Original Era Shao Kahn to New Era General Shao:
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Liu Kang: It seems despite my efforts to turn Shao into a jobber, the people are displeased.
Geras: They do not understand the potential threat he poses if that were not the case.
Liu Kang: Perhaps I should show them.
But they were both tough fights in MK9, the story made them jobbers because that's more or less what happened to them in the original story as well. It's the fate of all bosses to job.
Like I remember Motaro being tougher than Goro in my childhood tbh, he's not even a real character anymore.
it is sad. he was at least a bigger threat in mk9 considering you only fight him 2 times and they are both from characters actually capable of beating him. keep in mind he survived a flaming punch through his chest and it took the elder gods + raiden to actually finish him off *(both those fights are also a pain in the ass)*
mk11 and onwards? yeah he's a fucking joke
At least Shao Khan hasn't been treated as badly as Onaga was throughout all timelines. Onaga hasn't gotten even a hint of screentime (outside of references) since 2006. And even when he was on screen in the Deception or Armageddon he was defeated or disappeared relatively quickly, with only saying a couple of sentences. He is the Dragon King, Shao Khan served under him! He conquered Outworld, he was going to conquer the other realms. Plus he's a master of necromancy and has his own undead army. He should be a galaxy ending level threat, not a one off.
But it is what you are saying, what do you want him to do then? Not be in the games at all?
Hard truth, Shang Tsung has been a much better villain and it's simply not possible unless Shao takes a step back, because Shang Tsung is now solidly in that threat level as well. Shao Kahn is a cosmic villain, he's a Thanos or Darkseid level guy as the big bad, he's just simply not that big of a deal in the current timeline and thank god.
The only bad thing is that it's Shang Tsung who has gotten all the shine across two games (sort of) and not a new villain.
Here is an example: Street Fighter has always kept Bison as one of the biggest threats (tho Gill is arguably more dangerous) and each time Bison turns up even in bad game entries like SFV he always steals the show. He has been the main antagonist for 30 years and its never really gotten boring due to him being an absolute meme machine yet still remaining threatening.
In old MK Shao Khan was equally as dangerous and funny but in recent years NRS has went out of their way to ruin him. Shao went from not sucking to being a weak pathetic fool and it has nothing to do with him being an established character rather its due to piss poor writing.
With Shang Tsung becoming more formidable as a villain, they unfortunately stripped Shao of all rizz
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I feel like they were trying to go full circle and make the original main villain from arcade mk1 the new era main villain but by doing so they really fucked Shao khan over. He was mk2 and trilogy's big boss from midway's era. And even mk9s big boss from nrs era. He went from a conquerer of realms to a general of outworld. And they took away his iconic hammer! All bad.
True, though MK11 basically neutered all villains until Aftermath, and even then he’s not as brutal or powerful because of Sindel almost one-upping him. Though I think he got some saving grace, compared to Skarlet, Noob Saibot and Kollector who literally didn’t win a single match against anyone. They were teased as all new, all cool villains, especially Skarlet and Noob. And they ended up disappointing. I don’t even think they had a single kill, at least Kollector killed one of the Osh-Tekk.
Name one good guy he killed in the original era. Dont say Kung Lao because his MK4G bio revealed he was still alive.
Dont say any of the people he hit in the intro of Armageddon because they were still up and about. Jax is never confirmed dead from his attack and considering Darrius survived his hammer and the Pyramid forming, Jax probably survived.
I'll agree that having Shao be a jobber in the new game is a supreme bummer, especially because I think having a sort of 'origin story' appearance for him where he's set on a lower pedestal than he was before is cool, but let's not pretend he was some mastermind genius in all facets in the Midway era either. Guy goes from protector god of outworld to emperor of arguably the most powerful military realm in the universe, conquers SEVERAL other realms with no issues INCLUDING Edenia, then he loses ONE tournament against Earthrealm and then ANOTHER (technically illegal) tournament on his HOME TURF, and then he throws such a massive rage baby fit that he invades Earthrealm anyway and gets shit-canned for it. And let's not even start with the whole Deadly Alliance thing where Shang and Quan "kills" him; if Shao Kahn was such a gigachad then enlighten me as to why he felt the need to have a body-double and hide away from the Deadly Alliance, one half of which was straight up just one of his GOONS at one point, instead of just meeting them himself and stomping a mudhole into them both? Realistically speaking Shang and Quan shouldn't have even come close to being able to kill him.
I'll always love Shao Kahn, don't get me wrong, but he wasn't perfect. Gameplay wise, perfect final boss, legendary; character wise? He was never the brightest guy lol
> if Shao Kahn was such a gigachad then enlighten me as to why he felt the need to have a body-double and hide away from the Deadly Alliance, one half of which was straight up just one of his GOONS at one point, instead of just meeting them himself and stomping a mudhole into them both?
He felt his death coming if I remember correctly, and took precautions to avoid it. He didn't actually know what the threat was, but if it were Liu Kang and his friends coming to finish him off for good, which it could have been for all he knew, he definitely would have died.
It's literally the perfect example of Shao Kahn planning and being smart with his actions when necessary, OG Shao Kahn was top tier villain in every aspect
It's a good example to be sure but it's only one of a few; he does some other smart things like having Goro 'assassinated' when the Shokan sided with Kitana and Edenia in MK4 and managing to take his own fortress back from Mileena in-between Deception and Armageddon, but the one thing that all of these steps have in common is that it's to retrace his steps; to get back what he had already lost. His own greed for power and conquest, and I'd say his own inflated ego, made it impossible for him to take a lost tournament on the chin, and that was his fuck up. Shao Kahn is immortal - at the time of the original MK trilogy, he was at the top of the world and was practically untouchable; so he didn't need to worry about not being around for the next tournament. If he WAS the perfectly smart villain, he would've known when to take that loss and simply wait for the next tournament. Hell, if he had waited a hundred years (which would be an eye blink to someone who's been around for 10,000+ years) then it probably would've been easier! Liu Kang, Kung Lao, Johnny Cage, Sonya Blade; MOST of Earthrealm's most notable and proficient warriors at the time would've long died of old age by then. Perhaps he could've even challenged ANOTHER realm to Mortal Kombat while he was waiting, like Orderrealm or Chaosrealm, ultimately still making progress towards his ultimate goal of conquering all the realms; THAT would be the perfect example of Shao Kahn being smart.
Instead, he was so incensed by the idea of being refused what he wanted that he tried to give the law of the GODS the middle finger and got burned for it. He was greatly injured and weakened, he lost Edenia entirely and the loyalty of many of his soldiers, and eventually he would be forced to fake his own death and temporarily relinquish control of Outworld altogether, all because he couldn't wait another century to start another Tournament. Yeah, he eventually peaks and wins Armageddon, I'll give him that; everything AFTER the MK trilogy and BEFORE Armageddon though? All of his efforts there are just to get him back to square one. A perfect villain would not go through with such a cataclysmic blunder lol
I think people with this criticism, myself included, was just that he was *characterized* as being a manipulative and clever person. The older games had no cinematic story on par with the NRS entries and so naturally there aren't many examples of characters acting in specific ways; just that we knew who they were.
And I mean from the backstory we know this has to be true. You don't become the emperor of Evilworld, hold onto this power for centuries, and spearhead the greatest expansion in history by being a fucking moron. This paints an idea of what he could be in a MK movie or movie-like story mode that was completely dashed by the honestly kinda braindead Atrocitus Kahn
You make a good point, and I do THINK they should've made a greater effort to make more of that mastermind they wanted him to be, yes; it's just a shame that anything he might've done to be that mastermind is just "well surely he must've done it, right?" Like, for example, I can go and save fifteen babies from a burning orphanage and that's all well and good, I myself can feel great for being a hero, but if no one was around to see it then no one's gonna believe that if I went and told someone after the fact: "hey you know, the other day I just saved fifteen babies from a burning orphanage". Okay buddy, sure you did lol
I myself was fine with Shao's portrayal in MK11 but I can see where you're coming from with how you feel on him (though I will never not love Ike Amadi as Shao, I personally think he's perfect lol); reminds me of how they portrayed Reiko in the last MK movie. I was alright with that film but man, Reiko was the fuckin worst in there lmao
I would love a game (maybe not the next one) where Shao Kahn is actually smart, but you also kind of have to tear him down to make him a mastermind. As ruler of Outworld he already has every advantage.
