Let’s be honest here. The real reason many of us play Mortal Kombat is for the fatalities. There is such satisfaction in not only mastering the move but seeing your opponent come to a gruesome demise. Throughout the years, the cinematics have improved, and the graphics have gotten increasingly more real and disgusting. Real Mortal Kombat fans rejoice when the realistic guts come pouring out of the defeated character. With each new game in the series, the violence is more amplified, and the fatalities become more and more brutal.
The following is my opinion on the 15 most brutal fatalities in Mortal Kombat X. I define brutality not only by the amount of guts and gore, but by how much the victim is made to suffer, how much rage is behind the annihilation, and how much dignity is lost by the defeated.
1. Kung Lao- Face Grind
(close) down, back, down, forward, circle/B
This one is just pure torture. Kung Lao spears his hat into the ground turning into a rotating saw blade. He then shoves his victim to the ground face first and slowly pushes their face towards the blade with his foot. The victim knows what is coming and is powerless to stop it. I’d imagine they feel quite a bit of pain before succumbing to death.
2. Jax- T-Wrecks
(close) forward, back, down, triangle/Y
Maybe it’s just me, but this is not only brutal but hilarious. Jax grabs the defeated by the arms and shoves them down into the body. The arms are now only visible from the elbows to the hands creating the T-Rex effect. After letting them suffer for a moment, he then rips their jaw in half at the hinge and puts his cigar out on their tongue turning them into a degraded human ashtray. I may just be sick in the head, but I couldn’t help but giggle. There is something so funny about T-Rex arms. Not only did this have to hurt like hell, but it is the ultimate loss of dignity.
3. Kenshi- My Puppet
(mid) forward, down, back, up
For me, this is one of the most inventive fatalities. Kenshi uses his mind to rip the victim’s ribs through their back. He slowly lifts them into the air letting them dangle by the tendons until finally releasing them from their agony by slicing the tendons with his blade. The lifeless body then falls to the ground. I can only imagine what it feels like to dangle from any body part, much less your exposed rib cage.
4.Scorpion- Stop Ahead
(mid) down, back, forward, triangle/Y
This article would not be worth the read if I didn’t mention Scorpion. He is, by far, one of the most infamous Mortal Kombat characters, with some of the most gruesome fatalities. Stop Ahead is definitely one of my favorites. He throws a fireball at the defeated causing a gaping hole in their chest. Suddenly, you see the heart fall and just dangle there in the open chest cavity. If that wasn’t enough, he then slices their face in half. The victim falls to the ground, and we are left with the disturbing visual of half a brain oozing out of their skull.
5.Sub-Zero- Bed of Ice
(close) down, back, down, forward, circle/B.
I am not ashamed to say that Sub-Zero is my favorite character of all time. There is just something about the power of ice that intrigues me. Maybe I’m just a sucker for the strong silent type. In Bed of Ice, he freezes the ground behind the victim, creating a bed of ice spikes. He shoves them backward, so they fall onto the spikes. Using his foot, he pushed them down only halfway until the spikes are barely protruding through the body. Then, once he is sure he has made his point he impales the defeated all the way down onto the spikes. Just to add to the “yuck” factor one of the victim’s eyeballs is left sticking out on the top of one of the ice spikes. This adds a bit of humor to a disturbing end
6.Sub-Zero- Chest Kold
(close) back, forward, down, back, circle/B
Chest Kold is probably one of my favorite fatalities. Although it is not quite as theatrical as some of the others, the pain the victim suffers is immeasurable. First Sub-Zero freezes the chest cavity. He then uses brute strength to bust through the Ice leaving the loser’s spine exposed. To cause even more anguish, he grabs the spin with both hands and begins to twist until the spine is severed in half. Just to add insult to injury, he then lifts the body over his head and splits the body into before throwing it to the ground.
7.Quan Chi- Mind Games
(full) forward, back, forward, back, circle/B
Quan Chi, the most powerful sorcerer of the Netherrealm. As the primary villain in the Mortal Kombat series, he is a character we all love to hate. Love him, or hate him, he is most certainly a force to be reckoned with.
In Mind Games, he produces a jagged sword and suspends it in the air. Then, using mind control he compels the victim to walk towards the sword, and slowly impale themselves through the mouth and out the back of their skull. Upon reaching the hilt of the sword he sends the victim up in the air slicing their entire body in half before slamming them to the ground. What a terrible feeling it must be to be helplessly forced to walk forward knowing what fate awaits you.
8.Takeda- Whip It Good
(mid) down, forward, down, back, Triangle/Y
This fatality is as brilliant as it is brutal. It is another that will make you cringe and your stomach turn. Takeda was trained by Scorpion so many of his attacks will be reminiscent of Scorpion’s style. Whip it Good is no exception.
