And from then on he would disappear until he teamed up with Noob Saibot in “Deception.” By “Mortal Kombat 3” when Smoke became a playable character, he had already been converted into a cyborg against his will. Unfortunately for Smoke, he was probably the least memorable of the bunch simply because this incarnation didn't have long to shine. So “Mortal Kombat II” included three secret characters, all of whom were ninjas. Still, her personality didn’t shine through very much, and when she became a one-and-done character, not too many fans could muster up a lot of outrage about it.Īfter Reptile in the original “Mortal Kombat,” the team behind the games had to up the ante on the hidden characters. Her powers were certainly unique, with her gaining strength when getting splattered with her enemy’s blood, due to her being composed of blood herself. Maybe she just needs more exposure in the franchise to grow on us.
It’s not that Skarlet is an awful ninja like some of the earlier entrants, but she didn’t do too much to differentiate herself in her first outing. But honestly a character who lives in total devotion to a more interesting character is kind of hard to get behind, which may explain why Skarlet didn’t return once “Mortal Kombat X” came out. She was one of several fighters who was actually created by Shao Kahn, giving him the most loyal kind of servant there is.
#Palette swap ninja series
We really can't blame fans for still not being overly fond of this guy.Īfter rumors of her inclusion in the series dated all the way back to “Mortal Kombat II,” Skarlet finally made her debut in 2011’s “Mortal Kombat” as a downloadable character. The water and lightning powers are cool and everything, but honestly, Fujin has a similar gimmick, and at least with him we're spared the dorky music puns. We later learned he was a prince (just to further cement that Purple Rain joke) and his outfit began to reflect his royalty, adding a cape and crown to his ninja attire. It's hard to come back from that amount of negativity attached to your name, but Rain actually has become more interesting as the years have gone by. Or it could also be that when Rain was first playable he had numerous infinite combos he could lock players in, making him one of the cheapest characters in the franchise. Or maybe it's because he's an obvious joke character since he wears purple and his name is Rain, alluding to the song by Prince. Perhaps it's because of that reason that a lot of fans aren't that fond of him. Rain really marked the point when the different colored ninjas in the franchise began to spin out of control. So, with a flat motivation and a move set that’s nothing but a mishmash of better characters, we’re left with little incentive to care about Chameleon. We’re just told he’s been present in the background for all the big events in Mortal Kombat and he has been biding his time to become a true champion. Even in “Armageddon” where they were forced to give every character a story, his background was so vague and uninteresting. Shang Tsung isn’t just a shapeshifter, but is also a fearsome sorcerer when in his normal state. So if you’re trying to keep your opponent off guard, why would you ever limit yourself by playing Chameleon and his lesser ability?Īnother thing Shang Tsung has that Chameleon lacks is a distinct personality. Shang Tsung can transform into anyone in the game, period. Like Khameleon, he’s made obsolete by a better version of his character. That extra little bit of versatility keeps him out of last place, but he’s still not anyone we’d miss if he never returned to the franchise. We just give the male counterpart the edge since his ability was turning into different male ninjas, meaning he had a lot more characters to choose from.
Just because Khameleon is at the bottom of the pile doesn’t make Chameleon much better. There’s no doubt that Khameleon was the peak of Mortal Kombat’s ninja overload. So even the developers knew she wasn’t worth going out of their way to include. For “Mortal Kombat Trilogy,” she was only in the N64 version, while for “Mortal Kombat: Armageddon” she was only featured in the Wii version. What makes Khameleon even worse is that if you can’t remember playing as her, or even seeing her, there’s a reason for that - she was only in two of the franchise’s games, and only in certain ports of those games. That’s already a pretty unimpressive gimmick. Just to be clear, the grand total of female ninjas at the time included Jade, Mileena, and Kitana. Whereas Chameleon was a character who could transform into the franchise’s many male ninjas, Khameleon was a female warrior who could transform into any of the franchise’s female ninjas. When you see her name, you might initially confuse Khameleon for her male counterpart, Chameleon but no, they just made two characters with the same gimmick.
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