Depends on your definition of "rip-off."
Some have a very broad definition of what makes something original or a rip-off, while others have a very strict one.
Consider...are the characters actual rip-offs....or simple homages? While some characters are clearly inspired or taken from other characters & media, is there presentation and context separate enough to make them somewhat unique or original? An archetype...or a cliche?

Indeed you speak the truth. What I meant by rip-off is to actually rob or steal the entire concept.

I personally don't think they are rip offs, but they share similar concepts.

As my buddy Darklord_Xel says, similar is not the same, lol. (inside joke)

Well, aren't Cage and Liu Kang considered homages? I don't know where you get Wolverine from Baraka, and The Terminator from Kano.

Baraka and Wolverine both have blades of some sort come out of their arms. It was just a dumb thing that an X-Men fan brought up on the internet.

Kano's metal plate is very similar to the Terminator's exposed endo skull like in T1 and T2. But, I don't consider it a rip off, but a similarity.

Cage=Van Damme


Especially the Bloodsport Van Damme...

Not exactly. They were intended as homages. Kano was admittedly inspired by the T800.

baracka is no where near like wolverine first iof all he doesnt have super smell hearing or sight, he cant heal fast, the only simalarity is blades but even then they look nothing like wolvierines, if u have noticed woverine has threee claws and baracka has one large blade protruding from his forarm the ppl wjo made him got the idea from a halloween mask the only character i know of to be a "rip off" is scorpion the idea of him did come from ghost rider like ed boon said

When people make up characters, they ar a GIANT collection of everything they've read or played or heard about. Bruce Lee could have been based off some ancient Chinese myth, that doesn't make him a rip off, that's just how you make up characters.

All true. Homages seems to be the right word. This was a topic brought up on the internet, and I just wanted to see others opinions.

don't you know that bruce lee is only a myth?

oh really, so he is a myth. My brother would have a heart attack if I told him.

Sindle = Bride of Frankenstine... sorta...



By the way, has anyone played MK Trilogy on PC for Windos XP? If dose anyone know any 1 button fatalities codes for Window's XP..?

If you want to talk rip offs...

Big Trouble in Little Tokyo

Raiden = Pointed hat man with electricity powers

Shang Tsung = old mastermind

Killer Instinct

Darius = Fulgore

Kim Wu = Li Mei

The first MK movie is a rip off of Enter the Dragon

...thus proving my earlier point.

Interesting topic.

Well, just want to say that thru the process of "time" you can make this argument on a lot of topics if you wanted to.Example, DC came out wayyy before Marvel did.No doubt in my mind Marvel was obviously inspired by DC, so does that mean they copied DC?In some cases perhaps in others not at all..

Ofcourse no hardcore Marvel fan(DC hater) will ever admit this nor address it.But it's a fact none the less.


Take Sentry from Marvel.This was such an obvious ripoff Marvel version of DC's Superman it's laughable.The article on wiki, etc even states this when the character was first created.With MK, there's actual differences.

Example, some of the claimed ripoffs in MK aren't accurate accusations at all.At least with MK though, Midway admits that SOME of their characters are inspired by certain characters from other series but NOT all.

Example, Kano is NOT a cyborg killer.His eye was taken out and merely replaced with his red eye.They were inspired by Terminator by look, not by story.


Baraka's idea might have been inspired by Wolverine, however Baraka is also another race all together and not even from Earth unlike Wolverine who is a human but a mutant.I'd say these two most likely have the biggest connection of inspiration.

Actually since you brought up Johnny Cage, he originally was supposed to be played by Van Damme(in MK1) which is something a lot of MK fans aren't aware of.They couldn't get him though due to complications then ironically later on played Guile in SF movie.

Still, when it comes to martial art characters such as Cage, Kang etc you can't blame MK alone.Every fighter has a "Bruce Lee" character.Example:

Look at other fighters, in DOA there's a dude that sounds and looks like Bruce Lee.

SF=Can you say Fei Long much?You want to talk about Bruce Lee ripoffs he's more then Liu Kang easily...he is no doubt the most obvious Bruce Lee character ever to be in a video game ever MUCH more then MK, DOA or anything else lol.Just look at him, and look at lee...

MK=Liu Kang however at least the guys got a storyline besides just another chinese character that sounds like Bruce Lee in a fighting game.And Liu Kang unlike the other characters inspired by Bruce Lee has longer hair with a Red strap across his forehead to show some originality and not just scream "Bruce Lee" ripoff.



