History VideoGame / MortalKombat9

* ActorAllusion: This isn’t [[VideoGame/ResidentEvil6 the first time]] Creator/MatthewMercer has voiced a (former in the case of Leon) rookie cop on his first day on the job.

[[caption-width-right:300:''[[TagLine Fatality lives!]]'']]

* ProphecyTwist: "He must win" [[spoiler: is referring to Shao Kahn, who has to succeed in his invasion of Earthrealm to get the Elder Gods to finally pay attention and get rid of him]]. The prophecy would not have to be a twist though, if it was less vague.

[[caption-width-right:300:[[TagLine ''Fatality lives!'']]]]

[[caption-width-right:300:[[TagLine ''[[Fatality lives!]]'']]]]

[[caption-width-right:300:[[ContinuityReboot ROUND TWO! FIGHT!]]]]

* CombatStilettos: All of the ladies, barring Sheeva, who goes for DoesNotLikeShoes instead.

* ActorAllusion: This isn’t [[ResidentEvil6 the first time]] Creator/MatthewMercer has voiced a (former in the case of Leon) rookie cop on his first day on the job.

** Is also, hilariously ironically, subverted with Shao Kahn himself. Despite notoriously being one of the cheapest final bosses in the entire series, Shao Kahn as a CPU has built-in limiters. Shao Kahn has access to *two* infinites, his rising shoulder tackle and his hammer throw combo infinitely into themselves when the player has access to him, but the AI is coded to be unable to use these attacks in succession to avoid this.

The game's story begins at the end of ''VideoGame/MortalKombatArmageddon'': Shao Kahn, who now rules over all realms, prepares to kill Raiden, the only other survivor of the apocalyptic battle. Before Kahn lands the final blow, Raiden manages to send a cryptic message--"[[ArcWords He must win]]"--to [[VideoGame/MortalKombat1 his past self]], who is now responsible for [[SetRightWhatOnceWentWrong preventing Shao Kahn's ultimate victory]]. However, when so few words are used to convey something so critical, there is much room for alternate interpretations...

* From ''VideoGame/MortalKombat1'': Johnny Cage, Kano, Liu Kang, Raiden, Reptile, Scorpion, Shang Tsung, Sonya Blade, Sub-Zero I[[note]]As an alternate skin for Sub Zero II[[/note]].

* From ''VideoGame/MortalKombat1'': Goro (MiniBoss).

** The {{Superboss}} versions of Jade, Reptile, Noob Saibot and Smoke from ''VideoGame/MortalKombat1'' and ''Mortal Kombat II'' all have similar bonus boss encounters in ''[=MK9=]'''s arcade mode.

** From ''VideoGame/MortalKombat1'': The Courtyard, Goro's Lair, The Pit/The Pit Bottom, Shang Tsung's Throne Room.

* AdaptationalEarlyAppearance: Being an in-continuity reboot of the series, the game retells the events of the first three games. The story mode features characters such as Baraka, Jax, Kung-Lao, Kitana, Jade, Nightwolf, Ermac, and even human versions of Cyrax and Sektor participating in the first ''VideoGame/MortalKombat1'' tournament. Then, Sheeva and the Cyber Lin-Kuei, alongside some of the aforementioned characters, take part in the ''VideoGame/MortalKombatII'' portion of the story. Most notably, Quan-Chi, a character who wouldn't be formally introduced in the mainline games until ''VideoGame/MortalKombat4'', plays a major role throughout the entire game.

* ShootTheShaggyDog: Every other game in the franchise (barring ''VideoGame/MortalKombatMythologiesSubZero'' and, possibly, ''VideoGame/MortalKombatSpecialForces'', for being prequels to [[VideoGame/MortalKombat1 the first game]]) compose the ShaggyDogStory being [[BoomHeadshot shot in the head]] by this game.

-->-- '''Intro movie, as told by Raiden.'''

