Mortal Kombat/Hidden content

Back to: Mortal Kombat.

Mega Drive version

Enable blood

On the Mega Drive, Mortal Kombat is censored by default, with all the blood effects turned off. They can be enabled by pressing at the suspicious text at the start of the game. When entered correctly, the text shadow will turn red and the classic "Get over here!" sample is played.

This code is reportedly a nod to the 1981 album Abacab by Genesis (the band, who share a name with the Mega Drive console's North American name).

In Australia (and possibly other regions), Mortal Kombat was advertised on television (alongside Street Fighter II': Special Champion Edition) as having "secret codes for full arcade finishing moves", with the ABACABB code being shown on-screen.

Cheat mode

On the main menu, press (DULLARD) to access cheat mode. In addition to being able to set who fights who and where, there are eight "flags" which enable or disable various features:

• Flag 0: One hit kills CPU
• Flag 1: One hit kills player
• Flag 2: Objects fly across the moon in The Pit stage
• Flag 3: Fergus McGovern's head will bounce across the screen in The Pit stage
• Flag 4: Clues concerning the hidden character Reptile appear between fights
• Flag 5: Infinite credits
• Flag 6: The computer will always win with a fatality
• Flag 7: Fight the whole tournament on the 'Palace Gates' stage

Fight Reptile

At the start of a round, sometimes objects fly past the moon on The Pit stage, including Santa Claus, the cast of Peter Pan, a kite (possibly a reference to Mary Poppins), an alien spaceship, a blimp, a rocket or a witch. If, when this happens, the player can achieve a double flawless victory and defeat his or her opponent with a fatality, they will get to challenge Reptile at the bottom of the pit.

Fergus McGovern's bouncing head

The head of the then-head of Probe Software, Fergus McGovern, also sometimes turns up on The Pit stage, bouncing along the screen.

Mega CD version

Cheat mode

On the main menu, press (DULLARD) to access cheat mode. In addition to being able to set who fights who and where, there are eight "flags" which enable or disable various features:

• P1WIN: One hit kills CPU
• P2WIN: One hit kills player
• MOON: Objects fly across the moon in The Pit stage
• DADS: The characters' names on the health bars are replaced with random character names from the tv series 'Dad's Army'
• GREEN: Clues concerning the hidden character Reptile appear between fights
• LIVES: Infinite credits
• FLAG6: The computer will always win with a fatality
• TURBO: The in-game speed is much faster (menus remain unaffected)

Fight Reptile

At the start of a round, sometimes objects fly past the moon on The Pit stage, including Santa Claus, the cast of Peter Pan, a kite (possibly a reference to Mary Poppins), an alien spaceship, a blimp, a rocket or a witch. If, when this happens, the player can achieve a double flawless victory and defeat his or her opponent with a fatality, they will get to challenge Reptile at the bottom of the pit.

Dad's Army easter egg

As mentioned above, enable the 'DADS' flag in the cheat menu to replace both characters' names on their health bars with random character names from the tv series 'Dad's Army'. The names can change between individual rounds as well.

Master System version

Enable blood

On the code of honour screen, press

One-hit knock-outs

On the code of honour screen, press . A sound will confirm the correct entry.

Now, pressing on the battle plan screen will make it so that when the fight starts, your opponent will have their energy drained, allowing for a one hit knock-out. The timing for getting this code to work is not straightfoward, so it is often better to just hold during the battle plan sequence.

Game Gear version

Enable blood

On the code of honour screen, press .

One-hit knock-outs

On the code of honour screen, press . A sound will confirm the correct entry.

Now, pressing on the battle plan screen will make it so that when the fight starts, your opponent will have their energy drained, allowing for a one hit knock-out.