‘FLAWLESS RIVALRY.’
Gaming these days is losing its true core, rich storytelling and crucial pivots that raise lore for an unforgettable franchise. Games are being judged based on how cool a CGI trailer looks when it comes on the huge screen at E3, games are depending way too much on gameplay innovation and social interactions. But there was a time when a game had limited gameplay features, and the true savior in such cases would ideally be its storytelling capability.
Mortal Kombat was an out and out arcade game, fun, competitive and overtly gory. You would insert a coin and have tons of fun beating a friend up, over and over again. Now who would want to dig up history on the rivalry of two martial artists? We all would. Ed Boon and John Tobias spurred an entirely new franchise of fighting action arcade games that soon became a rage amongst both the classes of gamers, the casuals and the history diggers. It inspired movies, graphic novels, animations and tons of other stuff that questioned the lore and expanded it further.
Mortal Kombat is just not a game, or even a tournament raised by the immortals, Mortal Kombat is a journey of a few handful who are willing to risk their lives for their loved ones, clan or even their pride. Caught in the crossfire were two of Mortal Kombat’s leading fighters, and gaming’s most legit fan war starters – Sub Zero and Scorpion. Two Ninjas who defied all gameplay physics to tear each other up, two characters who incited rivalry amongst siblings, till they can’t sleep at night. At this point, I feel that there are just two kinds of people on earth, the Sub Zero fans and the Scorpion fans. This is exactly how rivalry should feel like, and you never expected a coin based arcade game to tell you how it’s done.
Due to a huge lineage of different storylines, the actual origins of Sub Zero and Scorpion would perhaps never be clearly known. However, each origins lore intrigue you in one way or another. The original Sub Zero, named Bi Han, participated in a championship called Mortal Kombat, for the glory of his clan Lin Kuei, and to kill the organizer Shang Tsung. By all means, Sub Zero was a class apart from the rest, merely because he fought not for himself but for the plans of others. And when he reappears in the latter Mortal Kombat issues, this affinity of his takes the helm of storytelling. He was defiled and killed within the fight by a man known as Hanzo Hasashi.
Bi Han’s younger brother, Kuai Liang, takes the name of Sub Zero next as he witnessed his elder brother’s death at the hands of Hanzo, and reappears in Mortal Kombat 2. Meanwhile the undead Sub Zero Bi Han becomes the shadow nemesis whose name is based on the game’s creators Tobias and Boon – NOOB SAIBOT. As the Chinese Ninja Warrior was reborn, Sub Zero’s prime mission was to put a scar on Scorpion and then freeze his bones to death. Assisting the ancient sorcerer Quan Chi, Sub Zero butchered the entire Shirai Ryu clan including Hanzo’s family. And then killed Hasashi off for good in the main event of Mortal Kombat. Hanzo was reborn as Scorpion, resurrected from his grave, embodied in fire, by the same sorcerer Quan Chi when he thought that not only was Sub Zero powerful but he was almost unstoppable, as he single handedly took down various gods including Fujin, in a single battle.
The story is told with a different perspective, as the lore expanded and challenged other formats to this epic rivalry. Some say that the original Sub Zero was corrupted and used by Quan Chi to destroy the Shirai Ryu’s and in the process he killed Hanzo and his family. Later on, Hanzo was resurrected by the same Quan Chi to stop the unstoppable Sub Zero from beating every single mortal and immortal in the tournament and in the respective realms.
You read Batman? I do. The Killing Joke establishes the reason why a famous rivalry between the Dark Knight and the Joker was inevitable and at the same time path breaking. There’s a famous line that Bruce says to Alfred, about the Joker being a mirror image of his very self. With Scorpion and Sub Zero, this discussion comes even closer, as these two similar looking arch rivals fight each year out, with a different consequence ending the finale. When you poise Scorpion or Sub Zero at par with some of Mortal Kombat’s most powerful fighters, like Goro or Raiden, you will probably feel the mortal weaknesses of the two Ninja warriors seeping into your system. But if you look back into the history of Mortal Kombat, you would admit, it couldn’t have been an epic legacy that it is today, if not for this epic rivalry.
On paper Scorpion and Sub Zero are just pawns, used by the men in higher authority, but when they come out into the light, you wouldn’t want to miss an opportunity to show who you are really underneath. By MK9, controlling Scorpion or Sub Zero became a terrific task, as both required perfect synchronisation to unlock their respective bestiality. The same mechanics kept most players from choosing Batman or Superman in Injustice: Gods Among Us competitive modes. But when you would sync all the moves, oh even when you accidentally would, you could bring the entire house down on your competition. Mortal Kombat symbolizes perfection, a world where fair fight gets a nod ahead.
Scorpion is blessed by the power of hell fire, as he uses it to teleport, and drag enemies from a distance using his grappling chains. He is one of the quickest in the arena, and when he discharges his combo streak, there’s absolutely nothing to do to slow him down. Sub Zero on the other hand is a cool customer, who uses ice and freeze attacks to slow down his opponents, while he performs his crushing moves. There is absolutely nothing you can do if you draw too close and Sub freezes you. The rivalry is not just on paper, but prominently evident in their move sets. While Scorpion uses pace to fight, Sub Zero slows his opponent down to finish him off. And when the two clash against each other, their move sets almost counter each other’s best move yet. Ed Boon and John Tobias knew from the beginning where they were leading this rivalry to.
There is a spin to the ancient Sub Zero vs Scorpion tale, wherein Scorpion realizes that the new Sub Zero is not his enemy anymore. And decides to pair up with him, protect him if necessary, and build a team that can threaten any powerlord in the realm. When fire teams up with ice, the other elements can really shake up. That’s how the rivalry of Scorpion and Sub Zero reaches a climax, a much desired climax, the mother of all climaxes in fact, to know that the two best warriors are not at each other’s throat, but defying everyone else around them. In the Chinese philosophy, everything is seen under the light of the Yin and Yang, with Scorpion and Sub Zero, the Yin and Yang reaches a pinnacle. The immortals would do anything to keep the two most defiant warriors in the arena against each other, because if they team up, shit goes up!
Mortal Kombat 9 proved yet another carrier for the franchise, and with the consequences of the storyline, rest assured things aren’t going to be calm in MKX. Quan Chi has returned, and so has Kotal Kahn, the present War God. While fans are already anticipating who’s next, (Noob+Smoke, Johnny Cage) it is up to the two most vital characters of the Mortal Kombat universe, namely Scorpion and Sub Zero, to TEST THE MIGHT of this upcoming new episode of MK. The art of rivalry, as established by Scorpion and Sub Zero is not only a guideline for game designers, but also a piece of history for popular fiction. And even after 23 years since their debut, the Sub Zero vs Scorpion face off still refreshes us and tempts us to preorder a game.
Now for an epic fan made Kotal Kahn mix. See you on the other side of life in April, 2014:
