NetherRealm Studios finally revealed more on what their new Mortal Kombat game would be, and the rumors were right: it’s a reboot and a sequel at the same time. Mortal Kombat 1 continues where Mortal Kombat 11 left off with Fire God Liu Kang’s new reality, where he’s now mentoring Kung Lao and a new, mortal Raiden.
Scorpion and Sub-Zero return and appear to be allies, while Kitana and Mileena appear to have a more uneasy alliance. Shang Tsung’s still willing to be a pain in Kang’s neck, so not everything's changed. But this isn’t the first time Mortal Kombat has reset the clock, nor is it the only game to hit the reset switch. Here are a few fighting games that also got rebooted, and how successful those reboots were.
8 Street Fighter 3: New Generation
First off, Mortal Kombat’s classic rival has had different gameplay styles with each new subseries. But Street Fighter 3 was meant to be the next big step. After 3 years of reinventing Street Fighter 2, and 2 years of its Alpha series prequels, 1997 finally saw an actual sequel in Street Fighter 3: New Generation. It got rid of every classic character, save for Ryu and Ken, and slowed down the action to a more measured, methodical pace.
This didn’t turn out to be a popular move. The Alpha games had more of the old favorites like Chun-Li and Cammy, while the Marvel games were faster, flashier, and had combos approaching triple digits. SF3 had parries and only allowed players to select one out of three Super Arts. It would lead to the more popular SF3: Third Strike two years later (complete with Chun-Li), but it would take even longer for the SF3 series to receive its cult classic status.
7 Tekken 3
Another factor against SF3 was that it was released in the same year as Tekken 3. While it followed on from Tekken 2, it acted as a soft reboot of the series because it skipped ahead by 19 years. The old guard like Kazuya Mishima, Jun Kazama, Wang Jinrei, and Baek Doo San were replaced with more dynamic youngsters like Jin Kazama, Ling Xiaoyu, and Hwoarang.
Then the ones that did return got new looks that helped them stand out from the pack. Paul Phoenix went from being the typical blonde, red-clad rival to the wild, middle-aged pugilist everyone knows and loves. While Heihachi became more intimidating as an old man than when he was in his 50s. Most of the classic characters would end up returning in the sequels, but the series’ highest point was arguably when Namco gave them the boot.
6 SoulCalibur
The original Soul Blade was pretty popular back on the PS1, as it brought weapon-based combat into the genre more successfully than stodgy forebears like Battle Arena Toshinden. Even so, despite being one game in, Namco would shift the series into a new direction by renaming it SoulCalibur. Blade's stiff movement and breakable weapons would be replaced with a silky-smooth 8-way run for maneuverability, and a wider variety of sturdier arms with new moves.
Blade's best characters would join newcomers like Kilik and Ivy, who'd become just as iconic to the series if not more so.Producer Hiroaki Yotoriyama wanted to make "the greatest weapon-based fighting action game in the world", and he succeeded. It would become Metacritic's best-rated game on the Dreamcast, and the site's joint-2nd best game of all time alongside Grand Theft Auto 4 and Tony Hawk's Pro-Skater 2.
5 SoulCalibur 5
It's a shame that the series' momentum would eventually run out, as the SoulCalibur franchise would end up spinning its wheels for the next few entries. Aside from a few experimental perks (e.g. SC3’s RTS mode, SC4’s Instant Kills), the characters were still hunting down the cursed blade Soul Edge, vowing to destroy it but never doing so. Otherwise, there would be nothing left for them to do. So, SC5 would shake things up by doing a time-skip of their own.
The problem was, aside from the game suffering from a tight budget, a tighter deadline, and other issues, the new characters weren’t popular. ZWEI and Viola had potential, but Sophitia’s kids Patroklos and Pyrrha were particularly annoying. Natsu and Xiba didn’t live up to Taki and Kilik’s benchmark either, while Talim, Yun-seong, Seong Mi-Na and others didn’t have successors at all. Hence, why the series undid that and brought the old guard back for SoulCalibur 6 anyway.
4 Samurai Shodown
Before SoulCalibur swung its swords around, SNK's Samurai Shodown ruled the roost as the arcade's top weapons fighter. Though like its 3D counterpart, the series never really progressed much story-wise. It was still basically Haohmaru and co slicing at each other across feudal Japan for one reason or another. Nevertheless, while Art of Fighting and Fatal Fury had attempted reboots that failed to spawn followups, SamSho managed to fit in three.
SamSho 64 and Warriors’ Rage tried to take the series into 3D and push the timeline into the early 1800s, but it didn’t play so well. Samurai Shodown Sen did the 3D thing again, only it tried to copy SoulCalibur’s homework with a few Mortal Kombat-like fatalities to a less-than-stellar reception. It was only when it went back to basics with 2019’s Samurai Shodown that a 3D entry in the series caught on with audiences.
3 Killer Instinct 2013
The original Killer Instinct was great to watch in action, and its soundtrack was a joy to the ears, yet its gameplay and character designs aged pretty quickly throughout the 1990s. Enough for Killer Instinct 2 to feel less inspired by comparison. Yet it always remained popular enough for fans to hope that KI3 would become a reality. They got their wish in 2013, only the Xbox One’s Killer Instinct was a different beast.
The characters looked meaner, tougher, and less fanservicey in the case of Orchid and the other women. Building combos became more intricate, as players could repel their opponent’s attempts to break free (“C-C-C-COMBO BREAKER!”) by countering their counters (“LOCK OUT!”). As promising as it was, it didn’t get recognized as a cult classic until around Season 2 of its DLC and updates. But maybe someday there will be a KI4 too.
2 Street Fighter 6
Street Fighter 6 isn’t billing itself as a reboot to the series, as it does follow on from the events of Street Fighter 3: Third Strike. But like Tekken 3, SoulCalibur 5, and others, it skips ahead in time in order to redesign the classic characters and introduce a bunch of newbies. While this didn’t really work out for SF3, it’s become more promising for SF6. For one, it doesn’t have 4-5 other SF-adjacent series to squeeze between in the hunt for sales.
The new characters also caught on fast, with Kimberly, Lily, Marisa, and Manon in particular developing fanbases before the game’s release. The gameplay is interesting, particularly with the new, open-world Saints Row-esque single player mode and crazy party mode. There’s no sign of Shadaloo or M.Bison either. It’s a bold, new step for Street Fighter, and it looks like it’ll pay off.
1 Mortal Kombat
Then there’s Mortal Kombat, which is no stranger to reboots of any variety. Deadly Alliance was a soft reboot, as it killed off Liu Kang and Shao Kahn and introduced a host of new characters like Kenshi to start off a new trilogy of games. The two would come back for the Deception sequel, but altered to acknowledge the changes, like making Liu Kang a zombie, and Shao Kahn a Gamecube exclusive character alongside Goro.
Then 2011’s Mortal Kombat reset the timeline by essentially remaking the first three games with new outcomes (e.g. making Jax's arms actual prosthetics instead of enhancements). This led into the sequel, Mortal Kombat X, which did the time-skip deal to introduce the old cast's kids like Cassie Cage and Jacqui Briggs. With Mortal Kombat 1 resetting the dial again, fans are left wondering who will return, and how will they be redesigned.