If their fights are "mortal combat," and fatalities are being issued all over the place, why do none of them stay dead?
If their fights are "mortal combat," and fatalities are being issued all over the place, why do none of them stay dead?
Because who is killed during gameplay varies from player to player so none of it is story cannon. Characters do die. Last I saw Lui Kang was a zombie, and when MK3 came out Johny Cage's Tombstone in the background of a stage was big talk on the play ground. When YOU play, maybe everyone dies, but in the actual tournament that is cannon, apparently most matches ended in KO.
Bacon, Bacon, Bacon, IT'S BACON!!!!
Because all of the characters are actually already dead and in hell, tricked into killing each other over and over for the amusement of devils.
It was their punishment for being in such shitty games.
MK's canon has always been fast and loose, with a double helping of silly grimdark. You've got the usual problem of fighting games having to deal with lots and lots of possible combination of events, a constant reset button so everybody can fight again each installment, plus WAY too much heavy metal and not enough coherence to begin with. The first MK was just a gory, goofy fighter that wasn't really expected to go places, but when sequels were demanded and released, the devs kept doubling down on the grimdark and goofiness, to what we have now: the plot equivalent of a metal album cover starring kung fu dudes as illustrated by M.C. Escher, by way of Axe Cop. Even the basic, consistent facts of the story wander off and get lost in the miasma of fut the wuck going on here, much less working out why people don't just die.
TLDR: The 'Toasty guy' is resurrecting people off-screen, so they can die again for his sick amusement.
RPGs: Proof that one you start done the dork path, forever will it dominate your wallet's destiny.
This thread is making me laugh.
They all had Life3 cast on them before entering the tournament.
Or else they're all clones whose only goal in life is to fight and die and then the next clone comes out.
It's all the dying dream of Shao Khan.
Liu Kang won, grew up, got married, but then decided to save his old grandmother's life by selling his marriage to the devil which also made it so that the tournaments never happened.
Sub-Zero became the princess of Friendship, many fan declared it a Jump the Shark moment and pretended it never happened and the games take place in this fan-canon.
They did a remake of Mortal Kombat where Scorpion was a gorilla, causing fans to cry "TRUKK NOT MUNKY!" That era has never been revisited despite having a cult following.
They're all just actors putting on a show for the gamer's benefit. When the show is over they all go playing golf.
Shao Khan is actually the good guy trying to protect people from parasitic mushrooms. Also, Scorpion is actually Ness.
And then....in the end....there's a kid with a snow globe that has the temple the Kombatants all fought in and...
Wait....