Best Order to Play Mortal Kombat Games
Mortal Kombat is a franchise of fighting video games. Mortal Kombat is one of the oldest franchises of fighting video games, and is often considered to have influenced the video games industry, particularly the fighting games genre, along with Street Fighter. Mortal Kombat games are known for their characteristical grim atmosphere, unique characters, theatrical presentations and supernatural storyline. Mortal Kombat games are often favorites among fighting game fans.
What Are Mortal Kombat Games Like?
In general, Mortal Kombat video games feature the classic fighting game gameplay of the 1990s, that was popularized by Street Fighter II (1991). Over time, gameplay in Mortal Kombat video games changed slightly, at times featuring the classic fighting game gameplay in 2D environments (even if characters, locations and graphics are displayed in 3D), which is sometimes called 2D fighter gameplay, and at times featuring gameplay in 3D environments, which is often called 3D fighter gameplay. The 2D fighting gameplay found in many Mortal Kombat video games is similar to the gameplay found in Street Fighter video games, The King of Fighters games and Darkstalkers games, whereas the 3D fighting gameplay found in many Mortal Kombat video games is similar to the gameplay found in Virtua Fighter games, Tekken games and Soulcalibur games.
Are All Mortal Kombat Games 2D Fighting Games? Are All Mortal Kombat Games 3D Fighting Games?
In the case of the Mortal Kombat video games, some of them are 2D fighting video games and some of them are 3D fighting video games. Generally speakiny, Mortal Kombat (1992), Mortal Kombat II and Mortal Kombat III are 2D fighting video games, then Mortal Kombat IV, Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance, Mortal Kombat: Deception, Mortal Kombat: Armageddon and Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe are 3D fighting video games. Lastly, Mortal Kombat (2011), Mortal Kombat X and Mortal Kombat XI are 2D fighting video games.
Are Mortal Kombat Games Connected?
While it is possible to play and enjoy the Mortal Kombat video games in any order, there is a story connection between most Mortal Kombat video games. Considering that these games feature many game characters that appear in multiple games, and that the motivations, backstories and previous story events regarding these characters are often important in the storyline of each Mortal Kombat game, it is suggested to play the Mortal Kombat video games in story timeline order, which is presented in this article.
The Story Timeline Order of Mortal Kombat Games
Regarding the naming of the Mortal Kombat game titles, or more specifically, the numbering of these games, the official numbering of the games sometimes is used in Roman numerals (I, II, III, etc.) and sometimes in Arabic numbers (1, 2, 3, etc.). In this article, I decided to follow the official numbering of the games. For this reason, some Mortal Kombat games are written with Roman numerals and others are written in Arabic numbers, and this was done in order for the names in this article to be consistent with the official names of these video games.
Similarly to the Street Fighter video games, Mortal Kombat games often received multiple versions (for example, Mortal Kombat 3, Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3, Mortal Kombat Advance). While these different versions often expand the gameplay or add new characters, and while they can be technically considered to be different games, they usually feature the same main storyline. Considering that I have written a story timeline order, the most important factors in my list are chronology and story, regardless of gameplay changes. For this reason, even though these are technically different games or versions, I included them in the same entry in my story timeline order list because they feature the same main storyline.
It is interesting to note that in the chronological story order list of Mortal Kombat games that I wrote in this article, I decided to include all Mortal Kombat canon games, not only the Mortal Kombat fighting video games. In other words, if a certain Mortal Kombat game has a storyline that is connected to the other Mortal Kombat canon video games, then I included it in this list, regardless of the genre of such game.
Mortal Kombat: Special Forces
Mortal Kombat Mythologies: Sub-Zero
Mortal Kombat (1992)
Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks
Mortal Kombat II
(Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe)
Mortal Kombat 3 | Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 | Mortal Kombat Advance
Mortal Kombat 4 | Mortal Kombat Gold
Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance | Mortal Kombat: Tournament Edition
Mortal Kombat: Deception | Mortal Kombat: Unchained
Mortal Kombat: Armageddon
Mortal Kombat (2011) | Mortal Kombat: Komplete Edition
Mortal Kombat X | Mortal Kombat XL
Mortal Kombat 11 | Mortal Kombat 11: Aftermath | Mortal Kombat 11: Ultimate
Regarding the chronological placement I decided for Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks in this chronological story order, it is important to note that Mortal Kombat II and Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks are set at a very approximate time. However, Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks begins almost immediately after Mortal Kombat (1992), whereas Mortal Kombat II begins shortly after Mortal Kombat (1992). Due to this slight difference, however chronologically important, I believe it is more accurate to place Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks after Mortal Kombat (1992) and before Mortal Kombat II, and not after Mortal Kombat II.
