The Forgotten Lore of Mortal Kombat 1 

Both story and lore matter to me in every game.

It is now my headcanon that Kano got Tremor into Cage's films over a movie night at Black Dragon HQ

anyone who thinks sindel was always evil has clearly just started mk, the only times she was evil was under mind control which doesn't count.

In MK11 when Johnny and Cassie interact, he does mentions "grandma carlton"

"The only canonical order" KANO This was the funniest part

I feel like a student in a history class about Mortal Kombat any time I watch these videos, helps expand my knowledge of the series. I thank you for that Mr. 4thSnake.

Thank you for being a voice for the old, dying generation of original Mortal Kombat fans. We need you!

The stakes of the tournament are hinted at in MK1, although not in the comic, but in the game's attract mode. It says that "the imperial court of immortals" invites you to compete in the tournament, the prize being "your continued existence".

It's been clear for years now that John Tobias was the driving force being MK's story. And with him gone it's been in the hands of mediocre writers who are just phoning it in.

Gonna leave a like and save it somewhere before the new Mortal Kombat 1 messes up the search results.

Wished Tobias comeback to the game lore development, he is so much better and treat with so much care each character

Barely a minute in, and you managed to make a joke about both Pat and David Cage. Nice of you to at least give both sides of the war equal treatment.

I love that Liu Kang fishes Now have this image in my head of a younger Lui learning temperament, discipline and respect for life from catching fish at a pond near the temple. Tiny things like that inform character and I love it

This and MK Deception were the best attempts at flashing out the world of MK

Raiden's original story definitely got the shaft. In his arcade ending he goes mad with power and causes the destruction of all the realms. Bit polarising when one considers he tries his hardest to protect Earthrealm in (almost) every installment afterwards

I'll always love the 3D MK games no matter how many "fans" trash them. Especially Shaolin Monks, one of my favorite games of all time.

3:53 This actually was retconned even before MK 2011 in MK Mythologies. At the end of the game Shang Tsung comes to Lin Kuei to personally invite Sub-Zero to compete in Mortal Kombat.

Here's something everyone forgets! The fighters you pick from are said to be the ONLY SURVIVORS of the tournament at that point in the tournament. So there were many more, they just got killed beforehand. This is information you can find in the original game.

The tournament in MK1 was just a Shaolin martial arts tournament that Shang Tsung took control of. Liu Kang's goal was to defeat Goro and return the tournament's control back to the shaolin, which is apparent in his ending. The comic also says that Shang Tsung's motive is that he believes that Liu Kang's defeat at the hands of Goro will destroy any hope the shaolin have of taking back the competition. I believe Kano also takes control of the tournament in his ending. MK2 adds on that Tsung took control of the tournament to "unbalance the furies", which will weaken Earth's dimensional barriers and allow Shao Kahn to invade. So yeah, the tournament was VERY different. I think its current version was introduced in the movie. I'm also surprised you didn't mention the MK4 prequel comic. I've used some of the bio stuff in my own fanfiction series, such as Chow, where I've had him and Liu Kang reunite. I also changed Liu to being his surname, just makes more sense and for consistency. Great video as always, can't wait to see if you'll talk about the other prequel comics.

I hate how prominent that mindset is; that story doesn't matter. If there's no reasons for characters to even be onscreen together, then what's the point? Rule of cool can only go so far before you lose interest.

Liu Kang ...the youngest and fastest warrior in the tournament 🔥 thank you for keeping the OG lore alive, hope the new movie doesn't screw this up

I think mk12 and the new era going back to this lore could be a really interesting concept

Man, Malibu comics had some really cool ideas that would be great in future adaptations or games. Baraka was a nominal good guy, a mutant fighting to free his people from the rule of Shao Kahn. Hell, in his own dedicated comic he's basically the Mandalorian, protecting this special child from Shao Kahn's minions. What makes that story really interesting is that just like in the Mandalorian, a mysterious dark figure comes in and takes the baby away to prepare for her destiny. Noob Saibot. Who in the comics had nothing to do with Bi Han, and was instead a shadowy hero. Bi Han was the final hero of the series, making the final win for EarthRealm at the cost of his life, while Scorpion was the villain, working for Shao Kahn to conquer. Sub Zero also had this cool arc where he had to overcome his fear of Scorpion. Kung Lao wasn't Liu Kang's second, no he's this lone wolf out to redeem his family's name and honor after the defeat of the first Kung Lao. There was Sing and Sang, the Order of the Light's chosen champions, two twins who would fuse into one being. What was cool about that was when one of the twins died, the other fused with him one last time, creating a half-dead warrior that could be controlled by Shao Kahn. Johnny had a cool body guard, Bo, and Raiden had two hot ninja chicks working for him. But the coolest thing was Kano. Specifically how he was more then just some scumbag that Sonya was hunting, that Raiden tried recruiting him against Shao Kahn. Kano screwed him over, but he was actually kinda remorseful about the act, and defied Shao Kahn by letting Raiden escape rather then kill him.

