Animalities to return to 'Mortal Kombat'

The fighting game series Mortal Kombat is a venerable title in the world of video games, with over two decades of history and even a dedicated competitive scene (of which the furry fandom's own SonicFox is a champion player). However, what really set it apart from the slew of other arcade fighter games back in 1992 was its ultra-violent "finisher" moves, known as Fatalities. Variations soon followed, and Mortal Kombat 3 introduced Animalities, basically allowing the characters in the game to violently maul each other with their fursonas.

The most recent game, Mortal Kombat 1 (actually the 12th mainline title, but part of a continuity reboot of sorts), will be releasing a series of DLC known as "Khaos Reigns". Besides a new story line and a few new characters (none of which are particularly furry), Animalities will be returning to the series September 9 of this year, as a free update. The trailer for "Khaos Reigns" is available on YouTube, and only YouTube; it is age restricted, and therefore unembeddable, for extreme, over the top violence.

The trailer reveals a hyena, hippopotamus, gorilla, skeletal T. rex, wolves, scorpion and puffer fish, though it doesn't reveal which of the game's fighting roster corresponds to which animal (and no, Scorpion is not necessarily the scorpion; in Mortal Kombat 3, he was a penguin!). The only character whose Animality is revealed is Mileena, who transforms into an orchid mantis, which reveals that characters around for Mortal Kombat 3 may not keep their old Animalities (Mileena was a skunk in MK3).

Though Animalities have been absent since Mortal Kombat 3, Liu Kang's dragon transformation is probably series protagonist Liu Kang's most iconic Fatality (though, to be fair, it actually debuted as a regular Fatality in Mortal Kombat II before becoming recycled as an Animality in MK3), usable as a finisher or move in most subsequent appearances of the character in the series. It also managed to appear in two of the live action movies based on the game, first in Mortal Kombat: Annihilation (where it was specifically called an Animality) and then in the 2021 Mortal Kombat (though not as a transformation, but by summoning a dragon out of fire, this time).

Despite the wide range of characters that have appeared over the years in various sequels, the game is thin on the ground for actual furry characters. Mortal Kombat 1 features a very animalistic version of series mainstay Reptile (who, alas, has a human form he prefers to stay in), but that's about it.