The Mortal Kombat II tournament was originally just an attempt by Shao Kahn and Shang Tsung to get revenge on the Earth fighters, which they lost, before they decided to resurrect Sindel.
But then in trilogy they changed it to Kahn deciding to resurrect Sindel right after MK1 and the MK2 tournament was just a way of distracting the Earth fighters while he did it.

In Mythologies, it's stated Shinnok created the Amulet specifically for conquering Earth. Then in Deception it states the Amulet was creating as a means of activating the Kamidogu which shattered the One Being.

Maybe that Shinnok made the Amulet with more than just one function. I figure that Shinnok always wanted a realm of his own. So why not the Earth.

I think there are many retcons in Reptile's caharcterm which has really pissed me off, and almost makes me hate him now!
I remember reading from his MK4 bio that he was vanished to the netherrealm or whatever, and on his ending he dies
and then in MK deadly alliance he somehow comes back; from what i've read, apparently he never dies in MK4.
then on his MK:DA his body becomes the catalyst for the dragon king, and this goes through MK deception
but in armageddon reptile is seen once again, and with a more human aspect
so...does he change shape back and forth depending on his mood?
and also, if his body was used as a host for onaga, how come both of them are in the same game...
both reptile and baraka's storylines pretty much revolve around them whoring their loyalty to any of the game's bosses and then gettin' screwed in the ass afterward

as in MKArm, Shinnok offer onaga an new body to get his revenge if Onaga would work for him.

As for Reptile's race, I do think they have some shape shifting abilities.


That is why he looks so human from mk1 to mk3 yet more reptile in Mk4 thru MKArm.

Sigh, ending aren't canon, I thought it's been understood for the longest time that this is the case. Sometimes bits and pieces of endings are are said to have happened by the next game, most often though it's not the case.

I did think of a couple more things, concerning Reptile, that may be considered actual retcons:

• Shang Tsung is referred to as Reptile's master in the MKII ending (and Reptile outright calls him "My master" in the MKII comic) but in MKSM he explicitly states that he does not serve Shang Tsung.
  
• Shang Tsung used magic to disguise Reptile into a human form in the older games, but by MK4 he looks reptilian all the time, as Shang's magic was no longer around. However, MKDA explains that this was actually due to the beginning of his de-evolution process (sounds like the Super Mario Bros movie!). Also, Reptile's appearance in MKSM, while cooler, can hardly be said to be a disguise at all.
  
• Reptile was banished to the Cobalt Mines of Shokan in the MK4 comic, but it was the Netherealm in his MK4 bio.

Also thought of a Raiden one:

• In MK4, Raiden stated he was responsible for the death of an entire civilization. It was obvious he was referring to the raptors (as explained by Khameleon's MK Trilogy ending). Of course, Raiden's MKA bio states that the civilization was a sect of ancient sorcerers called the Houan.

It was in hinted in Sindel's MKD ending that Reptile and Onaga would be able to co-exist if certain conditions were met. While they never said for 100% sure, Sindel's MKD ending is almost assuredly one in which, as I stated earlier, bits and pieces of it became canon.

Raiden's bio:
"Centuries ago I defeated an ancient sect of necromancers, the Houan. Though their members subsequently were scattered to the winds, their ancient underground temple still existed, abandoned and unused for ages. On the stone walls within were etched enchantments that would revive the dead. Strewn about were the enchanted chains of binding the Houan would use to control their undead."

The war in which Raiden wiped out civilization was the war with Shinnok. The Houan were a cult of necromancers that he broke up.

I doubt he was referring to the same incidents and people.

MK3 and 4 actually implied that Outworld WAS Edenia, or that when Kahn lost MK3, ALL the realms that made it up had been released, not just Edenia, and there was nothing left, as though Outworld was never a realm of it's own, just a collection of others. It wasn't until Deadly Alliance that we discovered there was still an Outworld.

Also, MK Gold added what looked like a Shao Kahn sarcophagus to the Tomb and Church stages, implying his death in 3. DA revealed that he was still alive, only to kill him off again.

And where did they ever state it was Shang's magic that allowed Reptile to disguise himself as a human? I've never read anything that said that and just assumed the simpler and more logical idea that he was simply using his chameleon powers to change his scales peach-colored. After all, his "true" appearance, from MK4, SM, and Armageddon, is the same shape as a human, so that's all he actually needs for the disguise to work.
And I don't even want to start about that "MK4 retconned Scorpion's vow of protection" crap. Long story short, we don't know that, all we know is Quan Chi got him to change his mind by lying to him about who killed what.

