Mortal Kombat's Inconsistent Timeline | A Line Through Time

You can't even keep up with this thing for how often they change the canon. Fucking why?
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[@RazorsEdge701]

The subtitle in the Kotal turning on Mileena flashback is flat-out wrong, probably a typo. It should've been one of the "twenty years ago" flashbacks, not "five years ago" because dialogue in that scene says Shinnok is currently invading Earthrealm, meaning it's happening at the same time that Chapter 1 is. Also, Mythologies was two years before MK1, not one.

[@The4thSnake]

I guess I missed that detail. God, why are these developers SO incompetent? I've never seen Mythologies listed as two years prior to MK1. Where did you hear that?

[@RazorsEdge701]

Well there ARE no dates attached to Mythologies itself (actually I think there's one line in the promotional material somewhere that says it's set ten years before MK4 but I've never been able to confirm that so I wasn't going to nitpick your assumption that Shinnok attacked at the same time in both timelines), but in the MK1 comic, Scorpion says he died two years ago.

[@mattteomatei3610]

Maybe it was "25 years ago" and they just forgot to type the "2". PS: Any of you got a reason for why Shinnok didn't attack exactly after Shao Kahn's defeat and why it took him 2 years? He doesn't immediately attack in the first timeline either.

[@RazorsEdge701]

In the first timeline, Shinnok's attack relied on having a mole in Edenia to invite him in (Tanya). That probably took time to set up. Quan Chi had to find someone corruptible, turn them to his side, etc. Also, if Mythologies and MK4 really are ten years apart, that would set MK4 in exactly the year 2000. Sometimes in stories, events like "the turn of the century/millennium" or "the planets aligning" or something like that will have some kind of cosmic significance that makes it easier for apocalypses to happen.

[@mattteomatei3610]

Right. But having a mole was just an explanation acceptable for those times. We've seen Quan Chi and Shinnok open portals to the realms before. Why would he have needed Tanya to open one for him? I get it that he wasn't powerful enough to step through them undetected before he got the Amulet. And I get it that even then he chose to bid his time until Shao Kahn and the Earthrealm Gods had weakened each other (this is kind of illogical too, but Shinnok hadn't been invented as a villain yet so they needed a reason why he wasn't there during the events of the first 3 games+ I kind of like the idea of him being afraid Shao Kahn would ally with the other realms to stop him and waiting for Shao Kahn to be defeated). But what I don;t get is...after MK3, why wait 2/8 years more if he and Quan Chi could open portals at will? Sure, it's probably an irrelevant question. It was just what the story demanded during those times, it wasn't thoroughly planned. But I just can't seem to find a logical explanation and it bugs me

[@coldschooI]

"Kenshi *seeing* his son again." Brutal.

[@The4thSnake]

I know, I'm sorry!

[@flashbackfrank8781]

Still better than "Kenshi *Touching* his son again." though....

[@wyvernslayer5258]

toothgrinder *BRUTALITY*

[@jamaldavis831]

@@The4thSnake Brutal -Nathan Explosion

[@edil9219]

LMFAOOOOOOOOOOOO

[@Manobaru]

18:19 - "Kenshi seeing his son again"... Holy shit, man, what a poor choice of words xD

[@The4thSnake]

O_OU...

[@quadyr213]

The4thSnake 😂😂😂😂

[@josephlinden1630]

So half the team left the development...midway?

[@The4thSnake]

Please go with them.

[@flashbackfrank8781]

Stop that. Don't make me get the squirt bottle.

[@adamrossman4006]

@@The4thSnake Wow you're like an older version of typical fortnite players. Good job douche bag!

[@adamrossman4006]

John Tobias left and made a fighting game on the original Xbox I forget the name though. Tobias should rejoin NRS

[@The4thSnake]

@@adamrossman4006 What?

[@Grandtarkus]

i fucking LOVE MK: Deception, finally someone who doesn't bash the 3d era games, they were unique and totally awesome

[@meldrickedwards1785]

I personally wouldn't say unique but that's just my opinion.

[@theitfactorjameswheezer2852]

Meldrick Edwards it’s not unique though. The 3d games are embarrassing tekken and virtua fighter ripoffs

[@theitfactorjameswheezer2852]

@DaraG 1995 not really. Nothing embarrassing Either. There’s no “No Jarek, this is a fatality” or any bullshit like that

[@steelbear2063]

I mean I bought PS2 and MKA with it solely because you can create your own character. Wish they'd include this feature in any future game. It would be awesome with modern graphics

[@Silver-Kaitou]

I kinda started to m/k fully via DA, but it was Deception that got me really into it(also, it got me into writing.)

[@silversilentrd]

Cooking With Scorpion is just too good haha

[@The4thSnake]

It is quite possibly the single greatest thing to ever come from this franchise.

[@Niopunk]

There's a KZbinr called the Super Zeros who makes some MK Parodies including Cooking With Scorpion

[@TheGenomario]

@@Niopunk I love those videos

[@Niopunk]

@@TheGenomario Yeah, I wish they uploaded more.

[@TheGenomario]

@@Niopunk same

[@PhilDVG]

A person who actually likes MK for the story and can point out the continuity errors that I've been having problem with for the past two games. Subscribed.

[@PHlyestofNerds]

Same!

