Well it's too late to do anything to save the story now. You can't get an abortion after you deliver the baby, no matter how much you don't want it.

But at least if MK3-Smoke was in the game in some form, whether that be a new costume, a retro one, or a DLC character, then I could pretend I'm playing a game set in the Old Timeline when I play arcade mode.


Well now who's guilty of nostalgia?
I really despise both his primary and his alt though. Those costumes actually make me angry. The only other outfits in the game that do that are Kitana's (for the same reason as Smoke's do) and Shao Kahn's (because his samurai element is completely gone). So I really would classify Smoke's as among the worst in the whole game.
See, the reason Smoke's costumes make me angry is they demonstrate an idea that offends me as an artist and costume designer myself: they show that the artists on NRS' staff don't understand how to make a character's clothes fit the character's fucking theme and personality. You do NOT put a ninja named "Smoke", whose entire gimmick revolves around turning into an air-based element and flitting around light on his feet, in fucking heavy metal plates everywhere! He should be wearing something lightweight, airy, baggy!
And there should be elements in his costume that remind you of costumes he's worn in the few past games where he wasn't a generic palette swap, like that wavy lines logo he wore in Deception and Shaolin Monks. Or here's a thought, where the fuck is the Lin Kuei logo on his alt costume? I get it not being on his primary because in story mode, he doesn't wear that until after he leaves the clan, but Kuai has one, Sektor has one, Cyrax has one...Bi-Han had one in the concept art but it's strangely missing on the in-game model, and Smoke doesn't have one either.



I don't like it, sounds awkward and redundant, like...it's not something a person would really say. Perhaps if you flipped it around to "I'm everywhere, there's no escape" instead, it'd sound much more natural because then the cause and effect is in the right order. There's no escape because he's everywhere.



I think it could've made a HUGE difference.

In MK3, Smoke's story said his programming was broken with willpower, by remembering who he is with the help of his friend verbally appealing to him. He didn't have his programming flipped off like a switch by Jax, he fought against it.

If we got to SEE a moment like that in MK9, a cyberninja, ANY cyberninja, remembering their humanity and struggling to become their true self again, it would be a thousand times more emotional and dramatic than any scene that's currently in MK9 except possibly for some of the "I've lost faith in you, our friends have died for nothing" arguments between Liu and Raiden towards the end.

MK9 Story Mode desperately needed scenes like that, with drama and heart.



That was some real bullshit. They had plenty of time to find or make art assets of Onaga and Taven for some of Raiden's flashbacks, but were too lazy to mock up one little piece of art of a unique cyberninja costume for Smoke, or even use his Deception alt (the armor one, not the nano-cloud one), so they just threw a black-and-white picture of Sektor in there?



I kinda liked MKA Smoke's moves. Particularly the Tombstone Teleport for the way it looked, and that move where he leaves a cloud behind like Sub's Ice Clone.

I will say though that the enhanced version of the teleport punch he has now is one of the coolest looking moves in the game. It's very "ninja". I just really think people wouldn't rely on using it over and over and over so much if he had more moves that just straight up hit the opponent and don't require a parry or any kind of set-up.

The Shake has a cool effect, but parries rarely come into use because they require you to be able to predict your opponent's next move very quickly, so people tend to forget it even exists. (Same problem happens with Johnny Cage having an X-Ray that would be awesome if you could actually land the damn thing but since you often can't, people stop using it) And I tend to think of the Air Throw and Smoke Bomb as one move instead of two because they almost always follow one after the other. Besides, Air Throws are just a weak excuse for a "special" move, have been since MK2, the only one that's ever looked cool and unique is Jax's backbreaker.



The monster in Smoke's ending isn't his Enenra form, it's the demon the cult sacrificed him to.



Now see, that's an assumption. We don't know that NRS never would've let anyone but Johnny and Sonya live no matter what. Maybe there WOULD have been a third survivor if they had a better idea for where to take that character's story that would require them to not be Quan Chi's slave.

