guy because I want to talk about him. Last Natara I have, and
maybe only because she's in the movie. She's in the most recent movie.
Granted she didn't last story long, but just her being in that movie,
people might want to play as her. Potentially a DLC candidate down the line,
but that is one I think might be a possibility, just based on
showing up in the movie. Yeah, Shujinko, who was the main character
of the Mortal Kombat Conquest story from Deception, and that alone, I think
puts him in the maybe category, just because I personally am sentimental about that
mode. I thought it was awesome. I thought it was a lot of
fun to play, and I would love to see that character come back in
this new era. Maybe a young Shujinko, not just the old guy.
But if they want to go the old route and have him be the stereotypical
old bearded monk, that'd be fine too. Broca Brocca is one that I
He's the last one I put on this tier, on this list, He's
the last one I put on this image because I could not for the life
of me decide if I thought he would be good for main roster or not.
The whole story behind Molina, which it sounds like they're treating her condition
as like a curse or some sort of like something that she can pull herself
out of. Maybe based on the dialogue and the first trailer, I need
to see more about that. If they're treating the Turcottons as like I'm not
gonna say mutants, but like a race of genetically engineered former humans. They
don't know where Barca fits in there, right unless Baraka is the one who
is spreading this and he's the first Tarcotton, which is possible, but that
character has never been that savvy. He's always been more about brutality. So
I don't know where he fits in this whole thing, which is why I
have him as a Maybe I want to be wrong. It would be cool
if he was in He's probably gonna be a cameo, but right now,
that's where I am with Baraka skipping this guy too. If you're following along
on the image Devora, I just don't like Divora. I don't pops me
out, and I don't want to see her bugs, you know, killing
people it's gross. I know she was considered, like I don't controversial,
almost a controversial, but like people liked her, people didn't. In m
K eleven she was in, she did beut in MK ten, came back
at eleven, be fine with them cooling off on her for a game.
But I put her in maybe just because you never know she could come back,
just because she's so unique. Not many other bug characters on this list,
but the last two, the ones that I skipped that I want to
get back to, are Reicho and Shao Khan. Going back to the villain
discussion, we need a villain, so I put these two in the maybe.
But also I put them here because I think you're gonna get one of
the other. And I think because another realm tends to be cheeky, I
think they may go with Reiko and put him in Shao Khan's position, right.
And I say that because when Rico first debuted in Mortal Kombat four,
there were persistent rumors that he was shal Khan, where he was a rebirth
version of Shaalkan, because his ending in the console version of MK four I
think it was N sixty four PlayStation one expanded on his arcade ending. So
first MK four's ending is notoriously terrible. Ryko's in the arcade was just him
going through a portal. He's like, he wins, he goes through a
portal piece, that's it. But in MK four on Consoles, the ending
turned into him showing up in Shaal Khan's throne room and putting the helmet on.
So people thought, oh, he's the second coming of shal Khan,
or he is shal Khan in disguise. All these rumors started flying right eventually
it had to be, you know, deconfirmed, but then people still didn't
believe it. There was a moment in the aforementioned conquest mode or Ryko straight
out says I just like wearing shal Kan's helmet. It was like a cheeky
little reference and then an armygeddon. They were separate characters, so that kind
of removed all doubt. Let's say, so here you have the opportunity to
create Raiko and put him in shal Khan's position and like get rid of shal
Khan for a little while, or even have shal Khan like rise up against
Ryko. I think that would be awesome. So that's why they're both in
maybe. But if I had to lean one way or the other, I
would lean Ryko just to give shal Khan some time off. I think that
would be a very interesting way to approach this. It would be a way
that harkens back to the history of the franchise, pokes a little fun at
itself, but also puts Ryko in the place that people thought he was in
to begin with. Back Mortal Kombat four first came out, when that whole
you know, theory controversy, whatever you want to call it, was happening.
So there you go. That's the list of confirms, definite, likelies,
and maybe's in the next segment. I'm gonna take a little break here.