[@n0iryt944]

In gameplay is going vetter through years but in story they wrote themselves to a corner with armagedon and rebootin all this to a new timeline plus the theory of correcting raidens corrections what made is to delay the armageddon

[@UnchainedEruption]

I don't really care for the story in MK2 and 3. I prefer it like the first game when it was just a tournament. That said, giving the characters some backstory is certainly a good thing, to the extent that you care more about the fights. It can be more than just mindless violence. So while I don't really care about the "canon" of this fictional universe, individual stories within it or individual character motivations within it do hold value for me.

[@StaszGonyon]

@@UnchainedEruption Many people say how they wished for the "Eastern mystique" or keeping it simple to be "just a tournament". Seeing how many games there are in total, how well would those concepts have held up over the long term? Without some amount of depth/complexity, the basic tournament idea would have gone stale very quickly. At some point, there needs to be more than character motivations to carry the series forward into multiple decades. I'm not personally concerned about the canon either but there's a basic need to expand a fictional world to create new lines of characters and new motivations. Otherwise they would all just be popping into existence at random. Besides, any story that began with Gods overseeing a fighting tournament was begging to be expanded at some point. Although most people prefer to keep the story/premise very simple, it's just not feasible when there is a constant demand to up the ante with each new iteration of the series. Look at Street Fighter; they tried to keep it a simple tournament but it got complex in its own right (minus time travel of course). When people get behind a particular set of characters, those characters need to live in a world of some kind, therefore a fictional "universe" is born. We may not deem it a necessary but for a business to keep large groups of people coming back for decades, convoluted stories are basically unavoidable. It's the nature of the beast. Not bashing anyone's personal preference here but even if game story canon is meaningless to you, at least respect the need for it to exist. Without it, fighting games would be nothing but character feuds, which would repeat ad nauseam.

[@LeandroLopez-qd2pt]

@@StaszGonyon I think SF got ''complex'' because Capcom never gave two shits about the story.Even looking at the recent games,SF4 is cannon despite being a ''dream team'' kind of game.

[@truec0re193]

And here we are now... Time warping confirmed for MK11

[@jamaldavis831]

Yup

[@delta2372]

Despite how much of a cluster fuck the original timeline is if cleaned up it could actually be pretty good.

[@delta2372]

@Viper Hareous I was talking about the midway era timeline, while a cluster fuck when cleaned up it's actually pretty good, I like the original midway timeline more than the current one but it had its issues

[@delta2372]

@Viper Hareous how is it lols?

[@gabrieltejada1697]

Delta 23 he means what do you think of the new clusterfuck of a story we have now after MK11 and the Aftermath DLC story?

[@drzerogi]

Your love of MK: Deception shows that you have great taste in MK games. Such an underappreciated gem.

[@user-mm8vp1mj4k]

The great Kung Lao’s victory in 1492, meanwhile Christopher Columbus out here discovering America

[@HolyHadou]

Me: I'm such a nerd. ::watches video:: Me: I'm a casual. ::alcoholic disbelief meme::

[@The4thSnake]

Well, when did you get into the franchise?

[@HolyHadou]

The first three games. I stopped after 4 and just barely kept track of the general story line but never went as in depth as this guy.

[@razorfett147]

Agreed. I stayed with the franchise tihru MK4, then i took a hiatus during the PS2/Xbox era. I rented Deception and Armageddon and was thoroughly unimpressed. MK9 brought me back in a big way, and that momentum carried through to MKX.

[@bluesyrupgc4224]

So... they retconned Sindel’s suicide into her final attempt at protecting Earthrealm from Shao Kahn in MK9, only to retcon her character in MK11 into Twindel, making her suicide nonsense. WTF Netherrealm?

[@williamcrowe2576]

How were you able to make sense of all this without going cross-eyed?

[@The4thSnake]

Who said I did?

[@G1manime]

I would imagine he didn't do it alone. There had to have been a team.

[@MikeVoss]

Its not Kingdom Hearts.

[@GhostFan-ev4di]

I think the One being is not really a bad guy,I think the Elder gods are the real villains,every time when earthrealm got attacked by shinnok in both the original timeline(MK4) and new timeline(MKX)they acted like they didn't give a shit but when Shao kahn or someone like onaga threatens earthrealm they want to fucking bitch and call on raiden when it endangers their own existence,isn't that selfish

[@The4thSnake]

They're totally inept.

[@kirakirakiivvi]

The4thSnake I personally love it. Mythical pantheons often operate on thinly veiled self-interest, and it would be boring to have morally good gods versus a morally bad being. The One Being wanting to Be again isn't bad on a moral level. Hell, he may be in the right, considering the gods killed him to make the universe. The reason it's bad is because it's bad for US, as well as the protagonists of the story. Tldr, morally grey beings are cool.

[@keshunrobinson2842]

The one being is evil he feed off the elder gods who got sick of it and killed him.

[@GhostFan-ev4di]

@@keshunrobinson2842 we don't know if he's truly evil or not,we don't even know much about the one being,there's probably more to that story.

[@idontreallyfeellikeit4539]

No it’s because they can wake up the one being

[@jordangriff2341]

I still love that Deadly Alliance and Deception character select screen music 🎶

[@greg_tre4rockstar]

I was born on the day mortal kombat was released. Happy birthday to us.

[@constructivecriticism2568]

That’s actually not a bad merging of the two timelines. Well done.

[@ShimyIa1]

this is completely incomprehensible how the fuck did you map this out in your head (i thought i was special for being able to recite all of the metal gear games by heart)

[@The4thSnake]

I think the fact that I've been internalising all this stuff since around 2003 helped.

