I’ve seen several threads around on characters being unlocked in Konquest through rescue missions and other similar scenarios. All good ideas they were. But what about the death match between you and your unlockable character? Super Smash Bros Melee used this ploy well, as did Tekken 3 in some cases. You had to complete certain tasks and then fight your unlockable character and defeat them to unlock them. MKD could use it to great effect - in the Light/Dark (or Yin-Yang) world!

The basic emphasis of this level is of course the change between the Light and Dark realms of good and evil. It’s a perfect setting for all MK characters and the switch between realms is the key to unlocking the other characters, hurting them and health recovery. Also, certain conditions must be met when fighting the characters. You’ll see these now in the following ideas.

Unlock Kitana – Achieve a win in the Light realm. You must use your character’s weapon for the majority of the fight to show Kitana your weapon skills. Once the match is over, Kitana will appear via a portal and challenge you. You must defeat her using only your weapon style and special moves. She will only use her weapon and specials and show you the might of the Steel Fan. Defeat her to unlock her.

Unlock Raiden – Complete the Thunder Gods Test! You must achieve a victory in the Light realm in under 30 seconds with a Flawless Victory. Raiden will descend from the skies from a lightning bolt and challenge you to a match. However, he will be at Max difficulty (regardless of what setting your on)! The Thunder God will test you! Be prepared! Defeat him to unlock him.

Unlock Shang Tsung – Achieve a win in the Dark realm. Shang will appear and challenge you! Damage is only inflicted on him whilst you are in the Light realm. Upon returning to the Dark realm, Shang will take your previous opponents soul to heal himself slightly. Upon other returns to the Dark Realm, he will tap into the energies of that realm to heal himself a little. Defeat him to unlock him.

Unlock Quan Chi – Achieve a win in the Dark realm in less than 30 seconds. Quan will appear and challenge you. Deathtraps are the only means in which he can be killed or hurt. You gain a defence boost to help you. Quan now has the ability to teleport, so be careful in how you position yourselves with the deathtraps!

Can you imagine him teleporting just as you are about to deliver the blow that will launch him into a death trap! That would be so frustrating!

Here’s where it gets complicated.

Unlock Liu Kangs Spirit – Achieve a win in the Light realm. You must achieve a double flawless! From the energies of this realm will give birth to Liu Kangs spirit who will challenge you to a fight! The even more frustrating catch – Consecutive attacks/combos can only inflict damage in the opposing realm! An example is – you do a 5 hit combo straight away in the Light realm. Your next set of hits will inflict no damage until you reach the Dark Realm. A single hit in the Dark Realm is executed and you must wait now until you reach the Light realm for further damage! Spirit Kang also regains a small amount of health on the good side and deathtraps are removed. When Spirit Kang reaches 99% - the consecutive hits rule is removed. The KO blow must be performed in the Dark Realm.

Because of the difficulty of this, you will receive a defence and attack boost.

Unlock Zombie Kang – See Spirit Kang, but alternate the realms. All effects in the Dark Realm are now in the Light realm and vice versa. The KO blow must be in the Light realm.

Those are just some of my ideas.

Sound easy? Well, for those cocky peeps amongst yourselves, maybe a harder difficulty could be added for some matches. Namely Max2! Remember MK2’s special character properties? Some of those abilities could be given to the characters along with more conditions. So Kitana could have enhanced speed. Raiden could have a projectile immunity. Shang could receive no damage from juggle combos. Spirit Kang can be immune to weapon attacks. Low attacks could cause more damage. Throws could be disabled.

To ensure that you’re not completely overpowered, your character could gain these abilities in their alignments realm. So if you were playing as Sub-Zero, you’d get the boosted speed in the Light realm if you were fighting against someone with that trait. Neutral characters would have the effects given to them at random in any realm.

So what do you think? Any ideas?