Mortal Kombat 1 will have assists à la Marvel vs. Capcom
The massive reveal that fans have been anxiously awaiting is finally here. Mortal Kombat 1 is the next fighting game from NetherRealm Studios and Warner Bros., and this morning the companies have given the world their first look at what's to come for the legendary franchise.
While the initial Mortal Kombat 1 announcement trailer didn't quite give us much in the way of details on the fighting system, an FAQ on the game's official website further illuminates what may be a very important aspect of the game's combat. Apparently, Mortal Kombat 1 will feature "Kameo Fighters" that act as assists in battle similar to Marvel vs. Capcom.
The game's website offers a brief description of Kameo Fighters up front. "Choose from a unique roster of Kameo fighting partners to assist you in battle," reads the site.
From this description, it sounds a lot like Mortal Kombat 1 will have unique assist characters that operate outside of the playable roster. The implication here is that you can choose them along with your playable fighter to help further supplement your gameplan in battle.
The FAQ provides more details on these assists, and it looks like that's exactly what we'll be getting with Mortal Kombat 1's fighting system.
"Kameo Fighters are a unique roster of partner characters to assist during matches, creating expanded gameplay possibilities for players," the website explains. "These characters are chosen separately from the main roster of fighters."
What's interesting about this gameplay feature is that many might be thinking it'll function like the assists in games like Marvel vs. Capcom 2 or Marvel vs. Capcom 3. In those titles, these assists are performed by the other characters on your three-person team, which means you actually end up playing those fighters on point as well during the match.
In actuality, though, Mortal Kombat 1's assists appear to function more like Marvel vs. Capcom: Clash of Super Heroes. The first entry in the MvC series saw a set roster of playable characters, and after selecting your 2-fighter team, another set of characters would pop up and you'd be randomly assigned a "partner" or assist fighter who never enters the battle as a character you control, but only to pop in and perform their set attack before jumping back off screen.
Mortal Kombat 1's Kameo Fighters will likely have a more refined selection process, however. I imagine that you'll have one main fighter that you control in combat, and then you'll be able to select from a unique batch of unplayable assist characters that help you as you fight.
It's also worth noting that we currently do not know how many Kameo Fighters you are given per fight. It's possible that you might be able to select more than one and choose who you want to utilize whenever you like during a match.
What is also interesting about Kameo Fighters is that NetherRealm could be using these unique combatants to add further character representation to the game without having to develop fully fleshed out warriors. Basically, we could see a lot more Mortal Kombat characters that haven't gotten their time to shine in recent years return as Kameo Fighters so that players can still have their favorite characters be a part of their experience in some capacity versus not appearing at all.
At this time, there is no indication of who will be relegated to the Kameo slots. We do know, however, that among the confirmed playable roster is Liu Kang, Scorpion, Sub-Zero, Raiden, Kung Lao, Kitana, Mileena, Shang Tsung, and Johnny Cage.
Mortal Kombat 1 is due out on September 19, 2023. It will be available on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch, and PC.
