Mortal Kombat: Deception

Mortal Kombat: Deception is a fighting game in the controversial and bloody Mortal Kombat series. Deception was developed and published by Midway for the PlayStation 2 and Xbox in October 2004. A GameCube version was published in January 2005.

Mortal Kombat: Deception precedes Shaolin Monks (in release date only) and follows Deadly Alliance. MK:D was released in two versions for the Playstation 2 and Xbox, a regular version, and a "Kollector's Edition" which added a metal trading card and a bonus disc containing a history of Mortal Kombat, several video biographies of characters, and an "arcade perfect" version of the original Mortal Kombat.

Storyline
In the final events of Deadly Alliance, Raiden's warriors (Kitana, Kung Lao, Jax, Johnny Cage, and Sonya Blade) lay defeated during their battle against the Tarkatan warriors and ultimately, the Deadly Alliance itself (Shang Tsung and Quan Chi). The Elder Gods had advised Raiden not to interfere, but he defied their wishes; alone he challenged the alliance of Tsung and Quan Chi inside Shang Tsung's palace, in Mortal Kombat. He had the upper hand for most of the fight, besting Tsung and Quan Chi, until Tsung absorbed a soul from the Soulnado and knocked him down with a fireball. From there, Quan Chi and Tsung combined their powers to defeat Raiden, with Quan Chi levitating the helpless Thunder God and Tsung using a fireball to strike Raiden down.

With Raiden defeated, the Deadly Alliance turned on each other, with Tsung wanting Quan Chi's amulet. The Deadly Alliance was no more and Tsung found himself facing his one time partner Quan Chi. Despite Tsung's efforts, Quan Chi proved too much for him. When Quan Chi stood alone, a hulking form entered the tomb, and the mummies of the Dragon King's army turned to kneel. In disbelief, Quan Chi looked in shock and in great horror... Onaga, the Dragon King, had returned.

Quan Chi knew what the Dragon King had come for: his amulet. Quan Chi used his powers against Onaga, but he could not stop him. Even with Tsung, and then Raiden, helping him, they could not stop Onaga. Raiden concentrated his godlike essence into a single blast, which destroyed the palace and everything within, but Onaga was unharmed, and possessed the amulet.

Onaga now seeks to use six artifacts called Kamidogu to fuse the realms into the One Being, resulting in the destruction of everything therein. Those fighters not killed in the battle against the Deadly Alliance (Li Mei, Raiden, Scorpion, Sub-Zero, Kenshi and Bo' Rai Cho) must now stand against him and his supporters. These include the Tarkatan horde (led by Baraka) and their former allies, who were resurrected by Onaga and are under his control.

In the story explored in Konquest mode, a young man named Shujinko is deceived (hence the game's title) into spending his life collecting the Kamidogu for Onaga, who uses the guise of an emissary of the Elder Gods named Damashi. This is prior to Onaga's resurrection in the body of Reptile. Onaga only reveals his identity and intentions after Shujinko has gathered all the Kamidogu. Shujinko, led to believe he was working for the greater good, joins the others opposing Onaga.

New characters

 * Ashrah – a demon searching for redemption by killing demons with a magic sword called Kriss; she seeks to destroy Ermac and Noob in order to gain full purification.
 * Hotaru – warrior of Order, pledged to serve the Dragon King.
 * Dairou – Hotaru's subordinate, hired by Darrius to assassinate him.
 * Darrius – Leader of the resistance in Seidou, the realm of Order.
 * Havik – a cleric of Chaos who saved Kabal from death; he wishes to consume Onaga's heart and revive Shao Kahn to ensure chaos reigns, instead of the forced order that would follow if Onaga fused the worlds into the One Being.
 * Kira – a cunning and brutal Black Dragon recruit recently hired by Kabal.
 * Kobra – A brutal and bloodthirsty Black Dragon recruit.
 * Onaga – The Dragon King and former emperor of Outworld, reincarnated by using Reptile as a vessel.
 * Shujinko – An old warrior who was deceived by Onaga when he was a young adolescent, who received the power to mimic other fighting styles from Onaga.

