Mortal Kombat: 30 Absolute Best Easter Eggs You Need To See
19. The Rumour Hill (MKII/MK3)
Midway mastered the art of making money from rumours. In the Game Audits menu for Mortal Kombat II, there is a listing for "Kano transformations", which popularised the theory that Kano was hidden in the game. Instead of shooting down this theory, Ed Boon encouraged it, knowing players would spend more money at the arcade trying to find Kano.
Although the Kano rumour wasn't true, Boon made a joke about it in the sequel. For Nightwolf's Friendship, he turns into Raiden and states he cannot perform a Kano Transformation.
When players first saw Liu Kang transform into a dragon in MKII, it was rumoured each character could turn into an animal to kill their opponent. This finishing move was called an Animality. The creators liked the idea so much, they implemented it into Mortal Kombat 3.
In the intro for Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3, a mysterious warrior called Rain can be seen for a second. Players spent a lot of money at the arcade trying to unlock him, oblivious that he was put in the intro as a joke and was not actually in the game. He was made playable when the game was released on consoles.