Ghost Rider and Scorpion are only alike in the respect that they're both burning skulls(at times) as far as powers, storyline they're hardly alike.One is a biker that sports leather with chains, and only has powers at certain times.Scorpion is an undead ninja that wears a mask to hide his skull, and he can use his powers at anytime, teleport, burn, shoot a spear and fight really well since he's trained in martial arts.Ghost Rider doesn't do that, only thing they both do is Burn/control manipulate fire at times.

Actually, a lot of those no...most of those are very wrong and way off man.

First off if anything KI is a ripoff of MK and SF no doubt, example horrible excuses for fatalities called "humiliations"...umm yeah we all know where they got that idea from.KI straight out is an MK/SF ripoff.On top of that, Jago's moves are hauntingly similar to Ryu's in SF a fireball(says something as he shoots it), an uppercut move just like Ryu's again and as far as looks.He looks like a combination between a Sub-Zero/Ryu as far as uniform.

Second, Darrius a Fulgore ripoff?WHAT? No way man, you must be drunk to think that no offense. The characters look absolutely nothing alike. Let's see here, one guy is black with gauntlets while the other is a robot spartan looking creature...yeah I really see "the ripoff" *rolls eyes*

Kim Wu-Li Mei?So, now we are getting desperate? LMAO...What about Chun-Li, DOA girls since Li-Mei is a Kim Wu ripoff. They are hardly alike in character.

Shang Tsung will look like your typical old asian man that you've seen in just about every martial arts asian film...only with powers. There's your difference

Raiden, another one midway clearly admitted they were inspired by however Raiden's hat FTR is smaller and he's a thunder God that's immortal again.Different story brings true element to a character.

And lastly, the first MK movie was NOTHING like Enter the Dragon so what are you talking about? LOL...you might as well say well every martial arts movie is a "Enter the Dragon" ripoff that came after it....MK's storyline and ETD are nothing alike man.What do they have in common?Martial Arts that's just about it..

Again, if you want to go with the "inspired route" then that's not only MK but SF, DOA, Tekken, etc, etc.Hell every movie you see now with Jackie Chan, Jet Li etc are inspired by Bruce Lee movies etc.


And FTR just so everyone in here knows since I've done my homework.

DOA creator said himself in an interview I read in one of my older GI issues that his game was inspired by MK/SF. As are most fighters that came out after SF/MK....


You will always find someone creating a new idea before anyone else, just because someone else is inspired to make an idea of their own with a similar idea doesn't always make it "ripoff" that shows how closeminded and arrogant some people think sadly.

Well, MK1 was sorta like Enter the Dragon

Bruce Lee=Liu Kang
Chuck Norris=Johnny Cage
Shang Tsung=that evil dude with the fake hand
and the backgrounds were a lot like Enter the dragon(say, the courtyard, the throne room and the palace gates)

A lot of martial art movies are like that man ^, MK has a totally different storyline then ETD which is my point dude on why it's different.

MK also had a 4 armed guy named Goro, Kitana, Reptile, Raiden....these characters were not in ETD.

ETD a young martial artist is invited to a tournament on a sea island to prove his worth aqnd represent the shaolin legacy. He also has a personal motivation regarding the shaolin.

MK, a young martial artist is invited to a tournament on a sea island to prove his worth aqnd represent the shaolin legacy. He also has a per-sonal motivation, wining to save Earth and reestablish the G.K. Laos legacy.

Both find out it is a deathmatch.

Both villains are the exact representative of the "yellow scare", aka fascist, culturally monopolistic chinese (or in Tsungs case part japanese) villain (his clothes).

Both use a highly muscular prime guard, aka Goro.

and I could go on...

Well, is the main bad guy in ETD a sorcerer?Can he shape shift/morph into other characters?

Are there any lizard creatures that can fight in ETD or 4 armed creatures in ETD? Just curious but I don't believe there are.....

You guys are listing some vague similarities, however I'm listing obvious differences.

If you will go with this theory of MK exactly like ETD then I guess I could say that Terminator and Back To the Future are the same since the goal is the same going back in time to alter the future....

Similar concept doesn't mean "exact" same story or characters for that matter.

argeed also i think Scorpion is a copy of Ghost rider