He's the big green Saurian from the outer worlds and he is bad! Since first debuting as a hidden character in the original Mortal Kombat, Reptile has been a shifty, shadowy, snake-like entity in the viciously intense fighting-game staple. He's come a long way from just being a bizarre hybrid of Scorpion and Sub-Zero. Like all of the rainbow ninjas in the series, Reptile has grown and developed a look, fighting style, and character all his own. From a green-clad ninja to a sadistic serpent of Outworld. With his claws, fangs, acid spit and snak🌊e-inspired kung ཧfu stylings, it's no wonder Reptile has joined the roster in nearly every entry to the series.
Reptile is easily one of the more popular characters in the series, but let he who is without flaws cast the first claw. Like many of his video game counterparts, Reptile has several inconsistencies, strange design choices, glitches, and flaws that just don't make sense. These things don't make him unplayable by any means, but it does make us scratch our heads at what the designers were thinking when they sent our scaled friend into the arena. From a complete species change to several wardrobe malfunctions, Reptile has had to slither out of some pretty weird scenarios in his day. Let's peel back the scales on one of our favorite fighters and see just how strange things get, and don't forget the antivenom. Here are 20 things about Mortal Kombat's Reptile that just don't make sense.
19 🌟 A Very Hidden Char♛acter
As any gamer-historian worth his salt will probably tell you, Reptile originally debuted as a hidden character in the original Mortal Kombat. No doubt thiꦆs would influence other arcade fighters to follow the same practice, but very few are as complex to find as this green ๊ninja. On an arcade cabinet, this was no easy feat.
Reptile was often hidden in different stages, but to face him, a series of commands had to be met. Hidden messages would appear periodically during the single-player tower, requiring a double flawless at The Pit or🉐 waiting until something specific flies across the moon. It was a real brain-buster and would go on to be repeated for characters like Jade and Smoke. Don𓆏't ask us why.
18 ⭕ Fire And Ice ൩
We've mentioned the rainbow of MK ninjas before, but if you think about it, Reptile is technically a palate swap/hybrid of both Scorpion and Sub-Zero. Yellow and blue do make green, after al🎐l. But here's the issue we have with that. If Reptile was made so difficult to find, why not just make a new character?
We get it, it was the 90s and photo-sprites weren't exactly an art form yet, but would it really have been too much to create a new character for that slot? It just feels like a lot of build-up to little payoff. Call it a missed opportunity oღr a case of gamer-griping, but we feel like something could have been done better.
17 🎃 Some Scaly Stealing
The costume isn't the only thing the original Reptꦇile ripped off of his colorful cohorts. Seems that there's more than just a chameleon-like quality to this lizard because he takes not only the stance, poses, and costume of the two ninjas, but their powers and special abilities as well. We definitely have some questions on this one.
It all goes back to the concept of an original character. Instead of making reptile his own entity, they made him a Scorpion/Sub-Zero clone, including giving him Scorpion's spear and Sub-Zero's ice blast. It's kind of cool in theory to face off against some freaky ninja hybrid, but in practice, it jusꦉt comes off as lazy.
16 🃏 Monkey Business
The animalities of Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 were clever and creative for the most part, but some of them definitely missed obvious opportunities. The most glaring of these rough animalities were definitely Scorpion's and reptiles. You would think characters with animal-themed names would be easy to nail for moves like these, but such was not꧑ the case.
Come on, Scorpion not turning into a giant scorpion or Reptile turning into a monkey? There's definitely something wrong with that pictur⛄e. If Liu Kang can turn into the Mortal Kombat dragon, surely Reptile could have turned into some serpentine creature without batting an eye.
15 🍷 Piece By Piece
When Mortal Kombat 2 hit the gaming scene, Reptile was, at last, an established character, though still a palette-swapped ninja that took some notes from Scorpion. His Fatality, like Scorpion's, had him remove his mask to reveal an intense surprise underneath. Reptile revealed his raptor-like form and consumed the losing player in one gulp. This was definitely cool as it was in MK2, but MK3's version has us on the fence.
Instead of slurping them in one bite, Reptile eats his opponent a piece at a time. Arguably it is slightly more unsettling, but it lacks the intense-factor it needs to complete the effect. It's one of those cases of if it ain't broke don't fix it. At least it looks good in MK9.
14 Spooky Sh💃ow
The film adaptation of the famous fighting game became one of those "so bad it's good" movies that scattered the 90s. Johnny Cage, Raiden, and Scorpion all got the same altered-universe treatment, and reptile was no exception. What could have easily been done with makeup ended up a spooky CGI monstrosity that looks more at home in a Doom level than Mortal Kombat.
The creature does transform into a more game accurate ninja, but it still feels like a cartoonish effect. Though reptile's species was a little more developed for MK2, we don't think the film's version was exactly what they were imagining. Then again, what part of the film was all🦂 that accurate anyway?
13 ൩ Is He A Shapeshifter?
When we're first introduced to Reptile, he appears just as Scorpion and Sub-Zero do, ninjas in bright colors, right? But when unmasked, we're shown a scary reptilian, raptor-like face. Much ♎like Scorpion's skull, this is done for shock and ཧsurprise. If that's the case then, how is it that Reptile has progressively become more and more lizard-like in the series.
We'll discuss designs later, but up until MK4, Reptile has a more humanoid appearance, save for the face behind the mask. But from that game onward, he's become more monsterlike and at times nearly draconian. Is he evolving? Did he go through some sort of metamorphosis? Or did the desi🍎gners just want to go all the way with the lizard motif?
12 ♈ ﷽ The Classic Creature
There's something really different about the classic Reptile and the Reptile who wears the Klassic costume. The classic reptile was a humanoid character with a reptilian face, the classic version presented in MKX seems to be a strange hybrid of the two ideas.🍸 One thing we've noticed though, there might poꦦssibly be a species difference
MKX's default Reptile is more like a spiny lizard, but his Klassic skin gives him a deeper green complexion minus some of the more Shokan-like features. The default's skin is more jagged where the Klassic's is darker and smoo🐭ther. Perhaps this was to evoke his earlier designs, but we're not entirely sure.
11 🍬 Reptile's Re-Design🔯s
Since MK4, Reptile has gone from humanoid ninja with a raptor head hidden underneath to full-on lizardman from underground. His costumes have ventured from the classic black 💧hood ꧅and green overwear to tight purple leather and a weird facemask. He's worn anything and everything a lizardman could possibly wear, but not always want.
From the spikey, draconic features of Deadly Alliance to the Ermac-esque wrappings of Armageddon, Reptile's design has certainly been diverse, but not often the ninja he's supposed to be. Thankfully, this isn't a ꧂frequent problem, but it is one we can't leave out.
10 ♈ 𒈔 You Call That Classic?
Speaking of the mix and mingle of designs, there is no better example of this idea than the "Klassic" costume seen in MKX. The bodysuit might be reminiscent of MK3, but that unholy hybrid of a mask/faꦫceplate is nothing like its arcade counterpart. Yet another unfortunate case of "what were they thinking?"
Alright, we'll admit it would be easier for him to spit venom with a slit in the mask, but that wasn't a problem for his MK9 design. What changed? We get it, the designers were going for a grittier, dangerous look with their mos💙t recent installment, but surely they could've given him a better mask than that. It looks too much of a modern hybrid to be considered a classic in our eyes.