Into the final segment, we'll talk about my cameo at best and my
straight up nat portions of the list before we call it an episode. Stick
around for more Mortal Kombat greatness. All right, Welcome back to Chief Sticks
the Controller's episode number one thirty three, breaking down the Immortal Kombat one prediction
tier thing image that I hosted on Twitter along with this episode, so you
can hear my reasoning as to why certain characters might fit in certain places.
We talked about by you know, the ones that I'm most confident or maybe
confident in making the playable roster. Now we're gonna get into the characters that
are either going to be cameos at best or just straight up not in the
game at all, which you know, kind of sucks. There's a lot
of characters here that I kind of went back and forth on, but honestly,
where I landed here, I'm pretty confident in what's going to happen here.
But there is one thing I do we need to address before we move
on here that may that will affect at least one person down here. The
DLC leak. So there was a leak of potential DLC characters by Amazon Italy
that was covered by multiple outlets all around, and two of the names we've
already addressed, with a third one coming up in this segmentum plus three guest
characters and guest characters is a whole other ball of wax that Yeah, it's
that. That one's gonna be It's gonna take a while to get through.
So the DLC playable characters that were leaked by Amazon Italy Quanshi Irmac and Takada
Omniman Peacemaker and Homelander are there as well, but like I said, guest
characters, that's a whole other episode. Um quanshi I said, maybe a
deadly alliance thing going on if they're both DLC. One is the pre ordered
bonus, the other one is Pack one. That could definitely be a part
of the story that would be awesome Iermak as I mentioned, I did think
Reptile would get the tip over Irmac, but Irmak being in Combat Pack one
tells me that maybe Reptile is in the main roster, so I might be
onto something there. And then Takeda, who I grouped in with the rest
of the Combat Kids, the Cassie Cages, Jackie Briggs, Kunjin and Takeda
as not coming in at all because in this remade universe the kids wouldn't exist,
So with Takeda being in the game, maybe I'm wrong about that.
Ha ha, So little spoiler when we get to the NAH section, which
is where I'm going to start right now. But also too, there were
some other cameo fighters that were listening in Combat Pack one. We're going to
talk about those in a second. So as far as the NAH is concerned,
the characters I don't think you're coming back Collector Setrion and Chronica. Chronica
is, you know, dead. It's the whole reason we're in the storyline
where it is. I would I would be interested. I don't think she's
coming back. Setrion was an old elder god, not a new elder god,
so it would makes sense that she wouldn't come back, and Collector just
sucks. I'm sorry. Collector is a very weird character, and I don't
want to see them back, So sorry, Collector, peace out. I
know some folks like to play with you, but I wasn't one of them,
and I don't want to see you in the game anymore. Pure personal
preference. Get out Meat Nah would be a funny cameo, but nah,
I don't want to see Meat. Blaze kind of in the same vein as
Onaga, but I don't. If they were going to bring Blaze back,
I would want it to be less Arm again. In Big Bad and More,
was an MK four secret character, but then again, it's just another
ninja, and a fire Ninja already exists. His name is Scorpion, so
we don't need that, Zoe. How No, we saw his severed head
in Immortal Kombat eleven with Aaron Black intro again new universe. He could come
back in a different way, but I just don't see that happening. Same
with Cobra. Cobra was basically made to make fun of the street Fighter characters.
I think he is going to be unless he's completely redesigned. I think
he's going to be a a visage of a bygone era, even a PS
two era, which, as I mentioned multiple times as being referenced a couple
of times in MK one. I just don't see him making the jump Tavan
and Dagon. Unlike Shujinko, who people like myself have a soft spot for
because of his role in Deception, I feel I do not feel the same
for Taven and Dagon the Armageddon storyline protagonist antagonist, So get out. Darius
just boring. Not a fan of Darius, don't like him, so he
can stay out. Maybe a cameo for Darius, but I have him in
nah here. Dramin with the Club might be an interesting cameo, but honestly,
I don't even want to see him in that regard. Mo Cap again
maybe, but no, I don't. I don't think we see Moo Capital.
