Conan the Barbarian is coming to Mortal Kombat 1 a lot sooner than we realized. NetherRealm Studios debuted the upcoming DLC character’s gameplay trailer this week, along with explaining a lot of what he can do during their Kombat Kast presentation for him, and as you might expect from an NRS guest character, Conan has a ton of references and nods to the films he hails from.
There are many classic Conan moments and lines that could be pulled from for his MK1 version, and the development team behind him has made sure to include one of the best and funniest he has. Yes, Conan has his camel punch (or rather, bonk on the head) in Mortal Kombat 1, and it’s a bit more interesting of a move than just being a singular strike.
To set the stage here, in the 1982 Conan the Barbarian film there is a scene where Conan (portrayed by Arnold Schwarzenegger) is a little giggly after ingesting a mysterious substance. He and a friend are walking through a city when Conan stumbles and bumps into a camel he didn’t see standing in front of him, and he instinctually turns around and punches the camel in the face effectively knocking it to the ground.
Later, Conan encounters that same camel as he’s riding through the city and as he passes by attempts to apologize to the large animal, but the camel rejects the apology and spits on him instead. In retaliation, Conan rides up and literally bonks the camel straight on the head, once again knocking the camel out.
It’s that second hilarious and outrageous bonk that found its way into Conan’s move list in Mortal Kombat 1, and despite it seeming like it would just be a simple overhead strike or something along those lines, this move is actually far more interesting and potentially powerful.
You see, what I am now deeming the “Camel Bonk” is tied to a counter move that Conan has where he opens his arms in front of his opponent and welcomes an attack. Should his foe strike, Conan will deflect it without even flinching, then proceed to Camel Bonk the unfortunate soul right over the head.
Just like the camel in the film, the opponent will become stunned after this, and this stunned state leaves them completely open and vulnerable to an attack, and more importantly, a full combo. The stun stays in place for a decent amount of time too, giving Conan the ability to charge up one of his chargeable normal attacks or call a slower Kameo Fighter into play to set up something devastating.
Though there might be some scaling on the follow up combo after the counter bonk here, the preview match featured during the Kombat Kast shows Conan hitting upwards of 300 damage from a combo following the counter special move — and that’s without using meter and without Fatal Blow.
You can check out the Camel Bonk in action below, followed by the actual Camel Bonk from the film in the tweet from Rooflemonger below, as well as the movie scenes we discussed above. Be sure to check out Conan’s second Fatality in Mortal Kombat 1 also as it was revealed outside of the Kombat Kast and gameplay trailer yesterday.
Conan the Barbarian is set for release via early access tomorrow, January 21, for Khaos Reigns expansion owners.
The Camel Crusher is confirmed pic.twitter.com/J4EUn9g7Mh
— Rooflemonger (@Rooflemonger) January 16, 2025
Source: Event Hubs
