Get over here! Mortal Kombat X is coming to iOS

There were other games I enjoyed growing up, but the Mortal Kombat franchise was the first series of games I ever loved: from the cool character designs of Scorpion, Kano, Goro and the rest, to the ultra-violent Fatalities, which made the games seem so much more grown-up than the rival Street Fighter II titles.

Is there any better news, then, than the fact that more than twenty years after its inception, Mortal Kombat is finally coming to mobile, courtesy of a port of the forthcoming Mortal Kombat X? Provided this is done well, it could be early pick of most exciting iOS game of the year.

Color me (cautiously) optimistic. And check out the trailer after the jump.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sF_LkhjaLAM

Why only “cautiously” optimistic then? Because according to the press release I was sent, the iOS version of Mortal Kombat X is set to be a “free-to-play fighting/card-battler hybrid,” recalling part attempts to move Mortal Kombat into uncomfortable new genres as was the case with 1997’s misjudged platformer Mortal Kombat Mythologies: Sub-Zero.

“NetherRealm Studios has created a Mortal Kombat X mobile experience that allows more players than ever before to play this over-the-top fighting game through their ever-present smartphones, tablets or other devices,” Mortal Kombat father Ed Boon said in a statement. “What’s more, we’ve expanded the unique cross-connectivity feature that links the mobile and console versions of Mortal Kombat X, delivering unique rewards to all players for simply playing the mobile game.”

The idea of linking together the app and console versions of the game sounds interesting in theory, but I’m not entirely sold on the idea of card-battlers. With that said, there are some surprisingly great ones out there (Yomi, for instance!), and the fact that Mortal Kombat X will include multiplayer teams, the aforementioned nightmare-inducing Fatalities, and classic characters confirmed to include Scorpion, Sub-Zero and Raiden means I’ll hold out hope.

Either way, we’ve not got long until we find out for sure.

Luke Dormehl

Luke Dormehl is a U.K.-based journalist and author, with a background working in documentary film for Channel 4 and the BBC. He is the author of The Apple Revolution and The Formula: How Algorithms Solve All Our Problems … and Create More, both published by Penguin/Random House. His tech writing has also appeared in Wired, Fast Company, Techmeme and other publications.