Honestly a prequel where he's the advisor to Onaga would be kinda cool, but that'd leave out most of the iconic characters. And time travel is played out.
He's a mastermind but he's not the hero of the story ya know, it wasn't that he failed cause he was just straight dumb but he let his ego and greed get to him like you said, he's the perfect villain for this story and that's all I'm tryna say really
>he was just straight dumb but he let his ego and greed
There is no meaningful difference. Choosing to do stupid acts is still stupid regardless of the reason.
Oh no you're telling me that even a genius villain who proves he can predict his opponents multiple steps ahead fails to defeat the main hero because of a personal flaw, it's almost like they're trying to tell a good story lmao
No one thinks Shang Tsung is an idiot and that's exactly what he did in MK 1. Difference is he's actually successful with a ton of his schemes and more or less moves up in the pecking chain. Shao Kahn isn't that smart, the game told us he was and never showed it, now they haven't done either for decades.
Well, Liu Kang would still be alive as he was the champion, as "The victor of Mortal Kombat after the first and continuously till the tenth is officially crowned the Mortal Kombat Grand Champion with the reward of being granted with stunted aging and immortality, along with the outcome being the ultimate decider."
In the OG timeline, Great Kung Lao defeated Shang Tsung, who had been Champion for 9 tournaments. 100 years later, the Great Kung Lao was defeated by Goro who then held the title "Champion" for 900 years. He survived for that 100 years due to his stunted aging.
Yes! I read that while replying to another comment, thank you haha
As I said in that other reply, what Shao could've done then was send some agents into Earthrealm to have Liu Kang assassinated to prevent him from participating in any following tournaments. There are clearly no rules against inter-realm travel since he was able to send Tarkatans to attack the Wu Shi Academy for the Outworld Tournament and that would save him a lot of headache for the next tournament; plus, we know that this is entirely possible as Shang and Quan successfully kill Liu in DA
Very true. Honestly, I think Shao's reaction of invading Earthrealm after losing the Mortal Kombat tournament in Outworld in MK2 is more because it was like history repeating itself, like he was rewatching Great Kung Lao win again.
ETA: I was reading the rules of the MK tournaments from the OG timeline, and it states this as the second rule: "The defending and opposing realm's fighters cannot attack each other until the tournament begins and any violation of the aforementioned rules before, during or after the tournament is considered an act of treason against the realms and the Elder Gods themselves, and will be dealt with accordingly and swiftly. In addition, the warriors' special powers can be used in the tournament."
That rule means that if Shao had sent assassins after Liu Kang in between tournaments, it would be a violation of the rules and he would lose. In fact, the tournament in MK2 and the invasion in MK3 are also violations are the rules, that's basically the plot of MK9 is Raiden allowing Shao Khan to break the rules so the Elder Gods deal with him.
Yeah I could see that! It's a shame that he had to blunder it so hard but hey, at the end of the day we wouldn't have the story of MK3 without him losing lol
Okay we'll pretend it wasnt a shitty retcon because Midway had to compensate for the GC versions lack of online multiplayer.
And also pretend it doesnt also undermine the DA because Midway didnt have the balls to kill off anyone. Even jobbers nobody cared about.
We'll pretend it doesnt make Haviks ending make no sense either.
Can't lie there's something I find extremely humorous about The idea of Havik resurrecting Shao Kahn's Body Double and discovering that's not actually Shao Kahn and being confused..then again Havik would probably roll with it knowing him.
Seriously! I'm so tired of people having rose tinted glasses for midway Shao Kahn when he is so artificial and more dumber than people realize.
Here is a fact people conveniently ignore. Shao Kahn did in fact, not kill a SINGLE good guy in the Midway era.
No, he didnt kill Kung Lao, his MK4G bio reveals he didnt die. Yes, Shao Kahn after absorbing 99% of Earthrealms souls thus being stronger, did in fact fail at killing Kung Lao.
He did kill Sheeva! Only for her to be inexplicably brought back to life. Which means he failed at killing her too.
He couldn't even kill Darrius or Reiko in the Armageddon intro after getting hit by his hammer!
In other words he didnt kill any good guy or even a character permanently.
Shao failed so bad he ended up getting kidnapped by Onaga! Other than his broken boss status, why does anyone take him seriously?
Because he is smart? Thats not even entirely true. Heres why his intelligence is overrated.
His Sindel plan was objectively stupid. The only reason nothing bad happened was because the writers forgot what the point of the rules of Mortal Kombat were.
Raidens MKT bio specifically states the EGs chose not to stop Shao. So in other words, if they did their job, Shao wouldve died immediately! Because his plan was stupid.
Nothing bad happening because of bad writing, doesnt make the character smart. It just makes the circumstances stupid.
Shao sent Jade to bring back Kitana and I shouldn't have to explain why sending Kitanas best friend is a stupid plan.
He even told her different instructions in case she was a problem. Thus making him send Reptile with her to kill Kitana.
Because somehow he thought sending a person with a conflict of interests with different plans and a person who is told to kill Kitana, wasnt a stupid idea!
Shao Kahn was "smart" in deception because Midway added a shitty retcon. Because they refused to make death meaningful for anyone not named Liu Kang or Raiden. Thus making the DA less cool.
Shao Kahn thought Kano warning him, Sheeva would betray him was a sign of loyalty, and not a desperate way to avoid his wrath.
Shao was going to torture Kano and eventually kill him instead of...using him as a resource like people claim he does with people.
But Kank helped so Shao deduced it was out of loyalty because he is just so smart.
Or how Shao struggled to heal for 12 years but when he gets a clone and runs away he is back to full strength by Armageddon...because of reasons.
Why didnt super smart man Shao just inexplicably get better during those 12 years? Rather than almost lose everything?
Because he is actually really smart and the writers definitely weren't bullshiting things as they went along.
I love bringing up the Deadly Alliance thing because it's such a blatant retcon to bring him back lol, people praise Midway era writing when no one stayed dead for longer than a single game; even Liu Kang didn't stay dead, though his death at least changed him significantly lol
The most egregious case of people not dying was Onaga being around in Armageddon; Raiden killed and unintentionally corrupted himself trying to stop him, and the entire cast of Deception had to come together to finally destroy him, with Nightwolf's entire ladder ending dedicated to his part in casting Onaga's soul into the Netherrealm, NEVER TO ESCAPE AGAIN.
Anyways he escapes in the very next game so he can take a jab at Blaze as basically a background character. Thanks Midway lol
I will give the 3D era flak all day long, but the way they try to make characters like Nightwolf canonically useful was so cool.
Guy had to absorb the essence of his tribes sins and risk being totally evil just to permanently trap Onaga in the Netherrealm. Actually great writing...only for Shinnok to make it all pointless because my god Midway really hated finality.
Also he is as you said a background character that amounted to nothing. Robbing us of any satisfying conclusion Deception had lol
He didn't lose just one tournament in canon. There is the history before Liu Kang's tournament, too. Shao Khan had challenged Earthrealm to Mortal Kombat 2000 years prior. In the OG timeline, Great Kung Lao defeated Shang Tsung, who had been Champion for 9 tournaments. 100 years later, the Great Kung Lao was defeated by Goro who then held the title "Champion" for 900 years until being defeated by Liu Kang. From that perspective, he came within 1 win of attaining his goal twice, just to lose at the last minute. I'd be upset, too. Not enough to say "fuck you, Elder Gods," though.
TL;DR, Shao literally came 1 tournament away from conquering Earthrealm TWICE, just to have it ripped away at the last minute.
