Mortal Kombat: 30 Absolute Best Easter Eggs You Need To See
26. Reptile And Meat Were Created As Afterthoughts (MK1/MK4)
When the original Mortal Kombat was completed, Ed Boon and John Tobias realised they still had a bit of space on the cartridge. They didn't want it to go to waste so they decided to insert an Easter egg for hardcore fans to find.
Their first idea was to insert a secret character but they realised there wasn't enough space. Instead, they changed the colour of one of the existing characters (Scorpion) to create a brand-new fighter called Reptile. The developers didn’t have space to give Reptile any new attacks so his moves were a combination of Scorpion’s and Sub-Zero’s. Reptile made history since he was the first secret character in fighting game history.
But Reptile wasn't the only character created at the last minute. The zombie-like Meat, who debuted in Mortal Kombat 4, wasn't originally intended for the game.
So, how did he come to be?
Well, when a character has their skin melted or ripped off during certain Fatalities, he or she turns into a bloody skeleton, which the developers nicknamed "Meat". Since the sprites for Meat were already done, Midway decided to make him a secret character.
His backstory describes him as a "failed experiment" by Shang Tsung.