And maybe that character would've been Sub-Zero or Smoke if their roles were reversed. I certainly strongly believe that ONE of those two SHOULD have lived. What was the point in switching them around if they're both going to end up the same way in the end? Smoke would have a much easier time breaking out of Sub-Zero's shadow and becoming a main character if he was one of the only heroes left on Earth for Raiden to call on, while Sub was dead. Or on the other hand, I'm certain the only reason they killed Cyber-Sub was so they'd have an easy way to make him come back human.

Well, my original post which you quoted was my response to Shadow Preacher, and he was most definitely talking about pre-launch events. If you were speaking of post-release DLC, then I have no argument one way or another (well, a stance, but not an argument).



There was definitely an abundance of pro-cyber Smoke fans. I don't think anyone would dispute that. Whether they were the majority or not, I did not tally the responses to find out. However, my thesis was only that most of the people who wanted Smoke to stay human did so under false pretenses. Smoke did not get the prominent story role people thought he would, and in that sense, Shadow Preacher is wrong to say most people got what they want.

As a matter of fact, Preacher's statement is even more so false because Human Smoke would have been playable anyway due to the events of MK2. In other words, had Smoke been automated, EVERYONE would have gotten what they wanted aesthetically.

I agree with that so much. They could have had Smoke as one costume and cyber smoke as the alt. It would have finally given the smoke fans what they wanted, and not ruin sub-zero. Smoke could have still kept his story element. It would have been perfect.

The only reason NRS changed that particular event was because it was the most obvious in your face change they could make. For arguments sake I'm going to say that's exactly why that aspect shouldn't have been changed. It was so obvious, and so many people asked before it released to not have it happen. Alas, it still did. Why NRS, why?lol

Ugh, so sick of this whole damn argument. Over and over like a goddamn broken record. "X Smoke is/was better because of X". I'll be the first person to admit he didn't have much in the way to do in story, but his added background and special moves themselves give him far more in the way of style, substance and character than he ever had; and my memories of the original timeline, miraculously, remain untarnished. And yes, the hair kicks ass.

Swear to god, I must be one of very few people capable of appreciating the character no matter what form he comes in, or where it looks like they're going with him. I'm just happy he's around.

Going way back, I wanted him to regain his humanity in the original timeline because I genuinely liked him as a character, I thought what was done to him was awful, and I wanted some resolution for the poor guy. But they pull these timeline shenanigans and...well...

I did have high hopes for him in story, but I'm not surprised things turned out the way they did. Having his humanity restored was never going to bring him some major form of import to the overall plot, really; he is the very definition of a B-List character. Heck, apart from faking his own death and making peace with Goro, Kung Lao didn't really get any true spotlight time until Kang's neck went pop and he set out on the ever-loving revenge kick. And nothing much came of it at all. Truth be told, B-listers in MK usually seem to get their 15 minutes when they're evil and their superior bites it, leaving a vaccum. Suddenly, Mileena's playing princess, Ermac is making amends for miseeds, and Reptile is pregnant with Onaga. Sektor capped his old man and took over. Smoke doesn't have that luxury. He's lived under the same ugly umbrella as Kung Lao; that label of "best friend of" commits him to the accessory role. Unfortunately, the MK games can do without Kang a lot easier than they can with Sub-Zero. Smoke doesn't need to be in one specific form or another to be 'important' in a plot sense; he just needs to be left to his own devices away from Sub.

Conversely, I don't believe his dodging the automation bullet is overtly responsible for him having shit-all to do in the plot. His chapter was just weak; on the outside, it's possible that they really weren't sure what to do with him as he was for all intents and purposes a new character sort of shoehorned into a timeframe where everyone's roles were pretty well defined already. Conversely, Cage didn't do all that much either except for being his usual charming self (but in his case, we love him for it).

Anyhoo, there will never, ever be a cohesive, unified Smoke fanbase. For every form he appears in, the opposite group will grow incredibly vocal and ask to have their preferred one back. There's no real 'majority' to be found, and I think time's proven this. I'd prefer him to go full-blown Enenra at this point and leave both behind, become something new and entirely supernatural...but lord knows both Human and Cyber fans would throw a shitfit.