[@crunchysoup6056]

Shimyla1.. WASTED by the guy with 15 years of experiance

[@blsbeserker8634]

This guy doesnt know anything special. Seriously...lol. He didnt get into the series until 2003 and he is acting like he knows what ue os talking about. That'sfunny.

[@justbof7218]

BLS Beserker lmao and I’m guessing you know about everything in mk ever?

[@blsbeserker8634]

@@justbof7218 well I have been a fan and followed the story since the 90's. I eouldnt be cocky and say every little thing...but damn near close to it thank you very much 😎

[@scood3747]

old timeline was better to me the story made more f**king sense

[@Albukhshi]

About the "deaths" of the sorcerers in MK Deception's beginning: if you look carefully, you see Quan Chi legging for it, seconds before Raiden goes Kamikaze. Knowing him, he probably ran for a portal back to the Netherrealm. This would mean he survived, whereas Shang Tsung didn't.

[@RukasuShiota]

This confirms that Shang Tsung is braver than Quan Chi. Not suprising honestly.

[@loganboyd6609]

But then how did Quan Chi drop shinnok's amulet if it's on his belt

[@Albukhshi]

@@loganboyd6609 In the rush of him trying to escape? that's easier than you realize. Arguably this itself is a plothole, but it's a lot smaller than the one formed by assuming Quan Chi was blown to bits alongside Shang Tsung. And at least there is possible evidence for it.

[@loganboyd6609]

@@Albukhshi but if he were to have died in the attack it would make more sense as to why it fell off the belts that it is clipped too because he did not have enough time to conjure up a portal as it always takes him a small-time to make one sure you could say he made it and as soon as it exploded he went through but the aftershocks that hit him it makes more sense that he died and that it fell off and Onaga simply grabbed it as it was falling but even if he did survive how is it that Shang Tsung didn't just teleport himself out there as well cuz shanking basically do everything Quan can do but better

[@Albukhshi]

@@loganboyd6609 All you ask is indeed why it too is still a plot hole; either way, you take it, there's a plot hole.

[@ShiftyGuy777]

14:58 still the worst retcon in MK, turning the Kamidogu's into knifes.

[@TheSBleeder]

2017: Kobra gets a job as a greeter at Wal-Mart.

[@reloadpsi]

I liked that they did devote an entire game to admitting, "my god we fucked this up; let's start over." Cheesy, maybe even a little cheap, but I'm willing to believe it was motivated by artistic integrity. Only for them to fuck up a new timeline of course :P

[@ilovefingernails363]

Mileena's execution still triggers me

[@The4thSnake]

Me too. Me too.

[@JThom529]

The4thSnake don’t worry, she has clones

[@joynelbonetdelgado4952]

Mileena still ugly even after Kitana's death triggers me

[@echodork8963]

@@joynelbonetdelgado4952 can you run that by me again

[@joynelbonetdelgado4952]

@@echodork8963 i believe i was taking Shaolin Monks story and Mileena's ending in Armageddon lore seriously

[@oolooo]

I love your fusion of both timelines , avoiding dumbass reboots .

[@MrCinderellaManMMA]

My head hurts after listening to this Bless you for trying to make sense of this mess of a time line 😂

[@The4thSnake]

It's basically impossible to fully comprehend with how inconsistent the story details are.

[@Rekkenze]

4th snake: “no one at netherrealm can count!” Netherrealm: look at all these sales~

[@Silence-qm3ku]

wow that story is pretty ridiculous. I am really glad they wiped it clean and started over with MK9.

[@The4thSnake]

You'd think that would make things simpler, but much like with DC Comics, it actually makes things worse.

[@Silence-qm3ku]

Not really. They made things force for someone that cling on past like you. But well... people like you who care about Deadly Alliance, Deception and other older games are the minority. Most of MK fans are rejoicing though. No more Shujinko's boring stories no more Taven and Daegon's cockfights. We are free of bullsh*t and we are grateful. It's Mortal Kombat time with faces we know and characters we care about.

[@PHlyestofNerds]

How? Damn near everybody we care about is dead

[@infinitlycool]

+The4thSnake I have to agree with the others here. I'm a story teller myself and I feel that you didn't look at this from story telling perspective. _Deception, Deadly Alliance,_ and _Armageddon's_ storylines were confusing as hell to me. And PHyestofNerds said it best. Nearly everyone we knew and cared about was dead at the end of _Armageddon._ So the question is: "Where do you go from here?" No, seriously. Where? Do you bring in bunch of new characters that nobody's going to care about to replace the old ones? Or do you create some kind of bullshit miracle where everyone's alive again? When you look at it closely the developers realized they put themselves into a corner and they needed to something significant to get the series back on its feet. Rebooting the series by retconning the storyline I believe was the best option they had. It might not have been the greatest option but it was probably better than any other one out there. And MK9's gameplay was perfect. It was everything I wanted in a Mortal Kombat game.

[@Rad-Dude63andathird]

Literally all that did was cut 4, Deadly Alliance, Deception, and Armageddon, while characters and plot elements from those still exist.

