History Franchise / MortalKombat

** ''[=MK11=]'' emulates ''Deception'' to a lesser degree, as it also switches out some of the main recurring characters for past [[EnsembleDarkhorse Ensemble Darkhorses]].

* ChangingTheGuard: Unlike in other fighting game series, the character rosters in ''MK'' tends to shift radically between games, giving each instalment a unique feel. Even the most popular characters have been known to miss instalments for no clear reasons.

** The Netherrealm Studios instalments tend to give character deaths slightly more weight, though the fact that many dead warriors come back through Quan Chi's magic or time travel hijinx means that the trope is very much in effect.

* ColorAnimalCodename: The Red Dragon is a criminal syndicate founded by the half god Daegon. The Black Dragon, which Kano is a member of, is a splinter group founded by Red Dragon members who disagreed with the code of honor of the Red Dragon.

* DeathIsCheap: Zigzagged. In a fighting game where brutally executing your opponent is the main attraction, you can bet this trope is a given. However, when it comes to the plot, some character deaths do stick (and some even come back for a sequel).

** ''Deadly Alliance'' [[DownerBeginning begins]] on a dour note as [[WhamEpisode Liu Kang is murdered by the titular sorcerer duo in the opening cinematic]]. The immediate sequel, ''Deception'', would reveal in its opening cutscene that [[KillEmAll almost every single Earthrealm hero died]] in the final battle against the Deadly Alliance, retroactively rendering the plot of ''MK:DA'' a ShootTheShaggyDogStory. Raiden kills Shang Tsung and Quan Chi in a self-sacrificing attack designed to stop Onaga (Raiden, Shang Tsung and Quan Chi were momentarily forced to pull an EnemyMine against the Dragon King), but Onaga himself is unfazed by it. Several other characters such as Li Mei and Reptile also have canonical arcade endings that are... [[FateWorseThanDeath less than]] [[DemonicPossession ideal for them]].

** ''[=MK9=]'' initially seems to set up a worse timeline than the original as most of the Earthrealm warriors die much earlier than they were supposed to, all thanks to Raiden attempting to influence the course of history based on his future self's vague warning. Quan Chi resurrects many of said warriors as brainwashed Revenants. Raiden, with aid from the Elder Gods, narrowly manages to destroy Shao Kahn once and for all, but the [[PyrrhicVictory sacrifices to reach this victory were too tremendous to contemplate]].
** ''MKX'' probably has the most straightforward happy ending since the original tetralogy. Cassie singlehandedly defeats Corrupted Shinnok, saves the realms, and even manages to reunite her estranged parents. However, Raiden's absorption of Shinnok's darkness in the Jinsei causes him to yet again take on the [[KnightTemplar Dark Raiden]] persona and he sends a clear message to Liu Kang and Kitana (now the undead rulers of the Netherrealm) that [[JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope he is done taking shit from other realms]] (many arcade endings also show him going on the warpath against Outworld, [[BecameTheirOwnAntithesis forcing Kotal Kahn to invoke the sacred right of Mortal Kombat]] against ''him''). Additionally, Scorpion's hasty execution of Quan Chi dooms the other remaining Revenants to their hellish existence forever.

** ''Deadly Alliance'' [[DownerBeginning begins]] on a dour note as [[WhamEpisode Liu Kang is murdered by the titular sorcerer duo in the opening cinematic]]. The immediate sequel, ''Deception'', would reveal in its opening cutscene that [[KillEmAll every single Earthrealm hero died]] in the final battle against the Deadly Alliance, retroactively rendering the plot of ''MK:DA'' a ShootTheShaggyDogStory. Raiden manages to kill Shang Tsung and Quan Chi in a self-sacrificing attack designed to stop Onaga (Raiden, Shang Tsung and Quan Chi were forced to pull an EnemyMine against the Dragon King), but Onaga himself is unfazed by it. Several other characters such as Li Mei and Reptile also have canonical arcade endings that are... less than ideal for them.

** ''[=MK9=]'' initially seems to set up a worse timeline than the original as most of the Earthrealm warriors die much earlier than they were supposed to, all thanks to Raiden attempting to influence the course of history based on his future self's vague warning. Quan Chi resurrects many of said warriors as brainwashed Revenants. Raiden, with aid from the Elder Gods, manages to destroy Shao Kahn once and for all, but the [[PyrrhicVictory sacrifices to reach this victory were too tremendous to contemplate]].

