Mortal Kombat 1 isn’t far away at this point, and marketing for the upcoming sequel is starting to ramp up, with new gameplay trailers, leaks, interviews and more seemingly hitting the web every day.
Well, this bit of news is from an interview between GameReactor and Ed Boon during the recent Summer Games Fest event. Discussing all manner of things, the most interesting part of the interview came during the inevitable Jean-Claude Van Damme portion.
Related: Mortal Kombat 1 Teases Return of Fan-Favourite Villain In Quietly Released Character Biography
Mortal Kombat 1 Finally Gets Their Man in Jean-Claude Van Damme
For anyone unaware, Jean-Claude Van Damme has long been mooted to become a part of the Mortal Kombat franchise, having regularly been tapped up for appearances in the games as Johnny Cage, a character that Ed Boon and his compatriots regularly attribute to JCVD’s unique personality and capabilities.
Unfortunately, every time arrangements have been made to facilitate this, it seems to fall through, but not this time! Announced at the Summer Games Fest, it looks like this time round, Jean-Claude Van Damme will indeed be a part of Mortal Kombat 1, and with the timeline reset, there really isn’t a better time.
On that note, if you haven’t played Mortal Kombat 1’s Aftermath DLC you may not know, but the former timeline is no more, with Liu Kang using his recently acquired Fire God powers to reimagine and remake the Mortal Kombat universe in a new way, changing all manner of things from character origins, alliances, positions of power and as in the case of Cage, even the way they look. Some characters have been erased, others brought back from the dead. The full scale of this monumental shift is unknown presently, but come release of the game there will be fans and critics alike poring over it trying to find even the subtlest differences.
When discussing the upcoming game with GameReactor, franchise co-creator Ed Boon had some interesting tidbits of information regarding Jean-Claude Van Damme’s Johnny Cage.
“So it’s really going to be Jean-Claude Van Damme in there. We’ve recorded him. Well, he’s going to be Johnny Cage. And Johnny Cage was very inspired by Jean-Claude Van Damme in Bloodsport. So there’s certainly some of his, you know, signature moves and whatnot in there.”
The ‘signature moves’ seems to definitely be the case, with the recent Johnny Cage deep dive during the Kombat Kast highlighting the taunt where Cage will elongate his attack, sweeping the leg in an arc motion and then setting it down slowly, which is definitely an iconic, well-known Jean-Claude Van Damme pose.
Mortal Kombat 1 Looks Set to Break Faces… and Records
Mortal Kombat has never been a particularly quiet franchise. Touted as a AAA release since its original release back in 1992 with Mortal Kombat, the game creates buzz with the most minimal of effort, and between its fast-paced gameplay and over-the-top gore, has cemented itself into the annals of history as one of the best fighting franchises ever.
With all that said, the upcoming release has created a furore of attention that previous entries haven’t . With the timeline resetting, the inclusion of Jean-Claude Van Damme, the wholesale changes to the gameplay and more, fans are as excited for this as they’ve ever been for any other entry.
One thing is for certain, NetherRealm have set themselves up for a mega hit of a fighting game, and having already promised post-launch support in the form of DLC character packs and DLC, it isn’t going to go away quickly either.
What do you make of this? Are you bothered by the inclusion of the legendary action actor that originally inspired Johnny Cage? Let us know in the comments!
Source: GameReactor
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