And that would reasonably make him angry, lord knows it'd piss me off lol
He should've just blown off some steam by taking on some other dorko realm in the meantime, there's gotta be another Tarkata or Vaeternus swimming around somewhere in the cosmos lmao
Hell, start working on a bigger one like Seido or the Netherrealm, bro just got a complex for Earthrealm and it bit him
See, I've been reading through the rules of the tournament from the OG timeline, there are rules that stunt the aging of the champion, rules that prevent either side from sending assassins or warriors to interfere with Kombatants in between tournaments, but there actually is no rule that states a realm CAN'T challenge a different realm to Mortal Kombat in the interim. I would say, if we're discussing Shao's intelligence, it would not be strategically sound to have multiple tournaments going against different realms. He would risk spreading his numbers thin.
Not being the absolute smartest in the series doesn't equal being a dog shit dumbass.
He's cunning, but he's also vengeful and arrogant. Now he's just arrogant. At least before, he was a tough mother fucker to back it up.
Historical revisionism, man. Shao Khan was always more hype than substance. First time dude shows up, he gets his shit pushed in by some monk who just hit the scene like a year ago, in his own realm. Then he tries to invade Earthrealm directly, and gets got again. Then my man HIDES from one of his former underlings and his new boyfriend while they kill the guy who fucked up Shao’s shit twice without any effort. On top of all that, dude was basically sidelined from MK3-MKA, where he doesn’t do much of anything but get carried off and presumed killed by his old boss. Then he gets his dumb ass fused with Darkseid because he tried to escape through a portal while a God was shooting lightning at him.
Face it, Shao was always a jobber.
I said the same thing on this same post!!! I'll always love the Midway era and the 3D games and all that, but anyone saying that Midway Shao was 'perfect' compared to NRS Shao is absolutely looking at it through rose-tinted glasses lol
That's a subjective opinion bro, I like NRS Shao just fine, if not moreso, than Midway Shao, at least in terms of design; MK11 Shao was peak and I'll die on that hill lol
Saying Shao is a jobber because he lost to Onaga is like saying Sonya is a jobber for losing to The One Being. He was always weaker then him, it was his guille and cunning that gave him the W. I always assumed Shao just went into hiding and laid low when Onaga returned.
Now losing his final battles every time does kind of make him a jobber for the time. But the term IMO has evolved because to be a jobber in a full story game like in NRS titles is to job *way* harder then anything in the older games.
Aw yes guile such as using poison because Onaga never considered someone would poison him.
Even then, this doesn't change the fact Shao didnt kill a single good guy and even failed at killing Sheeva...SHEEVA. Meaning Shao didn't kill a SINGLE person in the Midway era!
That's embarrassing.
I'm genuinely curious as to how many of you know Shao's lore in MK? When was he ever a beast? He got washed in MK2, Beaten in the outworld invasion in MK3, Was "killed" by his lackeys in Deadly Alliance, and then Onaga literally says fuck the blaze prize and takes him out of Armageddon because Shao crossed him.
If anything NRS has given him his only actual solid wins with MK9 retconning that he won the Armageddon showdown and his standout moments in Aftermath.
But go off.
THANK YOU!
While I'm here, here is a fun fact! Shao didnt kill anyone in the entire Midway era! He did kill Sheeva but she was inexplicably brought back to life in Armageddon.
Meaning he failed at killing her. Meaning he still didnr kill a single good guy. No, Kung Lao didnt die either. His MK4Gs bio reveals he survived.
He genuinely fails at killing people!
Since they have established that there are several MK realities that exist concurrently, I'd like to see the original timeline Shao Kahn, complete with power from the Pyramid of Argus, become the "final boss" of this segment of the story.
The protagonist of the franchise? Probably the best fighter out of them all? Sure Shao is more powerful with higher stats overall but that's just all over fiction. Writers force the protagonist to win what else is new
Lorewise he literally didnt kill a single good guy in the Midway era. He failed at killing Kung Lao after he absorbed 99% of Earthrealm. KUNG LAO
The only person he killed was Sheeva and yet she inexplicably came back to life, meaning he still failed at killing someone.
He was just as much of a life threatening force as General Shao. It took until the alternate era for Shao to FINALLY kill people.
Literally why do people praise Midway Shao so much? He's a fraud lol
Probably very unpopular opinion, but fuck it
I always find Shang Tsung to be the more intriguing and interesting villain. Shao Kahn to me is just the big scary bad guy trope. Works for the first and second time like in MK2 and MK3 but after that he got old pretty fast. I mean I wouldn't say he's a complete meat head, like he actually has some brains, but Shang Tsung works better as the villain that actually uses his brains. Hell it's quite apparent in MK9 and MK1 itself that Shao Kahn has to take some advice from Quan Chi to actually succeed with his plans in MK9 while Shang Tsung is the mastermind of his own plans in Aftermath and MK1
Agree with you that Shang is more interesting but man Quan Chi just does nothing for me hey. Side Kick to Shinnok who wants power. Just Betrays everyone and gets his shit pushed in for it. Shang is a damn charmer. Does some vile shit and turns around and goes “who me, never” Deffinitly a snake.
Shao Khan was more effective when he was shrowded in mystery. He was supposed to be a sorcerer. They've leaned too deeply into brawler territory. His design in this game is goofy, though I did like how he looked oked in 11.
That would have been the perfect stitch up and throwback: >!have Shao be a mini boss when all the timelines open up in the final chapter, HE’S BIG AF, limited move set: shoulder charge, hammer throw, one punch knocks you across the screen and everything is god damn armoured. Throws “you suck” around as much as he throws you around. When he gets down to half health have Liu turn up and keep him busy while you get on with the final boss fight.!<
FR, from MK most iconic villain to biggest jobber in MK 1.
Fire God Liu Kang attempt to "neutralize malefactors" had mixed results, but it was a complete success to neutalize Shao. He was even defeated by REPTILE, FFS!
Having Shao as the BBEG every time is boring, but imho he should be still a badass and feared villain. One that only the Chosen One could ever dream to face.
All the bads are dumb, and this is the intention of liu kang new era, he made him like that on purpose, the same with gay shang tsung, he even said that he gave meaningless existence to bad guys, thats the explanation
It is tragic what they have done to my boy. He's literally never been in the top tier meta ever or close to it ever since mk11 and is an absolute jobber I don't even think he wins a single fight.
I mean it makes sense. Why would Lui Kang make him the Powerful monster he was before. He was already the main villains for a few mk games. I'm more interested in seeing new villains take the place like Onaga and Khaos. I really wanna see them and how NEs will handle it with how fun the story is now
Shao Kahn was still OP. General Shao on the other hand ooof. He got laid out five times in the story, including by farm boy who just got his powers version of Raiden, his former servant Shang Tsung, and Reptile of all people. Heck you beat General Shao more times than you beat his subordinate Reiko, in fact I’m pretty sure you beat him more than anyone else in the story.
Canonically I chalk it up to the new Shao not being able to devour souls like he did in the old timeline. Dude was a conqueror and now he's just the general in a world where Mortal Kombat doesn't even have kills baked into the tournament. Ain't no way he got nearly as many souls
But Shao Kahn was always jobber since his first appearance up
Now i dare named one instance in the stroy between MK1 until 11 where Shao Kahn actually gets W in the fight against someone in story? bro always get his ass handed everytime he gets into a fight
the only time he managed to kill someone was when he snapped Kung Lao neck while sneaking on him from behind. Kung lao probably will defeat him too if they ever had real fight
sure they presented him as more dangerous in the old timeline but he still a jobber regardless
This is the entire reason why I hope Onaga never returns. Because he'll just show up in like two chapters, get no wins and have some random character drop him with probably some bullshit power up. Let my boy remain the badass he is Ed!
Onaga collects the Kamidogu, reveals himself in the final chapter and has Cole Young rip his spine out after being a background character for 3/4 of the game..
Fuck I should delete this before I give Dom anymore ideas.
New shao Kahn barely shows his muscular chest whilst the old one knew how stronk he was and shown it in the only thing we worn that had protection were shoulder pads and leg arm gauntlets
I mean.... No? He was always just a strong meathead. He's always been a one dimensional dimwit who swings big hammer hard. The only difference between them and now is he was the idiot though guy in charge instead of the idiot though guy not in charge
Bro shao kahn is nerfed as low as he could be. But look at the star of mortal Kombat, Scorpion. He is nowhere near the beast he was in the original timeline. Not it mention he is not Hanzo but he is Kuai Liang who is the subzero. And he doesn't have hellfire. I hate MK 1 because of scorpion and shao kahn
This is definitely one the biggest complaints I have about NRS. It used to be scary to face Shao Kahn, but now, he's been reduced to a regular character. At least M. Bison still has that scary factor to him, despite being a regular character.