Chronologically speaking, Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe is set in a different continuity, such as an "what if?" scenario. For this reason, it is not directly related to the other Mortal Kombat video games, story-wise. However, for players looking to play this game in chronological order, even if it is not canon, then the chronological placement of this game would be after Mortal Kombat II and before Mortal Kombat 3. Considering that this game is not canonical to the Mortal Kombat game storyline, I included it in my chronological story order list with a parenthesis to emphasize the non-canonical status of the game.
Are Mortal Kombat Games Set in Different Continuities?
While it is sometimes said that there are two different continuities in the Mortal Kombat games with Mortal Kombat (2011), this game actually is set after the story events of Mortal Kombat: Armageddon. For this reason, it could be said that Mortal Kombat (2011) is a continuation of the story presented in previous Mortal Kombat games, and it could be said that it is a new chapter in the Mortal Kombat games storyline. Thus, it is also reasonable to say that Mortal Kombat (2011) continues the storyline of Mortal Kombat: Armageddon and previous Mortal Kombat games. It is often said that Mortal Kombat (2011) is a retcon of early Mortal Kombat games, particularly Mortal Kombat (1992), Mortal Kombat II and Mortal Kombat 3. However, the story events of Mortal Kombat (2011), specially the beginning of this game, involve a time-alteration event. In this sense, it could be said that Mortal Kombat (2011) creates a new continuity, altering the story events presented in previous Mortal Kombat games.
My view on the subject is that the events between Mortal Kombat: Special Forces and Mortal Kombat: Armageddon, including all games chronologically in between those two, happened as they were told in those games. Then, in Mortal Kombat (2011), there is a new story event that changes the time continuum and creates a new continuity, altering those events. However, before this change in the time continuum was made, the previous story events did happen. For these reasons, in my opinion, it is possible to consider these games to belong to a single storyline, even if the continuity was eventually altered.
Is Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks Canon?
While Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks is a Mortal Kombat video game enjoyed and praised by many players around the world, and despite being set in the Mortal Kombat games universe, many players consider the game to be non canon due to the contradictions that this game has regarding the continuity of the Mortal Kombat video games. However, there is a story event in Mortal Kombat 11 that could explain why Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks could be canon. Due to this story event in Mortal Kombat 11, I see no clear reason to consider Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks to not be canon.
Is Mortal Kombat: Armageddon Canon?
Mortal Kombat: Armageddon is theoretically the final chapter of the storyline that begins in Mortal Kombat (1992). For this reason, Mortal Kombat: Armageddon is definitely canon regarding the previous Mortal Kombat games, such as Mortal Kombat: Deception, Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance and so on. Considering that there is a story event in Mortal Kombat (2011) that could change the story events present in Mortal Kombat: Armageddon, the canonicity of Mortal Kombat: Armageddon is sometimes debated. However, as I wrote in the Are Mortal Kombat Games Set in Different Continuities setion of this article, the story events of Mortal Kombat (2011) create a change in the time continuum. For this reason, my view is that it is accurate to say that Mortal Kombat (2011) creates a new chapter in the Mortal Kombat games storyline, taking place in a new version of the time continuum, but this only happened after the events of Mortal Kombat: Armageddon. For this reason, my view is that Mortal Kombat: Armageddon is canon.
Which Is the First Mortal Kombat Game?
Usually when people answer the question as to which Mortal Kombat game was the first, they are speaking about different things. There is one thing which is the first game in the chronological story order sense, which I answered via my chronological story order list of Mortal Kombat games in this article, and the first game, in the chronological story order sense, would be Mortal Kombat: Special Forces. Another possible answer to this question is which is the first Mortal Kombat game to ever be released, and this game is Mortal Kombat (1992), which was released before all of the other Mortal Kombat video games. Lastly, some people consider Mortal Kombat (2011) to be the first in the sense that, in the view of some people, it retcons the story events of previous Mortal Kombat games. As I explained in this article, my view is that Mortal Kombat (2011) creates a new chapter in the Mortal Kombat games storyline, effectively continuing this storyline, by altering the time continuum. For this reason, I do not consider Mortal Kombat (2011) to be the first Mortal Kombat game, in the chronological story order sense.
Sources of Research: