Shang is awesome. MK9 he was like scrap paper. No one gave 2 shits about him and it's total bullshit how he died.

Great thread though, interesting points on the story ending and I gotta agree with you, it's great. They should totally do some kind of story behind that.
I really gotta admit how he is such a underrated boss.

His costumes were great in MK9. More so the costume 2 then the first, but they were still awesome. I loved for once playing as old Shang.

I think what the Arcade did was it pre-loaded him with three or four characters, but not all of them. I notice in these matches, Shang will cycle through a very small pool of characters instead of using everyone.

That works for Arcade, but in single-player use, it would be trouble to do that; either they'd have to load the data of every single fighter, or they'd have to pre-load three or four, but you wouldn't be able to know which four until the match started.

I'm pretty disappointed with how Shang Tsung has been lately. Not only was he undermined by Quan Chi's presence, he gets a really shitty death. I really don't like Shang Tsung's voice in this game, especially his old self. For me, MK: Deadly Alliance was where he was at his best. He's definitely one of the characters that got screwed over the most in this game.

It would have been awesome if, after selecting Shang as your character, you get to pick three characters you would want to morph into (plus then your opponent is the fourth). Then just a simple d,u,1/2/3/4 to morph into the corresponding character.

what's sad is that of all the people at nrs whose job it is to think of these things, NO ONE came up with this perfectly reasonable idea. Woulda been perfect if after selecting shang, the cursor goes hidden, then you select 3 other characters. If you get lost, you could also have the option to unhide it. I would have even settled for 4 random characters, but no, we get this watered down abortion of the best character from the first trilogy.

I don't know about that. It would really make the simple act of character selection rather bothersome.

And, despite this, Shang is STILL one of the higher-ranked fighters in the game (just check out EVO footage of him in action), and he's leaps and bounds better than he was in the prior generation of games. He may not be MK2 or MK3 good, but it's the best he's been since MK3 in 1995... so him having A morph after 16 years is a huge improvement over NO morph between those installments.

I can deal with him having the soul suck ability and thus being restricted to his opponent. 3 or so opponents versus the AI is fine; he only morphed a few times per round anyway in the old games. I like his moveset, and while he doesn't look his best in his main, I like this game's take on Old Man Shang. I don't even mind the voice.

But this guy, this guy who was once of of MK's bigger faces of evil, has just become a fucking joke. Clown fatality, place in the plot totally occupied by Quan Chi, then Sindel food.

Seriously, it's like there was a concentrated effort to destroy him. They've even said Shang and Kahn are permanently dead.

Why, in Shang's case? Because they were tired of hearing us complain he couldn't morph? If this is the best that can be done with that ability, I'll take it. Better an opponent than nothing. No problems.

C'mon NRS; you did so much right with this game, but Shang got the shaft harder than anyone else barring Raiden's idiocy. Just do the noble thing; pretend Story never happened and go with the character endings, like the old days. If Story MUST be canon, then I really hope the next MK is subtitled "Shang's revenge". Please bring him back, and make him the badass that we know and love once more.

For the next round, I vote Cyrax.

NRS shouldn't really bother doing stories for Mortal Kombat anymore, because they just don't know how to tell a good story anymore. They should just focus purely on making good fighting games (at least ones that are balanced enough with some depth) and have a couple of good fatalities for each character.

With Shang Tsung, I would have wanted him departed from the series at the end of Armageddon anyway, but the way he got offed in MK2011 was both stupid and insulting. By the way, where/when was it said that Shang Tsung and Quan Chi are permanently dead? Did I miss something here?

Bah, my bad. I meant "Shang and Kahn (corrected now)". Supposedly Vogel or someone said this a month after the game was out. I remember overhearing it.

I have to agree with the points here, shame to see.
Although I liked old man Shang here.
My favorite version of Shang Tsung is still Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa's, I've still not seen his game counterpart match.

Shan Tsung. Before this game, I never really liked Shang Tsung. Not that DISLIKED him or anything. I just never really felt anything for him. I admit that he was good villain, and was a great concept for a time.

But really, Shang Tsung being in any game for me is just a shrug.

......And then this game happened. Now, it hasn't positively or negatively boosted my opinion of him, but...


Imagine you live in a neighborhood, and you always notice this old guy outside his house. He complains about the neighbors, and gives them shit, but he's never given you or your family crap. He often has his grandchildren visit, and really, he hasn't done anything to you.

But then...you step outside to see what's going on. There's that same old guy, sitting in front yard.

And then some neighbor kids just come by and beat the shit out of him with a wooden bat. And you just sit there, watching this happen.

Your reaction?

Mortified.

That's pretty much how I felt, which is funny considering how much worse I SHOULD feel for Stryker or any of the characters that I liked that died. However, I felt more sympathy here, because Shang Tsung wasn't given all that much with this game.

Stryker getting struck down in this game reminded me of a standard action hero getting offed. Yeah, his death sucked, but he fought the good fight and had plenty of victories. I'm not ashamed for him, as much as I am annoyed by the usage shock deaths.

Shang Tsung reminds me of Gill from the Simpsons.


Shang Tsung: Ah! Jeeze! This Liu Kang guy is really getting too close to winning the tournament! Kitana, please do something about it. I just can't afford to lose another month for my paycheck.
Kitana: Yes sir.
*five minutes later*
Kitana: WHAT A DREAMBOAT, LIU KANG IS!
Shang Tsung: Oh, no! What am I supposed to do about Liu Kang.
*Liu Kang destroys him*
Shang Tsung: OH NO! My kidney! I just finished paying the transplant for it, and now it's crushed!

Shao Kahn: You have failed me. I must now take away your mini van.
Shang Tsung: OH, COME ON! I've been living in there! Where am I supposed to sleep now?

Shang Tsung: Oh, I'm in the dog house with the boss... How are things going for you, Quan Chi?
Quan Chi: I actually got a raise. I plan to use it to start building a playground in my backyard. My wife is pregnant you know. How is your wife?
Shang Tsung: She divorced me and came out of the closet. Told me I was the one that made her realize her sexuality. *sigh*

Shang Tsung: Shao Kahn is dead! OH! Things are really look up for old, Shangy! I'll take his job, and....
Quan Chi: Who are you talking to?
Shao Kahn: I come back from lunch with my best employee, and you're already trying to take my place?
Shang Tsung: I thought you were dead!
Shao Kahn: I'm taking your cardboard box! Quan Chi! Get me a wife!

Sindel: Honey! Raiden killed our pet! I hate Raiden! I just want to kill all his friends.
Shao Kahn: I think I have just the thing for that! SHANG TSUNG!
Shang Tsung: Whoa! I'm actually being called! I haven't been used for this entire invasion. You'd think I was never in MK3. Whatcha need boss?
Shao Kahn: I'm stealing your soul and power to make my wife all-powerful.
Shang Tsung: WHAT! But I need my soul! You can do that!
Shao Kahn: No one cares.



And that's my problem. NOTHING went right for Shang Tsung. He was constantly shoved to the ground, and after all these downs, he gets killed off to be a minor plot point. It sucks for the villain who was once revered.

And who do I blame?


^This mother fucker! I blame him for pretty much everything. I'm starting to hate him more than Tanya.

Hey, Tanya. I still hate you for being a bitch, but hey, at least you're not Powder.

Sorry, Shang Tsung. You have my blessings.

What I feel worse about....I just don't see how they're ever going to bring him back. The dead heroes? Noob Saibot? Sure. I can see them coming back no problem. Shang Tsung....I don't know....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CkkwpldMhGc

fine then, have his morphs be random, or have the preloaded characters for him be selected at random, just like the AI gets. I've heard it said over and over "well, morphing into your opponent is better than nothing," but I don't want "better than nothing." The fact that he's in at all is "better than nothing," but doesn't make up for the fact that he's a crap character, tiers be damned. That's a cop out and there's no good to be gotten from just laying down and accepting NRS's laziness/poor design because it's better than nothing. I wanted a character as awesome as he was in mk2, instead we got this joke.

GAMEPLAY: I haven't really practiced with him yet, I'm saving him for the end so that I can take advantage of his soul steal to the max. However, from the footage I've seen (and trust me, I've seen plenty), I really appreciate Shang as a character gameplay-wise. He has his own style of zoning with those vertical fireballs and plus the soul steal with the damage buff really makes him unique. That can never be a bad thing. I also like his unbreakable combos. So, even if I end up hating using him, I'll still appreciate his rather unique gameplay. So, on the gameplay field he gets a PLUS.


STORY: Failure.

DESIGN & THE REST: His costumes are forgettable. His voice actor is horrible, the old Shang that is.


That rumor of him and Kahn being permanently gone sounds interesting. I definitely wouldn't miss Kahn, and as for Shang the only thing that keeps him interesting is his unique gameplay. So I'm 50-50 with Shang. He is rather popular so I do expect him to return as a playable character (maybe just as a bonus character with no part in the story if they decide to kill him off after this game) sooner or later.

I'm pretty sure he won't be dead for good.

