—Mavado's Mortal Kombat: Armageddon Bio Card |
Mavado is a character in the Mortal Kombat fighting game series. He made his debut in Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance. He returned as the fourth DLC Kameo Fighter in Mortal Kombat 1.
About Mavado
Introduced in Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance, Mavado in many respects embodies the underworld antipode of Kano. Where as Kano seems to rely mainly on scare tactics and brute force, Mavado relies on discipline and superior intelligence to fight.[1] In battle, he uses a pair of signature grappling hooks to augment his attacks, allowing him to propel himself quickly around the arena.[1] Mavado is a leading figure, second only to Daegon, within the Red Dragon, which the games reveal to be an ancient criminal organization whose existence is known only to its members, and whose most prominent rivals are the Black Dragon, an offshoot of the Red Dragon which was led by Kano but is now reformed under the leadership of Kabal.[2] Mavado is depicted as a vicious, pitiless, and cruel crimelord.
Appearance
Mavado wears a long black leather trench coat with a red interior and silver shoulder pads. On the back of his cape is the Red Dragon symbol. He wears long black pants with spiked metal boots. Under his trench coat are grappling hooks, used for planting in the ground and striking his opponent.
As alternate costume, Mavado wears an outfit similar to knight in shining armour. He has a red mouth mask and armoured plating on his chest that looks like chain mail.
Combat characteristics
Powers and abilities
Unlike the other Red and Black Dragon characters in the series, Mavado does not appear to have any supernatural powers or enhancements done to his body. Nevertheless, he is a very formidable opponent indeed. Like Kabal, Mavado fights ruthlessly while maintaining a levelled head, but appears to be much more collected in this aspect, besting him in kombat and taking his hookswords as trophies. While he is fairly good with these weapons, his personal weapon comes in the form of elastic whips with steel hooks attached to them. These whips seem to be especially sturdy, as they are able to support the body weight of an average adult male. Although he uses them to propel himself across vast distances, oddly enough, he never targets his enemies with these hooks. The soles of his shoes are equipped with retractable razor-sharp spikes, which can give him better traction, or give him the fatal edge with his attacks.
In addition to his expertise in weapons, he is also very mobile, notably when it comes to jumping. For instance, he is able to jump at a very high height in different situations such as in the Mortal Kombat X comic series. He is also able to somehow add up his strength in his physical attacks.
Signature moves
- Grapple Hook Strike: Mavado catapults himself with his ropes at the opponent, kicking his opponent. (MK:DA, MK:TE, MK:A)
- Change Sides Hook: Mavado uses his ropes to evade the opponent's attack by swinging to the side. (MK:DA, MK:TE, MK:A)
- Anger Management: A power-up move that adds strength to Mavado's physical attacks. (MK:A)
- Low Grapple Slide: Mavado flies forward with a low kick, using a grapple hook to anchor himself. This attack causes the opponent to trip face down to the ground. (MK:A)
- Escape Grapple: Mavado uses his grapple hooks to pull himself backward and out of harm's way. (MK:DA, MK:A)
- Trap Drop: Mavado sets an electromagnetic mine on the fightline that pulls the opponent in and hits them with an electrical surge once they're within its range, electrocuting them and leaving them open for attacks. (MK1)
- Nomad's Touch: Mavado appears behind the opponent and puts his hand on their shoulder, then uses a grappling hook to pull his partner towards the opponent to make them bump against each other and fall to the ground. (MK1)
- Nindrop: Mavado appears above the opponent in the air and drops down, using hooks to speed up his fall and making the opponent bounce off the ground. This attack can only be performed on a juggled opponent. (MK1)
- Best Feet Forward: Mavado appears behind the opponent and hits them in the back with a flying kick. This attack can only be performed on a juggled opponent. (MK1)
- Just Dessert: Mavado appears behind his partner and launches forward with a flying kick. This attack can only be performed if the main fighter Flawlessly Blocks an incoming attack and costs 2 bars of Super Meter to perform. (MK1)
- Sliding Home: Mavado charges in and transitions into a low slide, striking the prone opponent with his foot. This attack can only be performed on a knocked down opponent. (MK1)
Fatal Blow
- Kameo Fatal Blow: Once the player hits their opponent, Mavado proceeds to them with a backflip, then sticks his hook claws into the ground before launching himself and stomping their eye sockets with the heel of his boots. As he jumps off them, the opponent backflips to stand up as a result, allowing the player to continue the fatal blow.
