Mini-games in Mortal Kombat go as far back as the first MK game with Test your Might, but they've certainly become bigger and better recently. Though there are plenty, myself included, who feel that much of the time spent working on these mini-games could be better spent on the game engine, the point of this thread is not to determine whether they should be eliminated altogether but rather how they might be included, improved, and made more enjoyable.

You can suggest improving an already established MK minigame, such as Chess Kombat, Puzzle Kombat, Motor Kombat, or even Test Your Might, or you could suggest something new and creative altogether.

I, for one, DO find the mini-games to be amusing and entertaining, though they're such obvious afterthoughts now that what could be really fun games in their own right become neutered bonuses a'la Tekken's "Devil Within" or Soul Calibur III's "Tale of Souls" modes.

One of the minigames I actually did enjoy was Motor Kombat. Obviously an homage to Mario Kart, the notion of a Mario Kart-esque game with death traps, MK special moves, and fatalities is, really, kinda inspired and wonderfully perverted. Unfortunately, their were only a few characters, the tracks were bland, boring, and very limited, and just not much strategy or competition. I could see the game spinning off on its own, or beefing up the content drastically, to become an actually rather entertaining diversion.

Chess Kombat I enjoyed simply because, unlike the other modes, it was really strategic and required more thinking than a normal game of Kombat. But it, too, was limited by design and time into being a nice, but not great, alternative to the main game. It might be interesting if it added more variety to the traps, added more chess rules, or followed more chess rules (too many matches I fought in ended too quickly because everyone went straight to the king.)

Personally, I'd like to see mini-games somehow integrated into the main gameplay, such as with Test Your Might. Konquest, by comparision, has leapfrogged game to game to become an actually robust game in and of itself, but the minigames remain lacklusters and random.

I might suggest quick-time events. As much as I loathe how every game now-a-days has them (even Soul Calibur III), they do mix things up and might be integrated into a story mode.

Or I'd like to see a variety mode, similar to Smash Bros.'s Single-player challenges, where there exists around 50 or so unique challenges that vary depending on character selection, prompting a player to try everyone out at least once, and that offer unique challenges such as fighting in the dark, fighting with 50% health, fighting mutliple opponents, or requiring specific actions, such KO by deathtrap, can only do damage with throws, etc. Konquest mode has had some of those before, but they're scattered about and not very accessible. Having them all on a list with various difficulties with specific characters might make things more interesting and fun.

Anyone else have some thoughts?