Current Events > Rank Scorpion's outfits (Mortal Kombat)

(+) Yeah! (+)

For purposes of the thread, lets rank the following

• Mortal Kombat (1992)
• MK2
• MK3
• MK4
• MK:DA
• MK:Deception
• MKvsDC
• MK9
• MKX
• MK11

Mortal Kombat 1 Id give a 7-out-of-10. Theyre great, but they didnt have in mind the scope that could be taken with this character. The true Scorpion was to evolve with the franchise over the next few games. Id give MK2 an 8/10 for bringing him much closer to what were used to, with an overtly demonic theme for Scorpions powers. MK3 is a 9/10, as it really gave Scorpion the powers, poses, personality, and costume design that we come to associate him with today.

MK4 is a 10/10 design on my list. The skull belt. The skull-like mask. For the first time, Scorpions clothing was created to make him stand out from Sub-Zero in ways other than just the color. His personality & story is reflected in what he wears for the first time. They took his design from the last game & made it distinctly Scorpion.

Since then he has evolved more and more to resemble a desert scropion gimmick, sporting with plated armor with barbed tips, reminiscent of a real scorpion. Even his moveset was drastically changed to reflect this theme. The MK9 costume is the most animal-themed of all. 9/10

MKX approached the character more like Noob Saibot, painting Scorpion as a revenant from hell with a bright\burnt yellow theme. 9/10. MK11 brings a gaudier flair back to the clothing, blending MKXs style with what we saw in MK9 & Injustice somewhat. 8/10



Thoughts: This would be a great time to experiment with customizable character models in the next game, so.... let me mix & match pieces of Scorpions gear over the years to make my own outfits. As the game progresses, the player unlocks new pieces & alternate costumes. But, from the get go, let me play around with the texture/material, the colors, the designs/patterns, adding/removing armor pieces, all with their own stats (similar to an RPG) ~ instead of trying to reinvent the wheel, just give us fans what we already want. Id buy an Armageddon 2.0 w/ adventure mode ofc ;)

MK3 has just enough detail while still having that classic look.

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mkda had some good ninja designs

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Hiroyuki Sanada was a good Scorpion

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DespondentDeity posted...

Hiroyuki Sanada was a good Scorpion

He was perfect, as a matter of fact.

I liked the outfit from MK11

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The series peaked with MKII.

Those don't look like outfits that ninjas would wear. They look like something created by a design team to "look cool."

MKX really did a good job revitalizing the design, but nothing tops deadly alliance for me. Best ninja outfits ever, except for reptile. They really let me down going in the direction of actual animal for my favorite ninja.

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deception's look was p cool

FortuneCookie posted...

The series peaked with MKII.

Those don't look like outfits that ninjas would wear. They look like something created by a design team to "look cool."

none of the outfits (yes, including mk1 and 2's) are anything that actual ninjas would actually wear

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MK:DA > MK4 = MKD Alt > Injustice > MK9 > Hanzo > the rest.
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cavalierking posted...

deception's look was p cool

none of the outfits (yes, including mk1 and 2's) are anything that actual ninjas would actually wear

Colorful gi & a colorful belt?

Absolutely you would see this clothing worn during a martial arts tournament.

cavalierking posted...

none of the outfits (yes, including mk1 and 2's) are anything that actual ninjas would actually wear

it doesnt matter what you wear if no one sees you

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bladegash posted...

MKX really did a good job revitalizing the design, but nothing tops deadly alliance for me. Best ninja outfits ever, except for reptile. They really let me down going in the direction of actual animal for my favorite ninja.

I'd say MKDA's only bad outfit was Sub-Zero's. And only because he looked old as shit. MKD Sub-Zero was sexy as fuck, though.
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Xethuminra posted...

Colorful gi & a colorful belt?

Absolutely you would see this clothing worn during a martial arts tournament.