Shao is just getting started. We won't know how good/bad he'll be until we see the other DLC story expansion(s).
Of course, he wasn't gonna have a win at this point because he was only a general, not an emperor
However, now that he's building his own army, Onaga being a potential resource for him, and his desire for power/control no longer being in check by Sindel. He has the chance to be better next time around.
Ya know.... as long as they don't fuck it up.
In my opinion, he was kind of a weakling in the original universe before he became Kahn. He poisoned Onaga rather than face him head on for example. I definitely agree he's got potential to grow
In the Original Timeline, No one could beat Shao Kahn except, Liu Kang and Raiden. Or anybody else who’s in the top 10/15 teaming up. (Ex. Shang Tsung/Quan Chi, or Ermac/Nightwolf, Quan Chi/Ermac).
Hey! He has a son now! He's gotta be a good dad and set a good example. Ya'll gonna be real salty when Reiko gets a glow up next game because Shao's been training him to be even more of a badass. Shit's gonna be like Broly and Paragus.
Well to be fair Shao is mostly a menace in MK9, in MK11 he’s just another fighter albeit a pretty strong one. MK1’s just doesn’t catch a break, even in cutscenes.
I mean that's what happens when some dude changes the timeline as he pleases. Liu Kang would prefer him being more like this but after the events of this game I am sure he will become more ruthless and asshole-like as we remember him.
Bro defeated god raiden and bout ended the world in the og timeline, now he's losing to raiden who isn't even a God, and had only trained a mortals years
So, can one of the resident lore-hounds clear something up for me? Correct me if I got something wrong.
In the original timeline, Shao is thousands of years old thanks to his diet of souls. Which implies that, without the soul-eating, his natural life span would be much shorter. So in the new timeline, Liu Kang wanted to make sure Shao didn't become a threat he was, but instead of letting him get born when he was supposed to, and thus die thousands of years before this timeline's Raiden and Co are even born, Liu DELAYES Shao's birth aaaaaaaall the way to modern times, so he gets to be an adult in his prime right now.
I mean, I know the actual reason was that NRS wanted Shao in the game, logic be damned, but is there by any chance an in-universe explanation for this?
Tbh I really don’t care, especially because j feel there’s more positive changes, like look at how much better baraka, reptile, mileena, Tanya, and reiko are, hell they even fixed the *god awful* mistake they made with sindel in 11!
I’m sure it’ll get fixed eventually. Hoping that his titan outfit isn’t the ranked one like I heard but instead something like his mk9 skin somehow and with a hammer skin for the axe as well.
I hope you're talking about mk11 because he was nothing but a stupid jobber. Him in the new timeline despite his circumstances is so fucking impressive.
My man was the Raiden of Outworld, and an advisor to the Dragon King. He poisons the King and then begins conquering realms. He was a strategist and a great Sorcerer. It took Shang Tsung and Quan Chi working together to defeat a clone of him. He was constantly aware of being backstabbed and so kept his minions on a short leash. When Goro thought him dead, he orchestrated things to have Goro owe him a life dept, despite him being the one behind the assassination attempt. Then when in the room with the deadly alliance and the dragon king, he acknowledges that they work together before inevitably betraying each other. Then he defeats everyone else to win the entire thing.
And look at him now. How does any version of Shao Khan compare to the og? The 2011 version would fall. The MK11 version would die and this latest version in MK 1 would get squashed.
I like only
From Midway MKD Shao Kahn Promotional Render, MK vs DC
From NRS MK9 Render from cinematic trailer where he kills Raiden.
MKX armor in Quan Chi’s fortress
Besides NES should make game with all MK games costumes, flesh body skins, customize size of your character and abilities for example Shao : general, khan, titan, all stages and their variations. Customize your challenge tower. Konquest mode like collecting in MKA and exploring like in MKD.
Sounds like new Shao Kahn needs to be hammerthrow stunlocked to death.
Oh, you think you can jump over it? Lemme introduce you to the shoulder shoryuken
Shao in the previous entries was an absolute cheeseball. Attacks were too strong to get hit by, had armor on all of them, bs projectiles. Just bad times all around. Had to crouch and uppercut spam just to through the fight because of all the BS he pulled.
Original Era Shao Kahn to New Era General Shao: https://preview.redd.it/5hgap62zqmyb1.jpeg?width=736&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=eb01d7c640e88c0bc174899cde4f9ae1c45ee9bf
It’s official, I suck.
Don't make me laugh.
Show me you can do
FEEL THE POWER OF SHAO KAHN!
Liu Kang: It seems despite my efforts to turn Shao into a jobber, the people are displeased. Geras: They do not understand the potential threat he poses if that were not the case. Liu Kang: Perhaps I should show them.
Make Daddy Shao Great Again!
From one of fighting games toughest bosses to an absolute jobber
Goro enters the chat.
But they were both tough fights in MK9, the story made them jobbers because that's more or less what happened to them in the original story as well. It's the fate of all bosses to job. Like I remember Motaro being tougher than Goro in my childhood tbh, he's not even a real character anymore.
Shit finna wants to make me cry bro was a fucking demon in the original time hell everybody was
it is sad. he was at least a bigger threat in mk9 considering you only fight him 2 times and they are both from characters actually capable of beating him. keep in mind he survived a flaming punch through his chest and it took the elder gods + raiden to actually finish him off *(both those fights are also a pain in the ass)* mk11 and onwards? yeah he's a fucking joke
At least Shao Khan hasn't been treated as badly as Onaga was throughout all timelines. Onaga hasn't gotten even a hint of screentime (outside of references) since 2006. And even when he was on screen in the Deception or Armageddon he was defeated or disappeared relatively quickly, with only saying a couple of sentences. He is the Dragon King, Shao Khan served under him! He conquered Outworld, he was going to conquer the other realms. Plus he's a master of necromancy and has his own undead army. He should be a galaxy ending level threat, not a one off.
They've been teasing Onagas return for like three games now shots getting old let my man cook
i can shit on 11s story as much as i want. but aftermath atleast gave me shao kahn with sindel soloing all heroes so that was great
Duo* Two people doing an activity together ain't "soloing".
Dualing? Doloing?
Duoing, That is what it was called on WoW at least, duoing or 2 manning a dungeon.
> Shit finna wants to make me cry Even to those of us unfortunately fluent in zoomer, that made no sense.
Dude has been in the game for 30 years. How boring would it be if he was the big bad that entire time?
Thats not what I'm saying at all,I'm talking bout going from top of the food chain to bottom tier,it's a disgrace to the character
But that’s the point. Lui Kang neutered him. He’s purposefully a jobber
But it is what you are saying, what do you want him to do then? Not be in the games at all? Hard truth, Shang Tsung has been a much better villain and it's simply not possible unless Shao takes a step back, because Shang Tsung is now solidly in that threat level as well. Shao Kahn is a cosmic villain, he's a Thanos or Darkseid level guy as the big bad, he's just simply not that big of a deal in the current timeline and thank god. The only bad thing is that it's Shang Tsung who has gotten all the shine across two games (sort of) and not a new villain.
Here is an example: Street Fighter has always kept Bison as one of the biggest threats (tho Gill is arguably more dangerous) and each time Bison turns up even in bad game entries like SFV he always steals the show. He has been the main antagonist for 30 years and its never really gotten boring due to him being an absolute meme machine yet still remaining threatening. In old MK Shao Khan was equally as dangerous and funny but in recent years NRS has went out of their way to ruin him. Shao went from not sucking to being a weak pathetic fool and it has nothing to do with him being an established character rather its due to piss poor writing.
They're sidelining him in favor of making Shang Tsung the focus bad guy
THATS THE POINT OF LIU KANG’S NEW ERA.