* AdaptationalEarlyAppearance: Being an in-continuity reboot of the series, the game retells the events of the first three games. The story mode features characters such as Baraka, Jax, Kung-Lao, Kitana, Jade, Nightwolf, Ermaa and even [[spoiler:human versions of Cyrax and Sektor]] participating in the first ''VideoGame/MortalKombat1'' tournament. Then, Sheeva and the Cyber Lin-Kuei alongside some of the aforementioned characters take part in the ''VideoGame/MortalKombatII'' portion of the story. Most notably, Quan-Chi, a character who wouldn't be formally introduced in the mainline games until ''VideoGame/MortalKombat4'', plays a major role throughout the entire game.

* TakeThat: In the early days of this game's release, it was effectively/de facto banned in Australia, due to their version of the ESRB refusing to rate the game due to its excessive violence. As such, Sheeva's ending shows the Shokan race being granted asylum in Earthrealm, with world leaders granting them... the continent of Australia.

* TakeThat!: In the early days of this game's released, it was effectively/de facto banned in Australia, due to their version of the ESRB refusing to rate the game due to its excessive violence. As such, Sheeva's ending shows the Shokan race being granted asylum in Earthrealm, with world leaders granting them... the continent of Australia.

* Take That!: In the early days of this game's released, it was effectively/de facto banned in Australia, due to their version of the ESRB refusing to rate the game due to its excessive violence. As such, Sheeva's ending shows the Shokan race being granted asylum in Earthrealm, with world leaders granting them... the continent of Australia.

** Special mention goes to Sonya Blade, who wears what looks like a fairly practical military-style vest... [[VaporWear and that's it]]. It even has a NavelDeepNeckline due to it being zipped down, and upon closer examination, the vest not only has no zipper, but doesn't have enough material for it to close all the way even if it did. It's held closed only by [[BareYourMidriff two small strips of cloth at her belly,]] and with Sonya's, err, [[MostCommonSuperpower physique]], there should be no way she could ''walk'', let alone perform flying jump kicks, without shaking completely out of her top. On several characters (notably Kitana, Jade, and Mileena) ClothingDamage from battle damage should result in the entire outfit [[WardrobeMalfunction falling completely off.]]

* DownerBeginning: Remember the intro cinematic to ''Armageddon'', with the battle royale between the Forces of Light and the Forces of Darkness? We're treated to an eerily silent battlefield here, [[KillEmAll with corpses of all the combatants littering the Edenian southlands around Argus' pyramid]]. The only two fighters let alive at the time are Raiden and Shao Kahn, the latter of whom has the upper hand by a substantial margin.

* LazyArtist: While all of the character models here are new, the intro depicts the ([[KillEmAll very bloody]]) aftermath of ''VideoGame/MortalKombatArmageddon'' (as well as a hyper-accelerated flashback of several key events leading up to ''[=MKA=]''). Most of the characters shown are in their new outfits, instead of wearing their ''actual'' attire from those games.

* PoorCommunicationKills: [[KillEmAll Does it ever]]. Future!Raiden clarifying "he (who) must win" might have made a world of difference.

* HotterAndSexier: You could say [=NetherRealm=] Studios took (ahem) ''advantage'' of the more powerful graphics engines on 7th generation consoles, as more boobage and less clothing was the order of the day for all the female characters. Basically, every female fighter combines NavelDeepNeckline, BareYourMidriff, and ShesGotLegs. And the majority of male characters saw major musculature increase and are {{Walking Shirtless Scene}}s. Tellingly, it was the first game in the series for which the [=ESRB=] justified the traditional M rating by also adding a nudity descriptor.

* PopGoesTheHuman: Rain's fatality, in which he conjures a large ball of water over his victim's head and forces it down their throat, [[BodyInflationGag bloating up their body]] until they burst. Oddly, there is very little gore in the actual explosion.

** The BonusBoss versions of Jade, Reptile, Noob Saibot and Smoke from ''VideoGame/MortalKombat1'' and ''Mortal Kombat II'' all have similar bonus boss encounters in ''[=MK9=]'''s arcade mode.