I see these arcade endings as "testers" from NRS to guage our response in a way. There is a well-known fast-food chain in my country who do something similair; On Wednesdays they offer really cheap burgers, buy one, get one free. These are always new and sometimes crazy flavours. Then they see how people respond and the good ones get put on the menu permanently. Hopefully NRS see that people like Shang's arcade ending and it gets to be part of the story in the future. I love the idea of evil Lui Kang (coz he is bland as week old stale bread) and saviour Shang

I can totally see Raiden (pls do him next Garlador, it has so much herp derp potential) finding half dead/dead Shang and saving him because he senses the "goodness buried deep inside".

F*ck you, Quan Chi...
(and whoever made you what you were in MK9)

That's how I'd like to start my post.


Quan Chi is the main reason why I'm so disappointed about one of my all-time favorite characters.

Shang Tsung deserved so much better.

I don't necessarily agree with all you said, Garlador, but, we share the same essential frustrations/disappointments.

Shang Tsung is supposed to be MK's most evil character. Shang Tsung has always had an epic presence...this game only accomplished that during the first story mode part (MK1)....barely.

After that, poor Shang was thrown away like a recyclable toy of sorcery. What a shame.

The good:

1) His MK1 old look/costume (though still no where near as impressive as his past looks).

2) His first Fatality.

3) His babality.

4) His morphing (my gosh, people! They finally found a way to try and please us all, why is everyone still complaining? The team was clearly doing their best).

5) His ending (tough not that impressive to me, to be honest).

6) His soul steal moves.

7) His X-ray.

The bad:

1) His young-primary costume.

2) His clown Fatality (would have accepted it if this was a "hidden thing" and he actually got a serious and epic new Fatality....why have all his Fatalities been shit since MKDA?)

3) His voice actor.

4) Quan Chi butting all over the place taking away his glory.

5) Serious lack of interesting specials.

Overall, I'm disappointed with the way they handled such an iconic and unique MK character. I'm disappointed with the way they portrayed one of MK's most evil and smart characters, and I'm mostly annoyed that all the credit he had in so many games was instead given in favor to Quan Chi.

Great thread, Garlador. Always a fun read!

Shang Tsung got rickrolled by Troll Chi.

It is clear that the emphasis was to move away froim the classic overused villains, but sadly, the outro of Shang was a whimper. Not that I find anticlimatic endings bad, but this... there was no comeuppance, no show for him overstepping a line where he became useless, nothing.

The problem was with him relegated to background importance and that is due to Quan Chi being Liu Kang's dad as we will soon find out. He sired him solely for trolling Failden and Earth.

Oh Chrome, you are so witty... or...

I'll be honest, I haven't put much time into playing as Shang Tsung, granted, he's probably got the strongest projectile game in the uh...game, but my lack of dedication in trying to remember his rising fire ball commands without resorting to the EX version has kind of kept me away from the character.

That's not to say that he's a bad character though, he's just not somebody that I've put much time in to.

I do like that they brought the morph back in at least some capacity. I'm sorry to all those who got excited at seeing him morph in the Arcade ladder and thought that streaming in a new model and move set was possible now, but like Garlador said, he was just preloaded with 3 or 4 morphs, one of those always being the player character. Still, having the ability to soul steal mid match and morph into the opponent is still pretty good.

His costumes are alright for the most part, nothing really all that awe-inspiring. The re-imagined old Tsung certainly looks better than the original one played by Hu Song Pak. And seeing that look in MKSM didn't help change my opinion. His new version is old, but not decrepit.

His younger look isn't all that impressive, but it's by no means terrible. Yeah his vest is kind of plain, maybe the cobra designs could've been implemented better, and the colors could've been richer with more red and gold, but it wasn't some great offense to the character. For me personally, his Deadly Alliance look will reign supreme for the time being. People are kind of pissed that this new look doesn't hold a candle to his old look(s), but really, his old designs were complete garbage in my opinion. Nothing about them screamed "Supreme Sorcerer to the Emperor Kahn". He was just a dude in yellow spandex with a pony tail and face paint. Or a dude in black pants with what looked like a beanie. Like I said, his DA look was his best as far as I'm concerned.

His fatalities were pretty weak in this game, on that I will agree. The joker fatality would've been fine as his third fatality, almost like a Kintaro morph from MKII. I suppose they didn't just want to give him another Soul Steal fatality since we've seen that done so many times, but then again, like Jeff Gertsmann said, I think when NRS gets a new build engine the first thing they want to render is Scorpion's Toasty. Oh well, at least it none of his fatalities involved him raising spikes out of the ground for no apparent reason.

When it comes to his character, I'm probably going to get a lot of hate from the Tsung fans, but it pretty much matched up to what Shang Tsung has always been in my opinion, which is an incompetent moron who is completely incapable of accomplishing anything on his own.

