Mortal Kombat is a historical franchise in the fighting games genre. Many fans and general gamers appreciate the license's emphasis on storytelling and world lore, a trend many fighting games adopted following Mortal Kombat's initial release.
Arcade endings are especially important in this discussion, considering they provide more insight into a specific fighter’s personality, history, and motivations. Sometimes they become canon! Sometimes they can be comical to the point of absurdity. Let’s revisit Mortal Kombat’s past and break down the weirdest and funniest arcade endings.
10 Mileena Goes ACKWOOO!! (Mortal Kombat 4)
Mileena’s arcade ending is both fitting and hilarious. Voice acting in the early 2000s wasn’t the best, so let’s keep that in mind going forward.
After Shao Kahn’s death in Mortal Kombat III, many people were vying for his throne in Outworld. Mileena believed that she, and not Kitana, is the rightful heir to the Edenian realm. When the pink ninja confronts her sister, Kitana reveals that Mileena is a clone constructed by Shang Tsung and Shao Kahn.
Mileena breaks down after learning the truth. The pink ninja responds with an uppercut, sending Kitana flying into the throne chair.
“You will die, sister. And I will take this realm for myself. ACKWOO!” Mileena screeches before sending her sai at Kitana. The Edenian princess goes flying through the window, falling to her doom. The voice acting itself was bad enough, but the “ACKWOO” will have players howling for a good five minutes or so. One MK YouTuber couldn’t stop laughing at the scene.
9 Jarek (Mortal Kombat 4)
If recent MK players aren’t familiar with Jarek, they shouldn’t feel bad. He is from the 3D era of Mortal Kombat (MK4, Deadly Alliance, Deception and Armageddon) and rather forgettable at that. He was the Black Dragon’s second-in-command and inherited Kano’s moveset. While he gained an original moveset in Armageddon, his reputation was forever stained.
Anyways, in his arcade ending for MK4, Sonya confronts Jarek and tries arresting him. Jarek threatens the Special Forces soldier, pushing her towards a nearby cliff. Sonya taunts the Black Dragon member and he charges at her, falling off the cliff with a rather interesting cry.
Sonya looks over the edge and calls Jax, but Jarek grabs her ankle and throws her over the edge. Climbing back up, Jarek crushes her communicator and laughs…not an evil or roaring laugh, but a quiet chortle. If his earlier cry doesn’t send players over the edge, the second one sure will.
8 Johnny Cage Returns! (Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance)
Before the series reboot in 2011, Johnny Cage was mostly a comedic character, even down to his arcade endings. Since MK1, his endings would have the Hollywood star convert his adventures into blockbuster movie adaptations.
In his arcade ending in Deadly Alliance, Johnny Cage abused a loophole in his movie contract to fund a new Mortal Kombat movie. Sour that his previous movie, 'Mortal Kombat: The Death of Johnny Cage,' was made, he wanted to redeem his reputation.
'Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance’ did well at the box office, but its version of events was only loosely based on the truth. For one, Cage saved the world without any assistance. Truly amazing.
7 Earthrealm Booze Is Better (Deadly Alliance)
Bo' Rai Cho was one of the only 3D era characters to make a return in the Netherrealm Studios trilogy of Mortal Kombat, but only as a DLC character with a minor role in the story. Before the reboot, Bo' Rai Cho was treated as a joke character in gameplay, using fatal fart attacks and vomit staggers. However, he played a bigger role as an Outworld native and mentor to Liu Kang and Kung Lao.
In his Deadly Alliance arcade ending, it was actually serious and touching. Kung Lao asked his mentor if he would return to the Wu Shi Academy to train Shaolin Monks. He accepted the offer, but mainly because “Earthrealm's rice wine put[s] Outworld's liquor to shame," according to the Mortal Kombat Wiki.
Basically, Bo' Rai Cho prioritizes booze over training the next generation of Earthrealm protectors. Good grief.
6 Liu Kang Becomes A Meme (Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe)
Ahh, Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe, the game everyone loves to hate. Surprisingly, this funny ending came from Liu Kang. For his arcade ending, Raiden is able to “infuse Liu Kang with his own power” and other gods to become an unstoppable force.
However, in order to activate his new godly might, he needs to scream “MORTAL KOMBAT!!” Insert MK movie theme here, and that’s all that has to be said.
5 Hsu Hao’s Pathetic Death (Mortal Kombat: Armageddon)
Hsu Hao, another 3D era character, is not very liked in the Mortal Kombat community. Netherrealm probably caught on, considering he was killed in the MKX comic AND Erron Black presents his severed head in an intro.
In Hsu Hao’s arcade ending in Armageddon, he dies and his soul is sent to the Netherrealm. He reforms as “a demon of emptiness and desolation” and claims the throne of the Netherrealm with his Oni army. But that’s not the funny part.
What’s funny was HOW he died. According to the Mortal Kombat Wiki, he was “killed in the shockwave of Blaze’s violent death.” Hsu didn’t even KILL Blaze. He just died from the aftermath of someone else’s victory. What’s worse was that his arcade ending was yoinked for Noob Saibot’s MK (2011) arcade ending.
4 Jarek Finishes Them All! (Mortal Kombat: Armageddon)
It’s Jarek again. In his Armageddon ending, the Black Dragon member drew chi from all the kombatants and “unleashed a storm of fatalities upon his fellow warriors.” He basically used a magic death wave to cast each character’s unique fatalities on themselves.
This sequence is so ridiculous and stupid, it is probably the most Mortal Kombat ending ever, to be honest.
3 Kobra Gets Cucked (Mortal Kombat: Armageddon)
Kobra is basically Ken Masters if he was evil. Another forgettable character, this Street Fighter clone is a Black Dragon member and street brawler.
For this guy’s Armageddon ending, he used the power of Blaze to demand the Elder Gods to make him Lord of the Realms. They grant him his wish, and as a bonus, made Kira (a fellow Black Dragon member), his fellow ruler and a “goddess of death.”
The best part was that Kira used the Kiss of Death on Kobra and killed him, and the Elder Gods did that intentionally. Imagine getting wrecked by both the woman you love and the Elder Gods; talk about karma.
2 Stryker Gets Lucky (Mortal Kombat 3)
Kurtis Stryker is a cop and capable Earthrealm warrior. Fans may recognize him from Mortal Kombat (2011) when he was a playable badass. Too bad he was killed and hasn’t been seen since MKX.
For his arcade ending in MK3, this police officer received a vision from Raiden to travel west and meet the Earthrealm warriors. Because Shao Kahn wasn’t aware of Stryker, the cop was able to defeat the warlord while Kahn’s guard is down. He singlehandedly stopped the invasion and saved the planet.
Besides the fact that it’s nearly impossible for someone like Stryker to ever come close to beating Shao Kahn, much less “surprise him,” this is just a testament to how much Midway (now Netherrealm) did not care for this man initially.
1 Mokap Breaks The Fourth Wall (Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance)
Mokap is another character some fans of the Netherrealm trilogy may not recognize easily. This secret character was introduced in Deadly Alliance and was made as a tribute to MK motion capture actor Carlos Pesina.
Mokap is a former martial artist who became a motion capture actor in Johnny Cage’s "Deadly Alliance" movie. When evil shenanigans went down, he somehow found himself wrapped up in the situation. Mokap’s arcade ending in Deadly Alliance is incredibly meta.
Mokap's role as a martial artist in Cage's film proved enough to convince Midway Games to hire the performer to perform the motion capture for the video game adaptation based on the movie.