* InterfaceScrew: The [=PlayStation Vita=] port includes a mode where blood will obscure the player's view unless they wipe it off via touchscreen.

* MadeOfBologna: Inverted. With the exceptions of the "BarbieDollAnatomy" mentioned above, meticulous care was taken in rendering the innards of each kombatant, resulting in gruesome and even-vaguely-realistic results when a character is sliced in half -- which quite a lot of Fatalities involve.
* MadeOfIron[=/=]MadeOfPlasticine: In gameplay, the combatants can fight unhindered even with shattered skulls, broken ribs, or (in extreme cases) after having major organs frozen and shattered ''while they're still inside of them''. Once you hear the good old "Finish Him!" command, though, all it takes is one good punch to knock their head clean off. Of course, they're already beaten to the point of shattering to bits by then.

* OverdrawnAtTheBloodBank
* PopGoesTheHuman: Rain's fatality, in which he conjures a large ball of water over his victim's head and forces it down their throat, [[BodyInflationGag bloating up their body]] until they burst. (Oddly, there is very little gore in the actual explosion.)

* SecretAIMoves: Shang Tsung can morph into everyone in the game, but not in the player's hands. The closest thing would be when Tsung morphs into his opponent upon hitting them with Soul Steal.
** Also, when you fight him in the Arcade Ladder, he can morph into two other characters at random, in addition to your own. This is because the game's engine does not support more than four different fighters for each battle.
* ShowsDamage: definitely. The one exception are the X-Ray moves, where bones heal between blows. (This is easily verified by using Kitana's, which involves shattering her opponent's skull twice. [[WatsonianVersusDoylist Programmer oversight]]?)

* {{Retcon}}: The whole idea of retelling the events of the first three games while ''[=MK1=]''!Raiden [[SetRightWhatOnceWentWrong tries to revert or fix every mistake made until now]]. It also serves to finally establish several {{retcon}}s and {{ret canon}}s as canon stuff.
** ContinuityReboot: '''Very''' ingeniously {{subverted|Trope}}. At the end of ''Armageddon'', during his final moments at the hands of Shao Kahn, Raiden manages to perform one last act of godhood: he sends messages to his past self during the events of the first three games, in an attempt to avoid the horrifying future he's currently in. This results in Past!Raiden changing events to avoid Armageddon, hence how the game happens in the timeline of the classic games but is still a proper sequel and does not discard the story of the previous ones.
** AlternateContinuity: The original universe still exists, and most of the basic backstories are still intact, but it's now the BadFuture of this game, akin to ''[[ComicBook/AgeOfApocalypse The Age of Apocalypse]]'' or how they [[Film/StarTrek2009 rebooted]] ''Franchise/StarTrek''.

* RippleEffectIndicator: Raiden's medallion.

** [[spoiler: Honestly, a large amount of the e1ndings of the characters who weren't confirmed to die at any point in [=MK9=]'s story mode have at least one part of them that can be followed up on in future game. Johnny Cage's ending has him train in Seido after his powers get out of control. Sektor's ending has him kill his father, take the Dragon Medallion, and seize control of the Lin Kuei (something that happened in the original timeline as well, minus having the Dragon Medallion). And so on.]]

* YoureInsane: Liu Kang's attitude towards Raiden trying to SetRightWhatOnceWentWrong, only for things to go FromBadToWorse with many of his friends dying in front of him. [[spoiler: It is when Raiden believes that Shao Khan ''must'' win Mortal Kombat, in order to fix everything, that he is finally fed up and fights him near the end of the story.]]

* AdaptationalBadass: [[Franchise/ANightmareOnElmStreet Freddy Krueger]]. He was a powerful RealityWarper in the movies, but only in dreams, and pretty much powerless in the real world; Here, however, he no longer has that limitation, and can use all of his power outside dreams... and [[DualWielding has two bladed gloves instead of one]], as one glove wouldn't be enough for him to stand a chance against Shao Kahn.

