With over 30+ years of history to pull from, there’s more than a couple handfuls of iconic characters that fans will often call their favorites whether that be Scorpion, Mileena, Sub-Zero, Kenshi, Goro, Shao Kahn, and many others.
We’re not sure that anyone has ever named Mavado as their number one since his creation though he’s finally attempting to make a comeback after 17 years, which may be his last good shot at gaining any real popularity.
Mavado is set to launch tomorrow as the latest DLC Kameo fighter for Mortal Kombat 1, and even though he’s not a full-on playable character here, this is his first time on any roster since Mortal Kombat: Armageddon.
His reveal for MK1 didn’t exactly set the world on fire, but he’ll at least hopefully be more well received than in the 3D era.
We previously discussed why Mavado was one of Mortal Kombat’s worst-executed characters, and there’s more than a small list of reasons.
For starters, he killed a more popular fighter in Kabal and took his signature weapons to basically serve as a replacement, and instead of a techno-freak, fans got an edgy dude in a black coat.
Mavado’s own unique weapons didn’t do much to help his case either with the elastic whips giving him some interesting movement options… but also some very cartoonish moves all around that felt pretty weird even in Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance.
Things don’t go so well the second time around for him either. Credit: Mortal Kombat X.
After not accomplishing too much and dying at Armageddon like basically everyone else, the Red Dragon general was brought back in the first reboot timeline, and he had an even worse showing then.
He only really appeared in the Mortal Kombat X comic series where he ended up getting brutally killed with his own swords by Cassie Cage and Jacqui Briggs only to be rarely if ever brought up again.
Now, NetherRealm Studios is giving Mavado like other 3D era characters a new lease at life though his chances of sticking the landing aren’t looking as high as say Ashrah or Sareena.
We also don’t really know much about him in the new era aside from still being part of the Red Dragon.
I can hear the deadly alliance announcer saying “Maaavadoooo…. Wins…. FATALITY…!” Can’t wait to try em.
— Joel (@MrFamous96) April 29, 2024
Taking a look around at the community response to him in MK1, Mavado’s modern design tries to keep his edgy aesthetic with the red-lined, one-sleeved black coat — but also that something is missing to make him truly appealing.
Some even say he looks like Wilmer Valderrama’s Fez from That 70’s Show, which probably isn’t doing him any favors in trying to come across as cool.
That’s not to say that no one is excited for his return, however.
That’s not mavado, that’s fez from that’s 70 show I said good day!! pic.twitter.com/QltdmSWU1Q
— ShadyLizack (@VinnieDuragLive) April 29, 2024
Mavado’s best chance of getting a foothold back in the series would be through showing up as a powerful Kameo choice to put on your team, so what does he have there?
Well, he has a mine he can set on the ground that pulls opponents in and electrocutes them on hit when close enough to set up a combo / mixup, which is potentially something.
Although he doesn’t have Kabal’s swords, Mavado does kinda steal one of his Deception moves where he uses the elastic whips to smack the lead characters together for a combo ender.
This apparently damages both fighters but the opponent more so and gives the user a slight frame advantage on wakeup though we’re not sure if it’s good enough to warrant hurting your own character — and it looks pretty goofy too.
He has a slide assist pulling from his old moveset that can OTG the opponent and stop their wakeups and another where he can push back the enemy on a flawless block.
Mavado’s best tool may be the two assists that hit enemies in the air for a free combo extension though it remains to be seen if it’s any better compared to what’s already available in MK1.
We’re not really trying to sound like Mavado haters here, but the dude has a lot to prove if he wants to really stick around — and it’s not immediately clear if NRS has given him the tools to do so just yet.
Some other DLC Kameos like Khameleon have provided interesting new gameplay options and made a splash in the meta, so there is hope.
But if things don’t work out here, there’s a strong shot Mavado is going back in the character vault for a long time again.