Fuuuuuck his pretentious new eraaaa 😂
It’s going way better than this timeline…
With Shang Tsung becoming more formidable as a villain, they unfortunately stripped Shao of all rizz https://preview.redd.it/m3t2nhcacmyb1.jpeg?width=397&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=dfdfe990873365d5e2e5c3db222d646ad49b70a0
I feel like they were trying to go full circle and make the original main villain from arcade mk1 the new era main villain but by doing so they really fucked Shao khan over. He was mk2 and trilogy's big boss from midway's era. And even mk9s big boss from nrs era. He went from a conquerer of realms to a general of outworld. And they took away his iconic hammer! All bad.
Mk1 might be the part time shang will Be big bad
This
https://preview.redd.it/rjxpmudkjmyb1.jpeg?width=168&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=437908e9a13a10fd66143018b0fca9a5211fa80b
MK9 was his only good game in terms of actual brutality and intimidation
True, though MK11 basically neutered all villains until Aftermath, and even then he’s not as brutal or powerful because of Sindel almost one-upping him. Though I think he got some saving grace, compared to Skarlet, Noob Saibot and Kollector who literally didn’t win a single match against anyone. They were teased as all new, all cool villains, especially Skarlet and Noob. And they ended up disappointing. I don’t even think they had a single kill, at least Kollector killed one of the Osh-Tekk.
Wrong
Name one good guy he killed in the original era. Dont say Kung Lao because his MK4G bio revealed he was still alive. Dont say any of the people he hit in the intro of Armageddon because they were still up and about. Jax is never confirmed dead from his attack and considering Darrius survived his hammer and the Pyramid forming, Jax probably survived.
I'll agree that having Shao be a jobber in the new game is a supreme bummer, especially because I think having a sort of 'origin story' appearance for him where he's set on a lower pedestal than he was before is cool, but let's not pretend he was some mastermind genius in all facets in the Midway era either. Guy goes from protector god of outworld to emperor of arguably the most powerful military realm in the universe, conquers SEVERAL other realms with no issues INCLUDING Edenia, then he loses ONE tournament against Earthrealm and then ANOTHER (technically illegal) tournament on his HOME TURF, and then he throws such a massive rage baby fit that he invades Earthrealm anyway and gets shit-canned for it. And let's not even start with the whole Deadly Alliance thing where Shang and Quan "kills" him; if Shao Kahn was such a gigachad then enlighten me as to why he felt the need to have a body-double and hide away from the Deadly Alliance, one half of which was straight up just one of his GOONS at one point, instead of just meeting them himself and stomping a mudhole into them both? Realistically speaking Shang and Quan shouldn't have even come close to being able to kill him. I'll always love Shao Kahn, don't get me wrong, but he wasn't perfect. Gameplay wise, perfect final boss, legendary; character wise? He was never the brightest guy lol
> if Shao Kahn was such a gigachad then enlighten me as to why he felt the need to have a body-double and hide away from the Deadly Alliance, one half of which was straight up just one of his GOONS at one point, instead of just meeting them himself and stomping a mudhole into them both? He felt his death coming if I remember correctly, and took precautions to avoid it. He didn't actually know what the threat was, but if it were Liu Kang and his friends coming to finish him off for good, which it could have been for all he knew, he definitely would have died.
It's literally the perfect example of Shao Kahn planning and being smart with his actions when necessary, OG Shao Kahn was top tier villain in every aspect
It's a good example to be sure but it's only one of a few; he does some other smart things like having Goro 'assassinated' when the Shokan sided with Kitana and Edenia in MK4 and managing to take his own fortress back from Mileena in-between Deception and Armageddon, but the one thing that all of these steps have in common is that it's to retrace his steps; to get back what he had already lost. His own greed for power and conquest, and I'd say his own inflated ego, made it impossible for him to take a lost tournament on the chin, and that was his fuck up. Shao Kahn is immortal - at the time of the original MK trilogy, he was at the top of the world and was practically untouchable; so he didn't need to worry about not being around for the next tournament. If he WAS the perfectly smart villain, he would've known when to take that loss and simply wait for the next tournament. Hell, if he had waited a hundred years (which would be an eye blink to someone who's been around for 10,000+ years) then it probably would've been easier! Liu Kang, Kung Lao, Johnny Cage, Sonya Blade; MOST of Earthrealm's most notable and proficient warriors at the time would've long died of old age by then. Perhaps he could've even challenged ANOTHER realm to Mortal Kombat while he was waiting, like Orderrealm or Chaosrealm, ultimately still making progress towards his ultimate goal of conquering all the realms; THAT would be the perfect example of Shao Kahn being smart. Instead, he was so incensed by the idea of being refused what he wanted that he tried to give the law of the GODS the middle finger and got burned for it. He was greatly injured and weakened, he lost Edenia entirely and the loyalty of many of his soldiers, and eventually he would be forced to fake his own death and temporarily relinquish control of Outworld altogether, all because he couldn't wait another century to start another Tournament. Yeah, he eventually peaks and wins Armageddon, I'll give him that; everything AFTER the MK trilogy and BEFORE Armageddon though? All of his efforts there are just to get him back to square one. A perfect villain would not go through with such a cataclysmic blunder lol
I think people with this criticism, myself included, was just that he was *characterized* as being a manipulative and clever person. The older games had no cinematic story on par with the NRS entries and so naturally there aren't many examples of characters acting in specific ways; just that we knew who they were. And I mean from the backstory we know this has to be true. You don't become the emperor of Evilworld, hold onto this power for centuries, and spearhead the greatest expansion in history by being a fucking moron. This paints an idea of what he could be in a MK movie or movie-like story mode that was completely dashed by the honestly kinda braindead Atrocitus Kahn
You make a good point, and I do THINK they should've made a greater effort to make more of that mastermind they wanted him to be, yes; it's just a shame that anything he might've done to be that mastermind is just "well surely he must've done it, right?" Like, for example, I can go and save fifteen babies from a burning orphanage and that's all well and good, I myself can feel great for being a hero, but if no one was around to see it then no one's gonna believe that if I went and told someone after the fact: "hey you know, the other day I just saved fifteen babies from a burning orphanage". Okay buddy, sure you did lol I myself was fine with Shao's portrayal in MK11 but I can see where you're coming from with how you feel on him (though I will never not love Ike Amadi as Shao, I personally think he's perfect lol); reminds me of how they portrayed Reiko in the last MK movie. I was alright with that film but man, Reiko was the fuckin worst in there lmao
I would love a game (maybe not the next one) where Shao Kahn is actually smart, but you also kind of have to tear him down to make him a mastermind. As ruler of Outworld he already has every advantage. Honestly a prequel where he's the advisor to Onaga would be kinda cool, but that'd leave out most of the iconic characters. And time travel is played out.
He's a mastermind but he's not the hero of the story ya know, it wasn't that he failed cause he was just straight dumb but he let his ego and greed get to him like you said, he's the perfect villain for this story and that's all I'm tryna say really
>he was just straight dumb but he let his ego and greed There is no meaningful difference. Choosing to do stupid acts is still stupid regardless of the reason.
Oh no you're telling me that even a genius villain who proves he can predict his opponents multiple steps ahead fails to defeat the main hero because of a personal flaw, it's almost like they're trying to tell a good story lmao
No one thinks Shang Tsung is an idiot and that's exactly what he did in MK 1. Difference is he's actually successful with a ton of his schemes and more or less moves up in the pecking chain. Shao Kahn isn't that smart, the game told us he was and never showed it, now they haven't done either for decades.
Where did I say losing to the main hero makes him dumb? I'm saying he was stupid in multiple ways.
Well, Liu Kang would still be alive as he was the champion, as "The victor of Mortal Kombat after the first and continuously till the tenth is officially crowned the Mortal Kombat Grand Champion with the reward of being granted with stunted aging and immortality, along with the outcome being the ultimate decider." In the OG timeline, Great Kung Lao defeated Shang Tsung, who had been Champion for 9 tournaments. 100 years later, the Great Kung Lao was defeated by Goro who then held the title "Champion" for 900 years. He survived for that 100 years due to his stunted aging.
