Now nearly three decades old, the Mortal Kombat franchise has naturally spawned a plethora of spin-off content. It has seen movie adaptations, cartoons, toys, and spin-off games. The movies and cartoons are fairly well known, especially the most recent move adaptation and the Mortal Kombat Legends animated movie that has a sequel on the way soon. Some of the spin-off games are a bit lesser-known but some of them have some interesting impact on the overall lore of Mortal Kombat.
Now that Mortal Kombat 11 has officially ended its run of DLC, some fans are looking back to the series' past for new games to check out to further flesh out their knowledge of Mortal Kombat's brutal in-game history. While there are a few entries to chew on, their place in the overall story has been thrown into flux since Mortal Kombat rebooted its storyline with time travel back in 2011 during MK9. Three major entries define the history of MK spin-off games: Mortal Kombat Mythologies: Sub-Zero, Mortal Kombat: Special Forces, and Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks.
Sub-Zero Kicked Off Mortal Kombat Spin-Off Games
Mortal Kombat was a cultural explosion when it released in the early 90s. The game blended some elements of the fighting genre already in place from Street Fighter with its signature digitized art style and over-the-top violence. This trend towards bloodshed continues today with Mortal Kombat Legends. Part infamy and part critical success, the series was fueled further into the decade and culminated in the success of Mortal Kombat 3. Naturally, the series' success led to its creators desiring to expand on both the games' popularity and its story. This led to the creation of Mortal Kombat Mythologies: Sub-Zero.
Sub-Zero was one of the series' immediately popular characters alongside his counterpart Scorpion. Fleshing out his story and creating a unique blend of Mortal Kombat's mechanics, such as those of classic beat em' ups and adventure games like Final Fight and Castlevania, was an intriguing concept to many fans. Sub-Zero was already massively popular, so focusing an adventure game around the Lin Kuei made sense. The game received mixed reviews at the time but is notable for its implementation of 3D graphics and introducing the major Mortal Kombat villain Shinnok alongside Fujin, the Wind God. Shinnok would go on to serve as a primary villain for MKX and his influence on the overall story has been huge.
Following MK Mythologies was Mortal Kombat: Special Forces, debuting on the original PlayStation back in 2000. Special Forces wasn't well-received due to some development issues where a large chunk of the original team left Midway before the game was completed. Notably, though, it is the first game in the chronological order of the Mortal Kombat mythos. The game centered on Jax and the struggle with Kano's Black Dragon gang prior to the events of the first game. Unfortunately, the series' popularity waned since the 1995 Mortal Kombat movie and the mixed reaction to the fourth entry in the mainline series.
The final true spin-off game was Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks. This PS2/Xbox game had released late in 2005 after the fairly well-received Deadly Alliance and Deception. Of all the spin-off games to come from Mortal Kombat, Shaolin Monks was considered the most fun by many players. The game allowed for co-op play where players controlled Liu Kang and Kung Lao through the events of MK2 and the original game's immediate aftermath. The game's adaptation of combat and fatalities led to its critical and commercial success and has many fans hoping for a Shaolin Monks remaster.
The Mortal Kombat franchise is long and storied, and its spin-offs have done a lot to expand on those narratives. While not every game holds its own today, most are still worth exploring now for diehard Mortal Kombat fans.