Mortal Kombat 1's Kameo system might restore hope for crossover characters like Batman

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"It certainly opens the door"

Injustice 2
(Image credit: NetherRealm Studios)

The developers of Mortal Kombat 1 seem just as excited as we are for the possibility that the new game's Kameo Fighter system might open the door for a bigger array of crossover characters.

Mortal Kombat has often included characters from other franchises - Peacemaker, Homelander, and Omni-Man are all scheduled for the new game's DLC, for example. But MK's brutal fatalities tend to make rights holders squeamish about licensing their characters for appearances in the series. It's tough to imagine, say, Marvel wanting to put Spider-Man in a game where somebody might reach into his neck and rip out his entire spinal cord.

But Mortal Kombat 1's Kameo Fighter system, which sees characters pop into the battle for quick tag-team moves, wouldn't have that problem. "I've been kind of saying, 'You know, we could theoretically have Batman in here.' You don't do any fatalities on the Kameo characters," Mortal Kombat lead Ed Boon tells GamesRadar+. "That'd be a little bit of a challenge because it'd have to live up to Mortal Kombat, but it certainly opens the door for that."

GR+: [Kameo Fighters] feels like a perfect sort of system to allow guest characters that maybe the rights holders don't want their heads being ripped off.

Kirtzic: I can't agree with you more!

GR+: It seems like the perfect opportunity for that sort of–

Kirtzic: It really, really does. 

GR+: Okay. Just–

Kirtzic: Let's high five on that!

We also got a look at Mortal Kombat 1's new single-player Invasions mode.

Dustin Bailey
Dustin Bailey
Staff Writer

Dustin Bailey joined the GamesRadar team as a Staff Writer in May 2022, and is currently based in Missouri. He's been covering games (with occasional dalliances in the worlds of anime and pro wrestling) since 2015, first as a freelancer, then as a news writer at PCGamesN for nearly five years. His love for games was sparked somewhere between Metal Gear Solid 2 and Knights of the Old Republic, and these days you can usually find him splitting his entertainment time between retro gaming, the latest big action-adventure title, or a long haul in American Truck Simulator.

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