Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe

Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe (abbreviated as MK vs. DCU) is the eighth game from Midway Games of the Mortal Kombat series which was released in the date of November 16, 2008. The game contains characters from both the Mortal Kombat franchise and the DC Universe. The game's story was written by comic writers Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Gray. It is available for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 platforms.

Story
When worlds collide, unsteady alliances must be formed to save each Universe. Time is running out and the Rage will make sure none are left standing! What will happen in this epic battle?

Story Mode Chapters
The story mode of Mortal Kombat vs DC Universe is told in 15 chapters: (7 for MK characters and 8 for DC characters), with one character being playable in each chapter. The order of each chapter is listed below.

Character Roster
According to interviews, the characters were chosen for their popularity and parallels between the characters from both universes. Ed Boon has said that some of the characters' abilities, especially on the DC side, have been toned down to make them balanced within the game. A case of this Ed Boon mentioned, is Superman will have some vulnerabilities because of magic, otherwise the game would be sorely unbalanced.

Quan Chi, Shazam and the Guardians of the Universe make cameo appearances in the Story Mode. Johnny Cage's tombstone also appears on the Graveyard stage.

Arenas

 * Apokolips
 * Bat Cave
 * Gotham City
 * Graveyard
 * Metropolis
 * Netherrealm
 * Raiden's Temple
 * UN Space Station
 * Special Forces Base
 * Fortress of Solitude
 * Shao Kahn's Throne Room
 * Themyscira
 * Wu Shi Academy
 * Oan Senate

Gameplay
The game features a story mode, playable from two different perspectives, one from the DC side, and one from the Mortal Kombat side, and depending on which side players choose, they will see the characters from the opposite universe as the invaders of their own, the player must also play as different characters which are split into chapters.

Intertwined with the fights there are new gameplay modes featuring totally different game dynamics to the usual fight. These modes are Free-fall Kombat which is activated automatically after throwing the opponent to a lower level in the arena. The player can fight in the air during the fall building up their super bar,when a player's super bar fills,they can activate a strong character specific move which slams the opponent into the ground, ultimately ending the sequence, and Klose Kombat which is a mode you can enter during a fight, causing the characters to lock with each other and the perspective to change to a close-up of the two, to make for an interval of close-quarters fighting. A new mode called Rage Mode is activated when the fighter's second gauge bar fills up and the damage to the opponent increases and the opponent cannot harm you unless both of you are in rage mode.

During fights, the characters show permanent signs of visual damage, such as bruises, blood marks, and broken or torn clothing pieces. For example, Scorpion, if attacked for long enough, will lose part of his mask, revealing his skull-like head. Test Your Might makes a return as an in-game fighting feature. By throwing an opponent through a wall, the offensive player mashes buttons to drive the opponent through a set number of walls while the player on the defense mashes buttons to decrease the damage taken.

All characters except Darkseid and Shao Kahn have finishing moves. The Mortal Kombat characters and the DC villains have 2 fatalities each, while the DC heroes have 2 heroic brutalities, which function similarly to fatalities, except without killing the opponent. These finishing moves are only available in Arcade mode and Versus mode.

The originally planned Mortal Kombat 8
Before MK vs. DC was announced, Midway released several hints of what Mortal Kombat 8 would be like. It was said it would be available for Xbox 360, PS3, and PC. Despite a Wii version not being announced, there was some requests and beliefs that there would be a Wii version. It turned out that the PC version was simply an error, and there is no PC version. Midway also announced that Mortal Kombat 8 would be more dark and scary, and would be like the graphics of Gears of War. Midway also announced that Mortal Kombat 8 would be where almost every original Mortal Kombat character dies, except a few survivors, and they would then make most of the new characters by scratch. It was also confirmed that Scorpion and Sub-Zero will be surviving characters. There was a long hiatus of Mortal Kombat 8 confirmations after this, and then it was announced that MK vs. DC was going to be made. It seems Mortal Kombat 8 ideas were completely scrapped, and MK vs. DC really isn't Mortal Kombat 8 but just a spin-off crossover. It has since been confirmed that the next game will be a re-telling of the first 3 games, and thus the previous ideas have been completely abandoned. The title is now known as simply "Mortal Kombat". The concept of original character death seems to have carried over as the majority of original characters in the new Mortal Kombat are killed, although these deaths were not permanent.

