Mortal Kombat’s Classic Fighters Reborn Through AI Magic

Mortal Kombat’s pixelated warriors have been kicking and punching their way through arcades and living rooms since the early ‘90s, but their low-res sprites haven’t aged as well as their fatalities. Digital artist Kane has run these iconic characters through a gauntlet of AI tools to create a vision of what a modern HD remaster could be.

Kane starts with WAN 2.2, an AI upscaling tool, and feeds it detailed prompts to enhance the original sprites. The first pass breathes new life into characters like Johnny Cage, Sonya and Jax, boosting their resolution to levels that rival modern game assets. The results are amazing: Cage’s MK2 and MK Trilogy versions look almost perfect, with crisp lines and vibrant colors that capture his arrogant Hollywood swagger. Sonya’s remaster is just as good, her green headband and tough-as-nails stance popping with new clarity. Jax’s metallic arms gleam in a way that makes you think he could step out of the arcade and into a current-gen console. The process doesn’t stop there – Kane runs the upscaled images through DaVinci Resolve for a second pass, using Optical Flow to smooth out animations and increase frame rates.

Not every character emerges unscathed from this AI makeover. Johnny Cage’s MK1 remaster has an unintended beard – a glitch where the AI mistook a sharp cheek line for facial hair. Kano’s MK3 mask looks great but his MK1 version is a mess, the AI can’t even render his shoes properly. Liu Kang’s MK3 remaster captures his spirit but loses some detail. Sindel’s transformation is a disaster, her banshee aesthetic muddled into something unrecognizable. Sub-Zero and Shao Kahn also disappoint, their remasters lacking the precision and personality of the originals.

Eyeballistic’s 2018 pitch to Warner Bros for a 3D remake of the first three games fell apart when the studio passed on the idea. A second try in 2021 also failed to get off the ground, leaving fans with only concept art and dreams. Kane’s AI-driven approach sidesteps the need for entirely new 3D models, a faster and cheaper way to modernize these classics.
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