Well...y'know, his Enenra form, a demon body "made of smoke", would just look like his Deception outfit without the helmet, wouldn't it?

And everybody but me hated that costume.

I loved MKD Smoke. I love every Smoke that isn't human....

I liked that Enenra form of Smoke in MK: Deception so you're not alone. Going back to Smoke, I watched Smoke's ending in MK 9 and saw he was a Enenra. It made sense why Noob used him in his cyborg form in the old timeline as a template for cyber-demons.

And I love Smoke and Cheerios.

Lol. I knew I'd see you comment on this. Isn't robo-smoke your favorite character daryui? I really don't think we have seen the last of cyber smoke. Once again I may be wrong, but it just seems like it would have been a huge moneymaker for them. If they weren't going to do cyber smoke again then they would have at least put an alt in this game. I think Cyber Smoke will show up somewhere in MK10.

I believe the natural way for the evolution of the character is in the next game he sees a half-human form Enenra corrupted by Netherrealm with happened as Noob Saibot and Scorpion, the service of the Brotherhood of Shadow, but with their own free will, so without being a slave Quan Chi. I would like that very path.

As Sareena seek the soul of Kuai Ling to prevent it from being corrupted like his brother. And that Frost was robotic (after all of the Lin Kuei robotizar Sektor wants everything and how you need a robot to serve you, and the Lin Kuei recruit criomancers have the habit, and cyborgs as the ban on women lose direction) and would bring us back a human character with clothing and Cybernetics and again bring his rivalry with sub zero.

I think this scenario Smoke, cease to be in the shadows of Sub Zero. Ideal for your look would be something in between Alt and that the current form of Deception. A Human a bit darker, transparent, smoky and demonic.

Ideal for your look would be something in between Alt and that the current form of Deception. A Human a bit darker, transparent, smoky and demonic.

I anticipate that this could become an equivalent of the CSZ rant threads.

Yes, nostalgia plays a part here. You can't go wrong with the MKII suit.
So you're looking at how this and that costume fits for this specific character here, aesthetics aside. How about the Cyber Smoke costume in MK:D? He was a cyborg with nano technology but one would think that he would look more delicate in there as well. It could've been the exact opposite on purpose, moreover, it paid homage to the Cyber Smoke fans in a way. The lightest character gets the heaviest costume; conscious irony? The alternate may have hinted that Tomas Vrbada was born in the medieval era of the Czech Republic which would be the reason for his "corset" and the armor plates, or the medieval era just was an inspiration for them. Still the alternate looks stylish whether it's befitting background wise or not. Sonya's heels don't make much sense either.
The primary costume should have truly shown the waves in the now-empty chest plates. I was wondering about the Lin Kuei logo too, but perhaps it's missing so that we again can pretend that "Now Smoke is in the MK3 era and now Smoke is in the pre Lin Kuei era et cetera." Smoke and Bi-Han aren't reputed of being Lin Kuei members as much as Cyrax and Sektor are, proportionately. It could have indeed been a nice detail. It makes one wonder that how was Smoke able to cram his bushy hair inside the alternate costume that well, considering that the shapes of his ears are already recognizable. Ears that don't show up in his primary costume.
I suppose these all add to the theory that Smoke was one of the last characters (2nd last before Sheeva) to be designed of the core characters. At least that's what the render revelation dates and the design quality slightly suggest and the fact that Smoke's damage concept was shown in a computer concept in around the late March of 2011 in an NRS designer's computer screen some weeks before the actual launch.

How would it be redundant when it includes the same information as your proposal does? It's true that it wouldn't sound realistic but the dialogues of Mortal Kombat don't always aim to the real world anyway; I think it sounds somewhat hysterical that could make the opponent panic a little.

It could have made a difference but it seems that they were running out of chapters by the end and someone just ordered to "Put some drama quick, start killing people and give people a cliffhanger for the sequel already!" It would have made a difference to the Story Mode but the outcome and else would've been basically the same. Smoke would likely be dead again. I'd have liked to see that happen however. The church event in the sense of script writing could be connected to the way people write "...but it was just a dream". I mean, it's a quick way to end a story that gets too intense.


