TEST YOUR MIGHT!: Translating Mortal Kombat II in Festival of Fighters
Greetings, Dan here!
Much like many fighting games fans in the US, this past weekend, I went to the opening night of Mortal Kombat II in theaters. Though, I had not seen the first one in 2021, I have followed MK on and off since I was a kid in the 90's, so I still enjoyed it. It had some outstanding fights, and great comedy. Kano was my favorite part by far, even though he's not my favorite kombatant. My favorite fight I'll touch on in a bit.
As I watched, I played a game with myself. I kept checking with myself, if what I was seeing could be made by a GM in Festival of Fighters with the rules as currently written. Granted, Mortal Kombat is a bit more fantastical than the Urban Wuxia setting of FoF, (though I intend to explore that in a future supplement once the full game is out), I still recognize that MK fans may still find their way to my game. I want to make sure that they could build what they enjoy, at least in the most part. Then anything they couldn't I would hope they could homebrew without too much effort. I am happy to say, as I watched the brutal and bloody bouts that pretty much every fighter could be made, even though a couple might require a homebrew kin, or a GM approved tweak to an existing kin.
To illustrate how the experiment worked out I want to take a moment to discuss two fighters in the movie, and how the fighter builds appeared to me. While one of these fights did appear in some previews, the other is a bit of a spoiler for those who saw the first film. As such, I will discuss that one second to give some space, and officially issue the warning now. Slight spoilers ahead. If you would feel that knowing about the inclusion of a surprise character is too much of a spoiler, I will understand if you choose to bow out. I will note that I will only include their name, and generally discuss how I would build them. I won't discuss any details around their inclusion in the film.
Before I discuss the first set of fighters, I also wish to note that the builds I will discuss are from the perspective of how the characters fought in the movie. In their home game, the fighter archetypes might traditionally be different than how they will appear here. Understand that this discrepancy is solely an effect of the character's fighting style in the film.
Ok with that out of the way, let's press on.
FIGHT!
Jade vs Jax
This was a fun fight in the movie where we got to see lots of back and forth between these two characters. I especially enjoyed the more agile fighting style from Jax than I would traditionally attribute to him. In Festival of Fighter terms I would interpret Jade as the Outlier kin, being a "human" with exceptional skill in the top 1% of the species. Mechanically this translates to traits that make her slightly, naturally more skilled than other kin. In the movie, Jade also makes great use of her staff to misdirect her opponents and strike from a medium distance. With this in mind, I believe her Archetype Levels would be spent under Counter Fighter, making her better able to dodge, perry, and counter her opponents. I'm pretty satisfied with that, but a player may choose to spend a level in another archetype such as Rushdown to represent her fast jabs with her pole.
For Jax, with his cybernetic arms, I think it's fairly apparent that he would be the Cyborg kin, giving him some Armor Points, and a cybernetics suite. In fact one attack he makes in this fight is even inline with the Cyborg-exclusive Technique called the Booster Strike. As for his fighting style, I mentioned in the movie he is much more agile, than an up-close bruiser. In fact he does a lot of striking and backing off to plan his next attack. With this in might, I think movie Jax would have spent his levels in the Charge Fighter Archetype, giving his strikes extra power from strategic movement. That said, a player, might also choose to spend in Grappler as well, as his fighting style does see him coming in close for throws as well as strikes.
To recap, in FoF terms, this fight was between an Outlier Counter Fighter vs a Cyborg Charge Fighter. If you want to know which came out on top, I'm afraid you'll need to watch the movie. I won't be spoiling winners here. I will note that both appear in multiple fights in the film; though, I will not confirm if they're before or after this match.
Now for the spoilerific fight. It's your last chance to back out. If not...
FIGHT!
Liu Kang vs Kung Lao
By far my favorite fight in the movie. There is high emotional stakes at play, and Kung Lao's fighting style is especially lethal with the intense use of his bladed hat. Starting with Liu Kang, with his fire-based powerset, it is fairly straight forward to say that he would be an Elemental kin of fire. In FoF this would give his attacks added damage associated with his element, and the ability to manipulate his element within limited amounts around his person. (The latter of which is something that is demonstrated in the movie, if not in this fight.). For his fighting style, Liu Kang gets in close to rain a flurry of fiery strikes on his opponents. As such I would say his archetype levels would likely be spent in Rushdown. While this would lower his base damage output, it allows for the most amount of possible strikes in a combo. He also demonstrates blasting his fire in jets out to a short distance, so a player might also spend some levels in All-Rounder from added range.
For Kung Lao while I won't speak to the circumstances in the movie, I will say that his kin would be a Reanimated in Festival of Fighters, making it difficult to take him down, and giving him an unsettling aura. As for fighting style, Kung Lao makes extensive use of his hat, to fight up close with Liu Kang, while his weapon flies in to strike at his opponent from many directions. Because he spends of his fight splitting his opponent's attention in this way, I would say he actually falls into the Puppet Fighter archetype. This would have the fighter splitting their actions between themselves, and their puppet, in this case the hat. That said, while up close to his opponent, his blows come fast and in abundance. So appropriately, similar to Liu Kang, a player may choose to spend some levels in Rushdown.
To recap, this in FoF terms this fight saw an Elemental (fire) Rushdown Fighter vs a Reanimated Puppet Fighter. Once again, I will not say who won, but I will say that the conclusion of this fight is suitably brutal and surprising.
This was a fun experiment, and while there were many other fights I would have liked to discuss here. One in act three would even have been be a good example of an entire party of martial allies doing battle as can be done in FoF. But I chose to limit my discussion to two fights, to limit the spoilers for the movies, and because for the most variety in builds. Many of the other fights would have featured shared kin/archetypes, or have required a custom kin (see: Baraka and Shao Khan). Still, I hope this was a fun way to encourage folks to both go see the movie and to demonstrate some of the choices players can make when building their fighters in Festival of Fighters. Expect more to come soon as we are hard at work at playtesting and development. I hope to see you then!
Greetings, Dan here! Much like many fighting games fans in the US, this past weekend, I went to the opening night of Mortal Kombat II in the
