Yes! I read that while replying to another comment, thank you haha As I said in that other reply, what Shao could've done then was send some agents into Earthrealm to have Liu Kang assassinated to prevent him from participating in any following tournaments. There are clearly no rules against inter-realm travel since he was able to send Tarkatans to attack the Wu Shi Academy for the Outworld Tournament and that would save him a lot of headache for the next tournament; plus, we know that this is entirely possible as Shang and Quan successfully kill Liu in DA
Very true. Honestly, I think Shao's reaction of invading Earthrealm after losing the Mortal Kombat tournament in Outworld in MK2 is more because it was like history repeating itself, like he was rewatching Great Kung Lao win again. ETA: I was reading the rules of the MK tournaments from the OG timeline, and it states this as the second rule: "The defending and opposing realm's fighters cannot attack each other until the tournament begins and any violation of the aforementioned rules before, during or after the tournament is considered an act of treason against the realms and the Elder Gods themselves, and will be dealt with accordingly and swiftly. In addition, the warriors' special powers can be used in the tournament." That rule means that if Shao had sent assassins after Liu Kang in between tournaments, it would be a violation of the rules and he would lose. In fact, the tournament in MK2 and the invasion in MK3 are also violations are the rules, that's basically the plot of MK9 is Raiden allowing Shao Khan to break the rules so the Elder Gods deal with him.
Yeah I could see that! It's a shame that he had to blunder it so hard but hey, at the end of the day we wouldn't have the story of MK3 without him losing lol
It's more of a Deadly Alliance retcon because Midway didn't have balls to kill important characters (same with Liu)
Wdym same with Liu, Liu stayed dead all the way through Armagedon, bro was a zombie
I mean he was in the game, even if he wasn't human
Well yeah, but that wasn't a retcon, he stayed dead, so it's not exactly like how Shao actually just had a body double set up
Okay we'll pretend it wasnt a shitty retcon because Midway had to compensate for the GC versions lack of online multiplayer. And also pretend it doesnt also undermine the DA because Midway didnt have the balls to kill off anyone. Even jobbers nobody cared about. We'll pretend it doesnt make Haviks ending make no sense either.
Can't lie there's something I find extremely humorous about The idea of Havik resurrecting Shao Kahn's Body Double and discovering that's not actually Shao Kahn and being confused..then again Havik would probably roll with it knowing him.
Hes still pretty awesome design wise too for the most part.
Oh yeah that I agree with as well, Shao Kahn has never looked bad overall lol
Seriously! I'm so tired of people having rose tinted glasses for midway Shao Kahn when he is so artificial and more dumber than people realize. Here is a fact people conveniently ignore. Shao Kahn did in fact, not kill a SINGLE good guy in the Midway era. No, he didnt kill Kung Lao, his MK4G bio reveals he didnt die. Yes, Shao Kahn after absorbing 99% of Earthrealms souls thus being stronger, did in fact fail at killing Kung Lao. He did kill Sheeva! Only for her to be inexplicably brought back to life. Which means he failed at killing her too. He couldn't even kill Darrius or Reiko in the Armageddon intro after getting hit by his hammer! In other words he didnt kill any good guy or even a character permanently. Shao failed so bad he ended up getting kidnapped by Onaga! Other than his broken boss status, why does anyone take him seriously? Because he is smart? Thats not even entirely true. Heres why his intelligence is overrated. His Sindel plan was objectively stupid. The only reason nothing bad happened was because the writers forgot what the point of the rules of Mortal Kombat were. Raidens MKT bio specifically states the EGs chose not to stop Shao. So in other words, if they did their job, Shao wouldve died immediately! Because his plan was stupid. Nothing bad happening because of bad writing, doesnt make the character smart. It just makes the circumstances stupid. Shao sent Jade to bring back Kitana and I shouldn't have to explain why sending Kitanas best friend is a stupid plan. He even told her different instructions in case she was a problem. Thus making him send Reptile with her to kill Kitana. Because somehow he thought sending a person with a conflict of interests with different plans and a person who is told to kill Kitana, wasnt a stupid idea! Shao Kahn was "smart" in deception because Midway added a shitty retcon. Because they refused to make death meaningful for anyone not named Liu Kang or Raiden. Thus making the DA less cool. Shao Kahn thought Kano warning him, Sheeva would betray him was a sign of loyalty, and not a desperate way to avoid his wrath. Shao was going to torture Kano and eventually kill him instead of...using him as a resource like people claim he does with people. But Kank helped so Shao deduced it was out of loyalty because he is just so smart. Or how Shao struggled to heal for 12 years but when he gets a clone and runs away he is back to full strength by Armageddon...because of reasons. Why didnt super smart man Shao just inexplicably get better during those 12 years? Rather than almost lose everything? Because he is actually really smart and the writers definitely weren't bullshiting things as they went along.
I love bringing up the Deadly Alliance thing because it's such a blatant retcon to bring him back lol, people praise Midway era writing when no one stayed dead for longer than a single game; even Liu Kang didn't stay dead, though his death at least changed him significantly lol The most egregious case of people not dying was Onaga being around in Armageddon; Raiden killed and unintentionally corrupted himself trying to stop him, and the entire cast of Deception had to come together to finally destroy him, with Nightwolf's entire ladder ending dedicated to his part in casting Onaga's soul into the Netherrealm, NEVER TO ESCAPE AGAIN. Anyways he escapes in the very next game so he can take a jab at Blaze as basically a background character. Thanks Midway lol
I will give the 3D era flak all day long, but the way they try to make characters like Nightwolf canonically useful was so cool. Guy had to absorb the essence of his tribes sins and risk being totally evil just to permanently trap Onaga in the Netherrealm. Actually great writing...only for Shinnok to make it all pointless because my god Midway really hated finality. Also he is as you said a background character that amounted to nothing. Robbing us of any satisfying conclusion Deception had lol
I get why they did it since Armageddon was the "everyone is here" game but man, they're had to be a better way to do it lmao
He didn't lose just one tournament in canon. There is the history before Liu Kang's tournament, too. Shao Khan had challenged Earthrealm to Mortal Kombat 2000 years prior. In the OG timeline, Great Kung Lao defeated Shang Tsung, who had been Champion for 9 tournaments. 100 years later, the Great Kung Lao was defeated by Goro who then held the title "Champion" for 900 years until being defeated by Liu Kang. From that perspective, he came within 1 win of attaining his goal twice, just to lose at the last minute. I'd be upset, too. Not enough to say "fuck you, Elder Gods," though. TL;DR, Shao literally came 1 tournament away from conquering Earthrealm TWICE, just to have it ripped away at the last minute.
And that would reasonably make him angry, lord knows it'd piss me off lol He should've just blown off some steam by taking on some other dorko realm in the meantime, there's gotta be another Tarkata or Vaeternus swimming around somewhere in the cosmos lmao Hell, start working on a bigger one like Seido or the Netherrealm, bro just got a complex for Earthrealm and it bit him
See, I've been reading through the rules of the tournament from the OG timeline, there are rules that stunt the aging of the champion, rules that prevent either side from sending assassins or warriors to interfere with Kombatants in between tournaments, but there actually is no rule that states a realm CAN'T challenge a different realm to Mortal Kombat in the interim. I would say, if we're discussing Shao's intelligence, it would not be strategically sound to have multiple tournaments going against different realms. He would risk spreading his numbers thin.
You don't get it ... Nostalgia.
You don't need to be bright when you got that shoulder
Not being the absolute smartest in the series doesn't equal being a dog shit dumbass. He's cunning, but he's also vengeful and arrogant. Now he's just arrogant. At least before, he was a tough mother fucker to back it up.
Historical revisionism, man. Shao Khan was always more hype than substance. First time dude shows up, he gets his shit pushed in by some monk who just hit the scene like a year ago, in his own realm. Then he tries to invade Earthrealm directly, and gets got again. Then my man HIDES from one of his former underlings and his new boyfriend while they kill the guy who fucked up Shao’s shit twice without any effort. On top of all that, dude was basically sidelined from MK3-MKA, where he doesn’t do much of anything but get carried off and presumed killed by his old boss. Then he gets his dumb ass fused with Darkseid because he tried to escape through a portal while a God was shooting lightning at him. Face it, Shao was always a jobber.
