Refitted For Sequel / Mortal Kombat

Across its 30+-year stint, Mortal Kombat had a lot of ideas that were implemented in later installments. Here's an attempt at a comprehensive rundown.

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Game concepts

• After the release of Mortal Kombat: Special Forces, John Tobias revealed, prior to his departure from Midway, that one of the ideas for a spinoff he invisioned had Liu Kang and Kung Lao as protagonists. This idea was later turned into the platformer spinoff Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks.

Originally meant for Mortal Kombat (1992)

• Originally, a character named Kurtis Stryker was supposed to appear in the game, eventually replaced by Sonya. The idea was revisited for Mortal Kombat II, as a soldier that would end up captive in Outworld in his pursuit of Kano, which ended up being Jax. A different character under the Kurtis Stryker name would finally appear in Mortal Kombat 3.
• Raiden was originally thought to fight using a staff, but it was difficult to fit the weapon into the game's mechanics. The staff finally appears in Mortal Kombat 4, which has a system designed with weapons in mind, but he doesn't actually fight with it until Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance.
• A character named Kitsune was originally planned, who was the daughter of Shang Tsung that would betray her father. They decided to cut her but she was later retooled into Kitana, in-lore described as Shao Kahn's daughter, who would betray him and join the Earthrealm defenders.
• Originally, Scorpion being a Palette Swap of Sub-Zero was meant to be an in-universe Take That!; Scorpion donned a yellow version of Sub-Zero's uniform to mess with him. In Mortal Kombat 1, the younger Sub-Zero is reimagined as that universe's Scorpion, even inheriting his fire powers.
• Sub-Zero's original name was going to be "Tundra." This is Development Gagged in Mortal Kombat 9 where prior to inheriting the moniker "Sub-Zero", the younger of the two cryomancer brothers went by the codename "Tundra".
• Rumor has it the game was originally intended to have Jean-Claude Van Damme in it, and he was going to be the hero of the story. Midway was unable to secure his services, however, so the story was retooled to center around Liu Kang, and Van Damme's character was retooled into Johnny Cage (Note that Cage's MK1 design looks identical to Van Damme's character in Bloodsport). Thirty years later, this would FINALLY come full circle, with Van Damme announced as a downloadable bonus skin for Johnny Cage in Mortal Kombat 1.

Originally meant for Mortal Kombat II

• The original concept design for Baraka was of a masked human warrior who would fight with a pair of Chinese hook swords. Due to hardware limitations, he was discarded in favor of the blade-armed mutant he eventually became. However, the initial premise would eventually be revisited with the new character Kabal in Mortal Kombat 3.
• There's a rough sketch◊ of Shang's supposed "true form", which is that of a demon. It was drawn by MK co-creator John Tobias, but this form has never actually appeared in canon. This was eventually added to another character (Shinnok) in both Mortal Kombat Mythologies: Sub-Zero and Mortal Kombat X.
• Smoke was first set to be officially playable in the Game Gear port of II. While this idea was nixed before release, relegating him to a hidden boss, he can be unlocked with an Action Replay and is fully playable. He eventually became playable in various degrees starting from Mortal Kombat 3.
• Kintaro was originally planned to be both an anthropomorphic tiger and a playable character. Due to budget constraints, the developers made him a clone of Goro with tiger stripes instead. Kintaro was made playable in the Dream Match Game Mortal Kombat: Armageddon.
• Some removed sprites in the games files suggest that Sub-Zero was going to have an airborne ice attack. Later games such as Mortal Kombat 1 implemented aerial options for him.

Originally meant for Mortal Kombat 3

This section includes the Updated Rereleases Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 and Mortal Kombat Advance, and the Dream Match Game Mortal Kombat Trilogy.

• Tremor was slated to appear in Trilogy, but was scrapped in favor of Rain. The storyline of Mortal Kombat: Special Forces is basically a recycling of the backstory that was going to be used for him in this game. Mortal Kombat co-creator John Tobias revealed in an interview that "I do remember having big plans for Tremor, but when I conceived him, he wasn't a member of the Black Dragon. He was a Lin Kuei hired as muscle by a mad man who was trying to open a gateway between Earth and Outworld." In Special Forces, in addition to the aforementioned changed of making him a Black Dragon member the mad man he would be working for would be Kano. He would eventually be revived as an unplayable boss in Mortal Kombat: Special Forces and, later, a Challenge Tower character in the PS Vita port of Mortal Kombat 9, before finally making a fully playable debut as a DLC fighter in Mortal Kombat X.
• Chameleon was supposed to be in the console versions of Ultimate, but was unfinished due to time constraints. Code of him can be still found in the games. He eventually made the cut for the Playstation version of Trilogy.

Originally meant for Mortal Kombat Deadly Alliance

This includes the Game Boy Advance side game as well as Mortal Kombat: Tournament Edition.

• Sareena might have made it into the game, as her model was created during the end of the Deadly Alliance's development cycle (she was also intended to be playable in 4 and Deception). Instead, she was used in Tournament Edition (one of the two portable offshoots of DA for the GBA) and eventually was introduced into the console titles in Armageddon.
• Stage Fatalities were considered for this game. For example, the Lung Hai Temple stage would've had a Fatality involving the Great Sea Dragon of Outworld mentioned in the arena's bio. The demonic Buddhas in the Acid Bath stage were supposed to drench the victim in acid for a stage fatality according to Mortal Kombat Unseen, the bonus featurette. These were finally implemented in Mortal Kombat: Deception as Death Traps.
• Dairou was meant to be in this game, with the original concept being a Samurai mercenary hired by Shang Tsung. He was held back until Deception... where he's a mercenary under the command of Hotaru.
• The Kombat Chess minigame was intended for this game, but ended up being cut for time. It was also held back until Deception.

