Mirror matches tend to stir up a whirlwind of controversy whenever they’re brought up in gaming circles. For some, a lot of these matchups serve as a validation of their superior skill, while others despise them due to the lack of variety. Regardless, game developers have gone to great lengths to explain how such matchups are possible, but none seem to have come up with a better (and wittier) explanation than NetherRealm Studios.
Reddit user _dreamsdontdie_ posted a video of the studio’s upcoming game Mortal Kombat 1 showcasing a showdown between two versions of Kung Lao. However, when the duo clashes before the mirror match begins, one of the Kung Lao exclaims, “Amazing! You look just like me, Johnny!” before the other retorts, “Gotta love those Hollywood makeup wizards.”
NRS WHAT WERE YOU THINKING???!!!
byu/_dreamsdontdie_ inMortalKombat
Essentially, what NetherRealm Studios is trying to convey is that the real Kung Lao is in fact engaged in combat with Johnny Cage, who has been skillfully transformed with makeup to emulate Kung Lao’s appearance.
This explanation takes the cake for being the most bizarre we’ve seen in the series, yet it also stands out as one of the best due to its basis in reality. For those MK fans who might have forgotten Johnny Cage’s character background, here’s a quick refresher.
The first Mortal Kombat character to be created was, in fact, Johnny Cage, and the original game’s testing phase had a match-up involving two Cage characters. As for his character description, Cage embodies a Hollywood superstar who’s notably self-absorbed and contributes a comic facet to the storyline. Given this, it’s entirely consistent with his persona for Cage to employ makeup as a strategy to mirror the appearance of his opponent.
NetherRealm Studios has always made great efforts to try to explain the possibility of mirror matches. Mortal Kombat X, for example, rationalized these unique matches as the convergence of different timelines, or in the case of ninja characters such as Reptile, they were attributed to Chameleon’s abilities of mimicry.
In Mortal Kombat 11, NetherRealm Studios upped the ante by using past incarnations of various characters to set up mirror matches.
As of the time of writing, it’s yet to be confirmed if all interactions between characters dueling against their “twins” in Mortal Kombat 1 will use the Johnny Cage makeup disguise.
We can only hope that once the game launches on September 14, we’ll get to see more clever answers for similar mirror matches involving other characters. Perhaps Johnny Cage’s clash with his Jean-Claude Van Damme alternate will have its own unique expository dialogue.
