Boon wanted 360-exclusive Mortal Kombat character

Mortal Kombat developer Ed Boon reveals that he wanted an Xbox 360-exclusive character in Mortal Kombat, but plans fell through for undisclosed reasons.

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By now you've had some time to punch, kick, and rip out spines in Mortal Kombat. If you're playing on Xbox 360, though, your roster is one man short compared to the PlayStation 3 version, which includes Kratos. After the God of War tie-in, fans kept waiting for a 360-exclusive reveal that never came.

Eurogamer reports that game director Ed Boon did want the system to have its own character as well, but it didn't work out. "Unfortunately, the circumstances didn't allow us to make a 360 exclusive," said Boon. "I'm not allowed to talk too much about it, but I can tell you we certainly wanted to do an exclusive for 360, but that's all I can say. It was not a decision we made where we said, oh, let's not do one for the 360."

Boon didn't disclose who may have been the final choice, but did drop a few names that were considered. "Anybody who's really knowledgeable about the Xbox video games, the big titles, names like Master Chief from Halo, Marcus Fenix from Gears of War, and any other Xbox exclusive title, is going to come up in a conversation in talking about it," he said. "So clearly we've discussed it."

Now Master Chief probably isn't the type for Mortal Kombat's particularly brutal violence, and Marcus Fenix using a Lancer from hip to sternum just seems too obvious. So by process of elimination, that leaves only one possibility. That's right: Banjo and Kazooie.

Editor-In-Chief
From The Chatty
  • reply
    April 20, 2011 8:45 AM

    Comment on Boon wanted 360-exclusive Mortal Kombat character, by Steve Watts.

    • reply
      April 20, 2011 8:48 AM

      Steve, you meant to say 'Blinx'

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        April 20, 2011 8:53 AM

        I wish they made Blinx 3 on the 360 :(

        • reply
          April 20, 2011 9:00 AM

          I didn't even realize there was a 2. I played the original.

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            April 20, 2011 9:23 AM

            Yeah the orig is awesome love it, 2 is really good too its just the beginning tutorial is so freaking long, that aside is cool.

            I guess it did not get enough love to warrant a third one, they really where the first game that I know of to do time rewind and all the other manipulation that so many games borrow now. Its sure had a cool, Mario and Sonic charm to it for me.

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              April 20, 2011 10:04 AM

              It's too bad they don't have those up on Xbox Originals.

    • reply
      April 20, 2011 8:51 AM

      [deleted]

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        April 20, 2011 8:54 AM

        That would of fit perfectly and would of been awesome.

        Too bad :(

      • reply
        April 20, 2011 8:54 AM

        That wouldn't have been a bad choice actually.
        How are you people liking the game btw?
        Haven't been online for a while so haven't watched or read a single review yet.

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        April 20, 2011 8:56 AM

        the problem with that i think is that he already is part of another fighting game (DoA) so I don't know if that would've been cool with the other guys

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        April 20, 2011 9:53 AM

        i'm not sure MK needs another ninja character

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          April 20, 2011 9:57 AM

          Even with this game, that thought has never been taken seriously at Netherrealm.

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        April 20, 2011 11:22 AM

        He's cross platform, no dice. Really Halo or Gears characters are the only two Xbox exclusive franchies that are really popular that I can think of. So Chief or Fenix.

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      April 20, 2011 8:55 AM

      Marcus Fenix would have been awesome

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      April 20, 2011 8:59 AM

      At least the lack of an exclusive character wasn't NetherRealm's fault. But here's the bigger issue: I don't feel the 360 has any exclusive characters that fit the MK mold. Kratos worked because he's as brutal and dark as any of the best MK characters, but who fits that bill on 360? The only answer is the Gears cast, but those characters are extremely shallow. They'd work, sure, but none of them are as compelling as Kratos.

      The bottom line: this issue highlights the serious lack of interesting 360-exclusive characters, which as of right now, isn't a problem for Sony.

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        April 20, 2011 9:00 AM

        [deleted]

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          April 20, 2011 9:02 AM

          There's no rule that states that, true. I think people (including myself) assumed that would be the case since Kratos was a Sony exclusive.

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        April 20, 2011 10:35 AM

        They should've had Alan Wake as the 360 exclusive character.

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          April 20, 2011 11:08 AM

          LOL

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            April 20, 2011 11:09 AM

            ^ HP = flashlight blinding

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              April 20, 2011 11:10 AM

              wow that sucked... i guess angle braces are not welcomed in the chatty

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          April 20, 2011 11:34 AM

          Fatality:

          Crushed by various falling logos / marketed items.

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      April 20, 2011 9:01 AM

      Banjo would have been awesome!

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        April 20, 2011 9:02 AM

        lol

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          April 20, 2011 9:06 AM

          and then they should have created cross platform online capability for just Banjo (360) vs Kratos (PS3).
          Console Wars. Console Wars never changes

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      April 20, 2011 9:07 AM

      Wasn't it because CliffyB forgot to send over artwork to NetherRealm? How much of a douche bag can you be to fuck up the chance to put one of your original characters into a MK game because you couldn't be bothered to send an email?

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        April 20, 2011 9:19 AM

        Where did you hear this?

