The only thing I ever really hated about Liu Kang is that he was always the champion. Always. Four games in a row he beat the big bad boss to save the day. 'Tis was the main reason I thought Kang dying at the beginning of Deadly Alliance was so cool, because then they were forced to come up with something new.

Liu Kang is awesome. That is all.

Why all the hate... Yes I friggin' hate him to no limits from 1997 'till now. Why? Because he's a boring, annoying, retarded piece of crap and 90% of all the other characters in game outshine him completely and deserve a title of a champion much much more. Scene of Shang Tsung snapping his neck in DA was one of best moments in my very long and active gamer life. I must say though, that I did somewhat liked whole zombie liu kang idea and even played that version of his few times. But that came and gone. Now please, kill him off officially in MK9 once and for all or at the very least pick a real champion to win the tournament this time...
Also he's asian. I don't wanna see asian as a winner of a big tournament. Maybe only Kung Lao, but he has that awesome hat. What Liu Kang got? Gay voice? HAH!

Liu Kang is earth's greatest chance.

He will get revamped in this game. He might not be the champ but I think he will get some justice done to him

I love Liu Kang. Always have, always will. He's that classic "chosen one" character that was always a step above.

He's part of MKs GOOD atmosphere, IMO. Until that started going downhill with MK 3. The oriental feel of MK2 fit perfectly with him, and that was when the story was at its peak.

LOL, tell us how you really feel!

I don't know, he was always my favotite character. He wanted revenge on shao Khan for the murder pf his Shaolin brothers, and eventually he gets killed by his mortal enemy. That's when I stopped liking his story, but I just play using his alt costume. Most importantly, he's Bruce Lee with a headband! Come on, Enter the dragon was pretty much what Mortal Kombat started out as, you can't have a game without its original protagonist!

Liu is far more interesting than Ryu, Ill give him that.

Maybe something for MK 9? His brother making an appearance?
Just a thought.

MK4 made him corny. MK4 made EVERYBODY corny but it hit Liu Kang hardest.

Personally, I blame MK3 and Robin Shou. 4's awful FMVs certainly didn't help, but it wasn't where the problem started.

A great actor can make a bland character seem awesome. Bruce Lee's part in Enter the Dragon is exactly like Liu, except even MORE stoic and disciplined and bland, he doesn't learn anything or develop, he doesn't do anything except be wise, fight, and win every time. And really, Bruce is like that in everything he's done. But people love him still because of a combination of how fun to watch his fighting moves are and he's got a natural charisma that's hard to explain. Shou does not have that attitude, that 70' jiveness I guess you might call it. He was boring and kind of a dork. The only times he hit likable were the few times he was making a smartass remark at Johnny and at the very end when he finally accepts his destiny, grits his teeth, and starts whooping Shang's ass. And like a lot of the movie versions, some of Shou's dorkiness bled into the way Liu has been portrayed since.

And the guy who said the "wootah" noises need to be deeper and less cartoony was absolutely right. Liu devolving into fucking comedy and summoning stupid god damned arcade machines was basically the beginning of the end for his image. Make the guy a serious asskicker again. Calm and confident and enlightened.
Not at first, of course. He should grow from inexperienced to wise over the course from MK1 to MK3. As they explore the EMOTIONAL side of all the things he goes through, like his temple being slaughtered, struggling with revenge vs. "killing is wrong", meeting Kitana and falling for her but knowing they can't be together because they belong to different worlds, the whole Highlander-style lonely "who wants to live forever?" part of being the MK champ, all of that.

Everything that's wrong with Liu is very easy to fix.

^ Pretty much agree with all of that.

I've never hated Liu Kang, infact I always saw him as an interesting character. I'm probably one of the few that wouldn't of cared if he didn't die by Shang Tsung.

Though maybe at some point in the story he should die, I wanted him to be a bit more fleshed out as a character. Fix up the overly cheesy noises he makes and keep his style like Bruce Lee (what he was intended to be). He wasn't portrayed properly in some games.

Since this is going back MK1-MK3, I'd give Liu another shot but done the right way. He's a sick character.

This post is full of so much WIN!. Fantastic post sir.

Lui Kang is a boring character, with run-of-the-mill set of moves, a bland character design, and an even worse story.

His design is just fucking lazy. Yes, we get that Enter the Dragon was a huge inspiration for Mortal Kombat, that doesn't excuse you from having shitty character design that hasn't progressed since the character was brought to life in MK1. An asian dude in a pair of sweat pants and then later on a bandana does not make for a great character. I'm surprised they didn't throw him into knock off version of the yellow track suit from Game of Death. While other characters have had alterations, or a constantly evolving look, Lui Kang stayed the same. Now, sometimes that can be good, when a character reaches a certain point of reverence. Ken and Ryu from SF are like that. Scorpion and Sub-Zero are like that (and Sub-Zero is probably the character that's gone through the most cosmetic redesigns). Lui Kang is not that character.

His powers are also pretty weak. His only real outstanding move is the bicycle kick. Actually, no. Sonya Blade has her vert version of that. Lui Kang's move consist of the bicycle kick, the high and low fireball, and the flying kick. Nothing about those moves is all that interesting. And his "woootaaah!" and the gobble for his bike kick annoy a vast audience and don't help his image.

He also suffers from kind of a Superman syndrome. He's too perfect, and thus boring to begin with. He's the MK champion, 4 tournaments in a row. He's Raiden's little bitch/lap dog. And his love interest is the very beautiful though slightly dim (in a Princess Peach sort of way) Princess Kitana. The guy's got everything going for him, and that's also what makes him a boring character.

Also, his fatalities have generally sucked through out the MK history. His Zombie possession thing was kind of freaky, but that is one fatality over the span of almost 2 decades. Also, fuck Lui Kang for bringing in the concept of Animalities in MK2 and then into MK3. I thought that was a stupid concept, topped only by him dropping an arcade machine on you for some weird reason.

I've seen some of these post but i like liu kang reason why he's an asss kicking machine so what if he's the chosen one. For one other than raiden kung lao and kang who else could beat kahn shang goro kintaro sonya could'nt in my opinion jax hell no.But if anyone Liu so what if he's asian and he makes funny noise's BET YOU 8 OUT OF 10 he whoop DAT ASS though lol.Lui is a great character so what if he gets the girls kicks ass in 1 day he's the man.1 thing tht striked me the most is because he's ASIAN who cares i dont give a flyiing fuck he's a character and to tell you the truth i love every character cuz i have diversity. NO offense but he can practically beat every character in mk if he wasn't the chosen one i wouuld love to see more kung lao.GIVE THIS CHARACTER A break dont like him no one is making you play with him lol

And they pretty much got rid of his voice for the most part. The only time he uses it is when he does the bycycle kick and I think that was just recycled from mortal kombat deception. I don't see what's so terribly wrong with it though, if anything it would give him the upper hand if he has a foe with a sense of humor. You can't fight when you're buisy laughing at your enemy's voice!

The thing that made Liu Kang very interesting or a hero in the past is his huge resemblance to Bruce Lee worldwide famous actor, there was no one on earth who didn't know and like Bruce Lee legendary fighting movies at that time. He used to be an international trend that has to do with his own unique and fast fighting skills, vocals, looks...powerful as a dragon.
Even Street Fighter game introduced Fei Long character later on that also resembles Bruce Lee.

Nowadays, he's part of history and few people in this new generation get to really know him and like him, and if they do he looks a bit old-fashioned for them now.

Watch him here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TYHZEu7Y7DU&feature;=related