It’s been some nine generations of Mortal Kombat since Animalities were a thing, but NetherRealm Studios has brought the special sequences back after 29 years. Three decades of technological development has made a whole realm’s worth of difference as they’re massively improved and gorgeous to watch.
In a new video Maximilian Dood watches and rates all of Mortal Kombat 1’s 32 animal-themed enders, pointing out a solid best and solid worst from the bunch.
I’ll let Max and his friends do the bulk of their own opinion sharing via the video, as I have a few thoughts on some of these as well. Fatalities in Mortal Kombat have always been a staple and point of particular interest, but with as many franchise entries as we’ve seen in recent years, it’s admittedly starting to feel like we’ve seen it all.
You can only rip, stab, explode, and pummel characters in so many ways, but the specific confines of animal-themed kills does pique interest in a relatively fresh way. It’s alluring not only to see how developers go about animating these sequences, but also how they pair certain creatures with certain characters given personality.
Where any given “ality” used to be judged primarily on how gruesome the animation was, we’re now getting to a place where more points are given for creativity and cleverness, though general charisma still arguably reigns supreme.
Kitana’s hummingbird Animality is one of my favorites, for instance, as the hummingbird captures the grace and elegance of a royal figure like Kitana, but the execution (in both senses of the term) is spot on here as well. The rapid hummingbird movements feel perfect, and the pertinent way she effectively turns you into a blood-spouting flower fountain to be sampled gets a chef’s kiss of approval from me.
I also appreciate Ermac’s locust Animality thanks to the way it lines up so well with Ermac’s “we are one” nature. The character is an amalgamation of souls acting in unison, and this maps beautifully onto the idea of a swarm of locusts.
My personal least favorite has to be Tanya’s giraffe, which simply bites and thrashes the opponent in an admittedly well-animated, but perhaps uninspired way. I have a particularly soft spot for Johnny Cage’s clever film tie in, but ultimately do agree with Max when it comes to the best Animality in the game.
See how he rates the enders in the full video below and feel free to share your thoughts on MK1’s Animalities in the comments afterwards.