Designing Fan-Favorite Kombatant Takeda Takahashi for Mortal Kombat 1 - Xbox Wire (2024)

Almost 10 years ago, a Mortal Kombat fan-favorite and future legend was born. Of course, I am talking about Takahashi Takeda – and he’s now ready to join the rest of the kombatants in Mortal Kombat 1.

Takeda first debuted in Mortal Kombat X (2015) as the son of Kenshi who was trained by Scorpion and the Shirai Ryu clan. Takeda battled his enemies with two bladed metal whips, which could be deployed and retracted at will. His flashy, high-tech and acrobatic fighting style – coupled with a brash and slightly arrogant attitude – made him an unforgettable addition to the Mortal Kombat Universe.

Takeda’s origin camein 2014, when we met to review initial art concepts and the details of his backstory. From the very beginning, we knew we wanted the core of his fight style to revolve around the uniqueness and utility of the whips, while also showcasing clues to Takeda’s roots through kombat. Much of his design evolved from there, with the flashy style and tech-based elements emerging as we started developing motions in the motion capture studio. Fast-forward to Mortal Kombat 1, the design goal now was to build off the original foundation we created and take the compelling elements that worked well in Mortal Kombat X – but amplify them to a new level.

When it came to designing Takeda in Mortal Kombat 1, the challenge was to determine how far we wanted to change the character and what direction to go, especially given how varied his attacks were across his character variations in Mortal Kombat X. It became clear early on that distilling the character down to what we felt are his core essentials, while introducing new complements to his kit, was the best way to equip Takeda.

We wanted these complements to be new attacks inspired by gameplay elements found in Mortal Kombat X. For instance, his new dash attack is reminiscent of the run ability every character had in Mortal Kombat X, whereby he can zoom toward the opponent and cancel out into specific unique attacks. In addition to that, he has two new utility special moves, the first being the use of his whips to grapple and propel himself forward – almost like some of the jump interactables found in various stages in Mortal Kombat X. As Takeda swings to propel himself forward, he can not only cancel into his air attacks, but also use this move as a mobility tool, combo extender, and way to set up for other attacks. Along with this, Takeda has a separate attack where he can swing forward into a full-screen launching kick attack, an homage to the interactable found on the right side of The Kove stage in Mortal Kombat X.

Gameplay-wise, Takeda is a space control and mix-up character who relies on his whip attacks to strike opponents at range. Along with that, he was designed to function inherently as a flashy character with the intention of fostering boundless creative options, namely in how players decide to string combos together. Takeda also possesses several set-up options utilizing his new shuriken attacks. Previously, Takeda could throw an explosive shuriken toward the ground that detonated on impact. In Mortal Kombat 1, Takeda now can throw up to six shuriken and embed them in the ground without exploding. However, when one of these embedded shuriken is hit with an explosive one, it can detonate any other shuriken nearby, creating a chain reaction leading to big combo potential.

We could not be more excited for the opportunity to bring Takeda back to players in Mortal Kombat 1. Working on this character was a great experience for us that brought back a lot of memories from when we were working on Mortal Kombat X. We hope everyone enjoys Takeda and we look forward to seeing all the creative combos players discover.

Takeda Takahashi is available now as part of the early access period for Mortal Kombat 1 Kombat Pack owners on Xbox Series X|S, followed by wide availability on July 30.