Cut Content

Cutting Room floor or beta elements refers to content in a work in progress that is not used in the final product. Beta content holds a particular interest to gamers to reveal what could have been and Mortal Kombat is no exception to this as there are various features that are shown in previous revisions but are taken away in the retail versions. However, through data-mining and hacking, some of these elements still exist, but are in incomplete form and appear glitchy when used. Included are only content that made it into in-game form or are still in the game in some form

Characters

 * Shang Tsung's Laugh: Shang Tsung originally had an animation where he would place his hands on his hips and laugh in triumph. A similar animation would be used in MKII during the roll call credits.
 * Shang Tsung's Fatality: Shang Tsung himself was originally suppose to have a Fatality where he would quickly lop off the victim's head with his katana but was removed. The sprites are still located within the ROM but are never used.


 * Goro's death: Goro was originally to have a special death animation where he would fall on his knees, turn to stone and crumble. Only four sprites of this exists, the last being half of his body gone, presumably having been blown apart.


 * Backflip: Johnny Cage originally a separate animation for jumping back. It could be assumed that at some point, the other characters would have their own jumping backwards animation.

ERMACS: Before the T-Unit release, there was a counter left over in the Game Audits that listed ERMACS, shorthand for Error Macro which was left over to from unrelated arcade called Smash TV to resolve bugs that occurred in the game.

Screens

 * Shao Kahn, Kintaro and the ? box were not present in the beta footage shown for the Battle Plan.

Characters

 * Raiden's 2P outfit was originally his default color and was shown in promotional shots. Sub-Zero also had an aquamarine tint to his clothes.


 * Shot footage of MKII in the working stages had originally shown Johnny Cage with the word Otomix written on his trousers. For reasons unknown, this was removed in the final version but it can still be seen if Shang Tsung's Soul Steal is performed on him.

He also had an attack where he would plant his blades into the ground and use them as support as he flipped over to kick the opponent.
 * Baraka was originally have an attack where he would spin in place with his arms and blades extended to deal consecutive damage. This was removed due to an unfair advantage though the sprites for it still exist. He was later given this move back in Trilogy.


 * Shao Kahn's unused attacks: Shao Kahn's hammer would have originally debuted with him in this game and swung it horizontally. He also had a double axe handle attack. Only this move would be used in Trilogy. He also possessed another attack where he would extend his hands and clapped, causing a fanning shockwave to shoot out in front of him


 * Shao Kahn prepares for battle: There was an animation where Shao Kahn would rise from his throne and discard his throne. This was likely to be used upon Kintaro's defeat.


 * Unknown object drop: Shao Kahn would reach his hand into some sort of portal where a glitchy object would drop onto the ground. It could be presumed to be some sort of unused finisher for him.


 * Kintaro was originally to have some sort of grab but there appears to be no sprites for him throwing or attacking the opponent in some fashion. He seemed to have some sort of breathing animation that was never used.


 * Kung Lao was originally to have a Torpedo attack exactly like Raiden's but was removed. He is given it back in Trilogy.


 * There exists sprites for Sub-Zero performing his Ice Blast while airborne. He also had access to Reptile's Invisibility sprite animation but he uses it instead to freeze himself, appearing slightly glitched.

Mortal Kombat 3
Note: Most of the content listed can also be found in the promotional video "The Year We Make Contact"

Screen

 * In a very early screenshot, the Character Select screen was mostly empty and filled with Raiden portraits as placeholders. Sonya and Kano used their MK1 portraits as no shots of them were taken at the time and due to their absence in MKII.
 * The FIGHT prompt has a different design matching the game's typical font.
 * The unlocked sequence for Smoke simply has a black background with the usual text.

Audio

 * The Versus screen had a distinct howl-like sound at the end.
 * Liu Kang uses voice files shared by most of the male characters instead of his distinct kiai sounds.
 * Sheeva uses voice files from Sonya and Sindel instead of her own. She does use these however in the SNES and Sega Genesis ports.
 * None of the characters' names are spoken.

Characters

 * Sektor, Cyrax and Sindel do not have their names in their lifebars. When they win however, they are named as KETCHUP, MUSTARD and MUCHAHA respectively.
 * Cyrax was at one time named Robocop. The video that showed this also reused the text from MKII.
 * None of the characters bleed.
 * Nightwolf originally had an attack where it would appear he would throw two tomahawks. He additionally also had some sort of large barrier formed in front of him.
 * Shao Kahn's hammer swing was considered again but for reasons unknown was left out again. He uses an overhead smash in the final version instead.
 * Motaro was originally suppose to be able to grab and throw his opponents upward, had his front legs raised with his body slightly phasing and a taunt where he points at his opponent and talks, similar to Shao Kahn. He also has an image that is later used in his MKT ending.

Misc.

 * A large drill can be found in the ROM with its own animation though it's possible it would have been used as a Stage Fatality.

Misc.

 * The frog used for Ermac's Animality is present along with Classic Sub-Zero's Friendship, but neither are used though.

Screen

 * An early trailer shows Rain and Noob Saibot using recolored ninja portraits from MKII. None of the bosses however are present despite the video confirming them as playable.

Characters

 * Shao Kahn, Goro and Kintaro all had Babality sprites at one point but were never used.

Screen

 * The Versus screen is completely absent in the Beta 1.0 version.
 * The game also used a stylized font as a opposed to a more standard one.
 * The Run meter originally had a blue color
 * The Battle Plan towers were originally tapered in perspective, the easiest being the closest and the hardest being the farthest.
 * In one of the earliest revisions, six slots are empty in the Character Select screen and Noob Saibot is among the cast. Some of the characters also have different portraits.
 * No Character Bios.

Audio

 * The Elder Gods stage has a completely different and more calmer music tune

Characters

 * Noob Saibot was playable in the earliest version but was replaced by Reiko. He is still however in the later revisions and can be seen in Beta 1.0 during the Attract Mode.
 * Shinnok is not the final boss. Instead, the final opponent is chosen by random. When you win however, you are treated to a GREAT JOB! message on a black screen before being sent to the Enter Your Initials screen.
 * No Fatalities are present.

Features

 * Weapon combat had not yet been implemented, thus there are no weapons or objects to pick up.