KOEI has recently picked up publishing rights to several of Midway's upcoming releases, and the fruits of this deal are being shown at this year's Tokyo Game Show in the form of MLB Slugfest, Haven: Call of the King, Defender, and Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance. The version of MK on display here at TGS is slightly further along than the version we were shown back at a Midway press event in August.

　　The most notable change is that special moves are in a more final form, using multiple buttons on the controller and showing some more special effects. Sub-Zero can freeze people with an ice blast, but unlike previous MK games, the target doesn't instantly freeze. Instead, the character slows down to a standstill as they turn to solid ice. It's a nice touch that definitely looks cool. A few more special moves are in, and we were able to see a few more characters. Cyrax tosses bombs similar to the ones found in MK3, Scorpion has a rising flip kick that catches incoming enemies, and Johnny Cage has the ever-popular shadow kick. We also saw two new characters, Hsu Hao and Li Mei. Hsu looks a bit like a wrestler wearing a cop hat. Li Mei is a female that wields a pair of sai.

　　The oddest thing we saw in the game was a power-up move that every character has in one form or another. Pushing R1 causes the character to quickly pulsate up to about 50% larger than normal, then shrink immediately back down to regular size. The words "power-up" appear on screen at the same time. We couldn't notice any difference in the fighters once they had been powered-up. We also were able to see the return of the MK1-styled test your might minigame. Not much has changed here--you'll mash on the buttons to make a meter rise above a set line, then hit a button to attack an object. In this case, the object was bamboo.

　　Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance is scheduled to ship in November.