Didn't the bloke in charge of the story also mention that Nightwolf's sin eater trial also contributed to Onaga's new body? I think it was in a Fight Night thing.

For god's sake, Onaga, Shujinko, and Nightwolf all got Armageddon bios that explained what happened. How can you remember Fight Nights, but not that?

Shujinko absorbed the fighters' powers and smashed the Kamidogu like in his ending, but as he was beating Onaga to a pulp, Nightwolf finished the Sin Eater ritual, sucking Onaga's soul out of Reptile and trapping it in the Netherealm.

Then Shinnok came along and freed Onaga, resurrecting him into his original corpse.

Hence, Reptile and Onaga at the same time.

... Then it turns out that it wasn't even him who died, but a decoy.

Well, naturally.

Scorpion is a Japanese Ninja, and Sub Zero is a Chinese Assassin. The word "Ninja" is a Japanese terms used for assassins, which is why the word is used to (as you said) "loosely" describe them.

In, MK1 they specifically say that not much known about either of these masked warriors.

While Sub Zero may have been working for Tsung in Mythos, it's still very possible that the Lin Kuei ordered him Subs to kill Tsung (maybe by Quan Chi or Shinnok).



Quan Chi wanted Sub Zero dead and tricked Scorpion into doing it for him by telling him this young Sub Zero was partly responsible for his clan and families deaths.



Armageddon is full of them. In fact, it's one big retcon. Armageddon was just an excuse to bring back all the characters for a somewhat anniversary edition.



This whole game is uncannon, BUT... The Raiden/Kahn sibling rivalry was introducted in the second Movie (if I'm not mistaken). Don't forget this game is set between MK2 and 3. Sub Zero was still part of the corrupt Lin Kuei back in MK2 times (this Lin Kuei disbanded around the time of MK4 - Sub Zero later set up a new clan of the same name, Frost being one of the applicants).


Actually, I don't think there are any retcons for Scorpion. His story seems pretty consistant, and one of the best storylines considering it's based around the good old cheesey "revenge" ploy.

So... who wants to bring us up to date?

Here's an old one everybody missed: the MK tournament used to be referred to as the Shaolin Tournament. It didn't start to become known as Mortal Kombat in-universe until around '95 when MK3 and the movie came out.

Anyway, I think it's hysterical people complain about MK9 in this respect when MK has been a sloppy retcon-fest from the very beginning. At least now there's a good reason with the reboot into an alternate timeline/universe. What were the excuses before? Why is this only a problem for some of you NOW, after 19 years of this? lol

I second and third this. You know, just for safety.

The retcons in the earlier games weren't really that big of a deal. It's when you get to the later games (especially MK: Shaolin Monks) where you have big problems. I'm not against there being a reboot of the series' story, but the execution was just not good. A full reboot should have been done instead of having an alternate timeline.

Oh really? Is an amoral deity who would just as soon blow up the world out of boredom being retconned into leader of the good guys not that big a deal? How about "Shao Kahn is dead NO WAIT it was his clone lol"? Are these minor details for you? That first post of the thread is no, NO where near complete either, by the way.

And MK9 is obviously in a new universe. Raiden's flashbacks however are not. If it helps, think of Raiden's message to his past self as a call that went over on crossed wires. He sent it to the past...of a parallel universe. It seems like the kind of thing that could go wrong pretty easily after all. And remember...Armageddon Kahn won...was merging the realms...One Being wakes up...reality blinks out of existence...game over. There was no past for Raiden to send it too because it was completely erased. Parallel Raiden in the MK9verse picks it up instead, and hilarity ensues. There, I just solved the discrepancies that ProudNintendoFan and RazorsEdge have been giving themselves ulcers over the last year when a solution was staring them right in the face!

Even within MK9 itself, you'll notice the complainers are in no way objective, nor do they even try to be. Some retcons are apparently ok, but others are worth boycotting MK forever over even though the gameplay itself is leagues above all others in the series. For example, why does Mileena's new birthday get SO much attention while seemingly nobody has a problem with Kabal being retconned into not only being a cop, but STRYKER'S PARTNER all of a sudden? I mean seriously, how small did the world just get?