Other Moves
- Rubberband Feet: Mavado steps up on the opponent's knee and jumps up, anchoring himself to the ground with the grappling hooks and hitting them with a front dropkick. (MK:DA, MK:A)
- Dragon Killer (Kameo Throw): Mavado slides under the opponent's feet, launching them into the air. He then jumps up and anchors himself to the ground with grappling hook, flying down and smashing the opponent into the ground with his feet. (MK1)
Fatalities
- Kick Thrust: Mavado sticks his hook claws into the ground as he stretches himself far back from his opponent. He then lifts his legs up, and as he does, a spike sticks out of each of his boots. He then releases himself and his feet hit his opponent, the spikes impaling them upon doing so. He then takes each foot off of his fallen victim, with one of the spikes taking an internal organ out of the victim's body. In MK1, as he launched himself, he knocks the opponent's upper body off their pelvis. (MK:DA, MK:TE, MK1)
- In MK1, this Fatality is renamed as Katapult.
Bruatalities
- Chest Pains: Mavado performs his Kameo Throw and after slamming down on the opponent starts stabbing them in the chest with a boot blade before caving their face in with a stomp. (MK1)
- Belly Pop: Mavado performs Nomad's Touch and launches the opponent into his partner with such force their upper body is destroyed. (MK1)
Character development
Mavado's name was originally going to be "Malvado", which is Spanish and Portuguese for "evil" or "malevolent".[3] At first, his character was going to be portrayed as a matador-type fighter, but developers felt that this look didn't fit well into the Mortal Kombat series. Since they were not pleased with this direction, Mavado's appearance was given a complete overhaul, aiming towards a darker persona.[4]
Game information
Mavado had a cameo appearance in Mortal Kombat: Deception's Konquest mode in which the player, as Shujinko, finds him looking for an assassin to work for the Red Dragon clan in Edenia.[5] The assassin would end up being Hsu Hao.[6] Mavado is also found in Orderrealm, willing to trade for red koins.[7]
Trivia
General
- Despite the Red Dragon clan being in existence before the Mortal Kombat tournament (along with their rivals the Black Dragon clan), Mavado and Hsu Hao were the first Red Dragon members to be featured in the series with the release of Deadly Alliance in 2002.
- In the Deadly Alliance Krypt, he has a company called Red Dragon Ent. in which he acts as an "assassin-for-hire."
Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance
- Has the same voice actor as Sub-Zero.
- In his Wing Chun style, Mavado has a hidden attack that is not named in his move list. It is a standard spinning backfist, and is performed by hitting Back+Throw.
Mortal Kombat: Deception
- He is one of the characters that appears in one of the cells in the Dark Prison stage.
- He is one of the characters that can be found in the Krypt.
- His corpse can be seen in the background of Kabal's alternate costume biography, having been impaled with a hooksword.
- He makes an appearance in the Konquest Mode in Orderrealm and Edenia.
Mortal Kombat: Armageddon
- Despite Kabal having his hookswords back, Mavado still uses the same hookswords. This was most likely done to ensure Mavado had a weapon style for the game.
- While not outright revealed, it is possible that either Kabal or Mavado acquired replacement hookswords while one of them still uses Kabal's originals.
- He was given an additional power-up special move called Anger Management.
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Mavado's Konquest Mode Text. Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance, Midway Games, 2002.
- ↑ Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance biography
- ↑ Mavado Sketch. Official Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance website (2002). Retrieved on 2007-02-03.
- ↑ Mavado's Bio Card. Mortal Kombat: Armageddon Premium Edition Bonus Disc, Midway Games, 2006.
- ↑ Mavado: "You know of an assassin for hire? I have been searching for such a man to use in infiltrating the Special Forces in Earthrealm." Konquest mode. Mortal Kombat: Deception, Midway Games, 2004.
- ↑ Hsu Hao: "I am Hsu Hao. I am an assassin and have been searching for someone in need of my talents." Konquest mode. Mortal Kombat: Deception, Midway Games, 2004.
- ↑ Mavado: "I am Mavado of the Red Dragon Clan in Earthrealm. Our organization is stockpiling red koins for use in covert activities. I have 500 koins that I will gladly trade you for 1000 red koins." Konquest mode. Mortal Kombat: Deception, Midway Games, 2004.
