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Once you finish off your opponent in Mortal Kombat games, you get to rip them apart in opposition to the fancy celebrations we see in other fighting games. Finishers are the signature of Mortal Kombat games, unique to its core. However, some of these Mortal Kombat Fatality moves are just either so simple or so cringe to watch, and here are the worst of them listed in this article. May the Elder Gods forgive me.
10. Liu Kang’s Cartwheel Uppercut
You can’t expect the best Fatality out of the very first Mortal Kombat game, but it has one of the worst in it. Liu Kang, the cartwheel uppercut master. There’s just nothing to this finisher. The Shaolin just kicks and uppercuts the opponent like you normally do other combos, and that’s it. Thankfully, they did redesign this finisher by making the enemies tear to pieces when they fall onto the ground in MK: Shaolin Monks, so justice is served somehow. This move is also featured in MK9 as Liu Kang’s X-ray attack but not as a finisher.
9. Liu Kang’s Face Smash
My favorite character here again. Liu Kang’s face smash Fatality in MK Vs. DC Universe is just one of the worst I’ve ever seen in a Mortal Kombat game. He punches the opponent, jumps onto their face, and starts kicking with a weird sound that still haunts me for funny reasons. Make the head look smashed, at least, goddamn it.
8. Raiden’s Shock Stick
Raiden picks you up with a stick like a marshmallow, and you get zapped. Nice. So much for a Thunder God, I’d say. The guy can literally electrocute you to the point that your bones collapse, but instead, he just zaps the enemy for less than 5 seconds and goes “Know what? I’m out.”
7. Kitana’s Kiss
I know that Mortal Kombat finishers are all about going crazy and doing something that the characters won’t do in normal matches, but why would you mess with the graphic design of the game for that? Kitana can kiss the opponent in the ear in Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance, and they puff several times. The idea could be cool, but the execution is awful with that camera zoom and animation.
6. Ermac’s Uppercut
One thing I can say to defend this Fatality move’s position here is that, at least the head falls off. It’s not Liu Kang’s version that only throws the opponent away but rather makes their head pop out. However, it’s still overwhelmingly simplistic, and the enemy’s body just standing there looks odd. Janet Cage also does this finisher in Mortal Kombat 1, but well, Ermac did it first.
5. Li Mei’s Confusion
There’s just something wrong with this finisher that I do not understand. Li Mei kicks the opponent in the stomach and then goes, “em… what should I do next?” After seconds of silence and puzzlement, she kicks the enemy in the head. That’s how you make one of the worst Fatality moves in a Mortal Kombat game.
4. Liu Kang’s Rage
Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks has some of the funniest and yet brutal finishers of all time. Now this podium could be reserved for Kung Lao’s rabbit smack finisher, but I have to give it to Liu Kang’s head smash Fatality move. It just makes players mad as they see Liu fire up and get so damn angry and then, click, off goes the head.
3. Kobra’s… Whatever This Is
Mortal Kombat: Deception deserves a medal for the worst Fatality moves in one game. It feels like 3D era’s MK characters don’t know what to do with their helpless opponent and come up with an idea in the middle of the finisher. Kobra hits the opponent in the head a few times after a grapple and just like Li Mei, he starts thinking about what he has done. Seconds of confusion and pop go the head; “Pathetic.”
2. Quan Chi’s Daily Stretch
Why should one of the most evil sorcerers of Outworld jump on someone’s back like a monkey and stretch their head? What’s that animation people? Why? I’m not even mad; I’m confused. This is just not the way a Mortal Kombat finisher works. It was supposed to be brutal, not to mess with the game’s design.
1. Kano’s Stomp
You thought Quan Chi’s yoga classes were peak? Kano has got something way worse in MK Vs DC Universe. Mortal Kombat has always had a form of grapple attack where you can just grab your opponent and break their defense. Yeah, it’s Kano’s finisher in this game. Mortal Kombat 1‘s normal grapple moves are deadlier than this Fatality by Kano. The man has a laser eye, knives, and the power to rip the opponent apart, and yet we get to see him jump on the enemy like a gymnast and deal, like, 5 percent damage.
