Mortal Kombat 1: Look Who’s Kombating

In Mortal Kombat 1, NetherRealm Studios has introduced Kameos, a new system where players pick a supporting fighter who can then provide a bit of assistance at any time during the match. On a gameplay level, it makes sense as an additional option for mixing up how each match goes, as community manager Tyler Lansdown explained to us.

“A big goal for the design team was allowing players to have more creativity in what they can do,” he said. “[For example], sometimes there are characters that are really good at offense, but maybe their defense is scaled back a little. Now, there are some Kameo fighters that may have some defensive capabilities so you can kind of help out your character’s main move set.”

That’s all well and good, but there’s another aspect to Kameo fighters that we find especially interesting: the ability for characters to show up who might not otherwise have made the main roster. For example, there’s Goro, who’s already confirmed as a Kameo, but who potentially wouldn’t make sense being a bigger part of the reboot. Or, there are original-era versions of Sonya and Jax, complete with their laughable (but lovable), outdated old-school costumes. And then there are all of the really obscure or unexpected picks the team will be able to choose from, like the already-confirmed return of Kurtis Stryker.