** Due to the [[{{Stripperific}} very scant]] nature of some of the female costumes (notably Mileena's primary) and the battle damage that can ensue, this is arguably in effect for ''all'' female characters.

* BonusBoss: Yep, they're back after a long hiatus. They even have similar requirements for facing them.
** Klassic Reptile: Practically the same as ''[=MK1=]''. Be on The Pit stage, get a Double Flawless and perform a Fatality. Oh, and [[LuckBasedMission a shadow has to fly by the moon]].
** Klassic Smoke: If you see him poking his head out from behind a tree in the Living Forest, hit Down and Select/Back Button.
** Klassic Noob Saibot: Win a match without blocking in the Temple stage if you see Noob in the background.
** Klassic Jade: Get to Shang Tsung without losing a single round and beat him with a double flawless and kill him with a Fatality. You also have to have earned at least 5 flawless victories leading up to Shang Tsung.
* BodyHorror: Most to all of the fatalities.

* FaceDeathWithDignity: Of a sorts. Kratos' reactions to certain fatalities are different from others in that he doesn't panic or he tries to futilely fight back; he also avoids being subjected to more humorous moments, like Johnny Cage's award implant or Cyber Sub-Zero's shuriken-induced seizure. According to an interview with Ed Boon, this was requested by Sony Computer Entertainment America in order to retain Kratos' tough, Spartan personality (he certainly takes fatal injuries in [[VideoGame/GodOfWar in his own home series]] with little reaction at least).

* GrievousHarmWithABody: Several fatalities feature this.
* GroinAttack: Not just Johnny Cage this time. Striking the groin is also a part of some characters' X-Ray moves (like Sindel's and Jade's). Sonya also kicks the opponent between the legs as part of her throw. Also, due to balancing and other reasons, ladies are now affected by Johnny's split punch when previous games saw them immune.

* HalfTheManHeUsedToBe: Various fatalities, again.

* HighPressureBlood: In glorious ''Mortal Kombat'' tradition. To drive the point home, there is actually an achievement/trophy for spilling 10,000 pints of blood. You will earn it ''quickly''.
** On top of that, "mastering" each character requires spilling a certain quantity of blood with each of them. This is important if you want to get the Achievements or Trophies for mastering one character and then ''all'' of them.
* HotterAndSexier: You could say [=NetherRealm=] Studios took (ahem) ''advantage'' of the more powerful graphics engines on 7th generation consoles, as more boobage and less clothing was the order of the day for all the female characters. Basically, every female fighter combines NavelDeepNeckline, BareYourMidriff, and ShesGotLegs. Not to mention a majority of the male characters saw major musculature increase and are {{Walking Shirtless Scene}}s. Tellingly, it was the first game in the series for which the [=ESRB=] justified the traditional M rating by also adding a nudity descriptor.

* AdaptationalBadass: Downplayed due to the characters always [[WorldOfBadass being badass]] in the first place, but most of them (particularly those of the third game) not being able to show it due to the lack of details in the original timeline. Story Mode allows the characters to show their fighting styles to their fullest with some of the most obscure characters making quite an impact.

* AdaptationalWimp: Apparently, Raiden's CosmicRetcon not only affected the timeline, but also the strength of some of the characters who get defeated in Story Mode. While Mortal Kombat's original timeline was never specific with its story to determine the fighting strength of its characters, there were some of them whose strength were very noticeable to the point that it seems impossible that they were beaten by the characters the player is using in Story Mode.
** Bi-Han has this as Sub-Zero. While his defeat and death at the hands of Scorpion was no surprise to everybody who started the franchise from the second game and beyond, especially since Scorpion forced him to fight at the Netherrealm where he had the HomeFieldAdvantage by getting stronger the longer he stayed there, his earlier defeat by Sonya is somewhat unexpected considering that she was beaten by future ButtMonkey Johnny Cage in a fight and it was acknowledged by Raiden that the events of his spinoff game were canon, making his defeat more surprising since he was capable of [[DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu defeating several gods, including Shinook himself]] yet failed to defeat a mortal opponent.
*** As Noob Saibot, he got defeated by Kung Lao and Nightwolf, opponents that Scorpion defeated ''without'' resorting to the Netherrealm and was defeated by Kuai Liang in spite of having defeated him in the original timeline.