NeRdS didn't know the definition of "drama", causing drama by the fans.

I mentioned that as a fact basically for the fake artists; in Raiden's vision Smoke was in the exoskeleton of Sektor. So if you'd draw a Cyber Smoke based on either Cyrax or Sektor, it would more logically be Sektor.

"Play Dead" sure was fun as was "Stinky Fingers" but actually playing as Smoke wasn't that fun anymore. Even the lack of a weapon style suggests that they didn't pay too much attention to Smoke other than giving him original special moves focusing on his unique smoke abilities; Smoke got judo instead, pairing with Mokap in the sense of having two fighting styles. I wonder if Smoke's X-ray move was a tribute to his judo style of MK:A.
The Shake also adds up to your X-ray meter a little and it's a good special move in casual play, especially if your opponent doesn't know what its enhanced move brings in (it looks basically the same). I do use it in different occasions, especially if the opponent is a zoner.
In fact, I send oftentimes another Smoke Bomb to the falling opponent, even if it's tricky and not as effective, and this is my trademark: when I have my power meter filled, I throw a Smoke Bomb to the opponent and then do my X-ray to the falling opponent. Warning: Don't try that at home. I see Air Throw worth mentioning, unlike Throw, because not all characters have it and it can be pretty tactical. You can throw n00bs when you're invisible for one. Again, Teleport and Smoke Cloud remain the foremost ones.

Judging from the ending it looked as if Smoke was that beast. I know that it could just be the demon watching the events behind but it was left a tad vague... I found a fan art picture of an Enenra and it resembled the beast quite. I must say that Enenras were a new thing to me before MK9. Click:


Yes, that was an assumption – justified that is; I judged it based on how they killed people in this particular story. It seemed like a no-brainer that Smoke should have been kept alive; what were you thinking NeRdS?! It was basically a middle finger to the Smoke fans altogether. I'm as well confident that they have big plans for Sub-Zero because he's their cash cow and poster boy after all. Not all hope is lost with Smoke however.

Firstly a neck snap shouldn't kill Smoke and secondly he could've been left alive for greater benefits. Yeah, hopefully NeRdS know what they're doing.

The MK:D outfit could see a radical change as well, for the reason you brought up. I'm also supporting the path of unraveling something new instead, this time. I was thinking, should the Enenra necessarily shape into a human? NeRdS would better come up with something creative.

Technically, Human Smoke isn't "human" either, he's an Enenra, so...


Smoke has not been a rival of Sub-Zero. Cease the double posts, please.
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Human Smoke is the good, Cyber Smoke is the bad and Nano Smoke is the ugly. The only game Human Smoke has been an individual playable character solely as human-like is MK9, for Cyber Smoke it's MK3 and for Nano Smoke it's MK:A (story-wise). Coming up: Enenra Smoke for MKX.

I said nothing about the rivalry Smoke vs Sub Zero.

"Enenra Smoke for MKX"

I agree

"Human Smoke is the good, Cyber Smoke is the bad and Nano Smoke is the ugly"

Good definition in spite of aprecisar all versions.

"Cease the double posts, please"

Sorry.

I just re-watched Smoke's MK2011 ending and imo that "demonic" creature is Smoke in his enenra form. The animation accompanied by what the announcer is saying strongly suggests it.

I've found that while watching Smoke's ending, the pictures and the narration are actually not in sync. While the narrator is talking about him coming back from the dead and killing the cult after they sacrificed him, the picture still shows them carrying him toward the altar.

I think cyber smoke not being playable is only strictly because of the game's alternate timeline. It came down to a matter of how can the timeline be changed both drastically and simply at the same time. Automating Sub Zero not only completely changes the entire story after "MK3" but also opens up the next game(s) for a completely different turn out. Without Sub Zero around, there will be a new Grandmaster (Sektor. Correct me of I'm wrong about Subz being the grandmaster in the original timeline), No Frost potentially, Scorpions quest for vengeance playing out differently, Smoke getting his Time to shine, do many possibilities. If smoke were to be cyber in this game, then nothing would change. I think that is really what Netherrealm wanted to achieve. Different. Plus no one really saw it happening that way.