Originally meant for Mortal Kombat Deception

This includes the Updated Re-release Mortal Kombat: Unchained.

• Kitana was originally set to appear in Deception until the dev team decided to include Mileena instead, giving Mileena a pink version of the costume Kitana was supposed to wear (Kitana is shown in this garb in Ermac's Deception ending). She was later included in the PSP's Updated Re-release Unchained, except lifted straight from Deadly Alliance; outfits, fighting styles, her one Fatality, and everything else. The only new things are her bio and ending.
• 2-on-2 battles were intended to be implemented here, complete with Tag Team Fatalities. Remnants of this can be seen in Noob-Smoke. The idea was finally implemented in Mortal Kombat 9.
• There were concepts for Fatality-esque torture sequences. For example, if a player was knocked off of a stage, they'd miraculously grab on the edge and try to pull themselves up. The opposing player could try to stomp on their hands or kick their face to knock them off, whereas the character in peril would mash buttons to climb back up and could grab their foe and fling them off of the arena. Elements of this idea can be seen in Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe (the "Test Your Might" minigame in some arenas) and Mortal Kombat 1 (in the "Test Your Might" minigames of the Story Mode).
• Fujin was meant to be playable instead of Raiden. This is why Raiden was killed in the intro and turned into Dark Raiden after resurrection. Due to backlash from fans at this announcement, Raiden was added back in, while Fujin wouldn't be playable until the next game, Armageddon.

Originally meant for Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe

• Harley Quinn, Reptile, and Quan Chi were originally going to be both playable and later DLC. There were also hints for Kung Lao and Doomsday. They were left out due to both the deadline and the collapse of Midway Games. Harley Quinn and Dommsday later appeared in Injustice: Gods Among Us (with Harley returning for Injustice 2), while Reptile, Kung Lao and Quan Chi shared the roster in almost all Mortal Kombat games except Mortal Kombat 11 (where only Kung Lao appears).
• The idea for this game (when it was still the tentative Mortal Kombat 8) was originally to follow the events of Armageddon, with most of the cast dying in the Battle of Armageddon in order to make way for a new cast. Scorpion and Sub-Zero would be survivors of the event. When it instead became a crossover with DC, these plot elements were modified and reworked into MK9, only that instead of the ninjas, it ended up becoming Raiden and Shao Kahn.
• The Joker's Gunshot fatality had to be toned down in order for the game to get a T rating. The original uncensored fatality was later given to Shang Tsung in Mortal Kombat 9.

Originally meant for Mortal Kombat 9

• Brutalities were considered for the game. It wasn't until X that they would be implemented.

Originally meant for Mortal Kombat X

• During Epic Games reveal of the Unreal Engine 4, before this game was announced, Ed Boon tweeted that the next Mortal Kombat game would be powered under that engine, amazed by how it did look. Alas, this game is being powered through the same engine Mortal Kombat X ran, a modified version of Epic's Unreal Engine 3. It took until Mortal Kombat 1 for the engine switch to take place.
• Ed Boon used his Twitter account to poke fun at the fans, such as teasing them over the desire to see Spawn included. Other potential DLC characters he liked teasing included the T-800 Model 101 and the Xenomorph. The Xenomorph was finally added in Kombat Pack 2, while the Terminator and Spawn made the cut as DLC for Mortal Kombat 11.
• In February 2015, Todd McFarlane extended a limited-time offer to NetherRealm to utilize Spawn in some of their games as part of his deal with Warner Bros. It was stated that Spawn would not be appearing in Injustice 2, leading to rampant speculation he would appear in MKX. Further fueling speculation, Ed Boon tweeted a picture of the Spawn DVD packaged in a box set with the Mortal Kombat films, though his caption wasn't exactly encouraging, and posted a couple of other tweets poking fun at fans requesting to see Spawn in MKX. In an interview in April 2015, Boon mentioned that while Spawn was discussed as a potential guest character early on, he didn't remember Todd having extended the offer to utilize the character. Spawn would eventually made the cut for Mortal Kombat 11.
• Reiko and Rain were considered for the roster and making cameo appearances in story mode. Rain returned in Mortal Kombat 11 as DLC, while Reiko was made a playable character for Mortal Kombat 1.
• The Terminator was heavily considered but eventually dropped because of licensing costs. He would eventually appear as DLC in Mortal Kombat 11.
• Twenty hours before the Official Shang Tsung Gameplay Trailer, Ed Boon showed a picture of Rain in his klassic outfit, while quoting Prince, who inspired the character via the song "Purple Rain". Seven hours later, Boon also called a tweet on Prince "genius". Come the actual trailer, and it turns out that "Rain" is really Shang Tsung transformed in order to use one of Rain's moves. Some fans, such as YouTuber Dynasty, figured this out ahead of time. Rain would eventually made the cut as a playable character for the Kombat Pack 2 (the Ultimate edition of the game).

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