The 3D era of the Mortal Kombat series was a wild, experimental time. With a bunch of different fighting stances and game modes, there was no shortage of new ideas being thrown at the series, and that extends to its cast of characters.
Unfortunately, many of them haven't appeared since 2006's Mortal Kombat Armageddon (the game that did "everyone is here" before Smash Bros. Ultimate), and even fewer of them made it into the NetherRealm era. And while Mortal Kombat 1's timeline reset opens the door for many old faces to return, fans fear that they'll be reduced to Kameos, not full-fledged fighters.
Over on r/MortalKombat, fans are convinced that very few, if any, 3D-era characters will make it onto the main roster. Instead, they're worried that the Kameo system will be used for these older, less popular characters, saving the main roster for the NetherRealm-era cast.
"After [Ed] Boon said they were going to fix 3D era representation, they have to know how bad it'll look if they all get shoved into the Kameo roster," says Reddit user bobface222, a little more optimistic than the rest. "I refuse to believe they're that oblivious."
Others, however, aren't as convinced. "Given the past decade, they are clearly that oblivious," replies BRN99. "We are definitely getting most 3D era characters as assists and not actual characters."
Over on Twitter, just to show how underserved the 3D fanbase is feeling, @JustMKollum shared a list of all of the characters from this period that haven't been playable since Mortal Kombat went back to 2D gameplay.
Sadly, it doesn't seem that 3D-era fans should hold their breath. If a leaked Amazon store page is to be believed, then we already know that Mavado, introduced in Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance, will be a Kameo character, not a proper fighter. He will apparently be joined by Khameleon, Ferra, and weirdly enough, Johnny Cage. Johnny has actually been confirmed for the base game roster thought, so it's likely a different version of him, perhaps from the future. Either that, or being a Kameo fighter doesn't actually hurt your chances of getting into the big leagues. So not all hope is lost.