, but his self-sacrificial attack doesn't phase Onaga at all and causes Raiden to be reincarnated into a [[FaceHeelTurn darker persona]].
** ''Deception'' similarly ends on a bittersweet note as Onaga is ultimately defeated, but [[TragicOneShotCharacter Shujinko]] wastes most of his adult life on a pointless quest orchestrated by Onaga himself. The game also reveals that Raiden was reincarnated into a darker persona after his fatal battle against Onaga in the intro, while Liu Kang was resurrected by Raiden as a mindless decaying zombie.

** ''Deadly Alliance'' [[DownerBeginning begins]] on a dour note as [[WhamEpisode Liu Kang is murdered by the titular sorcerer duo in the opening cinematic]]. The immediate sequel, ''Deception'', would reveal in its opening cutscene that [[KillEmAll every single Earthrealm hero died]] in the final battle against the Deadly Alliance, retroactively rendering the plot of ''MK:DA'' a ShootTheShaggyDogStory. Raiden narrowly scrapes a win against Shang Tsung and Quan Chi, but his self-sacrificial attack doesn't phase Onaga at all and causes Raiden to be reincarnated into a [[FaceHeelTurn darker persona]].
** ''Deception'' similarly ends on a bittersweet note as Onaga is ultimately defeated, but [[TragicOneShotCharacter Shujinko]] wastes most of his adult life on a pointless quest orchestrated by Onaga himself.

** ''Deadly Alliance'' [[DownerBeginning begins]] on a dour note as Liu Kang is murdered by the titular sorcerer duo. The immediate sequel, ''Deception'', would reveal in its opening cutscene that [[KillEmAll every single Earthrealm hero died]] in the final battle against the Deadly Alliance, retroactively rendering the plot of ''MK:DA'' a ShootTheShaggyDogStory. Raiden narrowly scrapes a win against Shang Tsung and Quan Chi, but his self-sacrificial attack doesn't phase Onaga at all and causes Raiden to be reincarnated into a darker persona.

** ''Armageddon'' builds up to the titular apocalyptic conflict in its story mode, with Taven trying in vain to prevent it. Alas, Armageddon is inevitable and almost every kombatant kills each other in a bloodlusted frenzy to get to the top of the Pyramid of Argus. Worse, ''[=MK9=]'' shows that Shao Kahn would've been the ultimate champion. The only saving grace is that the timeline is seemingly aborted by Dark Raiden's last act of sending a message back through time to his own past self, just before Shao Kahn finishes him.
** ''[=MK9=]'' initially seems to set up a worse timeline than the original as most of the Earthrealm warriors die much earlier than they were supposed to, all thanks to Raiden attempting to influence the course of events based on his future self's vague warning. Quan Chi resurrects many of said warriors as brainwashed Revenants. Raiden, with aid from the Elder Gods, manages to destroy Shao Kahn once and for all, but the sacrifices to reach this victory were too tremendous to contemplate.

** ''[=MK11=]'' ends with Liu Kang and Raiden breaking free of Kronika's temporal manipulations and defeating her by performing a FusionDance, but they are forced to repair the Hourglass and reset the timeline from scratch once again. The ''Aftermath'' DLC story expansion initially seems to set up another straight up DownerEnding as [[VillainProtagonist Shang Tsung]] and the other villains go on a brutal soul-harvesting spree, altering the events of the final battle at Kronika's Keep and [[TheBadGuyWins seemingly emerging victorious]]. Thankfully, Fire God Liu Kang pulls a clever BatmanGambit on his nemesis and, after defeating him, truly begins work on resetting the timeline for the better.

** ''Deception'' similarly ends on a bitter note as Onaga is ultimately defeated, but Shujinko wastes most of his adult life in a pointless quest orchestrated by Onaga himself.

