All special moves are canon. We've even seen the ones you listed used in cutscenes. Baraka does his blade spark in the MKA opening cinema and in Konquest, Sonya shoots a yeti in the head with a pink blast, then immediately after, is shown pressing beeping buttons on her glove, suggesting the Ring Toss comes from a Special Forces weapon. If the blade spark's "physics" really bothers you so much, then think of it not as a spark of energy, but like a metal shaving being flicked off the edge of his blade.

Certain fatalities are not: specifically, ones from MK3 that make no sense like Jax growing, Liu's arcade drop, or Kabal's face scaring your ghost out of your body, because MK3 went a bad comedy route with its finishing moves and jokes aren't canon.

Cage's Decap-Uppercut is certainly something he could actually do, though. Everyone in MK has the physical strength to punch a head off. If it bothers you, go with the MK4 version where he charges his fist up with green chi energy first before doing it.

Oh yeah I haven't played armageddon in a long time forgot about the spark in the opening cut scene.

But I have to disagree on Cage's uppercut and the strength of all the MK characters. I like to think that they"re all for the most part human, at least the human ones. Yes they have some powers and are incredibly skilled at fighting but I don't think any of them have the strength to simply punch someone's head off. Besides the whole physics of literally knocking someone's block off is impossible regardless of strength(yeah I know it's stupid to ground mortal kombat in terms of physics)

On a related note. I've come across some people on this forum who think we should scrap the idea that every character has a projectile. What are your thoughts on this and which characters do you think should get their projectiles scrapped.

You already know which ones I'd choose.

You underestimate the power of chi. Or perhaps you don't know what chi is? It's essentially the energy of the human soul, and the characters who've trained in ancient and mystic forms of martial arts like Liu and even Johnny as his MK1 bio says, know how to use it.

If men in the real world, who can't learn the magical ability to shoot their spirit energy as fireballs or float or move at superspeed, can still karate chop through cinder blocks, then Johnny Cage, who HAS trained in monk-magic, can punch a damn head off. To me, that's the entire idea behind the MK series, you can have magical abilities and still be human...provided where you learned this stuff is in your backstory. Certain characters like Sonya and Stryker obviously have never trained in mysticism.

As for the whole "some characters shouldn't have projectiles" thing that some posters like Luca have been discussing...I can get behind the IDEA of creating movesets for newer characters, where they have no projectile, just to create a character with a unique playstyle.

But when it comes to all the characters from MK1 thru 3, I don't believe in ever changing their moves. That stuff has all become famous, and a good creator knows better than to fuck with the parts of his creation that are the most iconic.

I think they just need to do a better job explaining the reasons behind certain things, like if they said out loud that Sonya's ring toss is a weapon she wears on her wrist? That would be good enough for me. And I think Jax should always use missiles launched out of his bionic arms, not the sonic wave from MK2.

I am familiar with chi. I was just saying that even if Superman wanted to punch someone's head off he couldn't unless that person was bolted down to the floor. Otherwise they would simply fly through the air. They'd die but no decap. I'm not disrespecting the idea of chi I'm just saying you can't punch someone's head off no matter how strong you are that's science. But then again Mortal Kombat has been know to bend a few laws of physics.

I see your point about all original characters keeping their projectiles, but I just don't like it when certain characters have projectiles simply for the sake of having projectiles. But that's just my opinion.

Also I'm still not convinced that things in cutscenes or Konquest are proof that somethings are canon. I mean Mokap appeared in Deception's Konquest mode but I don't think he's considered canon.

Deception Konquest cameos aren't the same thing as a real story mode. Armageddon's Konquest was a real story mode and every cutscene counts.

Cutscenes are literally the purest form of canon there is, man, you can't go "I'm not sure that counts" at actual video of what's happening to the characters.

As to whether or not a head could be punched off scientifically, It could be possible if you came at it with the right angle and right amount of force, you could get the neck to tear instead of their feet leaving the ground. In situations like this, real world physics really aren't that important anyway, if it looks cool, they can do it because it's fiction and that's what matters most. I've seen an evil version of Superman punch someone's head off in a comic before. It's silly to argue whether or not something's physically possible about a guy who can fly and shoot lasers out of his eyes anyway. In the real world, people can't do Shadow Kicks either, but Johnny can because he's not in the real world, he's in a world where magic exists. So there's leeway for real world physics to be ignored.

Well this has gotten kinda off topic. But I guess wheater or not characters' projectiles are canon doesn't really matter in the big picture. It doesn't really effect story too much either way. I was just wondering what other people though of the idea. To each his own.

As for the physics question I have no problem with the move being in the Game. Cage is my favortie character and the Head Punch was his first fatality, I have to love it. I just always thought it was a ridiculous finishing move and over the top effect.

However I still don't think that it is possible in real life to punch someone's head off. I think regardless of angel it simply can't be done. And as far as I know it has never been done.

Well it's impossible to tell because no one in the real world has super strength.

Maybe you should write to Mythbusters, get them to build some sort of rig to punch a dummy in the chin with superhuman force and see whether the head rips off or the whole dummy goes flying.

Hmmmmm...I actually might do that.

You cannot.


You cannot punch off a head with anything if the body is not restrained.

This is why a 50cal. bullet will not punch off, but punch apart a head. Same with locomotives. Under optimum and simple circumstances a head would only fly off from a strong punch if the body from below the neck is held in place with the same or greater amount of force. Plus your head disintegrates rfom hydrostatic shock and the general shockwave travelling through you.

