Longtime fans of the Mortal Kombat series of fighting games got some good news on Friday, with series creator Ed Boon seeming to confirm that some well-loved classic characters will be returning soon. That’s right: Johnny Cage and Sonya Blade will be back for Mortal Kombat X , it’s just about guaranteed.
With Mortal Kombat X being set 25 years after the events of Mortal Kombat 9 , fans were anxious to see if all of the classic characters that have been with the Kombat series since the beginning would be able to make the jump. Sure, Scorpion is a hellspawn and Kano has cybernetic implants, but Johnny Cage and Sonya are mere mortals. The news that Cassie Cage — daughter of Johnny and Sonya — would be appearing in the game led some to believe that maybe Johnny and Sonya had hung up the gloves.
Not so, according to Total Xbox . Speaking with Ed Boon at Gamescom, Total Xbox got Boon to partly spill the beans on whether or not Mortal Kombat X was going to ditch a ton of its classic characters.
“To me personally,” Boon admitted, “part of the magic of introducing Cassie Cage is to see her interact with her mother, Sonya, and father, Johnny Cage. I think it would be, story-wise, a lost opportunity if we didn’t show that. So we haven’t announced the characters, but because Cassie Cage is in it doesn’t mean that her parents are not in the game.”
So it’s not a full-on confirmation that Mortal Kombat X will have Johnny Cage and Sonya as playable characters, but it seems like Boon would have been a bit more dismissive of the notion if there weren’t some possibility that we’ll be playing as those two characters when Mortal Kombat X launches in 2015.
Joining Johnny and Sonya will be other Mortal Kombat mainstays like Raiden, Kano , Sub-Zero, and — of course — Scorpion. One of the new features for Mortal Kombat X will be the addition of three different fighting styles for each character. Each style will have its own strengths and weaknesses, allowing players to further customize their playing styles.
Kano in MKX #KANO #MORTALKOMBAT #MKX pic.twitter.com/uFjjXBVgDm
— Ryan (@westkoastkilla) August 3, 2014
There’s no firm release date yet for Mortal Kombat X , but we will keep you updated as news on the series emerges. Let us know if you’re excited to see Johnny Cage and Sonya seemingly confirmed for the next Mortal Kombat installment. We’re a little bit psyched that Cage’s nut punch won’t suffer a fatality in the jump to the next console generation.
