Wow, rude! You punch the wall like that bastard in Street Fighter 1! I notice that her hair is on fire. No wonder she’s angry.
Anyway, I’m looking at another OpenBoR game. This time, it’s Mortal Kombat – The Chosen One (2026) made by Dantedevil. Its current version is 0.6.2. So, I shouldn’t expect the game is fully playable but I’m really eager to check it out. As for the title screen. It shows all the main characters: Tusk from Killer Instinct, Kitana, Raiden, Midas from Pit Fighter (maybe?), Liu Kang and Jago from Killer Instinct. Of course there’s the angry girl from the opening. Her name is Carolina. What’s with her along with the rest of the cast? We will get to that later. For now, let’s move on to plot exposition. Warning: some images contain gore, blood, visceral, etc
So, there’s Elder Gods and one called The One Being who takes power from draining the Gods. Later One Being is defeated though his conscience survived. There’s also part of the story regarding six weapons called Kamidogu. I believe “Kami” means “God” in Japanese. Or “hair”, if I remember correctly from that case of Majin Tantei Nougami Neuro where a barber claimed to be beyond Kami (God) because he got to cut Kami (hair). As for “Dogu”, I only know the word from that clay figure: Dogu clay or whatever that called. So “Dogu” means statue, maybe? Thus, Kamidogu means God Statue, maybe? Anyone who’s more versed in Japanese may correct me for the translation of this Kamidogu.
After hitting new game: I’m given these difficulty settings: Easy, Medium, and Normal. There’s no hard difficulty. Normal difficulty is: more health restore item, less enemy, less enemy’s health, and full puzzle. I don’t think I feel bad to pick medium difficulty so I do that.
Then there’s great wall of text about another plot exposition. I stitch them up to make it easy for you to read all of them. Just don’t mind the repeated background. Let me sum it up. Remember The One Being? There’s ancient demon that capable of channeling the one being’s conscience. Those who can master the demon, will be unbeatable. Shao Kahn plans to summon this demon and conquer him as big bad guy always do. However, there’s the chosen one that able to defeat said ancient demon, with the super incredible power that no mere mortal can possess. This chosen one is born as ordinary mortal until they reach 15 years old where they will tap into said super power. Does the plot make sense? It’s ok. I don’t think any of Mortal Kombat plot ever make sense. So, this indie plot feels at home with MK plot. I thought the chosen one is reincarnation of The One Being thus explains how they have super unfathomable power but apparently no. The One Being is just evil and only on evil side. Which means there’s no explanation why this chosen one is so powerful. But that’s just me nitpicking the flaw of the plot.
We move on to a girl named Carolina in a bedroom. Her father calls her and tells her that he has to cancel plan to go out for dinner because news about curfew due to massive kidnapping of 15 years old teenagers.
Meanwhile in previous version of the game, the room is more reasonable with more natural wall and down-to-earth looking. On contrary to the current version, the room has overly flamboyant wallpaper though it has less table, and add huge bookcase that can fall anytime due to how big and unstable it looks. Though in this older version, the bed is double bed which is unnecessary because she sleeps alone in her own bedroom.
Although the dinner plan is canceled, the girl gets her birthday present: purple cloth. Unfortunately, Shang Tsung finds her location. Apparently, she’s the chosen one and she’s targeted by Shao Kahn and co.
However, Raiden and co know about this matter. Raiden tried to ask the Elder Gods to help him regarding the prophecy of ancient demon and the chosen one but to no avail. So, it’s up to Raiden and his gang to stop Shao Kahn’s plan to prevent the prophecy by getting rid of The Chosen One. Apparently, the heroes have 6 days to fulfill the prophecy.
A group of masked man barge into Carolina’s bedroom while she watches her final round of Karate tournament. I think she’s quite narcissist. I can control her a bit to her bedroom and fight the masked men. It doesn’t work well as you can see. Yes, I notice there’s tutorial book that says double forward + attack and quarter circle forward + attack. But that doesn’t help much because the special moves that produced with the input is not that helpful. The double forward + attack special move has short range which is thrust kick followed back jumping kick. Meanwhile the quarter circle forward + attack has short range and also slow start-up, which is rolling heel jump kick. Only the former is slightly useful in this situation.
Meanwhile in the older version, Carolina wipes the floor with the intruders automatically because this combat is part of cutscene. She kicks them without problem and flawlessly unlike what I do. At least there’s no health on tutorial so I can take damage without worry.
At the next room, large number of intruders stop Carolina from getting away. However, Raiden and co arrive in time and obliterate the bad guys. Later, Raiden unleashes Carolina’s power as The Chosen One. Miraculously, he did it although Carolina looks in pain in this screenshot. Carolina joins the group to search for kidnapped teenagers and eventually confront Shao Kahn.
