Ed Boon, the inventor of Mortal Kombat and the president of NetherRealm Studios, has revealed the guest fighter he would most want to see in one of the series’ future instalments. Mortal Kombat 11 was released in 2019, and although many people continue to play it, others are eager for a new instalment in the long-running genre. NetherRealm is working on an unknown new project, and although it could be anything, there are suspicions that the studio’s next game will be Mortal Kombat 12.
Mortal Kombat 12 or Injustice 3 were the two options that Ed Boon narrowed down on Twitter for NetherRealm’s next title. Boon has yet to reveal the title of the studio’s next game, although he has hinted that fans will learn more in 2023. If NetherRealm’s next game is Mortal Kombat 12, one would expect it to have a range of guest combatants, as is customary. It’s anyone’s guess who those guest combatants will be, but if Ed Boon had his way, it would be one specific character.
According to Comic Book, Ed Boon recently reacted on Twitter to a fan who asked him about his ideal guest fighter for a Mortal Kombat game. Ryu, the primary character of Capcom’s Street Combatant fighting game series, is Boon’s ideal Mortal Kombat guest fighter.
Ryu
— Ed Boon (@noobde) December 11, 2022
One of the most enduringly known video game characters ever, Ryu is also unquestionably one of the most recognisable fighting game characters. And, given that Mortal Kombat and Street Fighter are the two most popular fighting game series of all time, it seems to reason that Boon would want to see Ryu square off against characters like Scorpion in a new Mortal Kombat game. Even though the Street Fighter brand has already collaborated with other fighting game series, it is exceedingly improbable that Ryu would ever appear in a Mortal Kombat game.
If Ryu appeared in a Mortal Kombat game, he would be vulnerable to being ripped to pieces, pulled apart, and brutalised in horrifically terrible ways. The Street Fighter games aren’t afraid of violence, but they do it in a much more stylized fashion. It is doubtful that Capcom will lend Ryu to Mortal Kombat, where the over-the-top graphic violence might harm the Street Fighter brand’s reputation.
Ryu may appear in other video games, and Capcom is not opposed to this. Ryu is, in fact, a character in Super Smash Bros. Fans should not, however, hold their breath expecting Ryu to appear in Mortal Kombat.