Whether in MK1 where he had Goro basically steal the Mortal Kombat tournament from the Shaolin Monks by winning 9 consecutive victories, in MK2 and MK3 where he was backed by Kahn with his youth restored so he wouldn't fuck up again, or in MKDA where he needed Quan Chi's help to finally kill Lui Kang. And people have the balls to say that Raiden was a moron? At least he managed to prevent Kahn from gaining the power of the Argus in the old timeline by the end of this game.

The part that I do agree with the fans on (kind of) is Sindel's resurrection. It was probably the one thing Shang Tsung could've done outside of acting as a power up for the Queen. I wasn't aware that Shang Tsung was also a Necromancer, but his powers, just like Quan Chis have always been kind of ill-defined in regards to just what the fuck they can actually do besides sucking out souls and replanting them.

Most people's hatred for Quan Chi in this game is that he makes Shang Tsung completely pointless as a character, and the argument usually boils down to "Shang was here first god damn it." And that's kind of a weak argument against Quan Chi.

Now, as somebody who really doesn't like Quan Chi as a character and thinks that he's been shoved into a bunch of characters story lines for no real reason, I have to at least conceed to the fact that unlike Tsung, Chi is at least a competent character. Some say that Shang Tsung was always the biggest evil in MK right up there with Kahn, but he really isn't. He's just always been somebody else's errand boy since the end of MK1. Whether that was serving Kahn or being used by Quan Chi to reanimate the Dragon King's army, Shang Tsung has never stood on his own as a particularly strong character to me.

Ever since MK:Sub-Zero and MK4, Quan Chis ties have made him the root of all evil in the MK Universe when it comes to the events in the games.

I would love for Shang Tsung to actually grow into a threatening and competent character who can stand on his own, and Deadly Alliance was as close as he's ever gotten before the whole thing kind of fell flat on it's face. But as it stands, he's just a dude that's convenient to have around in case somebody needs to take the blame or be beaten for something.

I don't think Shang's necessarily incompetent. His problem is, like you said, he's just stuck in the role of always having someone else's boot on his throat. That old axiom "There's always someone better than you are?" Damned true for Tsung. Before OG Kung Lao came along, Tsung cleaned out the Shaolin tournament and did have the title of Grand Champion - and that's about the only chance he ever had at displaying battle prowess of any type.

His greatest skill is that he is very, very good at keeping himself alive, and finding solutions to problems. Losing to Kung Lao? He invites Goro in. About to die at Khan's hand for losing Mk1? Offer up the Outworld tournament idea. He's a fixer, a go-to guy. Even when he was imprisoned, his MKDA bio stated that he was "periodically released to perform tasks'. Far from incompetent, I'd call him very wily. See also: Punking Kenshi.

His problem lately just seems to be that he's just not that good of a fighter. Awful track record.

MKDA did attempt to differentiate the two to some extent. Quan Chi can open portals to anywhere he pleases, and is very handy with ancient trinkets and incantations, it seems, while Shang is proficent in the art of creating living entities, and the manipulation of souls - and that latter is pretty much the textbook definition of necromancy, is my understanding. They really need to delve into greater detail as to what differentiates the two.

Quan is a planner and plotter, and Shang is a doer, but this game took that to literal levels. That's part of the reason people are especially irritated at the Sindel bit - Shang's good moment in MK3, rezzing Sindel, was just plain given to Quan without much reason. Having Shang do it only for her to be given him for breakfast later would have actually worked wonders in Shang's case for being a scapegoat. It would have been the cruelest act ever on Kahn's part.

Awsome as always. I agree in o most all the things you say about Shang Tsung in this game. To me he is one of the charachters that was completely ruined in the storymode, they wasted his potencial and i think he is the charachter that got more screwed in that mode. In all the moments he apeared during the first tournament he really didn't look like the intimidating host i thought he would and should be, perhaps the fact that there were no rules helped to that, but hey, they only needed to look at how Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa's Shang hosted the tournament in the movie and it would've been better. They didn't give him a rivalry with Liu Kang, wich was really important as Liu's nemesis was not Shao Kahn but Shang Tsung and vice versa. Probably the most dissapointing thing is that there is never even a hint of Shang planing to betray Shao Khan, even when we know he really wanted to do... but in this game he only seemed to be searching for his aproval. I didn't mind his death scene, i think it is good for soe charachters to die and i probably would've kill him too, but I feel really bad about all the things they took from him in the last game, he looks so good (in his alt), has a great voice, gameplay and the best intro in the game. His Joker fatality is lame, they should've given him a third fatality if they wanted to give him that one too.

It really makes me sad... They really ruined him, he derserved better.