- For goroawase, see Mnemonic goroawase system
Template:Mortal Kombat character Goro is a character in the Mortal Kombat fighting game series.
About Goro
Goro was introduced in the very first Mortal Kombat game as the sub-boss, where he was infamously very difficult to defeat, much more difficult than the final boss Shang Tsung (much like Motaro); not only did he inflict more damage with each hit than the other fighters, he also moved faster. He is the Prince of the Shokan race, hailing from the Kuatan realm of Outworld. As a General in the Outworld Emperor Shao Kahn's militia, he fights for the pride and glory of his people.
Storyline
Goro became Grand Champion of the Mortal Kombat tournament after defeating the Great Kung Lao. For 500 years, he remained undefeated, and helped Shang Tsung grow ever closer to achieving Shao Kahn's goal of domination over Earthrealm. In his 10th title defence however, he faced Liu Kang. Kang pushed him to his limits, and finally defeated the mighty Shokan warrior. In the tournament's aftermath, Goro went missing, and it is theorized that he retreated into Outworld during this time. Shang Tsung, meanwhile, faced execution for his defeat at the hands of Liu Kang. He would resurface after Kahn's downfall, during the events of Mortal Kombat Gold. Despite having the intent to avenge his losses at Liu Kang's hands, Goro began to take an interest in the matters of his own race and joined his fellow Shokans in war against the Centaurians. Princess Kitana intervened and negotiated both races through a truce and peace accord. The meeting was interrupted, however, by Kung Lao, who had himself desired to challenge his ancestor's killer. The Shaolin Monk lashed out with a ceremonial strike of revenge that left Goro's chest scarred. Considering the score settled, the two shook hands. When Shinnok and his legion were defeated and Edenia was free once more, Goro and the Shokan race decided to ally themselves with the Edenians.
Years later, during the time of Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance, the united Edenian and Shokan forces attacked the weakened Shao Kahn's armies. Exhausted from battle, Goro was struck from behind and mortally wounded by Noob Saibot, apparently dying from the injury.
Possible future
In the GameCube version of Mortal Kombat: Deception, Goro is found barely alive by Shao Kahn himself and become allies to stop Onaga. His ending depicts him as killing Kitana as a sign of loyalty to the Emperor. Whether the GameCube-exclusive storyline or ending become part of Mortal Kombat canon or not is yet to be decided, but Kahn, Goro, and Kitana are all still slated to appear in the upcoming Mortal Kombat: Armageddon. Goro will not be the sub-boss in Mortal Kombat: Armageddon.
Memorable moves
- Fireball – Goro shoots a green fireball out of his hand. This move was stronger than most projectiles, just like his physical attacks. In Mortal Kombat: Deception, the fireball is larger, red, and does standard projectile damage. In Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks, Goro can shoot one from each hand, four in a row. (MK, MKT, MK4, MK Gold, MKD, MK:SM)
- Teleport Stomp – Goro jumps off screen and comes crashing down on his enemy. (MK, MK4, MK Gold, MKD, MK:SM)
- Chest Pound – Grabbing his opponent with his lower arms, Goro then pounds them with his upper arms, shaving off a good portion of his opponent's life. In Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks, a "Test Your Might" event occurs against Goro when he uses this attack. (MK, MKT, MK4, MK Gold, MKD, MK:SM)
- Spinning Slaps – Goro spins around with all his arms outstretched, knocking his opponent backwards. (MKT, MKD)
- Tremor Pound – Goro either stomps or pounds the ground, creating a small tremor and knocking his opponent into the air. (MK4, MK Gold, MKD)
Fatalities
- Four-Armed Rip – Grabbing his opponent's arms in his top pair of hands and their legs in his other pair, Goro then rips his opponent's limbs off. (MK:D)
- Sai Assault – Goro slashes his opponent, shoves four sais into their chest, and rips out one sai and shoves it into their neck. (MK:D)
Other finishers
- Hara Kiri – Goro stabs himself in the abdomen with one pair of sais, and rams the other pair into his eyes. (MK:D)
Also, in MK Gold, if the player used Goro with one button fatalities activated, he would use Sub-Zero's Freeze fatality, and Quan Chi's fatality. In Mortal Kombat 4 for the Sony PlayStation he would use Johnny Cage's uppercut decapitation and Reiko's Torso Kick fatalities.
Movie appearance
Goro appears in the first Mortal Kombat movie, in accordance with his original story, as the champion of Mortal Kombat. After defeating numerous opponents, including Johnny Cage's friend Art Lean, he is in turn defeated and sent falling to his death by Cage. In the movie, Goro is portrayed as an evil warrior, steeped in the authoritarian traditions of Outworld. He does not look favorably upon humans. He is voiced by Kevin Michael Richardson, with vocal effects provided by Frank Welker.