I think that's a level of silliness that we're not going to go back
to anytime soon. Cyber Smoke I have in NAT only because the you know,
human Smoke is in the roster. Could we see him appear with Cyrax
and sectors cameos, Yeah, sure, maybe, but I just don't see
that happening. Chameleon both versions male and female, although I think the female's
name is different and I just can't remember it at the moment I put them
in NAT. But Chameleon is listed as one of the five Combat Pack one
cameo fighters from that leak, so that one might come back to bite me
in the backside. We'll see, But I just didn't think. I feel
like even as cameo fighters, they're basically, you know, living random selections
like Mokujian and techn or eleven in Street Fight or five. Right, it
doesn't make any sense to me. If I wanted to pick random, I
pick random. I don't made a character to do that for me, although
Chameleon did sort of mix that up by just having all of their moves,
so I don't know. Maybe maybe Chameleon would make sense as a character,
but I don't. I don't think it's going to happen in this one.
Takada kon Jin, Jackie Briggs, and Cassie Cage, like I said,
did not think they'd be coming back because I didn't think the combat Kids would
exist since this is a newer universe and we're kind of going back to basics
here. But with Tacada being in the link in the leak, could be
wrong about that. I still don't see it happening, and I also don't
think they would be cameos for the same reason. D Row from Deception.
I didn't remember that guy's name. I had to look him up, so
no, see you later. Jarek is another one. Jarek is basically most
famous for that horrible Mortal Kombat for ending one of the worst Mortal Kombat endings
of all time. I would be okay with him then bringing him back,
but only to recreate that scene in the story mode and then never see him
again. I don't want him in that. He's just boring. He's just
boring. I don't want any parts of it. And Kayle was on the
fence about But he's another one where I didn't remember his name. I had
to look him up, and that I don't think bodes well for mister Kaium
would be a fun, you know, reference in a cameo or something like
that, maybe a appearance in the story mode where they don't actually become part
of the main roster, but I don't. I just don't see a future
for Kai either. And then cameo at best. These are characters that I
think are worthy of cameos, but I don't know that they're going to end
up being there. Cabal, I just Cabal could maybe bump up into the
maybe section, but he was just an m K eleven. It would depend
on how deep they're going to go into the Black or Red Dragon like sort
of factions. Just don't see that happening. Same with Aaron Black. I
feel like Aaron Black was a menace in MK ten and eleven, and they
may cool off on him for a little while. Be a great cameo.
He's an awesome l zone or cameo sort of character, but I just don't
see anything more than that. I have Ferra Tour as cameo at best,
which is interesting because Farrah is listed in the Link and the League as well
as a cameo fighter, which would make sense Fara Tour for those who don't
remember was MKX. It was a little kid on top of a big,
hulking like mutated sort of person. Farrah was the kid. So if the
Farrah has like grown up a little bit and her own character, that would
be interesting. Goro I I kind of like Goro, Kintaro, and Motaro
all in the same sort of probably cameos. We've already seen. Goro,
Kintaro and Motaro fit into that as well. Um Chinnak also slightly into that.
But I would also lean more towards Shinok as a no. I put
him in cameo, but but it makes sense for him to be a no
as well, just because he's a big bad We need new big bads.
He was a big band in MK ten but MKAX. Excuse me, but
Goro, Kintaro and Motaro classic mid bosses would make for great cameos. Like
I said, Goro's already there. Kintaro can just be a more powerful or
a faster version of Goro, and Motaro definitely unique in being a centaur could
take up a bunch of the screen and create like big openings for a character.
That would be cool to see. Moloch I have here as a cameo
just because I had a choice between Moloch and Drama in my head, and
I think Moloch is a more interesting character. Drama is just weird with the
club. But this guy's got the wrecking ball, so he's got some distance
to him. Could be an interesting cameo there. Shiva Shiva, I had
a problem. I was in between maybe and cameo at best as well.
Could possibly make a sneaky entrance into the main roster at some point, but
I do think she's better suited as a cameo with the rest of her forearmed
Shokan brethren. Again, would not be surprised if one of them makes the
main roster, but I think it'll If I had to pick one of the
three to make the main roster, it would be Kintaro because he's the most
recent. He's the one that hasn't been like Gora was an MKX, Shiva
was in eleven, so technically it's Cantaro's turn. But I do think all
three of them, whether it's being cameos, Mavado from Deception another one that
was in the league for cameo fighters have him here makes the most sense to
me. Cirax and Sector I don't think are going any more than cameos.