Never made much sense to me that Shang TSung would be stupid enough to invite a fregging Thunder God to his rigged tournament.😂

Mortal Kombat didn't get so bad until Midway bankruptcy!

Thunder God wages are 6.75-8.75 Raiden is just very committed to the job.

It ain't a 4thSnake video without him grumbling about NRS, despite the video not being about them.

Johnny's backstory, both new & old, reminds me too much of Brendan Fraser and his career and that kinda terrifies me.

I honestly wouldn't take any of the Not Best Friend's opinions seriously since from what I have seen so far, they neither pay attention to stuff that well and they already seem ready to hate the 3D era so I don't see much value there. Also recently watched Mat play Armageddon Konquest and immediately turned off the video when it had Delia calling Argus by name and Mat said "So this is Jerrod." I already knew he'd have a negative opinion but that just shows where it'd come from, ignorance. Hell, in his MK11 playthrough he didn't even know why the Cyber Lin-Kuei would side with Kronika...maybe because Sub-Zero destroyed them all so they want a better future...? And he doesn't even have to read the comics, MKX I am pretty sure says this too.

My friend...your Mortal Kombat videos are out of this world. This is the first video of yours that I ever watched and that was about two days ago. After that, I proceeded to binge your wasted plotential, critique, and line through time videos. I don't think there's a single creator out there who has put this much labor, research, intellect, and passion into this series in a long time and I think MK is both deserving and in desperate need of that. I know a majority of people don't care for story in fighting games or Mortal Kombat's lore from the previous era; but man you've covered a lot of my issues with Neatherrealm's discrepancies in writing, awful creative choices, and mishaps. I also love how you use soundtracks from the klassic/3d era games in your videos. I've been committed to this franchise since the late 90's and I've expressed my discontent with this new timeline in similar ways. I wish I found this channel sooner because your work is incredibly valuable. I hope Ed Boon and the rest of NR's dev team find your uploads and take your critiques and ideas into account. Based on what I've seen, I think they just might have with a few things but they still have a ways to go. I look forward to your future videos covering MK 11 and other topics!

1:04 you used one of my favourite words! I knew I liked you for a reason. Honestly, I never played any of the MK games, too young, but recently the characters have interested me, in no small part to your work. I can’t imagine how irritating it must be to be a fan, but I hope eventually things start looking up.

Goro have 7 wifes and I have none. Other sad thing: theres a universe where Tobias still works in MK and we are not living there.

My first MK game was MK vs. DC if you can believe it, but unlike most normies I actually went back and actively sought out the older games to understand the story and characters better and to get more of the gameplay I liked and see how it evolved over time, I still have my Classic Xbox and got Deception and Deadly Alliance I thoroughly enjoyed both and despite me vastly preferring the gameplay of 9 and X, the 3D era had undeniably better Worldbuilding with conquest mode in Deception sending you on a grand adventure across the realms.

Seeing people who only started playing mk9 say “bring back mileena” despite her being in a lot of games. Add this to them then saying “no you can’t have havik, he doesn’t have the back story or presence that mileena does” and it’s obvious you don’t actually know asking about the games.

The MK 1 music is a nice touch

Always a good day when I get a notification from The4thSnake!! Thank you! Also, I think it would be great to see you cover the realms in a future video/videos. Chaos and Order realms along with the potential plot and characters to be explored there. Also maybe a list of the forgotten 3-D characters you'd love to see make it back to the screen. Keep up the good work!

As someone who's just getting into MK this helps a lot. Thank you

I recognize Becky Gable, Kerri Hoskins, Katalin Zamiar, Richard Divizio, Daniel Pesina, etc... over these new people as my kombatants, I'm feeling my age here, I'm so proud to have been a Midway kid

I miss the original timeline lore..