Now, I can choose character to play as. Besides Raiden and Co, you can choose other character on the floor with MK symbol on it. Currently, there are 7 extra characters: Orchid from Killer Instinct, Fulgore from Killer Instinct, Batman, Robocop, Sub-Zero, Scorpion and lastly Judge Dredd. On this version, the last 3 characters are added compared to previous version. You probably reply “But there are 8 MK symbols on the floor, Werdito”. The one near Carolina’s statue probably is The Chosen One. So, there are 2 types of Carolina: The “most” normal type and the ultimate type which is basically full Avatar mode. Maybe if you play the game with 2 players, you can choose both of them. I like the character select screen is the modification of that stage in Mortal Kombat 1.
I choose Liu Kang because he’s iconic besides Raiden. My personal favorite is -obviously- Scorpion but let Liu Kang get the first spotlight. By pressing movelist button (not default: tab), I can see Liu Kang’s command list including Fatalities! I want to point out that there are 5 action buttons: attack, jump, block, special, and fatality. That sounds too many for me. I can change the button setting to make the button configuration similar to face button on controller: “J” button to attack, “K” button to jump, “I” button to block, and “L” button for special. Lastly, I put fatality on “Q” button because I reckon it’s button for tertiary function. I don’t need it to press it quite often although according to the movelist fatality button can be used to counter enemy’s attack.
So, here’s the real game begins. I defeated some masked goons. I even burnt one of them to crisp and he drops can of Pepsi tm. That’s not fatality. It’s called “No Mercy” which is Fatality but done to downed enemy. Activated with Up, Down, fatality button. I like doing this because it’s easier to do than standard fatality where you have to grab the enemy first. Both fatality and no mercy can only be done to enemy with yellow health bar which is around 10% health or so.
Not far from the previous spot, I encounter tutorial to counter throwing knife. It’s only done by pressing block button however the timing is very freaking strict.
I fail few times however I pull it off. Twice even. That dead guy is the first victim of my counter. Then I manage to counter that bastard’s knife too and he will meet the same miserable fate as his dead friend there. Apparently, knife throw is instant kill much like in Super Double Dragon IV. But the instant kill only applies to enemy and not to player, thankfully.
A branching path in very early part of the game? Ok, then. Should I take the route to basketball court or the underground parking lot?
Ok, I regret taking the underground parking route because I get run over everytime I focus on combat. I’m not sure who’s driving these cars. I can only assume they’re scared civilian that want to go back home soon because they saw brutal fight unfold right before their eyes. I know you’re very scared but at least have some courtesy to sound the horn first so I can dodge your car.
I can unleash screen-clearing bomb move simply by pressing both attack and jump button. But it’s easier to do if I hold the attack button and later press jump button. It doesn’t cost sliver of my health, thankfully. It cost whole bar of MP though. See the blue bar on top of my heath bar? That’s the MP bar. I hope it’s bigger than it is so I can read it easier.
I arrive on the street. Some of masked guy, have a joy ride without worry or safety of the other. Tusk says that we have to take advantage of it. So, in this stage I can perform stage fatality performed with down, up, fatality while grabbing enemy with low health.
I like the tutorial’s reminder that I can see the movelist with movelist button with fake arcade layout. I’m pretty sure my laptop doesn’t have button configuration like that.
My brain usually doesn’t acknowledge block button in beat em up game. Eventually, I manage to use the block button against rolling barrels but It doesn’t work because the barrels are unblockable. They’re barrel in beat em up game after all. Fair enough.
I successfully pull out the stage fatality and my victim become horrible mess in asphalt. This won’t happen if the driver is more aware with road traffic safety or safety standard of street gang.
There’s also gang member that rides on Ducati. Generally, jump kick is the way to kick him out of the bike. But every character has various of degree of success regarding using jump kick to solve this problem. Some jump kick is too short or too high to hit the evil rider correctly. Sometime miss. Sometime I can hit the enemy but I still get hit by the bike. For more accurate method, I use the desperation attack (activated with special button). Luckily, Liu Kang can use the iconic flying kick to kick the bastard out pretty safely and consistently. Scout_misc07.wav
At the end of the road, there’s a boss. I know his title is bodyguard right there. But I believe he’s that wrestler named Buzz in Pit Fighter. Not only Buzz, but also a group of masked man is are here to fight me. The masked men are called Black Death Gang, by the way.
Sorry, I only show you the screenshot of the end of boss fight. Either I was too focused on the boss fight or the game refuse to take the screenshot. It happens quite happens, strangely. I did finish the boss fight with super combo which activated with double tap forward and special button. It’s hard to connect but it’s pretty useful to deal big damage on single target. I think. There’s another spot for stage fatality. You see that wooden box? You can uppercut enemy into it, the cement truck will pour cement into him and he will be drowned in concrete.
Everytime you finish a level, there’s a roulette. You have to hit it on perfect timing for good prize. First time, I got extra credit! Scout_mvm_loot_godlike02.wav
There’s a bonus stage where I wreck a car! The car parked in the middle of road so it deserves to be destroyed. Feel kind of weird not to see Brad shouts “Oh my God!” or “Oh my car!” after destroying the car.
I can choose another character after finishing a stage! So, I can pick another character without losing a credit. That’s pretty nice. This time I pick the main character: Carolina. Not the demigod version. I pick the “Not so ultimate chosen one” version of Carolina. Even though I said that this Carolina is not the chosen one, I’m impressed with her ability to squint burning laser beam from her eye. Eat your heart out, Cyclops!