We've seen them confirmed as cameos. I don't think it goes any further than
that for them, Ashra, which is another PS two throwback. These are
the kinds of characters that you can call back to without using a quote unquote
roster spot for them, So I'm cool with Ashra. Also, Kira kind
of fits in that regard as well. Hotahu later down the list as well
Tremor. Tremor is just a victim of too many ninjas, also in the
Cameo Fighters League, so I kind of I am happy with what I came
up with their bow Rye show. I would love the idea of a younger
bo Ryde show in the main roster, but I just don't see it happening.
He's kind of built his repation on being gross um, particularly in Deception,
where he lit a fart on fire as a fatality. UM MKX didn't
Lean didn't lean into that as much, but UM, I feel like if
they wanted a silly cameo bo Rightcho would be a good candidate for that.
Hotaru, who some people wouldn't even remember from Word to Combat Deception. I
have him as a cameo was best at best as well. Tanya from MK
four and MK nine or mkx kx kx UM is another one that I think
could fit into cameo as well. Uh Codal Khan and Garris. These are
the two that I had I put in last into this section UM, because
I feel like Garris is either a cameo or a NO. Because the same
way Chronica is dead and not coming back, I feel like Garris kind of
falls into that being her right hand man. UM would make an interesting cameo
just harken back to at m K eleven in some form or the characters that
debuted in m K eleven in some form, But honestly, I don't know
that it'll be any more than that, and I'm kind of leaning more no.
As for kodal Kan, Kotal Khan was one of the most powerful characters
by the end of MK eleven and I wouldn't be surprised if they want to
cool off on him. But his you know, sunbuffs and his big saw
sword would make for great cameo moves, so I couldn't put him as a
NO, so I put him in cameo. I don't think he's going to
make the main roster. I think he's DLC at best, but I do,
I do. I'm sorry DLC or CAMEO at best. I just don't
like his chances this time around. So we already have twelve on the main
roster based on this if all of the definite and likely characters that aren't in
DLC right, So, if I take Irmak and Quanshi out of likely because
they're going to be DLC according to this league, that means we have eighteen,
so twelve and confirmed three and definite three and likely and then let's say
three or four from Maybe that's a solid twenty two character roster to kick things
off. I don't know what their plans are, obviously they have not announced
or released any numbers as of yet, but this is where I'm sitting right
now. Again. I will share this tier Maker picture with the podcast when
it goes up, so that you can yell at me or tell me I'm
wrong, or tell me where you think people fit. Might have to do
this again with guest characters. Seems like this time we're going to be leaning
into superheroes, or at least superheroes that are antiheroes. Since Omni Man Peacemaker
and Homelander are or in the league, so that might be something we have
to consider in the future as well, but for now I think we're good.
So that is my analysis of Mortal Kombats roster, where it is now,
where it could possibly go again. Hit me up on Twitter at big
Man Finnell if you agree with or disagree, happy to have that debate as
long as it is friendly and lively. Let's not instole each other, for
you know, let's not be jarks. Just as one of the wrestling YouTube
channels I like to watch, says like what you like, don't be a
dick and with that. Where you're at the end of episode one thirty three
of Chief Stakes and Controllers presented as always by Fox PHL The Gambler one or
two point five fourteen eighty AM Philadelphia and iHeartRadio. If you are listening to
these words, as I say every week, that means you have reached the
end of the show, and I appreciate you for doing so. Means a
lot that you sit here and listen to me in the background rant about video
games for a while, and I I really it really does mean a lot
that you are here listening to me and this episode, looking forward to more
coming up in the next couple of months. Got a lot of games coming
out that we can talk about. Got a couple of things in the pipeline
for August that are really really big. Got a couple of interviews coming up
later in July that I'm excited about as well. Two big time releases we're
gonna have some folks on here talking about and I am super excited for that.
But also, as I say every week, I hope you have a
fantastic weekend. I hope you have an even better week right behind it,
And we'll be back next week with more of the latest and greatest video games
here on Cheef, Steaks and Controllers. Bye bye,