Using his spear tipped, blade, whip, Takeda slashes off his victim’s arms at the shoulder. Then, in a Scorpion like fashion, he quickly extends the whip, without the blades, into the opponent’s mouth and apparently down the throat. The blades extend and he begins pulling the whip back toward him bringing along with it the defeated characters entrails.
9. Shinnok- The Grinder
(mid) down, back, forward, down, up
Being the game’s main antagonist and final boss we should expect a forcible fatality from Shinnok. With The Grinder he certainly delivers. Two impressively massive skeleton hands jut up from the ground encasing the victim’s body. They begin to twist each half of the body in opposite directions until finally snapping it in half. For the grand finale, the gigantic hands smack the two sides of the body together disintegrating it in midair. Tiny pieces of what remains fall like rain to the ground, as if to symbolize the victim’s nothingness.
10. Kotal Kahn- Be Min
(close) down, back, forward, square/X
Considering it is his debut performance, there is a lot of pressure on Kotal Khan to be impressive. Especially since he is now the leader of Outworld. He has no problems making a name for himself with the fatality Be Mine. Though simple in nature, the symbolism behind this attack cannot be denied. He looks his victim straight in the eyes as he slices open their chest with a dagger. He rips their heart out, only breaking his gaze as he lifts the heart to the sky and crushes it in his bare hand, as if to say, “I am the ruler of this world, and all who live in it belong to me.”
11.Reptile- Acid Bath
(close) down, down, back, forward, square/X
Reptile. He is deceptive, disgusting, and deadly. He went from being the most sought after character to fight to a mere background lizard, to finally becoming one of the Mortal Kombat series ‘big villains.’ The character himself has been around for quite some time, but his appearance and skills have evolved quite impressively.
It only makes sense that a “big villain” would be able to end you in a big way. I think that Acid Bath is Reptile’s best fatality. It is yet another that isn’t visually dramatic, but if you put yourself in the place of the victim, it takes on a whole new light. I’d imagine there are not too many things more painful than being slowly dissolved in acid.
In this fatality, Reptile sprays a puddle of green acid around the victim’s feet. He allows it to dissolve their body all the way up to the chest before wrapping his slimy tongue around their head and ripping it off for a little snack while the rest of the body continues to dissolve.
12.D’vorah- Bug Me
(mid) back, forward, back, X/A
D’vorah is what my nightmares are made of. She is a species of colonial insects living inside a humanoid. The very thought of her makes me shudder. The way she destroys her victims is, even more, cringe worthy.
In the fatality Bug Me, she calls upon her bug minions and sends them crashing through the loser’s torso, leaving gaping holes. When she is through playing with them, the insects swarm the victims head eating the flesh until what’s left of the skull falls to the ground. The head rolls over to D’vorah, and she crushes what remains by stomping it with her foot.
13.Kano- Head Case
(close) down, forward, down, back, X/A
Frankly, I cannot stand Kano. He is a whiny little punk who grates on my nerves. That being said all characters have their place, and he plays his role well. Despite my distaste for him, he has earned his spot on this list with the fatality Head Case. It is gruesome, and classic Kano. He begins by disemboweling the defeated player. Never being the kind of guy to leave well enough alone he then spins the victim around and essentially boils the back of the skull until the brain explodes. He may be annoying, but he certainly knows how to cause misery.
14. Raiden- Conducting Rod
(full) down, forward, back, forward, circle/B
As the eternal God of Thunder and protector of Earthrealm, it is no surprise that Raiden is equipped with an impressive fatality. In the Conducting Rod, he quite literally turns his victim into a shish Kabob.
After bringing the defeated to their knees, where they belong, Raiden produces his staff and skewers his victim through the mouth and down the body. He then electrocutes them and turns his back on his smoking foe.
15.Mileena- Tasty Treat
(close) forward, back, forward, back, triangle/Y
No matter how you feel about her, there is no denying that Mileena is ferocious. There is something sexy and alluring about the crazed, flesh eating, clone. She is evil at its finest and someone we all love to hate, and yet, secretly crush on.
Tasty Treat is the epitome of disgusting and brutal. This fatality left me wondering if I should cheer or throw-up. It starts innocently enough with just a rough shove to the ground. Then before you now it, she is on top of the victim digging away their abdomen with her bare hands. The upper half of the loser tries to crawl away leaving their legs and a trail of intestines behind as Mileena turns them into an all you can eat buffet. The pure viciousness of the attack is enough to send chills down your spine. I can think of no worse way to die than being ripped apart and eaten.