[@metalmario991]

One issue I have with the MK timeline is the idea of 2 being set immediately after 1 and 3 being set immediately after 2. It's just that I feel like too many things happen and change between 1 & 2 for them to be set one right after the other. The only story elements that really fit that is Liu Kang arriving home afterwards to find the Temple attacked. Meanwhile, Johnny Cage gets picked up by the US military, tells the entire story of MK1 to Jax and Beran FIVE times, goes back to Hollywood, gets a new outfit, and starts preparing to film a commerical. By the time Jax & Beran get Sonya's signal, Cage is already long gone. Kuai Liang meanwhile is able to learn about the death of his brother, which I don't see that possible if it is set right after. No one would be able to tell him so quickly, it is clear that he already knows when he meets Liu Kang and Kung Lao. And there were no other Lin Kuei that could have known and told him, as it is stated in the intro of 2 that the seven playable characters from MK1 were the sole survivors of the tournament. It just doesn't fit in my eyes. 3, I always got the impression from the intro that it wasn't ever intended to be set immediately after 2. Like, how could the whole thing with Cyber initative happen if 3 happened soon? Additionally, it is indicated the intro that Liu Kang and Kung Lao have begun training a new generation of Shaolin. Jax has gotten bionic implants for his arms. With all that stuff, given in just the intro alone, it really comes across to me as 3 not being set right after. You can justify Shao Kahn not pulling out the Sindel Plan right after 2 thanks to a little bit of info from the Mythologies website, which states that Sindel's resurrection took a decade to accomplish. She simply wasn't ready for the plan to go through at the end of 2. (It was never stated how much time passed between Tsung and Quan Chi making this deal and the actual events of Mytholgoies. If we had the latter, it might have been easier to nail down) Great video, just wanted to give my thoughts on something that bothered me a bit.

[@CTS-V]

I thought I was the only one confused by MK's timeline. It turns out it is a mess for real.

[@joynelbonetdelgado4952]

Always had been and it will be even more now with time travel mk11

[@KamiJoJo]

If Mortal Kombat (2011) is basically the first classic trilogy... -Does that mean that Mortal Kombat X can be considered as a better Mortal Kombat 4/Gold??- Actually nevermind.

[@okay8182]

“Kenji SEEING his son again...”

[@thestinger5846]

Man MK Deception rocked. I think it was the first fighting game I played online against other people. Nice job on explaining all of this, the story is a complete clusterfuck.

[@edman813]

9:05, where Midway was smart Netherealm wasn't.

[@adoknightofficial832]

To be fair, yes the story was stupid for the reboot but mk9 is one of the best if not the best gameplay wise

[@The4thSnake]

I disagree. I find it much too stiff and slow, and the difficulty spikes an unreal. I much prefer the PS2 entries.

[@adoknightofficial832]

The4thSnake I've since gone back to the classics and have to say that mugen has better gameplay than both the classics and mk9. After comparison, I noticed that mk9 was all juggling. I mean the classics are mostly spamming combos and special moves but that's fighting games for you.

[@vicentecollao2288]

Yeah, to be fair, Mortal Kombat was never a house breaking fighting game. It's more about the gimmick of ultraviolence and mistique.

[@orinanime]

The4thSnake I tried to like the Ps2/Xbox/GC era games. Just something abou them rubs me the wrong way. And it's not the 3D because I enjoyed MK4. I will ALWAYS appreciate them for how much they added to the mythology. The lore of MK is what has always interested me the most.

[@LORDUnLuCkY13]

The 3D games had pretty much zero presence in the competitive fighting scene.

[@shadosassins]

This was absolutely amazing. You pieced together parts of the timeline that I got confused at (around 2011) and now it makes sense, sort of. I also have never understood why fans, more importantly NETHERREALM consider MK vs DC as MK8.

[@The4thSnake]

Thank you. No one can blame you for struggling, given the general lack of consistency in the franchise. Also, one guy tried to argue that Shaolin Monks is MK7 and that's why X is 10. At least, I think that's what he was trying to say. He was kind of a massive idiot.

[@papalevan]

@@dragensen2348 MK vs DC

[@takahashiz5786]

I know this video is a year old but your right, people hated Deception and deadly alliance, but back in 2012 or even further, people or the fan base said that those where one of the best mortal Kombat games to ever come out. When 10 came rolling around people started attacking the 3D era Kombat games

[@iamdefish3315]

Most underrated channel on YT

[@toatakanuva4846]

Dude was born the same day Mortal Kombat 1 came out I don’t know about you, but this explains so much

[@Account2129]

Imagine if learning history was like learning the MK timelines. There would be no such thing as 'historians'.

[@TERMINXX101]

While continuity my be poor in this series, I still thing this game has some of the best lore in gaming. If you look at each individual story arch and character sub plots, they're awesome. Now the trouble is putting them together.

[@The4thSnake]

They WERE awesome before they all got scrapped for no reason. I'll be covering them more on my other show in the future, but if this franchise does one thing, it's waste the potential of its characters and setting.

[@Knalxz]

@@The4thSnake They weren't scrapped for no reason, the reason was because you can't realistically juggle so many stories within a video game that can at best release every three years and have satisfyingly conclusions. With MK 2011 they just streamlined what everyone felt was important and jumped over all of the characters no one likes or remembers. MKX -which BTW, thank you of being someone otehr then myself that points out that MK vs DC is for some unholy reason MK8- tries to ensure that yes, these other people do exist and they haven't been entirely forgotten. You might think, well they could just do the arcade style endings like they did before to spice up their stories like they've always done, but the simple fact of the matter is that the VAST majority of players hate that system. It's why literally every popular fighting game has changed to an actual story based mode. Even KI a game that had the slider style endings eventually turned into a standard story told game with Shadow Wars while within a single title. The landscape has changed opinions will fall where they will about it but it's very clear that heaps of people don't at all care for the new MK characters, or should I say formerly new people who even I struggle to remember outside of those brought back in MKX comic and game. With only main protagonists like Shujinko and Tagen being remembered because they were main protagonists. Even the old MK games tried to steer away from the card style endings because even back then it was becoming tiresome. So long story short, the world got to big so they cut down the irrelevant stuff, focus more on characters that are far more liked instead of shoehorning in people who have no relationship to any other person into the main cast and made their characters more streamlined to the new story. The old story still exists, everything still happened there, it is not inconceivable for us to go back there, the new MK11 trailer could even be a hint at such. There's nothing specially wrong with what they've done other then brush some things under the rug. Trust me, as a die hard Halo fan I know damn well of the pain you're feeling. trying to put all of the mess together as the fire only gets bigger explains 343i's work perfectly.

