Greetings kiddies! It's that time of the week again! Quick! Quick! Gather 'round! I've got goodies to share!

We've already got Sheeva, Nightwolf, Mileena, and Smoke taken care of.

This week, we turn to the first final boss of the MK universe, the big baddie that started it all.

("Treasure these moments, MKO.... as if they were your last!")

WHO IS SHANG TSUNG?
Shang Tsung is a soul-sucking sorcerer that was apparently once human, but betrayed his humanity in exchange for eternal life. Unfortunately for him, like a vampire he had to steal the life force from others to retain his youth.

(youth is wasted on the young)

Also, he sounds like Charlie Chan for some odd reason, proving that the only exposure NRS has ever had to Asian people is from Bruce Lee films and old movies.

("Greetings Kome-bat-unts! I am Shang Tsung!")

Shang Tsung was the first final boss of the Mortal Kombat franchise. While he had cool shape-shifting powers, he was actually a really pathetic boss for two reasons.

One, he was a shriveled, old man who was physically as intimidating as a muppet.

(yet he was still both cantankerous AND witty)

And two, you fought him after the pants-soiling terrifying and controller-throwingly difficult sub-boss Goro.

(It was like saying your final opponent after defeating the giant monster-man was the shrimpy kid)

Shang Tsung was Shao Kahn's representative to host the Mortal Kombat tournament so he could win and take over Earthrealm if we lost. Shang was also once the former champion, but the original Kung Lao beat him and after that, he just sort of sat back and let Goro do all the work while he took all the credit.

(Shang Tsung was secretly inspired by Joe Jackson)

Oh, and he also earned some clout for snapping Liu Kang's neck like a pencil.

(And thus putting an end to four games' worth of insufferable turkey gobbles)

WHY IS SHANG TSUNG IN THE SERIES?
Mortal Kombat is known for many things: blood, gore, boobies, blood, ninjas, and blood. What it's NOT known for is originality.

Like most of the cast of MK1, Shang Tsung was basically a reskinned Hollywood movie villain, in this case Big Trouble in Little China's soul-sucking, youth-stealing Asian mastermind, Lo Pan.

("Your brother's soul is MINE!!!")

So they took the actor playing Liu Kang, threw a mop on his head, and covered him in his grandmother's old bathrobe, and, Presto!, we got ourselves a final boss.

(Boon: "Not sure, John... it's missing something." Tobias: "A stereotypical evil mustache?" Boon: "Oh course!")

Oh, and he could also transform into any character and use their moves too!

(He's a less intimidating boss when you realize his Pokemon equivalent is "Ditto")

After MK1, they brought Shang Tsung back in MK2, this time making him a playable character, and his youth was restored. For a guy who failed miserably at doing the one job he was told to do, he certainly came out on top, and even got to age backwards!


In a surprising move, he kept the shape-shifting powers that let him turn into everybody and use all their powers and abilities, thus letting him become the perfect foil for any fighter.

(His tier-level in the game was said to be between "ruins friendships tier" and "comic book ex machina god tier")

He returned in MK3 with much of the same abilities and a new look.

(The "cornbread white guy with sharpie goatee" look)

He then laid low for several years and games and finally made a comeback in Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance as one of two not-so-special bosses alongside his new partner Quan Chi.

(They both thought the other had fabulous fashion sense)

It was cool to see villains like that team up, but, as we all know, one villain is just going to be bigger, better, and stronger, and in this case, Shang got the short end of the stick and Quan Chi emerged as the more feared threat.

(If Megatron betrays Cobra Commander, there's not much he can do about it. If Cobra Commander betrays Megatron, it can only end with him as a smear on the bottom of his shoe.)

It might also have helped if Shang wasn't missing nearly all the moves that made him unique, powerful, and fearsome to begin with. Stripped of his morph, he was left with just his uninteresting and ineffective fireballs. Needless to say, Shang Tsung fans weren't happy.

(NRS did not authorize Shang Tsung's morph)

After floundering about as one of many rather uninteresting dudes with a fireball (how very original), and briefly deciding to play Teen-friendly with the DC comics spandex crowd, Shang finally returned to prominence in MK2011, both as an honest-to-Elder-Gods boss, but also with his morph!... kinda.

(Not QUITE as good as the original...)

SHANG TSUNG'S STORY-
Shang Tsung's job was, apparently, to host the tournament, and pretty much make up insane, arbitrary rules as he went along.

("Here's how the tournament goes; Johnny Cage will fight two opponents in a row without any sort of break. Sub-Zero will be eliminated by Sonya... yet for some reason I'll let him keep fighting until Scorpion kills him. I'll introduce Ermac later because this tournament apparently has no cut-off date for entrants. Liu Kang will fight against both Quan Chi and Scorpion at once without any help. And we'll just sort of NOT monitor most of these fights and just declare whoever crawls back from whatever part of the island I teleported them to the winner. Everyone got that?")

But, just like The Beatles, Harry Potter, and Mel Gibson's acting career, all good things must come to an end, and Liu Kang pummeled the old geezer and showed him just what it it feels to be outmatched by a younger, faster, sexier, outright better challenger.

