Midway was in a corner. It was 2006, the PS2 era was screaming toward its end, and the team had a wild idea: "Everyone is here." Long before Nintendo used that tag for Smash Bros, Mortal Kombat Armageddon tried to cram over 60 fighters into a single disc. It was a massive undertaking. Too massive, honestly. To make it work, the developers had to kill one of the most iconic parts of the franchise. They axed the unique, character-specific finishers and replaced them with the "Kreate-A-Fatality" system.
If you played it back then, you remember the shock. For the first time since 1992, Scorpion didn’t take off his mask to breathe fire. Sub-Zero didn’t freeze your liver and shatter it. Instead, everyone did the same mini-game. You’d rip an arm off, wait for a timer, rip the other arm off, and then maybe pop the head like a grape. It was weird. It was polarizing.
Looking back from 2026, the Mortal Kombat Armageddon fatalities represent a strange fork in the road for fighting games. Was it a lazy shortcut or a misunderstood bit of "player agency"? Let's get into the guts of it.
The Mechanics of the Kreate-A-Fatality System
The system worked like a deadly LEGO set. Once "Finish Him" flashed on the screen, you didn't just input a single code like Down, Forward, Low Punch. You entered a state where you could chain up to ten different "mini-moves."
The logic was simple. You had a timer bar that would reset every time you landed a hit, but—and here’s the kicker—it would deplete faster with every subsequent move. If the timer ran out before you performed a "Finisher" move, the opponent just fell over. No blood, no glory, just a lame flop.
✨ Don't miss: All Might Crystals Echoes of Wisdom: Why This Quest Item Is Driving Zelda Fans Wild
How the Chains Actually Worked
The moves were categorized by the opponent’s position. You could transition between these states to prolong the torture:
- Forward: The default standing position.
- Behind: You’ve spun them around.
- Knees: They’re dazed on the ground.
- Face Down/Face Up: For the final indignities.
Basically, a "pro" fatality involved doing a few limb rips, kicking them in the groin (Down, Down, X on PS2), spinning them around, and then ending with a Spine Rip (Down, Down, Circle). If you managed to hit 11 chains, you’d get the "Ultimate Fatality" rank. It felt rewarding for about five minutes, then you realized everyone from Liu Kang to a literal zombie version of him was doing the exact same motions.
Why Mortal Kombat Armageddon Fatalities Split the Fanbase
The community didn't take this change lightly. For many, the "soul" of Mortal Kombat is the personality of the finishers. When you take away the individual flair, the characters start to feel like palette swaps.
Midway's logic was purely logistical. With 62 characters, giving everyone two unique fatalities would have meant animating over 120 high-fidelity cinematics. In 2006, on that hardware, it just wasn't going to happen. They chose quantity (the roster) over quality (the finishers).
🔗 Read more: The Combat Hatchet Helldivers 2 Dilemma: Is It Actually Better Than the G-50?
The "Generic" Problem
The biggest gripe? The animations. Watching a character like Princess Kitana—known for her grace and fans—suddenly start ripping out ribs with her bare hands like a mindless brute was jarring. It broke the "lore" of the fight.
There were some exceptions, though. Certain "Boss" characters like Onaga, Goro, and Kintaro had unique boss-tier chains. They felt heavier and more destructive. Also, if your character had a sword, you could pull it out (Up, Down, Up, Square) and get access to a completely different set of decapitation moves.
Fatalities for the Modern "Everything" Game
Is the Kreate-A-Fatality system better than nothing? Maybe. If you’re a fan of the 3D era, you probably appreciate that Armageddon even exists. It’s a museum of MK history. But the "genericization" of the finishers is why we haven't seen this system return in MK9, MKX, or the newer reboots.
NetherRealm (the successor to Midway) learned that fans would rather have 25 characters with incredible, cinematic finishers than 60 characters who all share the same kill-list.
💡 You might also like: What Can You Get From Fishing Minecraft: Why It Is More Than Just Cod
Key Inputs You Might Have Forgotten
If you're dusting off an old console or running an emulator, keep these "Finisher" inputs in mind to actually end the match:
- Neck Break: Back, Back, Circle (Standing)
- Head Rip: Up, Up, Circle (Standing)
- Spine Rip: Down, Down, Circle (Standing)
- Torso Rip: Forward, Back, Circle (Standing)
If you don't use one of these "Finishers," you won't get the kill. You'll just get a "Fatality Failed" vibe that feels worse than losing the match.
The Mortal Kombat Armageddon fatalities remain a fascinating experiment in "procedural" gore. It was a bold attempt to give players control over the violence, but it ultimately proved that in fighting games, character identity is king.
If you're looking to revisit the game, your best bet is to focus on the Konquest mode or the "Motor Kombat" kart racing. Those aged way better than the custom finishers. To truly master the system today, try to see how many transitions you can fit into one go—getting to that "Ultimate" rank still requires some pretty fast fingers and a solid memory of the transition codes.
Next Step: Dig into the "Kreate-A-Fighter" mode. While the fatalities were a bit of a letdown, the character creator in Armageddon was actually way ahead of its time and lets you build some truly cursed designs that make the generic fatalities feel a bit more at home.