I'm more of a
Street Fighter fan than a
Mortal Kombat one, but I've always wanted the game to have
every playable character from
every game in the series. (Also, I wouldn't mind a proper numbering system, instead Hyper Alpha Turbo or whatever.) If a character was in there once, they're in for life! Maybe they get nerfed at some point, but I want the selection screen to be
massive. I think it would add something to the competitive nature of the matches, if half the time you were struggling to remember your opponent's name, yet alone special moves. Oh, and the
Darkstalkers,
X-Men: Children of the Atom, and
Marvel Super Heroes characters should be included as well; which would mean the return of someone from today's book! From 1992,
Conan the Barbarian #260, "The Second Coming of Shuma-Gorath!" Written by Roy Thomas, pencils by Mike Docherty, inks by Ricardo Villagrán.
As prophesized by numerous sources, Shuma-Gorath has returned to the Hyperborean Age, summoned by Kulan Gath (who's currently the bad guy in
Savage Avengers) and his bride, Vammatar, "witch queen of Hyperborea." Wait, I can accept monstrous eldrich horror from beyond time, but I can't accept Kulan Gath getting any. They may have betrayed each other centuries ago, but darn it, the feelings were still there, and they worked well together. Besides the alternative was losing control of Shuma and it eating their souls.
If they ever had control. They didn't.
Meanwhile, Conan and his companions find the iron-bound books that were used, in a bygone age, to summon the god Crom to banish Shuma-Gorath: Conan notes if Crom answered men's prayers that day, that was about the last time he would ever deign to. When Shuma turns on Kulan and Vammatar, they try to use their respective magic to fight back, and are seemingly incinerated. Not really having another play, Conan manages to block a blast from Shuma with the books, then Shuma tries to bribe the barbarian into giving the books up. Instead, Conan throws the books into a storm, where they are struck by lightning, and Shuma-Gorath is gone. How? Conan explains, maybe Crom imprisoned the demon again; or maybe you should ask a shaman or something, how the hell would he know? Well, it's a fair answer.
Of course there had to be a Deus Ex Machina at the end to defeat Shuma Gorath. No way even Conan was going to beat him. I will say though I prefer the later, cuter version of Gorath than this is one. Sure he looks like Starro's older brother, but at least he looks more...photogenic.
ReplyDeleteI remember playing him in the Marvel Superheroes arcade game since I wanted to see what his ending was like. He's a lot harder to play AS than against, at least that was the case for me.