Mortal Kombat 1 Pre-Order Beta Has Players Loving Johnny Cage's Big Combos and Sunglasses Finishes

ign.com:

The Mortal Kombat 1 pre-order beta went live for Xbox and PS5 players on Friday, bringing with it multiple new characters for players to try as well as some returning stalwarts. The most popular of them so far seems to be Johnny Cage, who is winning over fans with big celebrity energy, big combos, and surprise sunglasses finishers.

Over on the Mortal Kombat subreddit, one of the top posts has the plaintive title, "This win cost me 500$." It shows Li Mei on the verge of finishing off Johnny, only for his sunglasses to flip through the air and hit her square in the face.

"He’s tons of fun in the beta, I tried everyone but I didn’t expect Johnny to click so well," the player wrote.

Another thread title gushes, "The quips, the mesmerising fatal, the phone. Johnny is top tier!" It features match highlights of Cage launching a powerful attack on Sub-Zero to chants of "Johnny, Johnny, Johnny," at one point smashing him into the camera.

"As a Johnny main since Mk1...the first one lol, Cage is SO f*ckin good in this game," one player wrote. "I miss the fireball, but everything else about him is golden. Hes [sic] fast, he pressures, the new shadow effects are so cool looking, hes [sic] perfect, every minute detail, perfect."

Johnny Cage has been a series stalwarts since the original Mortal Kombat, where he was modeled after then-superstar action hero Jean-Claude Van Damme. His complicated biography includes being killed by the forces of Shao Khan and revived multiple times, at one point filming a movie titled "The Death of Johnny Cage."

In Mortal Kombat 1, which features a rebooted universe courtesy of Liu Kang, Cage is in possession of a sacred sword when he's recruited by the newly-minted Fire God.

Cage joins Kenshi, Kitana, Liu Kang,