Here's the moment that you waiting for: Fatality! There are 4 Fatalities altogether! First fatality is activated only with single button press of Fatality button. Second one, you need to press Fatality and attack button together. Third one, you need to press Fatality and block button together. Last one, you need to press Fatality and jump button together. There’s way to let character pick random fatality together for you by pressing fatality button and special button together. One of Carolina’s Fatality is: he turns into red-yellow giant and snap the hapless git into 2 pieces. I think this creature is Cinder from Killer Instinct.
Few screens of walking and killing later…
In some dark alley, I found graffiti of Jason Voorhees versus Michael Myers. Isn’t more common for Jason fighting Freddy Krueger though? However, Jason and Michael have more similarity: murderer wearing mask. Also, check out weapon I found: barbed wired stick. It’s a brutal weapon.
At the end of the alleyway, there’s dark-hooded assassin as a boss. He likes to pounce on me and then clawing relentlessly. This kind of not fair, as boss and sub-boss are quite difficult to grab. There’s the usual sticky grab mechanic. But regarding boss and sub-boss, they need to be in pain animation first before you can grab them.
I love to execute fatality on him but since grabbing boss is difficult, I can’t do it. Instead, I use this fire drill move which look like M. Bison’s Psycho Crusher but pure red fire. It’s pretty useful move as I can hit several enemies with it.
This time, the bonus stage is breaking these columns of barrels for no reason. The fire drill move work wonderfully here.
Next stage starts with mysterious note that says they got hostages on Arcade bar. We have option between go straight to initial destination: Hollywood gym or take detour to Arcade bar to rescue another batch of hostages or so they said in the note. I take the route to Arcade bar because I’m curious with what arcade cabinet they have, not because I want to fall to their trap about another hostages.
In this level, I pick Robocop. Kind of unfit for beat em up because I reckon fist and kick won’t harm him. But barrels thrown by the goon, apparently efficient against officer Alex Murphy that has super bullet-resistant armor. But we talk about beat em up barrels here. They’re always absolute impromptu projectile.
Character has get-up attack when you’re downed. I think there’s 2 types of the get-up attack. In Robocop case: one is where he punches enemy’s knee repeatedly like in this screenshot. Another one is he fires handgun once to enemy’s feet. I think the former performed with attack button alone while the latter performed with attack button and forward direction.
Black Death Gang is getting more cunning. They put minefield in front of concrete block while the knife thrower thugs are stationed behind it. You may test your ability to counter knife throw. Or like me, you can just running jump to leap across the screen safely. You can also bait enemies to minefield or throw them to it.
The assassin is back but I manage to break his back. I’m happy with that. I like to talk about the variety of health restore item in this game. There are Pepsi, Coca-Cola, and a cartoon pack of milk that restores 50 health points. There’s small medicine kit that restore 75 health points. There’s big medicine kit that restore 200 health points. Lastly there’s chicken dinner that restore 100 health points. There’s one chicken plate right there in the middle of rain. It’s still delicious to eat. Trust me.
I don’t see hostages around here. Only same old Black Death Gang and Steve “Stone Cold” Austin. Not really. I think he’s that guy from unreleased arcade fighting game: Tattoo Assassins.
Robocop’s screen-clearing bomb move is he uses jetpack, then mow down enemies with machine gun and bomb. It’s reference to Robocop 3. The bomb move doesn’t hit enemies in background who’s still cheering at the fight, by the way. I kind of annoyed with that.
There’s no vast distinction on this sub-boss other than he can do jumping powerbomb. Then I do the same thing to him. Eye for an eye, bastard! Since there’s no hostage here, we’re going back to our way to Hollywood Gym. This place sucks anyway. Other than Mortal Kombat cabinets, this place only has bad bootleg arcade machine.
It doesn’t take long to get into said Hollywood Gym. Far from me criticize a gym because I never been to one. But is it common that a gym has giant speaker boxes like in here? If yes, can I request Doom ost so I can stay on the gym for long time. Anyway, I can make these speaker boxes fall down on enemies and instantly kills them. But be careful that you can also instantly dead when the speaker box falls on you.
The boss of this place is Balrog from Street Fighter series. I think he’s not from 2D sprite from any of Street fighter game. Probably his sprite if from later 2.5 D street fighter game. Balrog is annoying. He can interrupt my combo and he can also roll backward to dodge some of my special move. But apparently, he can’t dodge this knife. Spy_DominationScout05.wav
The knife throw doesn’t kill Balrog instantly. Only takes 50% of his health but I take what I can get. Besides punching, he like to do the iconic headbutt grab which what makes him even more annoying to fight because: 1) He can freely grab me while I can’t. The usual problem with boss fight in this game. 2) No way, the headbutt hurts Robocop what’s with his comical strong armor.
Once I defeat Balrog, one of the hostages speaks about gang meeting’s place that potentially where they took another batch of hostages. I don’t know why but I feel like this teenager looks like typical 90s male teenage. He looks too outdated for this era, in my opinion.
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