[@razorfett147]

@@The4thSnake there WAS NO future for the story following MK Armageddon. Everyone was dead. You keep complaining about MK9 rebooting everything, but doing otherwise meant scrapping all the legacy characters.

[@The4thSnake]

@@razorfett147 They weren't all dead until 2011. That's when they established that. The original intent for Armageddon was to get rid of most characters, but some were meant to survive. They only had everyone die in 2011 to set up the need for the new timeline. So, yes, there actually was a future post-Armageddon.

[@razorfett147]

@@The4thSnake Still doesn't change the fact that they left the franchise with almost no where to go. The only marketable option was to reboot. NRS compromised and did a soft reboot with MK9, which allowed them to A) retell the story of the original trilogy with some new twists and B) keep the original timeline canon while leaving room for a completely new set of stories. Seems like a win win to me. My impression is that you feel the Ps2 trilogy was the height of the series, and that MK9 and MKX buried those stories. Well, thats too bad. No big loss, as far as im concerned. As i said: its a fighting game. As long as the fight engine is solid and the character roster is appealing, im happy.

[@brandonterrazas6672]

I think I need to watch it 5 more times because I'm still kinda lost 😂

[@The4thSnake]

I DON'T BLAME YOU!!!

[@hearts201]

Here are a few addendums that can be added, at least for a few minor details regarding the timeline. 1. Shujinko's birth year can reasonably be dated as circa 1942, as he was 13 when he met Onaga, circa 1955, and 60 when he fought Onaga while Nightwolf (unofficially 45) performs the Sin Eater ritual in Netherrealm. 2. Sometime after Argus put his sons to sleep, but before Shao invaded, Daegon was awoken early, during which time he murdered Argus & Delia. 3. Raiden doesn't actually try to recruit Shujinko against the DA, at least to my knowledge. The scene shown at 9:17 is him guarding the Nexus gate against a false champion and being fooled by Shujinko's copying, then inviting him to the MK tournament (MK1 1992). He does teach Shujinko in Outworld to aid him against Onaga.

[@Mooreeezy]

No matter how well these timelines are explained I still don't understand them. I'm not sure why I watch these. Good vid.

[@The4thSnake]

Because... banter?

[@KBXband]

Massive props on the time line fitting together in the end bro that was amazing and to my recollection is very accurate

[@stevenkawleski3269]

anddd.. 11 fucked it up

[@beansandproblems]

“Fuck you, Midway. I’m glad you went out of business, you fucks.” oh my

[@skyslasher2297]

4:13 I just realized does this mean Sub-Zero is the only MK character to have been in Every Game of Series (mainline of course) I think so. Scorpion Johnny and Raidan were cut in 3 Kano in 4 Liu Kang in DA and Sonya in Deception. I mean if you want to be technical and say this doesn't count because the character of Bi Han was cut from 4 but fuck that this fact is more fun. As a side note Subby was in the most games period thanks to mythologies

[@spoogiedaboogieman]

I just thought about this. Since MK9 starts from the beginning, why was Reptile not in humanoid form? According to lore, Saurians lose their ability to hide their reptilian appearance over time, the longer they're away from the matriarch. So wtf

[@zacwoods]

The original timeline was infinitely better than the new one. Instead of resetting everything they should just follow this: 1. Remake Deception as if was just HD and with better graphics obviously. 2. Create a game for Earthrealm to deepen the lore and give fans a better look into what lead up to Armageddon through the eyes of Earthrealm not just Shujinko. Ending of Liu Kang's story in this hypothetical game for example could be him getting his neck snapped which is the intro for Deadly Alliance and so it could segway pretty nicely. 3. MAKE A STORY MORE FOR DEADLY ALLIANCE and have Shujinko be the main character again to further his inclusion in the story mode (not just kill him off during Armageddon so easily as if he isnt incredibly powerful. Also would give a great opportunity to further explain what the alliance was and how it came to be. 4. Create side games similar to the Earthrealm one but for all 5 of the other realms to not only give fans of each a better understanding of the realms themselves but to also again explain what lead to Armageddon for each realm. If the last game is Edenia, it could also give a backstory on Taven and Daegon so that when the hypothetical Armageddon releases, everybody understand exactly what happened just prior to them being put to sleep. 5. The most obvious one, but completely remake Armageddon. It was entirely to fast of a game to be canonically the final one in the story.

[@zacwoods]

Obviously this is a lot but this would absolutely be better than the crap they are putting out now. So many things now make absolutely no sense in the new timeline and arent explained. At this point i feel they should just cut this one and just remake the old games with new side games for each realm to explain each one in more detail and each realm's inhabitants would be examined as well. Realms like Chaosrealm and Orderrealm would be soooo much better if the stories of each one were better explained and more characters from each had an impact on the story.