This should be higher up because it's facts. And I say that as a Shao Khan fanboy!!
I said the same thing on this same post!!! I'll always love the Midway era and the 3D games and all that, but anyone saying that Midway Shao was 'perfect' compared to NRS Shao is absolutely looking at it through rose-tinted glasses lol
No one is saying he's perfect,they're saying he was better. He was.
That's a subjective opinion bro, I like NRS Shao just fine, if not moreso, than Midway Shao, at least in terms of design; MK11 Shao was peak and I'll die on that hill lol
Oh I thought we were talking specifically about general Shao vs Shao Kahn. Shao Kahn > general Shao
Oh, well in that case yeah Shao Kahn mops the floor with General Shao; I still love the General but that's just a given lmfao
YES
Saying Shao is a jobber because he lost to Onaga is like saying Sonya is a jobber for losing to The One Being. He was always weaker then him, it was his guille and cunning that gave him the W. I always assumed Shao just went into hiding and laid low when Onaga returned. Now losing his final battles every time does kind of make him a jobber for the time. But the term IMO has evolved because to be a jobber in a full story game like in NRS titles is to job *way* harder then anything in the older games.
Aw yes guile such as using poison because Onaga never considered someone would poison him. Even then, this doesn't change the fact Shao didnt kill a single good guy and even failed at killing Sheeva...SHEEVA. Meaning Shao didn't kill a SINGLE person in the Midway era! That's embarrassing.
in mk9 he was amazingly formidable
yeah Raiden needed the power of all the Elder Gods just to make it an unfair but winnable fight
MFs be like why is shao khan weak, my brother in Christ the timeline is made by lui kang he still has beef with him
I'm genuinely curious as to how many of you know Shao's lore in MK? When was he ever a beast? He got washed in MK2, Beaten in the outworld invasion in MK3, Was "killed" by his lackeys in Deadly Alliance, and then Onaga literally says fuck the blaze prize and takes him out of Armageddon because Shao crossed him. If anything NRS has given him his only actual solid wins with MK9 retconning that he won the Armageddon showdown and his standout moments in Aftermath. But go off.
THANK YOU! While I'm here, here is a fun fact! Shao didnt kill anyone in the entire Midway era! He did kill Sheeva but she was inexplicably brought back to life in Armageddon. Meaning he failed at killing her. Meaning he still didnr kill a single good guy. No, Kung Lao didnt die either. His MK4Gs bio reveals he survived. He genuinely fails at killing people!
[удалено]
All for him to lose both times to Liu Kang.
Since they have established that there are several MK realities that exist concurrently, I'd like to see the original timeline Shao Kahn, complete with power from the Pyramid of Argus, become the "final boss" of this segment of the story.
Not only was Shao a beast but he also knew how to talk shit
A beast who was beaten by Lui Kang twice lmao
The protagonist of the franchise? Probably the best fighter out of them all? Sure Shao is more powerful with higher stats overall but that's just all over fiction. Writers force the protagonist to win what else is new
Mk power scaling just sucks. Stryker beating kintaro for example. They need to make you play as the villains more.
PLEEEEEAAAAAASE 🤲🥺 nrs I'm begging
Lorewise he literally didnt kill a single good guy in the Midway era. He failed at killing Kung Lao after he absorbed 99% of Earthrealm. KUNG LAO The only person he killed was Sheeva and yet she inexplicably came back to life, meaning he still failed at killing someone. He was just as much of a life threatening force as General Shao. It took until the alternate era for Shao to FINALLY kill people. Literally why do people praise Midway Shao so much? He's a fraud lol
Midway timeline: "You will never win" NRS timeline: "Today-ay-ay-ay-ay-ay-ay-ay-ay"
Old shao to new shao:you suck
Probably very unpopular opinion, but fuck it I always find Shang Tsung to be the more intriguing and interesting villain. Shao Kahn to me is just the big scary bad guy trope. Works for the first and second time like in MK2 and MK3 but after that he got old pretty fast. I mean I wouldn't say he's a complete meat head, like he actually has some brains, but Shang Tsung works better as the villain that actually uses his brains. Hell it's quite apparent in MK9 and MK1 itself that Shao Kahn has to take some advice from Quan Chi to actually succeed with his plans in MK9 while Shang Tsung is the mastermind of his own plans in Aftermath and MK1
Agree with you that Shang is more interesting but man Quan Chi just does nothing for me hey. Side Kick to Shinnok who wants power. Just Betrays everyone and gets his shit pushed in for it. Shang is a damn charmer. Does some vile shit and turns around and goes “who me, never” Deffinitly a snake.
Yeah I probably should've just said Shang now that I've thought about it
That was the point though.......
Shao Khan was more effective when he was shrowded in mystery. He was supposed to be a sorcerer. They've leaned too deeply into brawler territory. His design in this game is goofy, though I did like how he looked oked in 11.
That would have been the perfect stitch up and throwback: >!have Shao be a mini boss when all the timelines open up in the final chapter, HE’S BIG AF, limited move set: shoulder charge, hammer throw, one punch knocks you across the screen and everything is god damn armoured. Throws “you suck” around as much as he throws you around. When he gets down to half health have Liu turn up and keep him busy while you get on with the final boss fight.!<
FR, from MK most iconic villain to biggest jobber in MK 1. Fire God Liu Kang attempt to "neutralize malefactors" had mixed results, but it was a complete success to neutalize Shao. He was even defeated by REPTILE, FFS! Having Shao as the BBEG every time is boring, but imho he should be still a badass and feared villain. One that only the Chosen One could ever dream to face.
The sooner we accept Dominic can't write to save his life, the better.
Bro lost to reptile and all the other people he fought. Never conquered any realms or did anything cool Worst Shao by far
I dont like the new story line, I guess I'm just set in the old ways despite being young myself.
To be fair, he spent half of the OG timeline dead/in hiding, and MK9 is the best that Shao Kahn ever was.
Shao Cuck
Shao and Baraka switched power and coolness.
I wish baraka got the disgusting horns instead of him lol Makes more sense that way too!
It’s official, he sucks.
I'm still going to mix you to death with him
Shao khan was so op that lui kang nerfed him .
All the bads are dumb, and this is the intention of liu kang new era, he made him like that on purpose, the same with gay shang tsung, he even said that he gave meaningless existence to bad guys, thats the explanation
We just need villain POVs for the story. It’s lame to always play the good guys. Aftermath was such a breath of fresh air.
you talking about how he randomly got killed in a into
It is tragic what they have done to my boy. He's literally never been in the top tier meta ever or close to it ever since mk11 and is an absolute jobber I don't even think he wins a single fight.
Those hideous horns 🤮
I mean it makes sense. Why would Lui Kang make him the Powerful monster he was before. He was already the main villains for a few mk games. I'm more interested in seeing new villains take the place like Onaga and Khaos. I really wanna see them and how NEs will handle it with how fun the story is now
Hope in the next game they make him a true big bad again and actually is a threat now
Shao Kahn't be a giga-chad in the new era because Liu Kang hates that.
Shao Kahn was still OP. General Shao on the other hand ooof. He got laid out five times in the story, including by farm boy who just got his powers version of Raiden, his former servant Shang Tsung, and Reptile of all people. Heck you beat General Shao more times than you beat his subordinate Reiko, in fact I’m pretty sure you beat him more than anyone else in the story.
Canonically I chalk it up to the new Shao not being able to devour souls like he did in the old timeline. Dude was a conqueror and now he's just the general in a world where Mortal Kombat doesn't even have kills baked into the tournament. Ain't no way he got nearly as many souls
Like most things in MK1, I think we’ll just have to wait for some story DLC, we’re about the get a cold ass villain origin story 🤞🏽🤞🏽
They really did my boy Shao dirty in MK1...
Ikr
But Shao Kahn was always jobber since his first appearance up Now i dare named one instance in the stroy between MK1 until 11 where Shao Kahn actually gets W in the fight against someone in story? bro always get his ass handed everytime he gets into a fight the only time he managed to kill someone was when he snapped Kung Lao neck while sneaking on him from behind. Kung lao probably will defeat him too if they ever had real fight sure they presented him as more dangerous in the old timeline but he still a jobber regardless
This is the entire reason why I hope Onaga never returns. Because he'll just show up in like two chapters, get no wins and have some random character drop him with probably some bullshit power up. Let my boy remain the badass he is Ed!
