Mortal Kombat: Ed Boon Reveals MKX to Have More New Characters Than Ever Before

With Gamescom having taken place this past week, quite a few new details about NetherRealm Studios’ upcoming fighter, Mortal Kombat X, have surfaced.

In an interview with IGN, Boon discussed the thought process behind designing the the title’s roster. The Mortal Kombat creator stated that the previous installment in the franchise, Mortal Kombat 9, was a “complete fan service title” because it had so many returning faces that players have known and loved for years.

Boon says that many classic characters will not return in Mortal Kombat X, however, and the company feels that it’s time for some fresh fighters to enter the arena — more new combatants than ever before.

“It was more important we did introduce new characters,” Boon explained. “We’re probably introducing more in this game than in any other MK title ever.”

In Mortal Kombat 9, fans across all platforms were able to download four DLC fighters: Freddy Krueger, Rain, Kenshi, and Scarlet. PlayStation 3 users were the only ones to receive a guest character in Sony’s war-paint-clad anti-hero: Kratos from God of War. We can only hope to see console-exclusive warriors make an appearance on all platforms this time around.

But wait! There’s more! Over on Twitter, an eager Boon follower took a stab at predicting what the Mortal Kombat X character roster will turn out to be, saying that the top row would be occupied solely by returning fighters and the bottom row with brand new combatants.

Boon did not dismiss this idea, and instead reinforced it by saying, “seems accurate.” If the current character select screen ends up reflecting the actual number of characters set to be in the final build of MKX, we can expect to see 12 returning fighters and 12 new ones, (minus any post-release DLC).