DLC
Ed Boon said that there would be Downloadable Content for the game, however, none have been released. He had hinted on adding new chapters and costumes for the characters, but, as he later explained in his Twitter page that DLC is currently not possible and confirmed that the two DLC Characters who were planned to be released were Quan Chi for the MK side and Harley Quinn for the DC side. Doomsday and Kung Lao were also hinted at by Ed Boon.

Later on the development team behind Mortal Kombat was reformed as Netherrealm Studios, abbreviated as NRS. NRS would develop Kung Lao and Quan Chi for Mortal Kombat 9, three years after the crossover. Both Harley Quinn and Doomsday were made playable for Injustice: Gods Among Us, their second console game with DC Comics.

Trivia

 * A free copy of this game is included with any pre-order of Injustice: Gods Among Us, available at Walmart.
 * This is the first Mortal Kombat game where the voices are recorded in California instead of in Chicago.
 * The game's voices are recorded at New Generation Pictures.
 * This is the only Mortal Kombat game in the series that is not rated Mature in any platform due to lowering the level of fatalities and restricted use of the DC license.
 * This game is sometimes criticized by Mortal Kombat fans because of its toned-down violence and fatalities relative to the other games in the series.


 * There are several important characters from both universes that do not appear in the game at all and/or are unplayable and/or are mentioned.
 * In the opening to the MK Story Mode, Quan Chi says to Shao Kahn that Shinnok will be displeased by the latter's failure to conquer Earthrealm.
 * Also in the DC Story Mode, during the cutscene where Kano tries to hit The Flash with his eye laser, he says that "you'd give Kabal a run for his money", due to his speed.
 * Fujin, the God of Wind and Argus, the God Protector of Edenia appeared and are mentioned in Liu Kang's ending. In Kitana's ending, Argus was mentioned as well.
 * In fact, the only unplayable characters from the DC Universe were Martian Manhunter, who was referenced by Wonder Woman and Sinestro, mentioned in Green Lantern's ending.


 * In the comic, Johnny Cage and Goro on the MK side and Aquaman and Robin on the DCU side were shown.


 * The first Mortal Kombat game to be ported to PS3 and Xbox 360.
 * This is the first and only game so-far to feature Close Kombat, and Free Fall Kombat.
 * Shao Kahn, Darkseid, and Dark Kahn do not have any fatalities.
 * No fatalities or heroic brutalities can be performed on Dark Kahn. This is because when you defeat him, he explodes.
 * Sometimes it is possible to not get the story mode achievements as they can be glitched. It may take one or two tries of completing the story mode to get the achievements.


 * In a Top 10 list hosted by Screwattack.com, Mortal Kombat vs DC Universe was labelled #1 for the worst fatalities, due to its lack of blood and gore.


 * Kitana, Baraka, Kano, Deathstroke and Catwoman are the only characters to not have a story mode chapter.
 * Aside from the Final Showdown, Catwoman, Sub-Zero, Raiden, Baraka, and Deathstroke are the only characters that are not infected by the rage during the main Story Mode.
 * Two super moves in this game were in Mortal Kombat 9, but not as a super move. Kitana's Teleport-spin is used in her X-Ray in MK 9 and (Cyber) Sub Zero uses his TombStone-teleport when tagged out in MK 9.
 * This is the first game in the series in which Mortal Kombat makes a crossover with another video game, comic, TV show, or novel.
 * This is also the only game in the Mortal Kombat series to feature characters from another video game, comic, TV show, or novel that are apart of the storyline.