* BittersweetEnding: The current timeline ends with the heroes managing to defeat Shinnok and save both Earthrealm and Outworld form his clutches, however, [[spoiler: Raiden is corrupted from repairing the Jinsei, making him more of a KnightTemplar [[WellIntentionedExtremist than he]] [[FaceHeelTurn had]] [[JerkassGods been]] before, and [[JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope may go on a warpath]] against those who dare to conquer his realm, and [[HeWhoFightsMonsters in the process]], become like [[BecameTheirOwnAntithesis Shao Kahn.]] Barring Jax, Scorpion/Hanzo, and Sub-Zero, the remaining revenants are doomed to stay that way since [[RevengeBeforeReason Hanzo couldn't wait just a little longer to get his revenge against Quan Chi]], Liu Kang and Kitana are now the rulers of the Netherrealm and but for Raiden's intervention, would seek to conquer Earthrealm, and Erron Black is still running free and may or may not have killed Jax. And Kronika is about take matters into her own hands. Then it turns out the whole thing was a plan orchestrated by Kronika, Titan and mother of Elder Gods Shinnok and Cetrion to create a "perfect" timeline involving an eternal war between good and evil. When it looks like things are failing, she merges the past and present to try to rerail her machination. She's eventually defeated, but time has been rewound and reset during the events of the fight meaning Liu Kang and Raiden[[note]]and Kitana, if they player completes the final fight without being KO'd during any round[[/note]] are the only people alive now. But Liu has Raiden's power and control of the Hourglass, meaning he can rebuild the future with true peace in mind.]] Even with all of this, it's tons better than the original timeline's outcome.

* DivergentCharacterEvolution: Due to using digitized sprites, the cast was expanded by taking the same sprites and re-colorling them to create new characters. Most famously, this was the case for the male ninjas (Scorpion, Sub-Zero, etc.), female ninjas (Kitana, Mileena, etc.), and cyborgs (Sektor, Cyrax, etc.). After the series made the jump to 3D, different models were used for those characters further distigushing them. In particular, Reptile, who started off with Scorpion and Sub-Zero's moveset combined, was given his own unique moveset and becoming more reptilian in appearance.

* PunchKickLayout: The series uses Front Punch, Back Punch, Front Kick, and Back Kick as its basic attack buttons. Whether "front" and "back" refer to the left or right limbs depends on your stance: attacks using the front-facing limb are faster, while those using limbs in the back hit harder. And while crouching, your back punch becomes an AntiAir whereas your back kick trips your opponent.

* ArtisticLicenseBiology: A staple of the franchise.

** ''Snow Blind'' (sequel to ''Battle of the Realms'')

* ''WesternAnimation/MortalKombatLegends'' anthology:
** ''[[WesternAnimation/MortalKombatLegendsScorpionsRevenge Scorpion's Revenge]]'' (a retelling of the first game's story, animated by Creator/WarnerBrosAnimation)

* ''WesternAnimation/MortalKombatLegends'':

** ''[[WesternAnimation/MortalKombatLegendsSnowBlind Snow Blnd]]'' (sequel to ''Battle of the Realms'')

* IconicLogo: It's hard to imagine a [[DragonsUpTheYinYang Yin Yang Dragon]] without thinking of this series.

** Fatal Blows turn this UpToEleven, as all of them, without exception, have Fatality-like capabilities.

* AdvantageBall: Originally used the simple "won the tournament and attained victory in all life goals" pretty much every fighting game used. With the advent of the later games' storytelling roulette, characters that winning fights they otherwise would likely not has become canon. Actually a plot point in ''[[VideoGame/MortalKombatVsDCUniverse Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe]]'' as the balance of power goes back and forth between characters.

* BlackAndGreyMorality: The protagonists are [[JerkWithAHeartOfGold Jerks with Hearts of Gold]] or [[AntiHero Anti-Heroes]] at best. The villains are often either genocidal rapists, mass-murderers, or sociopaths. Some of the latest would describe themselves as all three. Even [[GodIsGood Raiden]] has ventured into the KnightTemplar category or uses manipulation as a means of protecting Earthrealm.

%%* ColorCodedMultiplayer

* MadeOfPlasticine: The losing fighter during a [[FinishingMove Fatality]] although...

* NiceHat: Some of the ''MK'' cast have some funky headwear, with Raiden's [[AllAsiansWearConicalStrawHats conical Chinese fisherman hat]] being most memorable. Kung Lao's is a special example as ''[=MK2=]'' proved that [[WeaponizedHeadgear it was an outright lethal weapon]]. In ''Mortal Kombat X'', Erron Black has a cowboy hat with a bullet belt, but is only worn in Story Mode, and in the Gunslinger variation.

