Spanning almost three decades and 22 games, Mortal Kombat as a series is almost unequaled among fighting games in both longevity and popularity. During that time, it has seen its fair share of characters that, for various reasons, are simply better than others as players have pushed the competitive limits of the series.
Though the newer games in the series have sought out a competitive balance as an Esport, over the years, plenty of fighters have frustrated friends and dominated tournaments. These overpowered characters are sure to never be forgotten by both casual and serious fans of the games.
10 Dairou – Mortal Kombat: Deception
While he pales in comparison to other fighters, Dairou had a single move broken enough to turn fights into a silly dance. Called Tombstone Drop, Dairou knocked opponents into the air from across the stage simply by falling on his back. Players could cancel an intended delay by sidestepping and spam the move forever, forcing opponents to jump desperately over and over in a doomed attempt to get close enough to fight.
Though a formidable fighter besides this, Tombstone Drop made Dairou an entirely overpowered and unintentionally hilarious fighter in Mortal Kombat: Deception.
9 Kung Lao- Mortal Kombat X
Kung Lao’s brokenness came from an exploit that was patched out of the game relatively quickly, but also threatened to upend a $10,000 tournament before developers were able to address it. Allowing players to fill up the special meter instantly and safely, referees monitored all players utilizing Kung Lao for at least one tournament to make sure the apparent glitch wasn’t exploited.
While not broken to the same degree as some other fighters, requiring this kind of scrutiny made MKX Kung Lao a special kind of broken for a short time.
8 Fujin – Mortal Kombat 4
The younger brother of one of the series’ most iconic and quotable characters, Raiden, Fujin was introduced as playable in MK4, only to totally break the single-player aspect of the game. His crossbow weapon, which could be bounced off walls and ceilings, entirely confused the game’s AI and made any vs. computer match a joke.
Although it’s not the only case of annoying spammy moves in the series, Fujin’s earliest iteration managed to painfully unbalance one of its lesser-known games.
7 Mileena – Mortal Kombat II
Fast, with an unparalleled spammy projectile and a great corner game, Mileena dominated both casual and serious players in an early game of a series that has been consistently ahead of its time.
Though crafty Jax and Kung Lao players could remain competitive, Mileena’s jump approaches, priority sweeps, uppercuts, and telekick put her above the rest of the cast. With the ability to punish other projectile-spammers with a roll and few punches for her own spam, Mileena was one of the earliest Kombatants that could be called “broken.”
6 Acidic Alien – Mortal Kombat X
One of four variations of the Xenomorph, a crossover from the Alien franchise, the Acidic Alien also was subjected to nerfs, but not nearly enough, according to many players. With an extremely high range on normal moves and almost uncountable 50-50 mixups, Acidic Alien’s most infuriating ability was a poison soak that not only did damage over time but enhanced nearly all of the character’s other abilities.
Even though later patches made the acid non-fatal, many MKX players had to simply grit their teeth as they slowly perished to the slow burn of the Alien’s acid.
5 Tanya – Mortal Kombat X
So powerful that developer Nether Realm actually created a two-week “waiting period” following the release of future DLC characters before they could be used in tournaments, Tanya debuted in MKX with incredible mobility from her teleport, ridiculously fast recoveries, great wake-ups, and heavily damaging combos.
Some of her variations added even more power, including a boomerang-like projectile that could catch jumps and interrupts, making counter-play even harder. Changing how the series’ developer handles DLC though, should be plenty of evidence that Tanya was broken.
4 Raiden – Mortal Kombat
Well before competitive balance was a priority for game developers, thunder god Raiden dominated the very first iteration of Mortal Kombat. Boasting high damage, a faster ranged attack than most other characters, a teleport, and a space-creating torpedo-dive, Raiden was clearly head and shoulders above the rest of the cast. This was possibly due to Raiden’s place in the game’s lore as the literal god of lightning, which has made him one of the most important characters in the series’ complicated and time-bending story.
3 Bo’Rai Cho – Mortal Kombat: Deception
Huge and deceptive hitboxes with his staff and incredibly easy combo setups made Bo’Rai Cho broken in more ways than one. Using his bodily functions for special moves, the drunken master’s “Puke Puddle” special gave him space whenever he needed it. However, it was the length of his moves and easy combo starters that often very obviously exceeded the visible edge of his moves that made Bo’Rai Cho a broken character, frustrating opponents who thought they were out of reach.
Despite his grossness and brokenness, Bo’Rai Cho is far from the worst-designed fighting game character in style or substance.
2 Cyrax – Mortal Kombat 9
Probably many player’s first encounter with a broken fighter, Cyrax dominated the early online battles of Mortal Kombat 9 due to powerful combos and initially unblockable (and infuriating) bombs. Though nerfed more than once, Cyrax had safe mixups for blocking and incredibly high damage combos equating to 80 percent or more of an opponent’s health when executed correctly. His net ability could drain a special meter, which prevented combo-breaking. Especially for more casual players, running into a Cyrax player was often quickly followed by a ragequit.
1 Noob Saibot – Mortal Kombat: Trilogy
A character whose name was an inside joke between Mortal Kombat’s creators, Noob Saibot makes a complete joke out of MK:T with a stupid number of infinite combos, many of which require almost no setup. With MK:T often considered one of the least balanced games of the series, Noob takes the silliness further with his spammy clone attacks, teleporting throws, and even standard moves, nearly all of which could easily lead to an infinite combo when landed. Almost 25 years later, and through the release of a dozen other games in the series, many Mortal Kombat players still remember the ridiculous brokenness of MK:T Noob Saibot
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