Lately I've been enjoying the hell out of Mortal Kombat 1. I've been into this series ever since I was a kid, when my older cousins would tell me about playing it on the Sega Genesis when they were kids, and then with the PS2-era games. It's had its ups and downs as a franchise, but these days it has a respectable fanbase and solid games to boot. It would be much better if Warner Bros weren't constantly pushing for GaaS bullshit, but as far as the story, characters and gameplay go I'm definitely satisifed. For the most part, at least.
When the game was first revealed, the very same trailer announced that the fiendish Shang Tsung, the final boss of the very first Mortal Kombat, is relegated to pre-order DLC status. Announcing that right off the bat is greedy at best, and it doesn't help that he was shown pretty prominently in that same trailer getting ripped apart by Liu Kang. Mortal Kombat X had Goro, Shang's four-armed miniboss, as a pre-order bonus, and he felt like a neat addition to the roster despite not being involved in the story at all. Mortal Kombat 11 had Shao Kahn, the final boss of MK2, 3, 9 and others, except this time you were forced to fight him a few times in the story mode. He wasn't a main villain, but it felt weird being made to fight a character you had to pay in order to play as.
Back to MK1; when you start story mode, the very first cutscene tells you that Shang is a key player in the new timeline. He's established as the main villain for most of the plot, and he's scheming harder than ever before with fellow evil sorcerer Quan Chi. Not only that, the final boss fight of the arcade tower mode with every character is against both of them. With as much screentime Shang has, it's hard to justify why Warner Bros expected people to fork over extra cash to play as him. Is it because he's the final boss? In most MK games the final boss tends to be unplayable, but he split final boss duties with his partner-in-crime Quan Chi back in Deadly Alliance and they were both in the main roster for free. Same with Shinnok in Mortal Kombat 4 and X.
Unfortunately, this isn't limited just to Shang. During the story mode in MK1 there are a few instances where you need to face off against Quan Chi as well, though most of the time he's reduced to a kameo in a fight against Shang or one of their minions, and he was confirmed to be a part of the Kombat Pack set of DLC characters along with a trio of guest fighters. Also announced with him was Ermac, a ninja/mummy with telekenesis that debuted in Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3. Not only do you fight him as well multiple times, but he also turns out to be fairly important to the plot. Lastly, Kenshi's son Takeda at least isn't fought during the story mode like the others, but does make a fun little cameo at the end of the story alongside other non-playable characters from previous games.
To be fair, Ermac and Quan Chi seemingly have very limited movesets, and it's likely Netherrealm are hard at work creating new ones for when they're added to the roster as fully playable characters. But that's no excuse for how they've treated Shang, and it feels almost insulting to have them dangled in front of us when they aren't ready to play as yet. Still, it could be worse; at least Homelander, Omni Man or Peacemaker aren't important to the plot like Akuma was in Tekken 7.
Have you guys been playing MK1? How have you been finding it so far? Do you agree about their approach to DLC? Sound off below!