(Liu Kang became the hero we needed, not the hero we deserved.)

Thankfully, Shang was able to save his butt by proposing to Kahn to just host another tournament.... which is probably the weakest excuse ever for another fighting game considering the first game said we'd be safe for another generation.

(At least Rumble Roses was upfront about why it was made...)

But, hey, Shang was back, and he was deadlier than ever. He quickly became Kahn's right-hand man, doing everything from checking out Kano's weapons to cloning Kitana to being volunteered for the new tournament.

But all of that changed when Motaro was killed, altering the future by inspiring Kahn to send Sindel to kill everyone instead... but first he powered her up by transferring Shang Tsung's life-energy into her. Apparently Kahn came to this decision after thinking about it for a whopping 10 seconds or so.

(Between allying with the Lin Kuei almost immediately, agreeing to every single plan any sorcerer suggests to him, deciding to blurt out Kitana's true past, and zapping Shang on a whim, I get the impression Kahn's a "fly by the seat of his pants" type of guy...)

And thus ended Shang Tsung's value in the game. For a guy that was built up to be such a powerful, fearsome villain, and one of the bosses of the game, he sure had a rather lame, unexpected, and glossed over death.

(You know how a villain SHOULD die? After having a fireball launched into his chest, sending him flying down onto a pit of rusty metal spikes shaped like a dragon, and then exploding into a vortex of souls so bright it can be seen from miles away.)

Seriously, Shang Tsung wasn't just some background grunt. He was a BOSS! He should have died like a boss!

("Crash into the sun! Now I'm dead!... LIKE A BOSS!")

What's baffling is that as much as this little shock twist sucked, those that beat Arcade Mode with Shang got one of the most jaw-droppingly amazing, sweet, game-alteringly appealing shake-ups in the franchise history.



Shang Tsung is approached by mentor of heroes, Bo Rai'Cho, who informs the sorcerer that he will train him for the purpose of stopping the rampaging, power-mad new-god Liu Kang. Thus, the scourge of Earthrealm is transformed into an unexpected hero tasked with stopping his foe, swapping the roles they both have held for so long.

Am I the only one who felt that idea and the potential it created was DAMN BRILLIANT? I complain bitterly about how Story Mode wasted so many characters' potential and squandered their worth, and yet Shang's arcade mode ending (which ties into SEVERAL similar endings) easily outshines the entirety of the Story Mode plot, planting the seeds for a sequel that would excite me like no other, supplant our preconceived notions of what role Shang Tsung should play, and giving him a very clear, exciting, and interesting path to follow. Earthrealm's savior is now its destroyer, and Earthrealm's attacker has become its only hope of survival.

And it pisses me off that an idea THAT GOOD was thought up, created, inserted into the game... and made utterly moot by the prominence of the Story Mode that took none of those ideas and instead retread old ground and made highly disliked alterations. A change like this would have been a GREAT change because it would renew and refresh an admittedly stale character and it so clearly paved the path for a new game with a new, powerful villain and unexpected alliances between heroes and an untrustworthy, manipulative soul-snatcher that once tried to kill them all.

But... nope. Story Mode says he dies because shock value is more important than character development, according to Neatherrealm Studios.


SHANG TSUNG'S FUTURE-
I have the slightest sliver of hope that the next MK game disavows the Story Mode of this game and instead follows the rather superior Arcade endings many characters had, Shang Tsung being one of them.

Shang really came back with a vengeance in this game. He played well, used his morph in boss mode (and limited use for players), looked great, and served as a worthy boss during the initial first act of Story Mode.

He had his flaws, sure...

(This one in particular. Yeah, this Fatality TOTALLY fits Shang Tsung and he TOTALLY acts in-character during it. Please let me know if my sarcasm isn't thick enough for you yet.)

...And his weak-sauce death scene was one of the bigger WTF moments in the game...

(which is saying something)

...But he still showed he was one of the better characters in the game. He was challenging to use, but his gameplay was absolutely rewarding once mastered, his character had great theatrical presence, he looked suitably villainous and cunning, his Babality was a highlight, and his Arcade ending was dripping with more sweet untapped potential satisfaction than a sexually repressed über-hot nerd chick who thinks "being checked out" refers only to library books.

(Admit it. You'd want to make her scream "Jinkies" too.)

This is the first game I actually came away going "I want Shang Tsung back" because every time he showed up, the game got more interesting. It's just a shame the story didn't live up to his legacy as one of Mortal Kombat's deadliest, most cunning, and enduring iconic villains.

(Who else is still waiting for one of his Fatalities to involve summoning an enormous snake made of fire and distilled hatred?)

So there we have it. What do you guys think? Did NRS do justice to Shang Tsung? Was he a good boss this go around? Were you satisfied with the partial morphs he had? Do you think he played far better in the original games? Do you think the story did him well, or was he just more squandered potential? Am I alone in thinking his Arcade ending was a highlight that should be followed up on? Let me know! And let me know who my next spotlight should cover!

Okay, thanks everyone. Garlador out.