Mortal Kombat X

Mortal Kombat X on mobile is not a direct port of the console fighting game, but a standalone card game that turns the series' iconic killers – Scorpion, Sub-Zero, Raiden, and others – into collectible cards grouped into teams. Fights play out semi-automatically: the player triggers attacks and characters' special abilities by tapping, while deeper strategy comes from choosing a lineup, upgrading cards, and their faction composition, not from classic manual combos like on console.

The game was released in 2015 by NetherRealm Studios alongside the big console entry and also worked as its promotional companion – players could unlock characters tied to the console version and follow the same story framework from a different angle. The model is free-to-play with an energy system, collecting cards from packs similar to gacha, and microtransactions to speed up progress, which is fairly typical for mobile fighting games derived from big brands.

Transferring the series' brutal aesthetic and fatalities into a card format was, at the time, an unusual experiment that showed big fighting franchises can be adapted to mobile even outside the classic one-on-one genre. Regularly adding new cards tied to the console game's current content also kept players in the loop between the series' major releases.

Why play: Will appeal more to fans of the Mortal Kombat brand than to players looking for a classic fighting game; they should expect progress to depend heavily on collecting cards and waiting times.