Trivia / Mortal Kombat 9

• Banned in China:
  • According to this article, Australia's censors banned the game due to the graphic violence in the fatalities. It's banned to such a point that they had the border patrol on the lookout for attempts to import the game. Following the introduction of an R18+ rating for video games in Australia in early 2013, however, the Komplete Edition received approval and can legally be sold locally, as well as imported.
  • It's banned in Germany. However, importing "banned" games isn't a big problem there.
• Development Gag: The younger Sub-Zero (Kuai Liang, a.k.a. the younger Sub-Zero) is referred to by the code name of Tundra by Smoke and in his bio before taking up his brother's title. Tundra was the original name considered for Sub-Zero.
• Dummied Out: Goro and Kintaro both have data for their arcade endings in the code, but neither is a playable character in the finished game.
• Executive Meddling: Kratos's different animations for when he falls victim to certain fatalities was a design decision which, according to Ed Boon, was requested by Sony Computer Entertainment as they didn't want to make him look weak.
• Flip-Flop of God: In development, earlier reports noted that the Sub-Zero in this game was Bi-Han, the elder Sub-Zero. Sub-Zero's vignette and combo video showed that it was Kuai Liang, the younger brother instead, once again taking up his brother's title and out for Scorpion's blood. In the end, both Sub-Zeroes (and Noob Saibot), in a way, made the cut for the game, and none of them remain as human Sub-Zero: Bi-Han is killed by Scorpion and turned by Quan Chi into Noob Saibot; and Kuai Liang, the Sub-Zero of the roster, is turned into Cyber Sub-Zero. There's even a battle between them at some point. Of note is that both Sub-Zeroes have different costumes, and Bi-Han's one is the alternate.
• Hey, It's That Sound!: Richard Epcar's vocal effects for the Joker from Mortal Kombat VSDC Universe were reused for Shang Tsung's clown form.
• Keep Circulating the Tapes: As of April 2020, the game was delisted from digital stores. Many believe this has to do with the rights to Freddy Krueger (Who features as a DLC character) lapsing from Warner Bros. and back to the estate of Wes Craven. However, the game (Freddy included) is still available to stream on PlayStation Now.
• The Other Darrin: Most of the voice actors for the MK side from vs. DCU returned, with a few exceptions:
  • The Announcer: Herman Sanchez ^note the announcer in the main series from MK4 up to Armageddon and vs. DCU —> Jamieson Price
  • Kitana: S.G. Willie —> Karen Strassman
  • Jax: Dan Washington —> Marz Timms
  • Baraka: Dan Washington —> Bob Carter
  • Shang Tsung: James Kyson-Lee —> Andrew Kishino
  • Shao Kahn: Patrick Seitz —> Bob Carter
• Refitted for Sequel: Shares a page with the rest of the franchise.
• Role Reprise: Michael McConnohie, Tom Choi, Ronald M. Banks, Richard Epcar, Patrick Seitz, Dana Lyn Baron and Jim Miller reprise their Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe roles as Kano, Liu Kang, Quan Chi, Raiden, Scorpion, Sonya Blade and Kuai Liang!Sub-Zero. Likewise, as noted above, Robert Englund reprised his role as Freddy Krueger.
• Serendipity Writes the Plot: Freddy Krueger's story in the game specifically calls out the fact he's wearing two claws when he normally only uses one, due to the game's reversible stances (since the Front and Back limbs aren't fixed because of the ability to swap a character's stance on a dime, any attack Freddy can use with one hand, he must be able to do with the other).
• What Could Have Been:
  • Needles Kane (of Twisted Metal fame) was considered as a guest character for the PS3 version.
  • Early footage showed Scorpion originally had Quan Chi's "On Your Knees" Fatality and then a later CGI trailer showed he was probably going to have Kano's "Eat Your Heart Out" Fatality as well (he uses it on Sub-Zero in the trailer but not in gameplay).
  • The MK9 team also wanted to balance out Kratos with an exclusive character for the Xbox 360 but their request was thumbed down. As a compensation, the Season Pass was offered at a reduced price for Xbox 360 owners.
  • Single-Player Endurance and Survival modes were also in consideration, but were cut due to time constraints.
  • The finishing phase of the match would recycle the theme from MK vs. DC's finishing phase instead of the current theme.
• Writer Revolt: Sony told the developers they weren't allowed to make Kratos look "weak", and thus a number of Fatalities were given unique differences when being done on Kratos.^note Kratos reacts more confrontationally (as opposed to fearfully) when finishing moves are performed on him and some of the more silly aspects, like Johnny Cage planting a trophy on his opponent's split skull, are omitted when Kratos is the victim. Kratos makes a cameo in the story mode... Albeit in a block of ice, implying that Kratos was defeated off-screen by Sub-Zero. The ice is conspicuously empty in the Xbox 360 and PC versions of the game, leaving the impression that this was done specifically for Kratos.

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