... what are you even on about, dude

ninjas were spies who worked at night

they wore completely dark clothing

they also actively avoided confrontations when they could afaik, and wouldn't partake in something like a "martial arts tournament"

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but the reason i found the original post i quoted so dumb was cause, one, the original mk ninja costumes aren't realistic, either

and two, it's a video game, anyway

like, how are you seriously faulting a "design team" for trying to make their characters "look cool" in a fantasy video game?

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This topic made me mad because I just remembered we never got a MKSM2

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cavalierking posted...

... what are you even on about, dude

ninjas were spies who worked at night

they wore completely dark clothing

they also actively avoided confrontations when they could afaik, and wouldn't partake in something like a "martial arts tournament"

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but the reason i found the original post i quoted so dumb was cause, one, the original mk ninja costumes aren't realistic, either

and two, it's a video game, anyway

like, how are you seriously faulting a "design team" for trying to make their characters "look cool" in a fantasy video game?

Hanzo didn't wear that shit. Scorpion has it because he was intentionally mocking Sub Zero & the Lin Kuei

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cavalierking posted...

none of the outfits (yes, including mk1 and 2's) are anything that actual ninjas would actually wear

To be fair, the classic ninja costume design originated with anti-Japanese propaganda in Chinese martial arts movies. There's nothing authentic about it.

But the thing of it is, it looks like something a fighter could wear. The costumes from MK3 onward look like they're too concerned with fashion and marketability. They look like they were designed by someone else - like if kombatants had sponsorships. Scorpion's gonna wear his studded out yellow costume with the black trim and tell you to drink Mt. Dew.

Depending on the setting, yellows & oranges would provide superior camouflage to dark colors. Yellow backdrop, Yellow cloth. For example, in a forest of perpetual autumn the dominant color is yellow/orange, so you need to dress in yellow/orange to blend in.

................ but thats not what they were thinking. They were thinking Scorpion would use Fire vs Sub-Zero (who uses ice) and palette swapped the characters to reflect that dynamic using color (Yellow vs Blue). However, amigs, other than the masks & hoods, their attire isnt incredibly unrealistic in the original Mortal Kombat. As others have reiterated, the fantasy elements came later in the series.

Lots of contradictions in that post there......

I was responding to you :) Nobodys faulting

I do like the story that he wears yellow to mock the Lin Kuei's cowardly tactics. Video games seldom had explanations for pallet swaps.

I also like that, in Mortal Kombat Mythologies: Sub-Zero, Scorpion has his original costume when he's human and his updated costume when he's undead.

But I still think it looks a little overproduced.

MKX outfit is badass and probably my favorite

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Tyranthraxus posted...

Hanzo didn't wear that shit. Scorpion has it because he was intentionally mocking Sub Zero & the Lin Kuei

he wears yellow to mock them (cause that's the color of cowardice or whatever according to the lin kuei; but that's probably been retconned or forgotten about, anyway)

the outfits themselves are all his

FortuneCookie posted...

To be fair, the classic ninja costume design originated with anti-Japanese propaganda in Chinese martial arts movies. There's nothing authentic about it.

But the thing of it is, it looks like something a fighter could wear. The costumes from MK3 onward look like they're too concerned with fashion and marketability. They look like they were designed by someone else - like if kombatants had sponsorships. Scorpion's gonna wear his studded out yellow costume with the black trim and tell you to drink Mt. Dew.

if anything, the later outfits are the ones that look like "something a fighter could wear" cause they actually have armor and weapons and stuff

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but regardless, and more to the point - your original post is just dumb and pedantic af

that's all i'm saying

you honed in on the outfits not actually being something "ninjas would wear", but seemingly have no problem with the guy being a revenant with a burning skull for a head (along with everything else that's completely fantastical in the lore)

it's just so stupid

like, none of it ever attempted or claimed to be based in realism, yet you're criticizing them for it

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Tyranthraxus posted...

