Development:Mortal Kombat II (Arcade)

This page details development materials of Mortal Kombat II (Arcade).

In December 2022, Mortal Kombat II arcade source files were leaked with a large amount of never-before-seen unused assets and even complete versions of sprites that appear (albeit unused and broken) in the final game.

To do: Everything posted on this page has been taken from this thread, including the pictures. If you could post higher-quality assets and even stuff that wasn't added here, it'd be great!

Character Sprites

Ninjas

An unused frame for the ninjas' uppercut.

An unused frame for Reptile's Acid Spit move.

An airborne version of Reptile's Acid Spit.

An unused extra frame for Reptile's Force Ball move.

An unused sprite for the ninjas. Probably used for Kitana's Kiss Fatality.

Kitana

An unused "spin" move for Kitana. Could also have been used for a Fatality.

Johnny Cage

Johnny Cage's knee attack from the first Mortal Kombat was apparently supposed to return for the sequel. In the final version, only the second part of the mini-combo exists.

An unused move called "PPunch" in the files (possibly standing for "Power Punch"). It's unknown if this was supposed to be a brand-new special move or a combo ender.

Johnny sticking his hand in his opponent's head and throwing their brain on the ground. There's also complete sprites for each character's head with a hole in it (see below).

This Fatality would eventually make its official debut in Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance.

Kung Lao

An unused combo for Kung Lao internally named "Backhand". It's probably missing some frames.

Jax

An airborne version of Jax's Energy Wave attack. While unused in this game, it would later be reintroduced in Mortal Kombat Trilogy.

Liu Kang

An unused double kick attack for Liu Kang.

An unused attack named "Backfist".

Shang Tsung

An unused roundpunch attack for Shang Tsung.

An unused backflip animation.

Raiden

An unused animation named "Short Zap". Possibly used for a Fatality or as part of a combo.

Baraka

A mockup for Baraka's Fatality, which most likely involved him beheading his opponent before holding him up with his blades.

Kintaro

An different walking animation for Kintaro.

Shao Kahn

Shao Kahn originally had a Fatality where he would put his hand trough a portal and crush the player with a giant fist. In the final version of the game, only a broken version of this sprite remains.

Background Assets

General

The original Mortal Kombat stages are all present in the source files, possibly used as placeholders for the new ones. The only Mortal Kombat stage that returned in the final version of II is Goro's Lair, which is used for the secret fights and is not normally accessible.

An animation for a ninja throwing something on the ground. It's called "Tornado" in the files and is actually stored among the general background sprites. Remains of these sprites (albeit unused and broken) are still in the final version of the game.

Battle Plan

To do: Add individual images

An unused Thunder and different sizes of flames for the Battle Plan screen.

Wasteland

Unused background assets for the Wasteland stage.

To do: Add individual images

Other various unused assets for the Wasteland stage. There's also an unused floor, which would later be repurposed for The Tower stage.

The Tower

Terracotta soldiers that originally appeared in the background for the Tower stage.

Clouds meant to appear in the background of fhe Tower stage.

Living Forest

A background prop for the Living Forest stage. "SANS" is written in the bottom-right corner, possibly a signature by whoever drew this graphic.

Other Sprites

An unused blood burst animation named "BLDSPLASH".

Unused explosion animations.

To do: The list shown below includes names which were actually used in the final version. Remove them. Someone has found more names in the source files, such as Barada, Rancor, Katana, Siren, Asmodeus, etc.

A list of various different names that would've appeared in the life bars. Most of them seem to be jokes or placeholder names for the new characters (such as "Hat-Boy" for Kung Lao).

This sprite is unused and broken in the final version, while it appears intact in the source files.

A close-up animation of Kintaro roaring. Possibly used for attract mode.

Unused Palettes

To do: Almost every character has a third palette, possibly used for a mirror match in Endurance mode. Add their sprites

An unused purple palette for Johnny Cage.

An unused palette for Scorpion that gives him blue skin. Purpose unknown.

Miscellaneous

A picture of someone swimming at a beach (or a pool) named "MKVOG".