And why does Quan Chi at the first tournament get so much hate, when Kitana, Jade, Baraka, Jax, Kung Lao, Nightwolf, Sektor, Cyrax and Sheeva all aren't supposed to be at MK1 either? (I guess we can allow Ermac as a shout-out to the old Error Macro rumor.)

And adding to that last one, here's another old retcon everybody missed. Remember how MK2's intro said only 7 warriors survived the battle? I thought that was brilliant as a kid; it let the tournament amass a huge body count, minus our playable Magnificent Seven of course, and at the same time made them look really really good if they were the only ones that lived.

But wait...in Sub-Zero's ending that very same game, we learn that this is a new guy we're playing as and the Sub-Zero we played as last year got killed after all.. Whoops, guess that's 6 entrants who survived then.

But wait again...at some point later, it was decided that Raiden didn't actually compete. Which is actually smarter on Shang Tsung's part of course. Inviting the one guy most likely to vape your ass when you're right on the cusp of winning the tenth tournament is sub-Bond villain levels of arrogance and stupdity. So 5 MK1 survivors then because Raiden wasn't in it.

But that's not what they said originally is it?

Now, I'm sure Razor is frothing at the mouth to point out that Scorpion didn't kill Sub-Zero in the actual tournament, he did it after a big clusterfuck battle where they actually teamed up against Shang's goons after Liu won and the tournament was over. And thus Bi-Han actually did survive the tournament. *Technically* Real sneaky with the sleight of hand there, Razor.

Except then THAT now contradicts the official MK1 comic where Scorpion confronts him on the boat and makes a big production how he's not a murderer like Sub-Zero, and he'll kill him honorably in the tournament.

Then he goes and kills Sub-Zero in cold blood after the tournament, and after actually teaming up with the guy in a fight for their lives. Whoops.

Yes, folks. Mortal Kombat. Totally, completely retcon-free until 2011. Honest!

Here are some for MK9:

Jax originally was in the MK 2 comic picking up Johnny Cage who was on a plank in the sea. In MK9, he's on the Island held captive during the first tournament.

Mileena and Kitana knew each other for centuries as sisters, but yet in MK 9 she was created by Shang Tsung just 5 minutes ago in his Flesh Pits.

The biggest retcon in MK 9:

Rayden's amulet in which he can send back messages in time when done right. I've said it so many times, but he never had one to begin with.

The costumes in the post-Armaggedon scene in Story Mode has them all in their MK 9 outfits and so are the flashbacks like they never needed a change of clothes or maybe go to a laundry (sarcastic of course)

MK2 + MKDA:

Scorpion vowed to protect the younger Sub-Zero in his MK 2 ending, but yet in Konquest in DA it was said he wouldn't harm him.

Actually, no it doesn't contradict anything. The MK1 comic clearly takes place BEFORE the tournament starts. All we're learning here is Scorpion's INTENTIONS. This much is common sense.

But Scorpion doesn't get to make the bracket, does he? So simple logic dictates that if he and Sub fought AFTER Liu beat Goro, then he must have simply never gotten to face Sub-Zero during the tourney-proper because either Shang didn't schedule them against each other, or someone defeated one or both of them, removing them from the tournament, before they could have their match.

Scorpion, pissed that he never got his match, would then simply challenge Sub at the end like the MK2 comic said, because the alternative is to let him get away and never have his revenge, and that's just not gonna happen.



Raiden was only evil in his ending and everyone knows that in the 2D games, only the winner's ending was ever fully canon.

On his Twitter, Tobias recently shared notes from the develoment of MK1 that showed he'd always intended for Raiden to be a mentor character (and that the whole destroying the world ending was "just for fun"), and that they had plans for the character who would eventually become Kitana to be introduced AND be Liu Kang's love interest even before they made MK2.



No, no, I hate Kabal as a cop. He should've been a BD who turns good because the bad guys turned on him and he blames Kano for the scars. What kind of fucking government official goes by a nickname anyway? Does it say "Kabal" on his fucking badge? Or is that his actual first or last name? Y'know, I'm pretty sure American police forces don't accept applicants who have a criminal record.