[@racer_x4449]

You lost me when you trashed MK 2011. That reboot was perfect.

[@The4thSnake]

Perfect how?

[@racer_x4449]

The4thSnake Gameplay. I hadn't played a Main MK game seriously in years and that the engine and controls matched the original 2D games with an extra modern layer was great. The personalities and animations of the roster were also well done in game. They also addressed the stiffness of the older 3D games animations. It was a well made reboot. NO ONE EVER CARED ABOUT THE PLOT!

[@The4thSnake]

Hence why they bothered to connect the rebooted storyline to the old one, and make an entire cinematic story mode. It's blindingly obvious that people DO care.

[@racer_x4449]

Dude, I've been playing MKs since MK1 launched in the arcade for the first time. MK2011 saved that cluttered mess of a plot. It was pretty solid of a plot and world, but too many hokey plot pieces started making the whole plot goofy. Chaos realm, Order realm, one new big bad after the next, it was getting convoluted. And just when they made a competent engine with Deadly Alliance and reset the story a little to make it compelling (I REALLY liked the plot in Deadly Alliance a lot!), Zombie Liu Kang. Really? Nega Raiden.....really?! Blaze, the guy in the background of MKII, come on?! EVERYONE returning so the staked in Deadly Alliance were pointless. I was SOOOOO glad when MK2011 came along and threw all of the BS out. Although I don't like the Reverent thing.

[@martineastman9855]

I mean, time travel is a terrible writing crutch-- but the main story was getting whacky. I mean ALL the characters are dead, even the fan favorites? MK fans took a massive shit when Scorpion was missing from the original MK3, how can they continue with the series with a completely new cast? Again, it's shitty writing-- but they wrote themselves into a corner with Armageddon.

[@angelsilva7207]

MK11 was like “fuck yo shit”

[@chrisidore023]

OMG.. Thank you very much for collecting organizing the MK Lore timeline! Subbed!

[@ZenKrio]

Despite the fact that my inner fanboy (when first seeing his vids) hated hearing him shit on the games for the story telling, he's right lol. I subbed to him ages ago because of the content and often rewatch his MK vids :D. Great work. Maybe with the Elder God of Time we seem to be getting in MK11, we will get some more answers as to whats going on, seems like someone very well could be conspiring to make the timeline whole, like you actually pointed out in your MKXL review :p, that'd be hilarious if you called that two years before MK11 came out.

[@lizethmedina9129]

I like the MKD Konquest background music. I appreciate it very much.

[@mattteomatei3610]

The MKA Taven's konquest mode music was also great

[@MKRhaenerya]

everything was good. I liked that adaptation of the mk9 and mk10 in the same timeline... and what would you do with MK11 in here if you didnt include the second timeline? and now with its ending about Liu Kang being the new God/Guardian of Time, a THIRD timeline is coming... you know, sometimes i HATE Mortal Kombat and NRS for trying to fix their shit with time reboots and making everything more and more confusing, but i cant stop fucking love the franchise... help me.

[@Marverick1998]

I'm personally so sick and tired of Kitana being mind controlled in every damn game. I mean I'm fine with it being a part of one game where she was evil to manipulate Sindel, but that situation was RESOLVED in the story of the original timeline. This new timeline is unbearable. She was never supposed to be this evil villain for the games entirety. That's why she had an EVIL CLONE named MILEENA. She was a beautiful princess who only wanted goodness to come for her realm, and now she's looked at as this horrible fiend with no hope for redemption all because of Quan Chi, who is literally the most incredibly annoying character in the new timeline that I have ever had the misfortune of experiencing. I'm so goddamn glad he's dead in X. Then again, Kitana, Lui Kang, Sindel, are all still evil, so I want nothing to do with this new timeline.

[@alvinthompson6333]

All I know is..... they better keep Rain alive.

[@lolsher1426]

Happy birthday man

[@The4thSnake]

Thank you.

[@OfficialCavaliere]

That would make sense why Raiden was dark in the new 2018 MK trailer. Thank you for this amazing work. Instant sub.

[@IGoByGhost]

it's funny because now mk11 has a story about timelines that might address those errors.

[@LeandroLopez-qd2pt]

very funny joke friend

[@Rangersilver6]

Spoiler alert, it just added more.

[@papalevan]

@Starscream91 it's best thing rn. Too bad Armageddon didn't happen again tho

[@Thebigem]

Release Dates for MK Games Mortal Kombat 1 (1992) Mortal Kombat 2 (1993) Mortal Kombat 3 (1995) Mortal Kombat 4 (1997) Mortal Kombat DA (2002) Mortal Kombat DE (2004) Mortal Kombat Arma. (2006) Mortal Kombat vs DC (2008) Mortal Kombat 9 (2011) Mortal Kombat X (2015) Mortal Kombat 11 (2019)

[@ytjayduncan7290]

oh

[@sammylane21]

I wonder what would Kahn be like as a child?? "Mother..I demand you feed me my milk!....*Pfft!*..Is that your best milk??" to which his mother replies "you weak pathetic child!..To corner with you! *slaps Kahn in the face*",haha!!

[@209balls]

Little do you know I’m in a timeline where Mk11 is out

[@nikkiholdmeier7678]

What are talking about

[@GhostFan-ev4di]

Sorry to say but mk11 never happened

[@OldBloodRKR626]

I'd really like Konquest Mode to come back. Deadly Alliance and Deception offered a lot of replayability at the time. So fun.

[@them.]

