As per one of his many catchphrases, the Terminator is back! Mortal Kombat 11's newest DLC character has been released and gamers are enjoying his brand of punishing high-damage attacks. However, not all is well in the Kombat sphere. Players have also noticed some similarities between the Terminator and Jason Voorhees from Mortal Kombat X. While not every move is verbatim the same, it appears that NetherRealm Studios has given the Terminator the same skill set as Jason. Even some of their special moves resemble each other in both design and effect.

With that in mind, let's take a look at his normal, combo strings, special moves, and anything else pertinent to find out how true this claim is.

NORMAL MOVES

For those who don't know, normal attacks are simply attacks where you only need to press one button while standing, ducking or jumping. To make things easier to follow, we will refer to front punch, back punch, front kick, and back kick as one, two, three and four, respectively.

First off, a few of the Terminator and Jason's punches look very similar, particularly their standing punches as well as their back two. They have similar properties, too. The same goes for the Terminator's kicks, however, some have been swapped. For example, Jason's shin kick is forward four in Mortal Kombat X but its forward three for the Terminator in Mortal Kombat 11.  Jason's jumping two resembles the Terminator's jumping punch as well as the jumping kick.

However, not every move is the same. For example, the throws for each character are different as the Terminator utilizes aspects of his gameplay that are unique to the character, and each character's down two, as the Terminator's isn't even a physical attack! Jason gains a downward slash attack that replaces another normal attack when he is in Slasher variation. The Terminator has this same style of move at all times, but since he never wields a machete or any other kind of melee weapon, it's just more of an overhead punch attack. It functions the same way, however, both moves pop the opponent in the air to set up for a combo. So, they're aesthetically different but animated and functioning the same.

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SPECIAL MOVES

Both characters have a lot of special moves and ultimately both have a combination of similar, modified and completely different ones. Stuff like Jason's Machete Toss and the Terminator's Ion Grenades are completely different from each other. However, moves like Jason's Killing Machine and the Terminator's Terminate ability are exactly the same. In fact, this isn't entirely applicable as variations are handled differently in each game but Jason's Relentless variation is in many ways the same as the Terminator's Violent Machinations preset variation. Both have the Killing Machine/Terminate and Damned/Exoskeleton ability, which operates the same way for each character.

Then there are the moves that are the same but modified. These come in two flavors: There are moves that are aesthetically the same but have changed properties and moves that are functionally the same but are aesthetically different. A good example of the first one is Jason's Lake Mist and the Terminator's T.D.E. abilities. Both of these moves look the same. Both characters turn away from the opponent, walk through something that obscures them (for Jason, it's mist and for the Terminator, it's a portal), and then reappear on the other side of the opponent. Both function in the same way and even have the same meter burn, but the Terminator has the added ability to determine when he reappears. He has added functionality that Jason doesn't have.

An example of the functionally being similar but aesthetically different between two moves would be Jason's Corpse Grab and the Terminator's Infiltrator's Toss. Jason grabs the opponent in midair by both legs and tosses them down on the ground while the Terminator grabs them in midair with one hand and throws them on the ground. Then there are also moves like Jason's Back Breaker and the Terminator's Albi Back Breaker. They are, again, the same move, but Jason breaks his opponents back over his knee and then flips them onto the ground while the Terminator breaks his opponent's back over his shoulders and then flips them onto the ground.

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OTHER MOVES

Finally, all the other move types the two characters have do not look the same. Both characters' attack strings don't resemble each other for the most part, either. There are some that do, like Jason's infamous shin kick, but they are mostly completely different or not really distinct enough to be considered the same. Each character's X-Ray/Fatal Blow are completely different as well, and the fatalities are unique to each character.

FINAL RESULTS

 

Overall, it does appear that NetherRealm Studios has mostly copied Jason Voorhees' model and move set in order to make the Terminator. Many of the moves are carbon copies of each other and they even move similarly with little to no fluidity. Even the moves that are different from each other still seem to have the same properties and purpose in mind. However, there are enough differences between the two characters to keep them distinct from one another, especially in the special move section.

Jason is much more of a grappler and has more buffs than the Terminator. He's also faster and has more range. The Terminator is able to have more projectiles and can be dangerous from further range thanks to his Cyber Rift, Running Man and Endo Lunge attacks. He's also a bit more balanced than Jason was. (Seriously, Jason was and continues to remain a problem in that game.)

It's disappointing that NetherRealm essentially gave the Terminator Jason's move set. We know that copyright issues wouldn't have allowed it but it begs the question: If you were just going to give another character the same skill set, why not just bring the original character back? The Terminator is still a fun to play as, but it's all too familiar.

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