Babality

A Babality is a finishing move introduced in the Midway fighting game Mortal Kombat II, the second in the Mortal Kombat series of video games. The move allows players to turn their opponents into an infant version of the character. This infant version is often clad in a diaper, although sometimes he or she is wearing pants or other lower-body clothing. Regardless, the regressed character's attire is basically a miniature version of the clothes he or she wore when fully-grown, complete with smaller versions of his or her accessories (Raiden's hat, Johnny Cage's shades, etc.).

To perform a Babality, the player must perform a special button combination for their character and have won the final round using only High or Low Kick. In Mortal Kombat 3 and its updates, Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 and Mortal Kombat Trilogy, the player had to win the round without using Block. After a Babality is performed, the sound of a baby crying plays (presumably the protests of the now-infant opponent) and the victor strikes a winning pose. The announcer proclaims: "[victor] wins; Babality!" In Mortal Kombat 3 and its updates, the generic green "Babality!!" text used in MKII is replaced with pastel colored, lettered building blocks. The blocks fall from the top of the screen and spell out "BABALITY" as a short lullaby plays.

Babalities were introduced as a deliberately absurd counter-argument to the controversy that the original received for its violent content, and a tamer counterpart to the typical Fatality. Fan reaction was mixed; some found them humorous and enjoyable, but others felt they were an unwelcome, out-of-character intrusion in what is otherwise a serious game. The moves were later dropped in an effort to abate this criticism.

Babalities appeared in Mortal Kombat II, Mortal Kombat 3, Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3, and Mortal Kombat Trilogy.

Their initial appearance in Mortal Kombat II Revision 2.1 came with some glitches including one that allowed players to perform attacks after the babality was performed. A secret tribute to this appears in the N64 version of Mortal Kombat Trilogy where it is possible to revert the opponent back to adult form before exploding, resulting in a Fatality.



Mortal Kombat (2011)
Babalities made a return in Mortal Kombat (2011) where most characters have a baby model. However, unlike previous incarnations where the baby would just sit and cry, each character has a different animation once they are turned into a baby.

Shang Tsung: Sucks out the soul of a teddy bear and sits contentedly.thumb|right|300px

Raiden: Summons lightning, but due to being unable to control it a stray lightning bolt scares him, making him shiver and cry in fear.

Kano: His metallic eye, now too heavy for his infant body, causes him to fall over and desperately try to lift himself up.

Scorpion: Faces his opponent and attempts to shoot his spear (complete with high-pitched "GET OVER HERE!"), but falls over and throws a tantrum as his tears make a puddle on the ground.

Kitana: Pulls out her fan and tries posing, but the wind blows her and the fan around and she falls hard on her bottom, crying in pain.

Reptile: Time reverts to when he is an egg, and he hatches, vomiting acid out of his mask.

Cyrax: Plays with one of his bombs, but it explodes, making him sad.

Kratos: Rips of the head of a Medusa Doll.

Goro: Claps his hands about four times before smacking himself in the head and falling to the ground crying.

Sindel: Levitates and falls to the ground in a fit of tears while doing her scream special move.

Baraka: Sends out his Tarkatan Blades, but they drill trough the floor, leaving Baraka stuck as he is in the air. He cries in a large fit of tears as he tries to get free.

Kung Lao: Tosses his hat as a dog (from the Netherrealm) runs at him, knocking him in out of the way as Kung Lao lands on the side, he sits up and starts crying in pain after have landed on the arm.

Sektor: Similar to Cyrax, Sektor Plays with one of his rockets, but it activates and sends him flying. As he lands hard on the bottom, he starts crying in pain.

Smoke: As Smoke Stands up, he farts, but then sits down and starts crying.

Jax: Angry because of the loss, Jax starts pounding his bionic fists in the floor as he is crying.

Nightwolf: Nightwolf Picks up a miniature Tomahawk (or possibly a Toy) and accidentally summons a spirit wolf behind him. As the wolf howls, he gets spooked and scared, as he sits down, crying in fear.

Kabal: Attempts to do a Raging Flash against his opponent, but he goes too low and does a nose dive in the ground. Similarly to Scorpion, he lays on the ground, making a puddle of tears.

Sheeva: Angry because of the loss, Sheeva starts jumping similar to her jump stomp move repeatedly.

Johnny Cage: Sits down and starts drawing on a paper, then throws it at the screen with a horribly drawn picture of himself and with the words "To my best fans, Johnny Cage", similar to his MKII friendship.

Kintaro: Crawls on all six over to a bowl of milk and starts licking it like a cat.

Stryker: Pulls a gun out and fires it but falls down because of the recoil and cries.

Noob Saibot: Creates a portal on top of him and below him, falling continuously between them.

Cyber Sub-Zero: Plays with an ice bomb until he drops it and freezes himself in a block of ice.

Quan Chi: Creates a portal on top of him, then a skull falls out and hits him, making him cry.