For a series that has done everything from third-person action brawlers to kart racing to chess minigames, I’m shocked that Mortal Kombat hasn’t given tag-team fighting a good old kollege try before. NetherRealm briefly entertained the idea in Mortal Kombat (the 2011 one, obviously) with a tag-team mode, but it had already chucked the idea in the bin by the time Mortal Kombat X rolled around and seemed set on keeping its focus on classic one-on-one battles.
Then comes Mortal Kombat 1 to show that you can teach an old dog new tricks. Or give them another go at tricks they’ve kind of tried before, anyway. Beyond resetting the timeline, the biggest new thing about MK1 is its Kameo system, which lets players pick a second fighter from a separate roster to call in as assists during battles. Think Marvel vs. Capcom, but with blood and guts flying everywhere instead of Spider-Man webbing an opponent up while Ace Attorney shouts at them about taxes or whatever.
Despite assists being a fairly common thing for a lot of fighting games, Kameo fighters were met with scepticism when they were first announced, with many fans calling for a non-Kameo mode or just their outright removal. I like to think I’m open to new ways to turn my enemies into piles of red goo on the floor, but I’ll admit the fear caught onto me as well.
Thankfully, we were all wrong. The Kameo system is one of the best things that Mortal Kombat 1 brings to the table and part of the reason it has the best mechanics in the series so far and what feels like a great first step forward for the next game in the series to make an even bigger change.
Both players now have to consider not only the character they’re directly fighting as, but the Kameo too. This helping hand to call in adds a whole new layer to Mortal Kombat and makes fights feel more tactical, which works surprisingly well with MK1’s speedier battles. It’s also undeniably cool to have Kung Lao twat an opponent with his hat and then get to follow it up with a completely different character’s set of moves.
While I’d love to see the Kameo system not go the way of variations and stick around for the next Mortal Kombat or Injustice, I think NetherRealm should take it one step further and make its next game a full-on tag-team fighter like Tekken Tag Tournament.
That’s right, no more uming and ahing in the middle with a second character occasionally popping in to deal some damage before running scared, I’m talking two fighters sharing a health bar and being able to swap in and out at a moment’s notice.
As much depth as the Kameo system adds to MK1, there were so many points during my playthrough where I wished that I could fully swap out with my partner and use another moveset for a little while. Kameos add a lot of variety and keep things feeling fresh, but it’s still no substitute for having two completely unique sets of abilities and combos.
Going all-in on a tag-team system opens up the door for so many possibilities - exciting mixups and combos, unique dialogue for specific match-ups, team fatalities, you name it. Mortal Kombat 1 already feels like a brave step forward for the series, but it also feels like sticking a toe in the water for an even bigger and more dramatic change, one that Mortal Kombat 13 (or whatever it’s going to be called) has proven it can handle.