One of the big draws of Mortal Kombat X has been the game's new characters. While most fighting games are content to introduce one or two new faces, Mortal Kombat X devotes a third of its entire roster to first-time fighters. Newcomers like Takeda, Kung Jin and Cassie Cage fit in well with the rest of the fighters, and fans have been quick to embrace the new faces.
Unfortunately, there is one drawback to introducing so many new characters: along the way, some old favorites just weren't going to make the cut. Fan-favorites like Noob Saibot, Cyrax and Kabal are nowhere to be found in Mortal Kombat X...though fans were surprised to see that some characters were in the game, just not in a playable state. Baraka, Sindel and Rain all make appearances in Mortal Kombat X's story, but aside from a few brief fights (and one disturbing Fatality), the characters are basically non-playable bosses.
Except for the PC version, that is, where one modder managed to bring all three characters into the game's Training mode:
Now, before you get excited: no, the characters are not hidden within the game's code. Not technically, anyways.
Anyone who's played through Mortal Kombat X's story mode knows that these three characters are actually pretty fleshed out. They're not as complex as the game's core fighters, but it seems as if most of the character's movesets from Mortal Kombat 9 have been transferred over. This means that, if the characters were made playable, you wouldn't be limited to one or two scripted moves.
Reddit user XVermillion noticed this and pulled the old switcheroo: by overriding Shinnok's in-game files with that of Rain's, the game is basically tricked into letting players use the purple ninja (or either of the other two characters), with most of his moves intact. It's not perfect, as the characters don't have Fatalities, and some of their special attacks don't work properly - that being said, for players that really want to use these characters, the switch isn't all that tough to pull off.
If you're going to try this, be warned: messing around with the game's files could end up corrupting the game, which could render it unplayable. Make sure to back up any files you plan to override, and be prepared to reinstall the game.
Clearly, these characters were never meant to be playable - NetherRealm would have included them on the roster if that were the case. Don't expect to see an official release any time soon, either: Baraka, Sindel and Rain simply aren't as fleshed-out or balanced as the other fighters, and NetherRealm would have to figure out how to patch them into the console versions of the game, too.
That being said, this is probably the first time players have gone out of their way to play as Rain. Who knew that all it took to make a character popular was to make them unplayable?
Mortal Kombat X is available now on PC, Xbox One and PlayStation 4.
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