Mortal Kombat 1 will have 24 characters in its main story, 15 of which have been revealed so far. When taking into account characters spotted in trailers or rumoured by insiders, that leaves only two spots left that are completely unknown.
This comes as the list of fighters fans want to see in the story continues to grow. Now, we know that there are definitely not going to be enough spaces on the starting roster to go around, inevitably leading to some disappointment. With popular requests like Jade, Sonya, Cyrax, and Sektor not included in the leaks, there's definitely going to be some fierce competition for those final two slots.
This confirmation of 24 fighters comes from an interview with story director Dominic Cianciolo. Speaking with Temple of Geek, Cianciolo was asked how the team crafts stories with such a large cast.
"We have 24 characters in the game, and not all of them can have the same amount of screentime, and so you’re trying to make things pop as much as possible," says Cianciolo. "It’s a real challenge because the roster gets decided not just by myself, we got Ed [Boon], we ask everyone in the studio who [they want to see come back] and the fans."
Cianciolo further explains that the main story won't be the only way we explore the narrative of Mortal Kombat 1. He says that pre-fight banter and ladder endings will also give us more insight into the characters, as they have in the past.
Assuming that roster of 24 doesn't count pre-order bonus Shang Tsung, that leaves us with nine fully unconfirmed characters. However, many of these have been taken up with characters that are largely assumed to be in the game at this point. This includes Sindel, Reiko, and General Shao (previously Shao Kahn) who have either been spotted or mentioned in previous trailers. Then, we have Ashrah, Havik, Nitara, and Repitile, who are rumoured. So far, the rumours have been pretty spot on, even calling Homelander, Peacemaker, and Omni-Man's inclusion in the first wave of DLC.
With that taken into consideration, there's room for two more surprises. Going by the most vocal fans on Twitter, it certainly seems like many want Jade to get one of those spots. She was mentioned in pre-fight banter between Liu Kang and Kitana, so it certainly seems that she has a high chance of making the roster. As for the legions of fans asking for Sonya, she's already a Kameo, so it's not clear how likely she is to be a main fighter. Sure enough, there are others who are both Kameos and fighters, but they were announced for the roster first.
We know Mortal Kombat 1 will be shown off at EVO, so we're likely to see the roster grow as soon as this Thursday. Until then, fans will keep placing their bets and begging for their main to make the cut.