%%* AttractMode

* BootstrappedTheme: "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aidem5-kheE Techno Syndrome]]" by The Immortals is widely considered to be ''the'' definitive theme song of the entire franchise, despite it originally being composed just for the [[Film/MortalKombatTheMovie 1995 film]]. Went full circle as of ''VideoGame/MortalKombat11'', where a remixed version of it is used as the official soundtrack for the reveal trailer, a good 24 years after it became famous.

%%* FarEast: The series loves this.

%%* FlawlessVictory: The TropeNamer.

%%* FromBadToWorse: Starting in ''Deadly Alliance''.

* {{Gorn}}: Being a series flooded with over-the-top violence, this was expected.

* HotterAndSexier: The fanservice gradually increased in every game, especially once graphical technology got good enough to the point where real actresses/actors were no longer required to make a decent 3D model. In addition, each game in and of itself would feature alternate costumes that were usually sexier than the defaults. Reached its logical peak in ''9'', featuring [[{{Stripperiffic}} outfits]] that you really ''would'' expect to see in a strip club. This trend was reversed in Mortal Kombat X, which opted for realistic proportions and less revealing outfits. Compare [[DarkActionGirl Mileena]], who has the skimpiest outfit in both games, [[http://mortalkombat.wikia.com/wiki/Mileena/Gallery?file=Mileena_Render.jpg between 9]] [[http://mortalkombat.wikia.com/wiki/Mileena/Gallery?file=Millena_render2015-04-14_13-07-57.png and X]].

%%* MoralGuardians: Hoo boy, did they go apewire over this one.

* SdrawkcabName: Noob Saibot's name is the last names of the series' creators spelled backwards.

%%* SkywardScream: The famous TV ad.

What started as a fairly typical ''VideoGame/StreetFighterII''[=/=]''Film/EnterTheDragon'' [[TournamentArc global tournament]] clone quickly transmogrified into an interdimensional war and the mass genocide of the human race, which still somehow managed to shake out in the form of a series of one-on-one matches. The series, once a heavy hitter in the video game world, struggled with the [[PolygonCeiling inability to transition smoothly to [=3D=]]].

The designers, encouraged by their success, racked up the body count in subsequent installments, devising entirely new methods of dismemberment and decapitation. Eventually, the violence grew cartoonish in its excess, and the gameplay engine was not enough to sustain its popularity once other companies caught on to the idea that violence was nothing to be scared of. And while other series have made a successful leap to [=3D=], ''MK'' was [[PolygonCeiling "hit and miss"]]. Add that to the fact that [[DeathIsCheap virtually no one ever actually died in the story]], despite the ultra-violent nature of the games (a move that virtually guarantees stagnation), and you've got a series that seemed to be on its last legs...

* PolygonCeiling: Subverted. The transition was made much more successfully than most other 2D fighting game series. Of course, the ''MK'' fanbase isn't as known for hardcore meta-gaming as some. The game's combo system has changed with just about every 3D incarnation released. In ''Mortal Kombat 9'', the game plays in 2D.

** ''[[VideoGame/MortalKombat1 Mortal Kombat]]'' (1992)
** ''[[VideoGame/MortalKombat2 Mortal Kombat II]]'' (1993)

** ''[[VideoGame/MortalKombatDeadlyAlliance Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance]]'' (2002)
** ''[[VideoGame/MortalKombatDeception Mortal Kombat: Deception]]'' (2004)
** ''[[VideoGame/MortalKombatArmageddon Mortal Kombat: Armageddon]]'' (2006)
** ''[[VideoGame/MortalKombatVsDCUniverse Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe]]'' (2008)[[note]]While some players treat the game as a spin-off, it's officially treated as ''Mortal Kombat 8'' by the developers, explaining why the reboot is called ''Mortal Kombat 9''.[[/note]]

** ''[[VideoGame/MortalKombatX Mortal Kombat X]]'' (2015)

* ''[[ComicBook/MalibuComicsMortalKombat Malibu Comics' Mortal Kombat]]'' (another comic book series made by Malibu Comics)