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Mortal Kombat 12 might bring back MK 3D era characters

Mortal Kombat 12 could be the next NetherRealm game, as Ed Boon answers Twitter questions from fans, discussing Injustice 3 and the MK 3D era of fighting games

Mortal Kombat 12 - Mokap, a man in a motion capture suit from Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance

In somewhat unsurprising news, Mortal Kombat 12 could be the next NetherRealm game we see in action, with series co-creator Ed Boon suggesting that we might see more characters from MK’s 3D era “soon.” As one of the best fighting games on PC, the success of Mortal Kombat 11 has led to plenty of speculation that it might leapfrog Injustice 3 development to take precedence over the DC comics superhero game.

Boon is soliciting user questions on Twitter, with one response asking him to offer a hint for what the next NetherRealm game might be. His answer, “Injustice 3 or MK12,” almost feels like a joke response given that the studio has been so heavily focused on those two games, but it certainly lends credence to the idea that we’re going to be seeing one of the pair turning up soon enough.

Perhaps more tantalisingly, Boon offers a curious response to someone asking, “Why are the 3D era characters so scarce in the most recent games?” Boon replies, “That is something we will soon fix,” suggesting that such beloved figures as Mokap, Hsu Hao, and Nitara from the late 90s and noughties era of MK4, Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance, and Mortal Kombat: Deception could see a comeback. Of course, plenty of fans are already eagerly calling out their personal favourites in the quote tweets.

Whether we’re likely to see these characters as DLC for MK11 or in a continuation of the rebooted story moving into Mortal Kombat 12 remains to be seen. However, MK11 is now over three years old, so a new game certainly isn’t out of the question. Boon says he will be attending the upcoming The Game Awards show on December 8 “but not presenting,” suggesting that we might not see a reveal there – although he doesn’t technically have to ‘present’ a trailer, if you want to keep those hopes alive.

Typically, NetherRealm has alternated between Mortal Kombat and Injustice since 2011’s MK9 (released as Mortal Kombat). However, there has been much suggestion that MK12 will precede Injustice 3 to capitalise on the Mortal Kombat series’s recent success. Elsewhere during the questionnaire, Boon names Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 along with the modern trilogy of MK9, MKX, and MK11 as his favourites to work on.

Boon also suggests that he thinks the NetherRealm team could “make a great ‘Streets of Rage’ style Mortal Kombat game” one day, and says that he would love to make a “Director’s Kut” for Mortal Kombat 4 one day “that has everything we wanted to have in it.”

Check out our Mortal Kombat 11 fatalities guide to see how to finish your enemies off in the most gruesome manner possible. We’ve also got all the Mortal Kombat 11 endings for you, and a look at the Mortal Kombat 11 movie skin pack that implements looks based on the 1995 classic.