This topic made me mad because I just remembered we never got a MKSM2

What I think we really want is a new adventure mode (similar to what they had in Deception) ~ running around Outworld is fun, but the combat was really nothing too wild in SM. Handle it more like Pokmon, like Deception & Armageddon did, and let me run around dueling NPCs I run into in the world. Sandbox game that serves as a delivery method for fighting game matches. Its perfect.
I think thats why people like the Krypt so much too.

I really wish I had MKSM2
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Xethuminra posted...

Depending on the setting, yellows & oranges would provide superior camouflage to dark colors. Yellow backdrop, Yellow cloth. For example, in a forest of perpetual autumn the dominant color is yellow/orange, so you need to dress in yellow/orange to blend in.

you're not blending into anything wearing a bright-ass yellow like that

further, they worked at night, anyway, like i already said

their outfits aren't realistic in any sense

Xethuminra posted...

................ but thats not what they were thinking. They were thinking Scorpion would use Fire vs Sub-Zero (who uses ice) and palette swapped the characters to reflect that dynamic using color (Yellow vs Blue). However, amigs, other than the masks & hoods, their attire isnt incredibly unrealistic in the original Mortal Kombat. As others have reiterated, the fantasy elements came later in the series.

Lots of contradictions in that post there......

I was responding to you :) Nobodys faulting

scorpion has a literal bare skull for a head

raiden is a thunder god

shang tsung is a shapeshifter

goro is a thousands-of-years-old half-dragon

these were all in the first game

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Let Platinum Games make a Kenshi game


@cavalierking You got tunnel vision. Take a breather, mate. The ninjas looked pretty cut & dry aside from their powers in the first game.

You keep moving the goalposts. Were not talking about Goro.

or whether or not ninjas are realistic tbh........ especially in 92

I'd take a Santa Monica Kenshi game too. Their mechanics with the Leviathan Axe would work well with throwing the sword about lol.
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Slayer_22 posted...

I'd take a Santa Monica Kenshi game too. Their mechanics with the Leviathan Axe would work well with throwing the sword about lol.

Would be a great excuse to take a retro style & spice it up with basically god-mods

look how well nu-Demons Souls did (Ps5)

if it aint broke....

Xethuminra posted...

What I think we really want is a new adventure mode (similar to what they had in Deception) ~ running around Outworld is fun, but the combat was really nothing too wild in SM. Handle it more like Pokmon, like Deception & Armageddon did, and let me run around dueling NPCs I run into in the world. Sandbox game that serves as a delivery method for fighting game matches. Its perfect.
I think thats why people like the Krypt so much too.

Deception's Konquest mode is probably the single greatest Single player fighting game campaign ever honestly.

The only thing that comes close is Soul Calibur 3.

But I actually really liked the gameplay of MKSM as well. It was basically Power Stone x Mortal Kombat but with large adventure levels instead of just fighting arenas. I wouldn't want it to be the series that defines the IP in general but I had a ton of fun playing it and would definitely want more.

There's another game out there that is basically just a standalone version of the same gameplay concepts of MKD but it never sold very well.

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@Tyranthraxus well, it was like when you ran into guys like Havok & Kitana, it felt like they were really there because basically the team just rendered out the art assets, slapped some relevant dialogue on it, and let you fight them. Familiar location. Sometimes simple is the best route to take. Konquests npcs are not unlike Soulss.

I found the game I was talking about

https://store.steampowered.com/app/366640/Shiness_The_Lightning_Kingdom/

Imagine Mortal Kombat Deception Konquest mode was a standalone game. That's Shiness.

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cavalierking posted...

you honed in on the outfits not actually being something "ninjas would wear", but seemingly have no problem with the guy being a revenant with a burning skull for a head (along with everything else that's completely fantastical in the lore)

Fantasy elements are an essential part of the story.

Dressing like an action figure instead of a fighter is not.

taking off your shroud to reveal a burning skull for a face has less of an impact if you already look like a demon, no?

10/10 for sporting Black and Yellow

BryanRust17 posted...

Black and Yellow

I like his injustice costume.

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Compsognathus posted...