Those all bother me too. Less so because at least they're all Earth and Outworld fighters. Quan Chi is from the Netherealm and thus, according to the Bo' Rai Cho Rule, he shouldn't be allowed in because he can't represent either side. Also, Quan being there adds to a huge list of Quan doing things he either didn't do the first time, or literally shouldn't know HOW to do, like fucking soul stealing. That's why it comes up the most, because Quan being at the tournament isn't one event by itself, it's part of a LIST of Quan Chi Bullshit.

The retcons in the older games always added more stories and details to the timeline of the games without contradicting known facts (at least until Shaolin Monks.) Even Kahn's death turning out to be a clone, which WAS a cheap trick and a poor idea, there's no denying that, but it was written in such a way that the death scene STILL happened, it's just that something we didn't know about happened TOO: Kahn making a copy of himself and sneaking out the door before Shang and Quan arrived. They even made it make some sense: Kahn didn't even know the Deadly Alliance was coming, he made the clone 'cause Kitana/Goro's army was practically on his doorstep and he was afraid he'd lose that war.

The retcons in MK9 (and in Shaolin Monks, let's not forget Shaolin Monks made the same kinds of mistakes MK9 did FIRST, everyone complained as loudly as they are now if not moreso, and they didn't learn their lesson then), on the other hand, DELETE older facts (and also, in both games the plot occasionally contradicts itself and/or makes no sense, a problem the other games managed to avoid.) That's why we're angry about them and we don't get angry about stuff from the other games. (Although, that whole "Edenia IS Outworld...no wait, there's still an Outworld" thing from Deadly Alliance does occasionally bug me.)

That was simply something in his ending.The series was young at the time, and making him into the Protector God of Earthrealm helped give longevity to his character. And as Razor pointed out, John Tobias had intended for Raiden to be a mentor figure anyway.



No, of course that's not a minor detail. I had said that when looking more at the later games (e.g. MK: Shaolin Monks), there are big problems. Of course MK: Deception had some big retcons that I didn't like. I guess you didn't pay attention to that part of my post.



I'm aware that the old timeline had several retcons.



Although Shao Kahn was victorious, he had not yet merged the realms. Raiden had sent a message to his younger self before Shao Kahn dealt the finishing blow to him. You believe that Raiden sent a message to his self in a different time in a parallel universe, claiming that there was no past for Raiden to send a message to. However, the story of this game is that Raiden sent a message to himself in the past. If it really was in a parallel universe, I'd like to get clarification from John Vogel and/or another story writer who worked on this game.



Perhaps there are some people like that, but I'm not one of them. I actually enjoy the gameplay experience of the new MK even though I hate the story. I don't like to go to such extremes, but I do have a right to dislike some of the story elements.



Mileena's "new birthday" got so much attention, because her character had been established as someone that had served alongside Kitana and Jade as Shao Kahn's warrior assassins for many years. One of the secrets that Kitana learned over her years an assassin was that Mileena was a clone created to eventually replace her. That was one factor that led to Kitana's change, which led to her joining the Forces of Light. But now, Mileena is all of a sudden brought into the picture, and I still feel that her character is off to a bad start. For me, it has more to do with her personality, but that's for a whole other discussion.

As for retconning Kabal into being Stryker's partner, it wasn't that big of a deal for me, because it added more backstory to the character, and it sort of represented him trying to make up for his past. It's not how I would have done his backstory, but at least we get a bit more to the character. There were other story elements that stood out for me that got my attention (more in a negative way).



I don't know about other people, but I had a bit of a problem with almost all of them being in the tournament. However, for Baraka, Jade, Kitana, Sheeva, and Ermac, it kind of makes sense for them to be in the tournament, because they are representing Outworld, the realm ruled by the one that wants to take over Earth.

Quan Chi, on the other hand, is from the Netherrealm and represents the Netherrealm despite serving Shao Kahn in this game's story. The main problem with Quan Chi in this game lies within him being ubiquitous. Quan Chi is more of a subtle, shadowy manipulator in contrast to more of Shang Tsung's narcissism and taste for extravagance. Also, Quan Chi openly wearing Shinnok's Amulet should have been a huge red flag for both Raiden and Bi-Han, especially since Raiden had made reference to Bi-Han's actions in MKM: SZ.