0:04 😂😂😂 all of those are as true as Kung Jin's heterosexuality

The movies and comic books heavily inspired the games

2:35 Is it actually stated somewhere in the games' canon that his goal is to prove his moves are real? His MK1 bio mentions nothing of the sort, and I don't remember this detail coming up anywhere else. The MK1 comic and Johnny's ending indicate that participation in the tournament is a journey of self-discovery for him.

Its ironic how much thought and care went into the world,characters and story of the first MK game where it was made to be a violent spectacle to compete with street fighter and having no unique gameplay of its own. Now its inverse, the story is now treated as a spectacle with no substance that is also not being made with the proper care,thought or time but has its own unique gameplay being improved because them putting more thought,care and time into it

Great video, especially for me as a fan of the original MK1 and MK2 comics. While the 2011 version has its strengths, the Midway era version of the earlier games' lore and setting, presented no less in these comics than in the games themselves, has a much more interesting feel to it for me.

A seven foot Raiden would be fuckin’ awesome. He’d be as intimidating as Shao.

Also when the fuck did people just decide that the 3D era was bad? Those games were extremely beloved and now we talk about them like the Star Wars prequels. It's asinine.

3:38 That actually works well with the backstory of the tournament. There's no real need for kombatants from the Outworld side to participate. Outworld's already won the previous tournaments, and Goro is grand champion, having beaten the previous one, Kung Lao. The fight is mainly to decide whether or not Earthrealm wrestles control of the tournament from Outworld, represented by Goro and Shang Tsung, and in general to decide who is the next champion. Granted, there can still be Outworld participants off-screen, but even "MK1 roster plus other kombatants from Earth" works in the context of the later lore. Of course, MK2011 strictly establishes that there are Outworld participants, even retconning some kombatants from later games into the story.

I remember enjoying the old games story more then the reboot. I played through the story of the reboot and I didn't really care all that much? Like I guess some parts I was like oh wow,but most of the time it didn't interest me,the old timeline actually kept my interest and I learned new things about each fighter playing through and using characters and reading lore bits. I miss that time

This video's name is going to confuse people in the future. It's a shame that Netherrealm can't even make something as simple as a title without fucking everything up.

9:31 ofcourse. Tobias even draws the characters better than anybody.

whenever the next MK reboot comes out, I hope they get people who know and love the mk series to write the stories.

The hasbro (G.I. Joe) Kano’s bio had him “deported from japan”. I always thought that was a bit weird ?

The only reason why everything got changed is maybe because when raiden went back in time everything shifted slightly but just a guess

I recently read the prequel comics. They are really cool.

Sad Hsu Hao is disappointed by the fans’ ignorance.

Damn, I never knew that Sonya was from Texas. That's very interesting to learn, I thought the only Texan was Erron Black.

I'm one of the only modern Mortal Kombat fan who watches this and agress

I got into the series by MK 9 but I prefer the original timeline because of better writing and I hate MK x story and 11 stories made me want to slap the writer and say go back and do it again original timeline better

*"Do not make me make a video on this"* If we don't make you make it, how will it get done?

In my defence, I was only 7-8 when I played the old MK games.

I really want a reboot where everything goes back to Mk1's lore and expand on it with the elements of those really good comics, with their cinematic story route they can really do something worthwhile here. Just pray for Mk12 😂

Proof that you didn't need a 1 Million Dollar, 6 hour Cinematic Story Mode you'll play once and then forget about it's existence to tell a good and engaging story and lore in your fighting games (If there's someone out there who says old fighting games didn't have a story means they have the attention span of a pickle) Thank you Loremaster 4thSnake

Kano at least has watched Johnny's movies in the NRS games. How else could he have known that Johnny sampled The angry Aussie's likeness for Ninja Priest. Tremor told him?

I just ran across your channel and started watching your videos, you’re definitely one of the better lore keeper type youtubers! You should do a “wasted potential” video on Reiko or Havik pleeeeaaase!!

Awesome dig at David Cage there! I always look forward to watching your videos btw, very informative.

I didn't know many of this stuff thanks man! 👍

really shows how little attention NRS paid to lore and just wanted to make everything look cool

Man i want Mortal Kombat Japanese Anime adaptation. I hope the day comes soon.

The new timeline took away barakas credibility for cutting off Jax's arms and giving sub zero that scar.