I like his injustice costume.

Its crazy. He has a definite identity, but its mysterious - like a ninja ought to be. Kold War too. The gas mask is so intuitive.

Also if Platinum was gonna make a MK game I'd want it to be about the robot ninjas.

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Xethuminra posted...

@cavalierking You got tunnel vision. Take a breather, mate. The ninjas looked pretty cut & dry aside from their powers in the first game.

You keep moving the goalposts. Were not talking about Goro.

or whether or not ninjas are realistic tbh........ especially in 92

dude

the first post i quoted directly mentioned what ninjas would actually wear, i.e. what's "realistic" and what's not

you then provided support to that post by saying that yellow would be a totally viable camouflage color, i.e. now you're talking about what's "realistic" too

and my bringing up goro was, again, in response to you claiming that the "fantasy elements" of the games didn't come until "later in the series" when, in actuality, they've always been there

i didn't bring any of that up for no reason

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like, look, dude, if you make a stupid post and get called out on it, then just own it

don't instead try to pull some "that's not even what we were ever talking about!!" bullshit when all of the posts pointing to the contrary are all still up and completely visible

FortuneCookie posted...

Fantasy elements are an essential part of the story.

Dressing like an action figure instead of a fighter is not.

that ^ is an example of what actually shifting goalposts looks like, btw

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ok

cavalierking posted...

that ^ is an example of what actually shifting goalposts looks like, btw

Just because I used another way to describe it doesn't mean that I've shifted goalposts.

And why are you so defensive over me not liking the direction the costumes took? What business is it of yours how I feel about it?

... bro, i don't actually care about how you personally feel about them

i'm just saying that your reasoning (i.e. the costumes not being realistic in a series that's never been about realism, even since since the first one) for feeling the way you do is just super stupid

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it'd be like criticizing spider-man's spandex-based costume for not being realistically combat-viable, while somehow - dissonantly - being perfectly okay with him having gotten his super powers from a radioactive spider

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Game
v
Reality

(its fine)

cavalierking posted...

dude

the first post i quoted directly mentioned what ninjas would actually wear, i.e. what's "realistic" and what's not

you then provided support to that post by saying that yellow would be a totally viable camouflage color, i.e. now you're talking about what's "realistic" too

and my bringing up goro was, again, in response to you claiming that the "fantasy elements" of the games didn't come until "later in the series" when, in actuality, they've always been there

i didn't bring any of that up for no reason

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like, look, dude, if you make a stupid post and get called out on it, then just own it

don't instead try to pull some "that's not even what we were ever talking about!!" bullshit when all of the posts pointing to the contrary are all still up and completely visible

that ^ is an example of what actually shifting goalposts looks like, btw

Goteeeee

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Infared is top tier

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I was pretty much done when he stated criticizing ninjas for taking place in the tournament whatsoever.

refmon posted...

Infared is top tier

I love it when they started decking him out in gold jewelry, and chains, and began to adorn Scoprion with all of this stuff from the Netherrealm lol and its all fetishy items that Scorpion clearly didnt exactly put on himself lol and some of it looks like it has a real history to whatever the hell hapened that got Scropion his new digs XD
The gold-plated scorpion-scale armor is insane tho. Is there lore there? Looks like maybe it was forged by magic~

cavalierking posted...

... bro, i don't actually care about how you personally feel about them

i'm just saying that your reasoning (i.e. the costumes not being realistic in a series that's never been about realism, even since since the first one) for feeling the way you do is just super stupid

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it'd be like criticizing spider-man's spandex-based costume for not being realistically combat-viable, while somehow - dissonantly - being perfectly okay with him having gotten his super powers from a radioactive spider

If I were in a position to make a Spider-Man movie happen, I would absolutely give Spider-Man a friend who is a costume designer. That's one of the good things about the MCU. It makes sense that Spider-Man's costume looks professionally made because it is: Tony Stark footed the bill for it.

X, 11, Hanzo, and DA are the best.

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