Trivia
- Has seven polygamous wives. Sheeva has often been theorized to be one of them, but this has never been mentioned within canon.
- As Goro had four arms, he could not be portrayed by an actor when the original Mortal Kombat games were digitized from real subjects. He was, in fact, a latex mold created from a clay sculpture. The mold was animated incorporating moves from another actor. This technique was later incorporated into the first Mortal Kombat movie as well. According to Ed Boon, the clay sculpture used to animate Goro in the first Mortal Kombat was twisted around and bent so many times, that it simply fell apart.
- In Mortal Kombat: Deception, when explaining how Goro was animated, Ed Boon mentions a second model for Goro had also been created. This second model was not used for animation and still survives to this day.
- Goro's skin is either flesh colored or yellow in the games, but he was dark brown in the first Mortal Kombat movie.
- The creation of Goro lead to other Shokans, notably Kintaro in Mortal Kombat II and Sheeva in Mortal Kombat 3.
- Despite being a popular sub-boss, Goro has only been featured in five Mortal Kombat games. He appears in Mortal Kombat, Mortal Kombat Trilogy (PlayStation, Sega Saturn, and PC versions only), Mortal Kombat 4 (home systems), Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks, and Mortal Kombat: Deception as a GameCube exclusive character. He is only playable in MKT, MK4, and Deception.
- Goro could also become a secret playable character in the Game Boy version of the first Mortal Kombat game. To play as Goro a player must first beat the game, then during the end credits enter a secret code. There are also other changes made as a result of this secret code. One of the more notible changes is that all the fighters would have new names (Kano would now be named Eric for example). In addition, you would now have to fight Goro twice (the first time during the mirror match just before the Endurance Matches and the second time just before Shang Tsung himself). Goro has no personal ending in this game and he is also unbalanced enough to play. Goro had no fatality, only special attacks and all can be difficult to execute.
- He was the first of five Mortal Kombat characters to have their own non-canon Malibu comic book (the others were Kung Lao, Baraka, Mileena, and Kitana). His nickname in these comics is the "Prince Of Pain".
- Throughout the Mortal Kombat media (the combination of the games, comic books, and movies), only three men have beaten Goro in a fair fight. These three are Liu Kang (as stated in the official Mortal Kombat II comic book), Johnny Cage (as shown in the first Mortal Kombat movie and Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks), and the original Sub-Zero (as shown in the Malibu Mortal Kombat comic book, Mortal Kombat: Tournament Edition II). Thus far, no women have beaten him.
- Fan reactions towards Goro were positive, as they had never seen anything like him prior to Mortal Kombat's release.
- In the original MK, if the player defeated Goro with Johnny Cage with a flawless victory, Goro screamed a Wilhelm scream.
- In the SNES version of the original MK, if the player performed Rayden's finishing move on the final endurance match a metallic Goro would appear to fight.
- It was rumored that Goro was to be a playable character in Mortal Kombat II. That rumor was finally put to rest when it was confirmed that Goro was not in the game.
- The source of much aggravation for the writing staff at UK-based Amiga magazine Amiga Power, who constantly received letters along the lines of "Dear AP, tell me how to 'be' Goro." [1].
- In the movie Mortal Kombat: The Journey Begins, Goro has an older brother named Durak (whom he kills to become the Prince of Shokan) and mother called Queen Maya.
- While Goro was billed at 8' 2" (249 cm) in the first Mortal Kombat in 1992, in the games, he looks nowhere near that height. However, in the GameCube release of Mortal Kombat: Deception, Goro is nearly as tall as Onaga, the Dragon King, who towers over the other warriors, so it is likely that he is at his listed height again.
- According to original Trading Cards of Mortal Kombat, Sheeva is the daughter of Goro, but this information is never told in the games' plot. Also, in Mortal Kombat: Annihilation, it is said that Sheeva is one of Goro's many wives, though this was never confirmed in the games' plot either.
- Because of Goro's unusual body size and shape, his Game Over sequence in Mortal Kombat 4/Mortal Kombat Gold was greatly glitched: his tumble down the pit was awkward, he would land on the spikes at the bottom head-first (thus sinking his head in below the shoulders due to clipping issues), and an odd computerized laugh would be heard.
- Goro's appearance in Deception is unusual, because the game depicts him as using three distinctly different weapons: his Dragon Fangs (as his Weapon Style), four sais (for his Fatality and Hara-Kiri), and a pair of poison-laced swords (in Shao Kahn's ending, against the Dragon King). As there is no in-game reason given for his use of all these weapons, seemingly arbitrarily (and mutually exclusive from one another), some fans find this confusing and nonsensical for the character.