Mortal Kombat: 30 Absolute Best Easter Eggs You Need To See

The sub-boss of the original Mortal Kombat is the eight-foot-tall Shokan warrior, Goro. Due to his towering height, terrifying appearance, and cheap attacks, Goro became one of the most iconic bosses, not just in fighting games, but in all video games. When Midway began production on the sequel, they knew they had to create a sub-boss just as iconic as the four-armed monstrosity.

However, Ed Boon and John Tobias didn't want to create "another Goro" because they were worried that design would come across as lazy and unoriginal. Instead, they devised a gigantic tusked tiger-beast called Kintaro as the game's penultimate boss.

While programming the game, the developers realised Kintaro's animations were too difficult to render. Running out of time, they used the same design for Goro and turned him into the new Kintaro.

To avoid him looking like a carbon copy of Goro, the developers covered Kintaro in tiger-stripe tattoos.

Kintaro’s original design was used for Shao Kahn’s pet, TaiGore, in the 2011 version of Mortal Kombat. TaiGore can be seen beside Kahn in the level, Shao Kahn's Throne Room.