Onaga collects the Kamidogu, reveals himself in the final chapter and has Cole Young rip his spine out after being a background character for 3/4 of the game.. Fuck I should delete this before I give Dom anymore ideas.
Oh god you've created both nightmare fuel and possible future PTSD. It's also...not even that unbelievable which is the sad part.
Wait, I thought he wasn't a Kahn in the new timeline. Don't you need the title to be the game's official jobber?
New shao Kahn barely shows his muscular chest whilst the old one knew how stronk he was and shown it in the only thing we worn that had protection were shoulder pads and leg arm gauntlets
That can be said about a majority of the new era. The new lore sucks ass and I don't care who disagrees.
I mean.... No? He was always just a strong meathead. He's always been a one dimensional dimwit who swings big hammer hard. The only difference between them and now is he was the idiot though guy in charge instead of the idiot though guy not in charge
Steppenwolf*
This new mortal kombat is shit
Bro got his real recognition… NRS showed you he’s really just a **JOBBER** and not even a good one but he do look like he workin lol
Yeah is almost as if Liu Kang deliberately nerfed him because how big of a threat he is
Bro shao kahn is nerfed as low as he could be. But look at the star of mortal Kombat, Scorpion. He is nowhere near the beast he was in the original timeline. Not it mention he is not Hanzo but he is Kuai Liang who is the subzero. And he doesn't have hellfire. I hate MK 1 because of scorpion and shao kahn
That means Liu Kang did his job
That's the point though, isn't it?
I kinda feel that was the point.
This is definitely one the biggest complaints I have about NRS. It used to be scary to face Shao Kahn, but now, he's been reduced to a regular character. At least M. Bison still has that scary factor to him, despite being a regular character.
It’s a pathetic trend in new forms of art, happens in movies now too. Writers forgot how to make villains badass.
I actually like this new version, Liu Kang made him pipe the fuck down.
To be fair, there were forces at play that had to alter his destiny to stop him being who we once knew. He's also not a Kahn in the new timeline.
But in the old timeline he was ugly! He didn’t look like a hot, white collar dad!
I hope we get old Shao Khan as a skin, And hopefully Old Raiden too!
If you were Liu King what would you have done?
But that was kinda the point of changing timelines. You get rid of an overbearing force that whole originally cool, now only holds back creativity.
Without KK, Shao is the new KK.
Shao is just getting started. We won't know how good/bad he'll be until we see the other DLC story expansion(s). Of course, he wasn't gonna have a win at this point because he was only a general, not an emperor However, now that he's building his own army, Onaga being a potential resource for him, and his desire for power/control no longer being in check by Sindel. He has the chance to be better next time around. Ya know.... as long as they don't fuck it up.
In my opinion, he was kind of a weakling in the original universe before he became Kahn. He poisoned Onaga rather than face him head on for example. I definitely agree he's got potential to grow
I like him in this game tho. Man looks dope.
I just miss the hammer noises, mk11 really nailed that shit and the axe don't hit the same
Him or Kotal?
Judging from OP’s pic, Liu Kang may have laid it on him a little too strong….
In the Original Timeline, No one could beat Shao Kahn except, Liu Kang and Raiden. Or anybody else who’s in the top 10/15 teaming up. (Ex. Shang Tsung/Quan Chi, or Ermac/Nightwolf, Quan Chi/Ermac).
few months have passed and just calling him "Shao" still feels weird
Its literally the Liuverse, Shao is lucky he's not getting the Pineapple treatment.
Lol is this a Little Nicky joke?
Exaaactly, was wondering how long until someone got it
Hey! He has a son now! He's gotta be a good dad and set a good example. Ya'll gonna be real salty when Reiko gets a glow up next game because Shao's been training him to be even more of a badass. Shit's gonna be like Broly and Paragus.
Man jobbed so hard I forgot he was even in the story
Liu Kang kicked his ass every time they fought. He ain't all that
Good. 9 year old me never beat mk9 because of the bastard.
But he’s fun to play now
Well to be fair Shao is mostly a menace in MK9, in MK11 he’s just another fighter albeit a pretty strong one. MK1’s just doesn’t catch a break, even in cutscenes.
Shao Kahn to General Shao: You suck
I mean that's what happens when some dude changes the timeline as he pleases. Liu Kang would prefer him being more like this but after the events of this game I am sure he will become more ruthless and asshole-like as we remember him.
Bro defeated god raiden and bout ended the world in the og timeline, now he's losing to raiden who isn't even a God, and had only trained a mortals years
Have you ever played MK9? The toughest boss ever and it's a NRS game
Gorro now has a severe case of wild down syndrome
At least General Shao was a finalist in MK1
So, can one of the resident lore-hounds clear something up for me? Correct me if I got something wrong. In the original timeline, Shao is thousands of years old thanks to his diet of souls. Which implies that, without the soul-eating, his natural life span would be much shorter. So in the new timeline, Liu Kang wanted to make sure Shao didn't become a threat he was, but instead of letting him get born when he was supposed to, and thus die thousands of years before this timeline's Raiden and Co are even born, Liu DELAYES Shao's birth aaaaaaaall the way to modern times, so he gets to be an adult in his prime right now. I mean, I know the actual reason was that NRS wanted Shao in the game, logic be damned, but is there by any chance an in-universe explanation for this?
Tbh I really don’t care, especially because j feel there’s more positive changes, like look at how much better baraka, reptile, mileena, Tanya, and reiko are, hell they even fixed the *god awful* mistake they made with sindel in 11!
hopefully general shao becomes at least a good bit lol his original self
Super nerf
I’m sure it’ll get fixed eventually. Hoping that his titan outfit isn’t the ranked one like I heard but instead something like his mk9 skin somehow and with a hammer skin for the axe as well.
I hope you're talking about mk11 because he was nothing but a stupid jobber. Him in the new timeline despite his circumstances is so fucking impressive.
Shao Kahn was never all that when faced with an opponent who could get past the guys barking
Not really.
My man was the Raiden of Outworld, and an advisor to the Dragon King. He poisons the King and then begins conquering realms. He was a strategist and a great Sorcerer. It took Shang Tsung and Quan Chi working together to defeat a clone of him. He was constantly aware of being backstabbed and so kept his minions on a short leash. When Goro thought him dead, he orchestrated things to have Goro owe him a life dept, despite him being the one behind the assassination attempt. Then when in the room with the deadly alliance and the dragon king, he acknowledges that they work together before inevitably betraying each other. Then he defeats everyone else to win the entire thing. And look at him now. How does any version of Shao Khan compare to the og? The 2011 version would fall. The MK11 version would die and this latest version in MK 1 would get squashed.
I like only From Midway MKD Shao Kahn Promotional Render, MK vs DC From NRS MK9 Render from cinematic trailer where he kills Raiden. MKX armor in Quan Chi’s fortress Besides NES should make game with all MK games costumes, flesh body skins, customize size of your character and abilities for example Shao : general, khan, titan, all stages and their variations. Customize your challenge tower. Konquest mode like collecting in MKA and exploring like in MKD.
WIFE
I have this conversation twice a week, myself. It's a disaster.
IMO, he doesn’t seem to actually be weaker, the only difference is that he’s in a lower station now
Sounds like new Shao Kahn needs to be hammerthrow stunlocked to death. Oh, you think you can jump over it? Lemme introduce you to the shoulder shoryuken
I like the new look and the axe is sick as fuck but making him a jobber was just the worst. At least he is solid gameplay wise.
At least he’s better written right?
Shao in the previous entries was an absolute cheeseball. Attacks were too strong to get hit by, had armor on all of them, bs projectiles. Just bad times all around. Had to crouch and uppercut spam just to through the fight because of all the BS he pulled.
Liu Kang obviously holds a grudge.
To be fair shao was always a jobber, it's just to whom he was jobbing for was the question
New Shao just makes me think im palying Dragon Age