Returning characters

 * Baraka – Leader of the Tarkatan race.
 * Bo' Rai Cho – The general of Edenia's army.
 * Ermac – A mysterious fighter made of several fused souls who assists Liu Kang in his mission.
 * Jade – A loyalist to Queen Sindel who agrees to help her save her daughter Kitana, and also seeks to see Tanya dead.
 * Kabal – The leader of the new Black Dragon clan.
 * Kenshi – The blind swordsman who was saved by Sub-Zero.
 * Li Mei – A young warrior saved from the Deadly Alliance by Bo' Rai Cho and later turned against him and her former allies and sides with Onaga, the Dragon King.
 * Liu Kang – Earthrealm's protector, the undisputed Champion of Mortal Kombat, and reanimated zombie being controlled by some unknown force.
 * Nightwolf – A Native American warrior who acts as the "Sin Eater" of his tribe.
 * Mileena – Kitana's evil twin who poses as her to disrupt Edenia's defences.
 * Noob-Smoke (The alliance of Noob Saibot and Smoke) – the joint team in which Noob Saibot looks to create an army of Cyber-Demons with Smoke as a template.
 * Raiden – The God of Thunder who has become enraged at how mortals have repeatedly endangered Earthrealm.
 * Scorpion – The Champion of the Elder Gods who has been sent to Outworld to destroy Onaga.
 * Sindel – Queen of Edenia who looks to save Kitana.
 * Sub-Zero – The Grandmaster of the Lin Kuei clan who looks for a portal back to Earthrealm.
 * Tanya – The traitor of Edenia, who now serves Onaga.

Shao Kahn and Goro are playable characters in the GameCube version. They were included to offset the lack of online play offered by the PS2 and Xbox versions. Both villains apparently survived the events of Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance; Shao Kahn by the use of a clone, and Goro was saved on the battlefield by Kahn after having been left for dead by his allies. Both characters follow the storyline of trying to return Shao Khan to power.

New to the series

 * MK:D has highly interactive stages, with multiple levels, breakable boundaries, and instant-death traps. Characters can no longer be slammed against walls (visible or not), however.
 * MK:D also has a "Combo Breaker" system which allows players to interrupt combos up to three times per match. This is generally regarded as a welcome change to Deadly Alliance's uninterruptible combos (combos tend to be shorter in this game as well).
 * Weapon impalements are no longer in the game, due to the introduction of death traps.
 * MK:D characters have two Fatalities and a Hara-kiri suicide move.
 * Characters are more specialized as well, boasting unique (though sometimes held over from Deadly Alliance) throws, finishing poses, and rises after losing one round (e.g., Sub-Zero shoots ice to the floor to lift himself up, etc.). Also, perhaps due to complaints, every non-weapon fighting style includes an uppercut, a trademark of the numbered series (1 through 4), but used only sporadically throughout Deadly Alliance.
 * Certain stages also contain unique stage weapons often following the stage's theme, that any character can pick up and use.
 * Other than the above notes, gameplay remains virtually identical to that in Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance.
 * MK:D has a smaller Krypt than in Deadly Alliance (400 Koffins as opposed to 676). This reduces the number of "filler" Koffins that had either nothing or allusions to other koffins in them.
 * MK:D adds Chess Kombat and Puzzle Kombat game modes. Chess Kombat is similar to classical chess, but uses player-selected characters as pieces, and pieces must engage in Kombat to take a piece (much like the 1980s computer game Archon). Puzzle Kombat is reminiscient of Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo, a puzzle game by Capcom.
 * MK:D does not contain the Test Your Might or Test Your Sight minigames.
 * MK:D continues the dark theme, starting off with a whimper for the forces of good and getting worse. It is the first game in the series to assume that the good guys lost the battle of the previous game.
 * The character Noob-Smoke switches character models instead of fighting styles (Noob fights with Monkey style, Smoke with Mit Zu), with no weapons style. They are playable after unlocking, and appear in Arcade Mode as sub-bosses. (Note: in the GameCube version, Noob-Smoke is playable without unlocking.)
 * MK:D is the first Mortal Kombat to feature an extensive online mode.

