Two new fighters have been spotted in a Mortal Kombat 1 preview, bringing back older characters that haven't made it on the roster in years. In some unreleased footage shown exclusively at San Diego Comic-Con, Motaro and Reiko are revealed to be in the game, with Motaro starting a fight against Li Mei.
The last part of the preview seems to show a cutscene transitioning seamlessly into a battle against Motaro, suggesting the fighter could be playable too. Reiko's appearance hints that he could at least make it in as a Kameo fighter, which would make it his first (semi) playable role since Mortal Kombat: Armageddon.
Unlike other Comic-Con reveals, this preview hasn't been shared on the Mortal Kombat YouTube channel yet. However, one generous attendee went to the effort of live streaming it from their phone, so we can get a peak at what was shown off after the main event.
Here, it's also revealed that Motaro and Reiko and serving General Shao (previously known as Shao Kahn), who is apparently being manipulated into overthrowing Mileena by Shang Tsung. The pair attempt to stop Li Mei and Liu Kang from warning the empress and bolstering her defences.
The best part of all of this is that Motaro has his classic, more horse-like appearance back. For his 3D-era look, he was redesigned as a two-legged minitour, dropping the four-legged, two-human arms hybrid thing he had going on in Mortal Kombat 3. However, with the timeline reset, he has been restored as a centaur. It will be interesting to see how NetherRealm balances such a beefy character since he could take up the most space in the ring.
Reiko is pretty loyal to his character roots too, so much so that everyone in the crowd instantly knew who he was when he was shown on screen. There's quite a lot of excitement in the room when they appear, which is understandable given how much they were overlooked in the first NetherRealm-era timeline reboot.
Unlike other characters, it doesn't look like their allegiances and personalities are changing too much. Both are working for General Shao, just as they served Shao Kahn in previous games. It's not clear if they will play a significant role in the story, or just show up in this scene as a roadblock for Liu Kang and Li Mei. I'd go with the latter, since they haven't exactly had a glossy reveal so far, so it would be strange for them to be central characters.
In any case, we'll find out when Mortal Kombat 1 launches later this year, on September 19.