* BackToBackBadasses: [[spoiler:Liu Kang and Kung Lao]] when taking down [[spoiler:Sheeva and Noob]] in Story Mode.

** This possibly also serves as a dialogue-related version of a DarkReprise; Smoke and Sub-Zero, who are shown reciting the creed, are human. Later, Sektor gives the modified version after [[spoiler:becoming a cyborg]].

* BigGood: Raiden.

* BookEnds: [[spoiler:Subverted.]] The intro cutscene and the cutscene right before the final boss show [[spoiler:Shao Kahn tossing Raiden around]] in the same fashion and with the same dialogue. Said cutscene even flashes back to the intro cutscene at certain points. [[spoiler:The subversion comes when Shao Kahn is ready to strike the final blow. The Elder Gods stop their lazy attitude and empower Raiden in order to allow him to finish Shao Kahn. Once he's done with that, the cracks in his amulet heal, indicating Armageddon has been prevented.]]
** The ''[=MK3=]'' arc itself also applies somewhat; it ends on a rooftop in a devastated city--the same rooftop where, in the beginning of the arc, Stryker and his partner [[spoiler:Kabal]] were helping fight off the Outworld invasion earlier in the day.

* DemotedToExtra: Motaro is the only character from ''Mortal Kombat 3'' who is not a fighter in this game. [[spoiler:[[PlotlineDeath He is killed by Raiden in a cut-scene and later appears as a dead body]].]]

* FlexibleTourneyRules: More like Non-Existent Tourney Rules. There are not set brackets, Shang Tsung decides who will fight next and who'll they'll face pretty much on a whim, and several times when fighters just begin a verbal argument, he declares it a challenge and orders them to fight. He also has no problem arranging 2 on 1 fights when he decides he wants one to happen, and he has Cyrax fight Johnny Cage even though Scorpion previously defeated Cyrax, which ought to have eliminated him.[[note]]Granted, Tsung was probably deliberately breaking the rules here, since Cyrax was assigned to kill Cage for him.[[/note]] This is particularly egregious when he says Liu Kang is the only Earthrealm warrior to progress to "this stage" of the tournament and his opponents include Ermac and Quan Chi -- none of these three fought prior to Chapter 5, so it's unclear how they can be considered to be in the late stages of the tournament. This also ignores that Sonya is undefeated in the tournament, so Liu Kang shouldn't even be the final Earthrealm warrior competing.

* FreezeFrameBonus: Cameos aside, meticulous examination of scenes reveals a few noteworthy tidbits about some of the characters.

* FromBadToWorse: The storyline in a nutshell.
* GameplayAndStorySegregation: As mentioned elsewhere, the broken bones and destroyed organs detailed in various X-Ray moves don't seem to impair anyone at all. This is particularly interesting in that there's not even a FadeToBlack or {{Wipe}} between rounds; the defeated kombatant just gets right back up, the life bars refill, and we're back at it.

* NiceJobBreakingItHero: The new game's story mode covers the events of the first three ''Mortal Kombat'' games, but changed slightly due to Raiden receiving incomplete visions of the future. [[spoiler:Almost everything he does as a reaction to those visions only seems to make things ''worse'']].

** Sindel would also qualify [[spoiler: for her massacre of most of the heroes. It takes a HeroicSacrifice by Nightwolf to put her down and by then she has dealt a heavy blow to the forces of good.]]

** The game's a reboot of the original plot, so it's going to stick to that original plot, right? They won't do anything ''too'' major, right? They especially won't drastically change one of the most popular characters in the entire series... ''right?'' [[spoiler:Yeah, uh... Cyber Sub-Zero says "Hi there."]]