Konquest Mode
Deception contained a RPG-style game named "Konquest." Konquest explored the history of Shujinko, starting prior to his training with Bo' Rai Cho and ending with the beginning of Deception. While mostly an adventure game, the combat elements all took place in the normal Deception fighting mode. Players seeking to unlock much of the bonus content in Deception were required to play through the Konquest mode, which critics regarded as a sub-par addition to the game.

Trivia

 * In the 1996 movie The Cable Guy, the titular character played by Jim Carrey says to another character, while proclaiming what he believed to be the future of the Internet, "You'll be able to play Mortal Kombat with your friend in Vietnam!" Eight years later Deception was released, the first Mortal Kombat game to feature online gameplay. (Note: There was a short-lived online game adaptor called "X-Band" for the Sega Genesis and Super Nintendo, at the end of both consoles' lifecycle).
 * Due mostly to the inclusion of several cameos in Konquest mode (as well as in the Dark Prison arena), Mortal Kombat: Deception features nearly every single character from the Mortal Kombat series in some form or another, ranging from the well-established (Liu Kang, Sub-Zero, etc.) to the more obscure (Rain, who is a non-playable character in Konquest mode).
 * Mortal Kombat: Deception is the first Mortal Kombat game to feature Stage Fatalities (now known as Death Traps) since Mortal Kombat 4. Since then, Stage Fatalities were not seen. The re-introduction of death traps into Deception makes the game far superior in this aspect than its predecessor Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance (which featured only one fatality per character and no stage fatalities).
 * Is the first Mortal Kombat game to feature two "human" characters as a sub-boss rather than the traditional hideous creatures such as the Shokans, Centaurians or Oni. The new sub-boss (so to speak) is the tag-team tandem known as Noob-Smoke.
 * Stages like the Dead Pool, the Living Forest and the Pit were brought back due to fan complaints as they were popular stages in the Mortal Kombat series.
 * Kitana was supposed to be featured in this game. However, it was decided that the storyline would change and have her dead in favor of the reappearance of Jade, who has not been featured in many Mortal Kombat games.
 * Some characters (such as Darrius for example) are said to be plays on established Mortal Kombat characters. Darrius, in this sense is said to be a play on Jax, who was the first African-American Mortal Kombat character. Other characters such as Kira and Kobra are actually hybrids of different characters such as Sonya Blade, Johnny Cage and Kano. Kira, for instance, has Sonya's and Kano's special abilities (plus a fireball of her own, presumably a play on Tanya's fireball in Mortal Kombat 4) while Kobra's moves are identical to the ones Johnny Cage used in Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance.
 * Although the deceased Earthrealm warriors from Deadly Alliance (Jax, Sonya Blade, Kitana, Johnny Cage & Kung Lao) are stated to be under the Dragon King's control after he resurrected them, the characters are not playable. The only character that died in the Deadly Alliance/Deception story and returned as a playable character is Liu Kang. The deceased Earthrealm warriors, as well as Quan Chi and Shang Tsung, can be fought in Konquest, and in fact some must be fought in order to unlock other secrets (e.g. Jax must be fought to unlock the temple where Liu Kang is found). Each of these non-playable characters uses fighting styles already possessed by other Deception playable characters with the notable exception of Jax, who uses a completely different set of fighting stances. He is the only non-playable character besides Onaga to have a completely different fighting style.
 * It was rumored that there would be "Super Unlockables" in the game. After Deception was released, Gamespot.com initially reported that the character Motaro could be unlocked. This was later proved to be untrue, however, and was subsequently removed from the website once it was revealed that there are no super unlockables in the game. The source which provided Gamespot.com with the faulty information is unknown.
 * A number of characters from this game are present in the trading card game, Epic Battles.
 * If you Knock havik completely off of the sky tower, in the middle of his yelling as he plummets toward the ground he exclaims "Ah man, this is gonna suck" and then resumes his screaming the rest of the way down.