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          April 20, 2011 6:21 PM

          I'm pretty sure it was posted to CliffyB's twitter.

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            April 20, 2011 10:39 PM

            I think CliffyB posted on twitter that he would have been interested in having a gears character in MK, but from the sounds of the discussion on the Bombcast it was too late in the dev process to start anything like that.

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        April 20, 2011 3:51 PM

        Well it's difficult since he is the only person who works there.

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      April 20, 2011 9:10 AM

      If anything this sounds like WB / Nethersoft / Boon and Co were asking for too much money for the "exclusive", and MSFT / Bungie / EPIC said "go fuck yourself."

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      April 20, 2011 9:12 AM

      sam fischer (more like kasumi amirite)

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      April 20, 2011 9:17 AM

      Maybe thats why Xbox never got the demo. Kind of a FU back to Microsoft. Worked if you asked me, saw more people buying for PS3 then 360

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      April 20, 2011 9:26 AM

      Not Xbox Exclusive, but Isaac from Dead Space would have been a cool fit.

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        April 20, 2011 10:01 AM

        Oooooh, great idea!

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        April 20, 2011 10:06 AM

        great idea. He could have awesome dismemberment fatalities. looking at the list of exclusives, other names that jump out are Sneak King and Alan Wake. Lots of possibilities.

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          April 20, 2011 10:16 AM

          lol alan wake's fatality is he shines a flashlight under his chin and tells you a ghost story

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            April 20, 2011 11:06 AM

            or pulls out a thermos and scalds you with hot coffee

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        April 20, 2011 10:08 AM

        Or a Big Daddy / Little Sister combo. There's an endless cast of characters that would have no problem being added to the MK games. These fighting games are perfect for the micro transaction economy that DLC can provide.

        $5.00 for each Character if they came with original moves / combos / fatalaties.

        I don't see how it couldn't be win / win for everyone.

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          April 20, 2011 12:08 PM

          You really wanna hear "Mister Bubbles No!" ever time he looses. Actually I take that back a little sister on your back yelling "Get him Mister B" or "I see an angel" would be pretty sweet.

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      April 20, 2011 10:13 AM

      Bayonetta is the only answer. She would have been a perfect fit.

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      April 20, 2011 10:52 AM

      Microsoft obviously hates freedom. Fenix would have been a perfect fit. Enjoying it on my PS3 however!

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        April 20, 2011 3:55 PM

        Fenix would have been a terrible fit.

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          April 20, 2011 3:56 PM

          Ryu?

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            April 20, 2011 3:58 PM

            Assuming you mean Ryu from Ninja Gaiden, that is a much better overall choice

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              April 20, 2011 4:00 PM

              i think msgs published that right? so they could use him. i can't think of many other appropriate characters.

              alan wake? lol that would be kind of funny.

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                April 20, 2011 4:09 PM

                Yep, MSGS published it. There really isn't an 'appropriate' character that MS has like Kratos. Kratos looks like he could be ripped right out of MK 3 and put in the roster.

                I think the obvious answer would be Master Chief but that just is terrible to think about just as much as Fenix :(

                I think they made the right decision about the character but they should have made it up in some other way I think.

                It really doesn't matter though because PS3 version is not allowed in tournaments because of Kratos lol
                :(

    • reply
      April 20, 2011 12:33 PM

      i kinda like not having a exclusive non mk character. i guess i'm a purist

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      April 20, 2011 1:26 PM

      yo, boon, where the fuck is this 360 demo, huh?

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      April 20, 2011 1:48 PM

      I want Commander Keen in a PC exclusive version.

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      April 20, 2011 4:43 PM

      the Test Your Luck stuff looks to be a blast.

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        April 20, 2011 4:45 PM

        but it doesn't work online??!?! >:(

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          April 20, 2011 6:27 PM

          yeah :(

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          April 20, 2011 6:46 PM

          It's better that they keep it fairly vanilla for online. They could have added that for private matches, though.

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      April 20, 2011 8:42 PM

      A halo elite would have been fun. Energy sword and plasma grenade fatalities.

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        April 20, 2011 10:08 PM

        When this came up in a discussion I had earlier, we came to the same conclusion when someone brought up the Halo franchise.

    • reply
      April 20, 2011 9:39 PM

      subthread nuked?

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      April 21, 2011 2:06 AM

      Was planning to get 360 version as thats what my fighting stick is... but kratos is awesome. Hmm

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      April 21, 2011 10:01 AM

      the reason why there was no 360 character is because it would have to be a Microsoft OWNED franchise character. Master Chief was already done in DOA and doesnt really have an arsenal of moves that would work in a fighting game other than grenades, nor is the likeness solely owned by Microsoft anymore.

      The character had to be more than just from a game exclusive to the system itself. Kratos is a Sony owned character which allowed Netherrealm to use it in the game without serious licensing costs and issues.

      Unless its a First party owned franchise it would not truly be a Microsoft owned character and thats what they seemed to stay away from...

      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Game_Studios#Owned_franchises_and_properties

      • reply
        April 24, 2011 5:45 PM

        In other words Microsoft doesn't seem to own any real exclusive characters anymore!! I was hoping it would be the driver from Forza 4 though... Heck some Viva Pinatas would have been fun to rip apart too.

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