*** The fact that most of these characters don't seem to be dead could be very important considering they may be needed to fight [[spoiler:Shinnok]] in the next game. [[spoiler:Not really. Kintaro and Sheeva are unaccounted for, but Mileena, Reptile, Baraka and Goro all went back to Outworld, Kano is still Kano, and Cyrax and Sektor were ultimately dismantled by Kuai Liang.]]

*** [[VideoGame/MortalKombatX The sequel]] finally reveals the answer with a flashback in Raiden's chapter to the period directly preceding Shao Kahn's Outworld tournament. [[spoiler:Raiden is present and aids in the battle as Liu and Lao capture a ship at the docks holding their imprisoned masters and then departs as the monks go off to find the location of a second vessel which has already departed, telling them to join him as soon as they able so as to not be late for the tournament. Presumably, they succeeded in this endeavor as well.]]

** If the Story Mode is any indication, Sub-Zero punked [[spoiler:'''Kratos''' ([=PS3=] version only)]] offscreen and put him on ice.
*** It's a running gag that Sub-Zero is by far the strongest character when he's offscreen, having previously done the same thing to Superman in ''vs. DCU''.

* HotterAndSexier: You could say [=NetherRealm=] Studios took (ahem) ''advantage'' of the more powerful graphics engines on 7th generation consoles, as more boobage and less clothing was the order of the day for all the female characters. Basically, every female fighter combines AbsoluteCleavage, BareYourMidriff, and ShesGotLegs. Not to mention a majority of the male characters saw major musculature increase and are {{Walking Shirtless Scene}}s. Tellingly, it was the first game in the series for which the [=ESRB=] justified the traditional M rating by also adding a nudity descriptor.

* {{Stripperiffic}}: All of the female characters in this game wear outfits that are so scant that you can't help but wonder how their boobs don't fall out. At one point in the campaign, [[spoiler:Mileena (when she's introduced in the story) fights wearing nothing but bandages that barely cover her crotch and her nipples. She also fights wearing them in the final Tower Challenge and, if you beat this challenge, you will unlock this outfit for her.]]
** Special mention goes to Sonya Blade, who wears what looks like a fairly practical military-style vest. . . [[AbsoluteCleavage and that's it.]] [[MaleGaze Upon closer examination]], the vest not only has no zipper, but doesn't have enough material for it to close all the way even if it did. It's held closed only by [[BareYourMidriff two small strips of cloth at her belly,]] and with Sonya's, err, [[MostCommonSuperpower physique]], there should be no way she could ''walk'', let alone perform flying jump kicks, without shaking completely out of her top. On several characters (notably Kitana, Jade, and Mileena) ClothingDamage from battle damage should result in the entire outfit [[WardrobeMalfunction falling completely off.]]

* AmbidextrousSprite: Due to how the button mapping works in this game (each of the character's limbs gets a button, similar to ''VideoGame/{{Tekken}}'', except they aren't fixed to left/right but rather front and back), the characters can stand with either arm out in front and have all their attacks function exactly the same (with the player being able to force a stance switch by pressing both kicks). Because of this function, Freddy Kreuger to has to wear two claws instead of just one.

* AnyoneCanDie: By the end of the game, the only surviving heroes are [[spoiler:Raiden, Sonya, and Johnny Cage]]. While it may seem that, if a sequel is made, it'll be an achievement to fill up the character select screen, ''VideoGame/MortalKombatX'' features several surviving villains and new kharacters, [[spoiler:as well as the revenant versions of the heroes]], to balance out the dead kombatents.

** Thanks to retcons, the fight between [[spoiler:Liu Kang and Raiden]] is revealed to have been orcistrated by Kronika in ''VideoGame/MortalKombat11''.

* BloodierAndGorier: The goriest and bloodiest game in the series so far. [[UpToEleven And that's saying something.]]