Yes, I remember that. I'm pretty sure that Raiden's retcon into him not competing in the tournament came about in MK: Shaolin Monks' story. As for the 7 warriors that survived, it is a bit ambiguous. Goro was thought to have been killed, and Shang Tsung was the host of the tournament despite battling Liu Kang in the end. Perhaps Reptile might have counted as one of the 7. *shrugs*

About the Scorpion/Sub-Zero stuff, I kind of see what you're saying, but it could be that they didn't have a match during the tournament. If they did, Scorpion would have likely killed him then unless they did fight and Sub-Zero had won. If that was the case, perhaps Scorpion had been pissed off by that and changed his mind, hence killing him later.



I don't understand the point of you saying this, because it's not as if anyone in this thread has said or implied that the old timeline was without retcons.

An inconsistency I've noticed while compiling info for my chronology, among other things (I've only covered up to MK4 at this point, the rest is off memory):

-The MK1 instruction manual identifies Goro's birthplace as 'Kuatan, 4th astral plane of Shokan, realm of the Outworld'.

-The MK2 comic shows Sonya and Kano just outside 'the city of Shokan'. Gorbak is identified as 'King of Kuatan' and asks that Kahn send a 'warrior from Kuatan'.

-And the Mk4 comic (whose canonicity seems uncertain at best, it not having been written by Tobias) depicts the 'city of Kuatan' as being 500 miles to the south of the Edenian palace (in this comic Edenia and Outworld are identified as one and the same).

Mk4 officially identifies Goro as a 'Shokan Prince', and Deadly Alliance began using terms like 'Shokan people' and 'Shokan armies', and gave us a 'Kuatan Palace'.

So, yeah. For a good long while there was little to no consistency in how the terms were used in the few scraps of official material in which they appeared. 'Kuatan' seems to have gone from an 'astral plane' to the official name for the land of four-armed dragons (unless Gorbak was supposed to be king of a city), to being an actual city with its own palace, while 'Shokan' wasn't particularly well defined in MK1 save for being located in Outworld, and was then used to refer to a city before being known by and large as the home of the dragons we know it to be today. Of course, there could also always be a 'city of Shokan' in Shokan.

At the moment, I can't find a source outside of the Malibu comics, Conquest, or MK1 movie that establishes the Shokan as actually living underground or being subterranean, unless there are npcs strutting around in Deception or Armgeddon's Konquest I've forgotten who say as much. Probably are. But if this turns out to be another one of those cases like "Kano killed Sonya's fiancee/partner/soldier/uncle/The Waynes" I'll laugh.

One of the problems I've found with defining the Shokan people's territory is that the following question has no answer in canon: Are they native to Outworld, or was Shokan a realm that Kahn conquered and merged?

Also note that the Centaurs are defined as "the natural enemies of the Shokan", which implies that they come from the SAME realm as the Shokan do. Again though, that doesn't answer the question of whether they originate from Outworld or the Shokan and Centaurs had a realm of their own that they shared/warred for control of, until Kahn came along.

It's also curious to note that the Shokan are the ONLY race in all of Outworld that have their own royalty and don't just answer directly to Shao Kahn, he actually honors King Gorbak's soverignty, despite Gorbak being one of his subjects. Perhaps that's just because the Shokan are, until MK3, Kahn's favorite race though.

At any rate, I THINK it's currently supposed to be that "Shokan" is the term for their whole territory, in other words, it's a country in Outworld, and "Kuatan" is the capitol city of that country, where Kuatan Palace is located. It's also equally possible though that they've entirely abandoned using "Shokan" for their lands and use it JUST for the name of the species now, and thus Kuatan would be their territory. (Although I still hold the belief that the "Cobalt Mines of Shokan" are a canon creation of Tobias's and the name implies "Shokan" is a place.)

Pretty sure the "subterranean" thing is movie-only, considering that Kuatan Palace is pretty clearly above-ground. Though they do have a thing for living among volcanoes and lava, that's not the same as living underground. One does wonder though why Goro's Lair is a dungeon...
See...this is the kind of stuff I LIKE discussing or seeing retcons of in the games, the VAGUE stuff that NEEDS cleared up and specified, as opposed to them pulling crap like "Kitana thought Kahn was her dad and Mileena was her sister for years, but she found out the truth before MK2 and pretended to be loyal. Oh wait, no, Kitana was under a spell to make her loyal! Oh wait, no, Mileena was just recently made and Kahn told her about Jerrod himself during MK2!" Those kinds of retcons don't add anything, they just twist shit up.