I hate how much disrespect tobais's work gets, he wasn't perfect but he definitely had passion for the games and their stories and created some of my favorite stories

What a brilliant (and sadly true) opening. 1 minute and 5 seconds of pure gold.

MK1 brought back a lot of John Carlton’s backstory, but with a wife named Christina now.

Yea, this is the lore I prefer Hopefully Boon sees this video and can remember his roots

You should get a artist and you two should form a Alliance so y'all can make some great stories! Maybe showing Mk new writing team how it's done?

Anyone else frustrated these comics aren't collected in a hardcover edition?

As much as I love Pat, Matt and Woolie, they were super wrong about the 3D era. And I must inform you that John Vogel is a genius!

I heard Shang Tsung was cursed because he cheated during a previous Mortal Kombat and the Elder Gods didn’t take it well. Edit: I learned this from the second episode of Death Battle, and I have no idea where they got that idea, but it does line up with the idea that he’s an Earth Realm native.

Tremor is also a Johnny cage fan shown in prefight dialogue in mkx

Mortal Kombat as always had a great story and lore behind it's world it had great world building and characters to boot I don't know weather the old story is better or not but shao Lin monks had one of the best story telling IMAO

It’s interesting that all the characters are from Earthrealm, in my head-canon, that would explain why Reptile is in human form, he is sent to sabotage or murder the good guys.

Never new Raiden was soo tall. For some reason I always thought Liu Kang was at least 6ft

John Carlton...

Well done dude!!! Great video!

3:05 tremor likes Johnny's movies too lol

If there's no story than what's the point? I'm just fighting just to fight, that's pointless.

I agree with the fact that a lot of newer fans and to some extent older MK fans automatically assume 3D era=bad. So anything from that time is automatically bad and that includes the 3D era characters. A lot of fans have been asking for 3D era characters to be reintroduced, but they immediately get shot down becuase they're "awful characters." When asked why the answer is usually because they're from the 3D era and no "real" fan likes that time, there is a bias not just from fans but from the devs. Biggest example is Jacqui, a character no one was expecting to be in 11, but the devs wanted to reintroduce her and make her better. And imo the reason they did that was because she debut in MKX, which is peak MK. But I'd bet my arm that if she was introduced in the 3D era, shed be down there with Kobra, Kira, Dairou and forgotten about. Sure I'll admit there was some misses in the 3D era, but not everything was bad, including some of the characters.

This comic was on the Genesis port the back of the manual mk2 had a comic in the back 2 no one ever listens or even cares when I explain the mk1 and 2 lore. Luv this video. I love loud

Sonya's father was a weird one in the MK9 ending. It doesn't explicitly state whether or not the ghost speaking to Sonya was truly her father, but it does state that he's been missing for a long time. So for all we know, she could have been talking to Damashi.

Thank you for helping me win a bet that you would post a MK video out of May

Please do more of these videos

While the overall story of Mortal Kombat is somewhat easy to understand, there was a ton of stuff that was retconned even before the Netherrealm games. Characters that supposedly died in one game would just be back in the next with no explanation, information in one game would contradict later information, and the movie had a huge influence on the games as well when it came to information.

I had no idea Johnny Cage wasn’t his birth name. The more you know

Goro has seven wives? Did Negan from The Walking Dead take notes?

Prior to Sonya marrying Johnny Cage, it was hinted she had a possible relationship with Jax. Besides them being close friends and looking out for each other, here are some hints. 1. In MK: Defenders of the Realm it was shown Sonya had feelings for Jax, and was jealous when he ended up with another woman. 2. In MK11 it's hinted Jax is jealous of Johnny Cage marrying Sonya in some intro dialogue. I think this could lead to interesting interactions between Johnny and Jax.

Nice video 4th Snake

Great video! Subbed

It'll never happened, but it'd be fun if there were ever a Mortal Kombat Zero that ignores all the retcons up to and including Raiden being a protector of Earthrealm instead of just a dick and looked into the original original backstories. Would probably have to tag Tobias to make it feel authentic if he's still got it.

I'm old school, i like the old story line than the new, from MK to Armageddon. I thank the movies (even annihilation and Journey begins) because of them i knew the MK history.

Anyone else notice that Liu Kangs signature studded wristbands were originally Johnny Cages thing

Ah another nice series to look forward to.