Remember the Robocop 1 scene where he bends the guy's gun barrel? For that to happen the guy must have been stronger than Robocop himself to hld the weapon in place.

Around 1:45
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ax5-fgR1mGg

Off the top of my head, the the only characters I could think of that have non-canon moves (or at least no longer canon) are MK1 Reptile and MK2 Jade. They're the only ones who were created to be secret copies of other characters, but received their own special abilities when re-introduced as playable characters in new games. Can't say the same for Smoke and Noob Saibot, who have still used attacks from other characters when brought in for MK3 and beyond (spears, teleport punch, air throw).
To be honest, maybe even Rain's Super/Teleport Roundhouse there is no longer canon, but I always enjoyed that move... I used to think that what he'd do is teleport his opponent to land behind him to explain the move, it's an interesting concept to throw a guy around like that, and it's a shame we won't see it again (most likely not at least).

That doesn't seem logical to me, to consider what the characters did when they were direct rip-offs canon just because they were direct rip-offs for two games in a row.

The moment Noob finally became a real character with his own bio and ending and actual effort put into his placement in the game, in UMK3/Trilogy, he lost all of Scorpion's moves and has never done them again while most of those UMK3 moves have become recurring for him. He hasn't gotten the No-Block Ball back, but he had a fireball that seemed to visually evoke it in MK4, and he had the Clone Throw and Teleport-Suplex in MK4 and the Suplex in Armageddon. He's also gained Shurikens as a signature weapon in more recent installments, to the point where he was using them in cutscenes and holding one in his vs. screen pose. So that's what's canon for Noob, controlling shadows, melting into darkness and chucking throwing stars (which are also apparently made out of darkness and disappear in puffs of black smoke).

And Human Smoke in UMK3/Trilogy isn't even a canon character. His bio even admits it. Cyber-Smoke is the canon one and the only shared move he has is Sektor's teleport punch, which he even kept in Deception, so it's fair to say that one move is an actual canon Smoke move. Smoke for the most part doesn't have any other moves that successfully repeat from one game to the next, though. So unless some of his Deception/Armageddon moves make it into MK9 and thus become galvanized as "Smoke's Moves", all you can say about his abilities/superpowers is a generalized "he creates smoke clouds and he can turn into smoke to teleport."

Except that you forget MK Tournament Edition, where he returns as a pallet swap of Scorpion, complete with all of Scopion's styles, and even though he had a fireball, still used his spear. I have no problem with it being canon, as it adds an interesting dimension to him being so obsessed with who killed him that he takes on and mimics some of his abilities. Also, in MK4, he had Scorpion's Air Throw (seriously, Block in mid-air when near an opponent and it works), and considering Reiko was the first to use Shuriken, he now has those as well, and Invisibility was always Reptiles and arguably Smoke's. Yes, he has his own move set, but even in games since he's acquired it, he doesn't always use it and still borrows from other characters.

I wasn't referring to Human Smoke; I know he's not canon. However, in MK3, Smoke did not have a single original move, not just Sektor's uppercut, but Scorpion's spear (turned into a trident, but let's not kid ourselves), Invisibility, which was taken from Reptile, and Air Throw, though modified to look like Cyrax's, but a throwback to his having Scorpion's Air Throw when he was in MK2. In essence, he was Scorpion if he had changed into a purple robot and produced smoke. In Deception, he has Sektor's Teleport Uppercut again, Dark Shadows, which he shares with Noob, but is a Teleport Punch, no different from what both characters had when they were Scorpion-inspired pallet swaps back in MK2. Death from Above is also Mileena's Teleport Kick, so that's three teleport moves, and not a single one of them were original concepts. Also, Smoke's Robo-Punch/We Live in Deception are, in essence, DA Blaze's Flame Charge with his right arm held down instead of up. Once again, he developed his own moves, but he continued to borrow from other characters up until, and including, Armageddon.

Well...can't say as I'm inclined to take the moves given to Sektor, Noob, and Sareena in MKTE as canon since it was the same no effort, shove them in there as copies as other characters MK2 Smoke and Jade process again.

If "he's obsessed with the guy who killed him so he steals his moves" is how you justify it to yourself, fine, but that idea doesn't work for me and I'm not going to recognize him using a spear as canon. Whenever he has any effort put into his design, he also does not have a spear.

And as far as I'm concerned Smoke just plain has never had a real moveset until MKA. Largely as a result of him completely sitting out MK4 and DA, I think. It's hard for the character to keep much of anything he did in Deception because those moves almost all revolved around tag-team and assist attacks, and before that he was entirely a product of the palette swapping days and suffered for it. He's never really been given a chance to be a real character and be designed to be unique and all his own, until Armageddon, which is pretty sad given the character's so old and popular. At least the trident looked different from the spear...but you're right, it was still a spear in spirit and I'm glad it didn't return in the 3D games. I'm hoping for MK9 to reinvent his special moves completely and make him a whole character, though I wouldn't mind seeing Stinky Cloud, Stinky Fingers, and Play Dead return since those are uniquely his own and fit his actual powers.

If they give him the Scorpion moves again out of some kind of demand from idiot fans who think Smoke should always be stuck in the palette swap ghetto because that's what he was like in MK2, I'ma be pissed.

I can agree with this, it's just not right that he has been stuck for so long as the Grey Scorpion/Sektor, and I hope his abilities are finally expanded on in this game, and I really hope to not see Noob with any Scorpion moves either. Bring back his No-Block ball, it was awesome! If it's broken, cut the time it keeps one disabled in half or something.