5:05 and then D'Vorah got even worse than she was in MKX, and Quan Chi was disposed of, much like all the other 3d era characters that aren't Kenshi or Frost because NRS has no regard for anything that the klassics, original characters that feel like they're from a fanfic, jobbers, and the Kombat Kids, who are pretty OK, I guess. I mean, Jacqui and Cassie had their moments, Jin was handled pretty well in terms of his arc and not shoving "he's gay" into your face, and Takeda is the best NRS character

[@zakeermcconnell388]

13:43-13:47 Twice. They didn't shit for Mortal Kombat's annual anniversary TWICE in TWO DECADES!! And you wanna know the worst part about it? funny thing is, beforehand, they rebooted the timeline AGAIN, not once, but TWICE in ONE GAME!!!

[@igotwrecked]

Gotta say love what happened 16:02

[@AndrewCARNBORN]

Awesome video I wish you luck with Mortal Kombat 11

[@kybone25]

The best MK show and creator on KZbin, Bar..None!! 🙂

[@pedrojosebellobelen3824]

Honestly I like how you ignored MK11’s Reboot and instead had the whole new Generation happen after Armageddon in the OG Timeline thanks to some heroes being revived and able to stop the remaining bad guys. That actually sounds less complicated than what we got in Canon.

[@danielclark241]

9:08-9:17 THANK YOU!! I'm so glad that I am not the only one who noticed this!

[@wiffgunderwanted]

You're saying a game with a history and storyline spanning 16 years across multiple forms of media has inconsistonsies and retconning. Pinch me, I must be dreaming! Of course that'll happen. I'm glad they rebooted it. Armageddon was terrible and MK vs. DC forced MK to lose it's identity and gave us the greatest insult to the fandom in history... Kano's "roll/flip thing fatality". *shutters* The new story is cool and now we have two timelines that we can look through and talk about.

[@The4thSnake]

First, the other media is irrelevant. It was all separate continuities befoce the MKX comic, so it was just the games. They could still have streamlined the plot without rebooting by just retelling those stories. Why did 2011 need to wipe 1-3 from the timeline, when it could just have retold them with some tweaks and clarifications? The reboot was entirely unnecessary.

[@wiffgunderwanted]

MK 1 to 3 wasn't wiped from the story line, they *were* retold with tweaks and clarifications and at the same time they added the whole "what happens now that Raiden posses this knowledge" bit. Looking back I actually realize how little they changed. In fact they made a point how Raiden was constantly failing in preventing the outcomes of the original timeline. I think my point is that you think that because they didn't add every little nugget of info from the og games you think that history doesn't exist in this timeline. I think that they still do they just don't make an appearance in the cutscenes. The only things that change is Raiden's choices and how it effects the original timeline. Does that make sense?

[@wiffgunderwanted]

The real big changes came from MKX where Raiden's visions created a ripple effect where the changes were even more drastic as time went on. While MK 1-3's story in this new timeline is almost identical despite a few changes like SubZero is cyber instead of Smoke and Kung Lao gets killed at the end of MK2. But then MKX barely resembles MK4 and is pretty much just loosely inspired by it. The story still kicks ass and was better than the original. It's a shame that it seems like they might skip Deadly Alliance's events for some reason and the Deception story was actually pretty cool so it'll be interesting how they'll try and top it with their reimagining.I just think that the old timeline hasn't been replaced, it's still there for us to enjoy and it's still canon. They just added a new chapter that revisits old events and adds a new twist to what we know. Like Back to the Future has multiple timelines throughout the trilogy, are we suppose to accept what the final outcome of the story is as canon? No, we can enjoy the entire movie as one big story of numerous timelines. That's how I see the original and new timeline.

[@The4thSnake]

To fully understand my viewpoint, you need to watch my two hour long critique of the game, but I'll try to explain one point here: they tried to do the timeline alteration storywhile also making a load of retcons, which muddies the water in terms of what is being changed by Raiden's actions and what is being changed arbitrarily by the devs. An all new continuity or a standard retelling wouldn't have this issue.

[@wiffgunderwanted]

I watched some of it. I guess it's difficult for me to sit through an opposing view for 2 hours without being able to respond haha. It's hard making a story spanning 2 decades so I guess I'm giving the devs slack by making my own conclusions and filling in the gaps by thinking "Raiden changed the timelines so that must of brought the change". I just think you are too harsh with MK9 when it did a lot of good for the franchise and threw it in the right direction. Plus it's freaking fun. I respect your opinion tho since you clearly have a lot of love for the franchise like me. I'm trying to start reading the comics since I love the freaking art style. Is MK1,2,4, and X the only "official" comics for the series?

[@BuNDuM3355]

Im glad im not the only one who liked deception a lot

[@joynelbonetdelgado4952]

Raiden: Let me send myself some vague warning of Shao Khan winning with no specification

[@Ceegore]

Dude! AMAZINGLY good video, it's going in my favorites right this moment. Well done! MK for life lol.

[@jennifercorbett8640]

"The series never had time travel." MK11: Have we got a show for you.

[@GhostFan-ev4di]

there's a plot hole in the mk timeline I know Shujinko's story in the beginning is suppose to be set 40 years before the First MK Game leading up to deception but I just wanted to point out that Shujinko encounters shang tsung and challenges him in order to Join the Mortal kombat tournament,since that part of the story is suppose to be set During Mortal kombat 1's timeline. shang tsung is suppose to be an old man at this point but he looks young during his encounter with shujinko ,what also doesn't make sense is that after Shujinko returns to the nethrrealm(under the orders of Demashi)time between the first game had already passed and we are up to what I assume to be MK4's timeline,Scorpion is already hunting down Quan chi.