The Challenge Tower is full of references to the old timeline and non-canon shit. They could've at least put a mission in there where you play as him. In fact, since they reference just about everything from the past games but him, including goddamned Tremor on the Vita, it makes references to Cyber-Smoke extremely conspicuous by their absence.

I don't think it was the smokiness people disliked. IIRC most of the griping about it came from the helmet , baggy pants and gloves; I guess they just seemed 'off' to most people, the feel that it was this ethereal, non-corporeal being just sort of wearing things. I was waiting for him to have a smoky form, quite frankly; I loved that element of it (there's a reason that costume's in my sig and the cyber outfit from that game isn't). They just didn't mesh his outfit with his nature the way they really could have. Cyber-demon or enenra, I think it'd be best if the entirety of his body had that transparent effect.

CySmoke is not my most favorite, but he's one of them.... Right now, I feel he/it has been reduced to K/Chameleon status... not a good sign.. especially now that Tremor made an appearance in MK9 over him.





Huh. I see what you did there.

Well he's gotta wear something, he can't just be a bland humanoid shape with no decoration like Meat or MKDA Blaze.

That's likely because the endings lack pictures and animation in general. Those animated black clouds (puffs of smoke, whatever) are in touch with the "demonic creature" (watch carefully when the camera zooms out to reveal the creature). Finally the animated clouds lead from the creature to reveal the human form (after the announcer says "he returned to his human form")- enenra transforming into human. That's just my impression of the whole thing.

It doesn't look like the clouds are coming from the demon to me, I see the black clouds coming from the altar where Smoke's body was sacrificed and the big demon being depicted as standing off to the side in darkness.

I just disagree with how much Sub-Zero being automated will actually change anything. How is Sub-Zero being turned Cyber really going to change Scorpion that much? All it did was make Scorpion a slave of Quan Chi a little longer before he finds out Quan really was behind killing his family, instead of protecting Sub-Zero then finding out Quan killed his family. It really can't end up that much different.

If I'm not wrong, Sektor became grandmaster in the old timeline, because Sub-Zero took the Lin Kuei from Sektor in the first place.

Just because Sub-Zero isn't there doesn't mean Frost can't show up, and even if she doesn't show up it wouldn't be that big of a deal. No offense to Frost fans.

And please. We have already had the discussion that Smoke ended up just as bad storywise in this timeline as in the last. In case you forgot, Smoke died too.

You did get one thing right though. It was a SIMPLE change. The one that could be most noticed. That's exactly why they did it too. Sub-Zero becoming Cyber won't change anyone else's storyline, it only changes his, and for the worse at that. It's funny because they killed Sub-Zero and Smoke, so smoke still doesn't get his time to shine. Also, the theory you have of Smoke geting his time to shine goes out the door when you see that Sub-Zero got not one, but TWO chapters of story. Sub-Zero will always be Batman to Smoke's robin. It's never going to be the other way around.

Sorry, not attacking you by the way, I just don't think it changed as much as you were trying to explain. It really didn't at all. It just leaves Scorpion being a bitch to Quan Chi, Smoke still dead, Sektor still becomes grandmaster regardless, and Frost doesn't come along. Woopty friggin doo.

Sektor as Master of the Lin Kuei and the bearer of the medallion and not Tekunin, the story changes a lot, because the position as the main villain, outside the main shaft, which in the next game is Shinnok and Quan Chi. What Makes a threat he had never been in the old line. Besides that he should seek to strengthen the Lin Kuei and his new ideology means more changes into cyborgs. Moreover remember that in MKA he was aligned with Shinnok, what can the Lin Kuei's arm Elder God in Earthrealm.

About Smoke if he were to become a demon corrupted Netherrealm as Noob Saibot, too much to change his story and an interesting way to think.

Another aspect is to provide an important opportunity to prevent it from happening to Sareena Kuai Ling with what happened to Scorpion, Noob Saibot and Smoke happen to believe.

Please comment on the chances and consequences.

Another thing, the form seen in Enenra Ending could be used in full in a fatality.