#1095 Mortal Kombat Deception (PS2) Hidden Characters (8/11): Hotaru playthrough.

Channel:

AdmiralMcFish - Bosses and Hidden Characters

Subscribers:

9,640

Published on October 14, 2019 8:47:40 PM ● Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WS5oN0aS7PM

Game:

Mortal Kombat: Deception (2004)

Category:

Let's Play

Duration: 8:39

1,182 views

0

A playthrough of the hidden character Hotaru in the PS2 version of Midway’s/Netherrealm’s Mortal Kombat Deception.

They did not even try when it came to this character. This is Hotaru’s only canonical playable appearance so far, and like most of the other newcomers to this game he feels like he was made to fill a spot, rather than to impress or wow you in any way. He has two special moves. Two. It’s the smallest special move list in the entire game. They might as well have just made him unplayable, as he’s basically little more than a generic character at his core. Oh, and one of his special moves is basically just a variation on Liu Kang’s Bicycle Kick. The other? It’s a relatively decent move which launches the opponent into the air, allowing for a follow-up juggle combo. Not bad to any extent, but definitely implemented just as a way to make Hotaru semi-viable as a character.

He honestly just feels borderline unfinished. None of his combos have more than three inputs! It’s genuinely bizarre just how poor of a character he actually is, shockingly so even.

Despite that though, despite all of that, he still plays fine. It’s a huge problem with the 3D MK games, and we’ll see it even more so in MK Armageddon, where after a while characters all just begin to blend into one another. Even an extremely simple, practically unfinished character like Hotaru is still vaguely viable as he still has a few combos, and a special move which allows for juggles.

One thing you’ll also notice with this playthrough is just how easy Onaga gets over time. He telegraphs his moves in a really obvious manner, and if you keep your distance to him after a while you’ll simply start to dodge of his ranged attacks on instinct, grab a kamidogu and then proceed to wail on him with a short but reliable combo, then rinse and repeat until dead. Hell, he’s basically a Dark Souls boss; looks pretty overpowered at first, but learn his patterns and his cues and he’s a cinch. It’s sort of hilarious, really.

On the whole, Hotaru is nothing to write home about, and definitely feels like a character meant to fill a gap more than anything else. That said, he's surprisingly competent, and I liked what they were going for with his design. With a bit more work he could have been a lot better, but instead he's stuck as a bit of a non-character as a result.

Next up, someone who is somehow even more generic.

Other Statistics