[@The4thSnake]

As I said, the original story was apparently supposed to include time travel, but they cut it and didn't change anything else. In fact "Monster" was designed as a costume for Scorpion, so the fight with him may well have been intended as a fight with scorpion.

[@ComaAlpha]

Monster was Hanzo. Hanzo was meant to be there champion, not Lui Kang.

[@gr8gmr]

Was that really was suppose to be the MK1 tournament or was it the one during Deadly Alliance?

[@GhostFan-ev4di]

@@gr8gmr MK1 tournament

[@Aex89]

Someone finally said this, something I wanted to say for long, thanks 4th snake!!! (Also the 3d era was legendary)

[@kurtkaiserdeguzman5993]

8:01 People's theory said he was an ex employee at midway 😂😂😂

[@thelittlepasty8360]

Oh shit so you just managed to combine the two timelines pretty seemlessly

[@Artexerxes101]

My favorite MK games were the 3D ones! My favorite was Deception. It's a travesty that they reverted back to 2D. I mean, I understand the nostalgia of it, but I thought the 3D games were very innovative.

[@NataliaJuliaNowak]

Thank you very much for explaining this mess. Best wishes from Poland!

[@michaeljacksonfanmade87]

I know its no excuse but what if The Armageddon from mk9 is a armageddon from another timeline.......

[@danielshottopics8187]

So if Shujinko Quest happened in 1962 that means it's still Cannon to the new Timeline that's cool maybe we can see him in the next Game along with Onaga.

[@shadowrox325]

I know this is old but shujinko appears in mk10,in cassie's ending. If its canon to 11,she kills him before he can bring back onaga.

[@GhostFan-ev4di]

mk11 messed up everything

[@yawg691]

Fucking Phenomenal video! Great work

[@yungmahon715]

First 4th snake video, checked out the 2011 critique and now we're at MK11

[@jessearellano929]

Happy birthday

[@welkijken]

I for one was not upset with the reboot (if you can call it that) of MK9. I never really cared for mk's comicaly bad story lines. Game play wise MK9 was superior to everything before it and MKX is even better. So i love it.

[@computergeek621]

Resetting the timeline in MK9 was the best decision they ever made, but OK you do you I guess.

[@The4thSnake]

Why do you think it's such a good decision?

[@MikeVoss]

@@The4thSnake What else were they gonna do? Everyone was dead

[@The4thSnake]

@@MikeVoss They were dead in MK9's version of events, yes. They weren't dead prior to planning of MK9. MK9 is the reason they were dead.

[@Don11037]

@@The4thSnake yep in Armageddon things still could've gone forward

[@wazzup9179]

@@The4thSnake actually like 4 people were alive. Just look up the video

[@shawerful5209]

5:36 put the subtitles, i see someone comes back from space

[@zakeermcconnell388]

HOLY FUCKING SHIT!!! Is that a muthafucking JOJO REFERENCE!?!???😱😱😱😱

[@monger936]

Ok. so, shujinko konquest in the beginning is set 40 years before deception but i'm still wondering how old is shujinko when the mortal kombat tournament begin? And how many years have passed after the mortal kombat tournament to the armaggedon since shujinko imprisoned in the orderrealm?

[@herbert4725]

This timeline you made up is better then the real one

[@The4thSnake]

That seems to be the theme on this channel - that I can do the plot of Netherrealm games better than they can.

[@simplematthewshadows]

The4thSnake send then this vid and a resume lmao

[@gc2k4studio65]

Well.... the previous games was by Midway, not Netherrealm so... your wrong about that mate The4thSnake

[@gc2k4studio65]

By previous i mean from MK1- Armageddon

[@OoSweetyman]

Some of your videos get hundereds of thousands of veiws but u only have 22k subs, i hope you get recognized for the great videos you make and people actually sub

[@The4thSnake]

Hopefully, yes.

[@MysteriousTomJenkins]

I am not sure if I already typed this before, if I have then I am sorry for repeating myself. Its been a while since I played Deception but my interpretation of Shujinko getting invited to a Mortal Kombat tournament was him getting invited to the Deadly Alliance's tournament that Li-Mei took part in which is why soon after Raiden is asking him to join in on fighting them. I could be wrong but that was always my idea of the situation.

[@NawiTheCore]

Yessss!!! Finally someone gives DA and Deception the love they deserve. Honestly, I liked them better than the newer games. For MK2011 and MKX it feels like they recycled old formulas and didn't bring anything new to the table. I do like some of the new characters of MKX.

[@sketchstevens5859]

You forgot to add in that Mortal Kombat was originally Bloodsport: The Video Game

[@AnthroArcade]

I still think the best MK4 ending is Jax where he holds Jarek over a cliff and goes "This isn't a brutality, but a *FATALITY*!" And the fatality jingle even plays in the background. _Razzle Joestar_

[@samwellcheck562]

The consistency of MK's story is summed up pretty well when you described how Shao Khan killed Onaga by subtly poisoning him.... over an image of Shao Khan smashing him with a hammer while Goro stabs him with 4 swords at once. It's also pretty funny how easily MK9 can be cut out of the timeline completely without really changing anything, especially considering it was meant to reboot the whole franchise.

[@angelaalvarez5011]

I know how to make cake now yyaayy