7 Glitches In Video Games That Became Essential Features In Their Franchise

First of all, let’s dispel some gaming myths. Contrary to the overwhelming popular belief, Ermac from Mortal Kombat did not exist as a glitched, palette swapped Scorpion in the original Mortal Kombat. This rumour originated from a hoax printed by Electronic Gaming Monthly way back in 1993, supported by a doctored photograph of the screen. However, there is still some truth to Ermac’s glitchy origin.

The word ERMACS (a pluralised contraction of Error Macro) did mistakenly appear on the audits screen beneath the counters ‘Reptile Appears’ and ‘Reptile Battles’, which prompted fans to desperately search out a second hidden character ‘Ermac’, in addition to Reptile.

This, along with the widely believed hoax about a palette swapped ninja called Ermac, eventually led to the developers creating Ermac as a playable character in Mortal Kombat 3. So it was half glitch, half fan imagination that inspired Ermac’s integration to the series.

Another Mortal Kombat glitch that did indeed go on to influence the entire series however was Baraka’s signature ‘Whirling Dervish’ move. Originally a bug, the developers liked it so much it was worked to become a mainstay of his repertoire.

Another glitch that found its way into the franchise was one of Johnny Cage’s fatalities decapitating the opponent twice in the first game. Rather than ignoring the bug, for the second game the developers ran with the concept and gave Johnny a secret ‘triple decapitation fatality’.