Goro's Lair

This lair is home to the Grand Champion Goro, where he battles in the first Mortal Kombat game. Shang Tsung also watches Goro's battles, for should he fail, Shang Tsung will intervene and battle as soon as Goro is defeated. Sometimes there will be boulders lying around. Spikes were later implemented on the lair’s ceiling.

Appearing in Mortal Kombat, Mortal Kombat II, Mortal Kombat Trilogy, Mortal Kombat 4, Mortal Kombat Gold, Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks and Mortal Kombat: Armageddon, it is the most recurring arena in the series. Goro's Lair is tied with the Living Forest for having appeared in more Mortal Kombat games than any other arena.

thumb|right|160px|Goro's Lair - Arcade VersionDuring 1-player games in the first Mortal Kombat, this stage doesn't appear until the last three battles are reached - the third Endurance match, and the boss battles (against Goro and Shang Tsung). All fights after the third and final "Test Your Might" bonus round take place here. Goro's Lair also appears randomly during the attract mode for demo fights, and is used between the Throne Room and the Courtyard in 2-player mode

In MKII, it appears when players fight the secret characters Jade, Smoke and Noob Saibot.

In Mortal Kombat Trilogy, this arena was used for the opening story.

In the Nintendo 64 version of Mortal Kombat Trilogy, the Armory is located above Goro's Lair, and players can uppercut opponents there and from there to the Kombat Tomb. Strangely, Goro's Lair is known to be located in Earthrealm, whereas both The Tomb and Armory are in Outworld. The possibility exists that the Lair is linked to the Armory in Outworld via a portal, similar to how Scorpion's Lair in Netherrealm leads to Kahn's Kave, although a reasonable explanation is that it's because of the merging of the realms that's happening during that game.

The version of Goro's Lair seen in Mortal Kombat 4 and Gold is not much different from the original Goro's Lair, other than its spiked ceiling.

Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks reveals that Goro's Lair that became a walkthrough area, is actually made up of several rooms and dungeons, and it houses vicious Oni. The lair is even shown with a statue of Goro and a caged door leading directly into his lair.

In Mortal Kombat: Armageddon, Goro's Lair is a multi-tiered arena. Players can knock their opponent either upwards into another chamber, or through the various surrounding gates. The chamber the player ends up in is nearly identical to the primary chamber, but with less wall decoration (while maintaining an infinite number of cells a player can be knocked through).

In Mortal Kombat (2011), Goro's Lair is grittier and more detailed than before. This time around, the Shokan prince is sitting in his own throne watching in amusement who will win to have the right to advance towards him in the finals of Mortal Kombat 1, also occupying his lair is the very dim entering of light of the world above him and the dead or near dead chained bodies of occupants on the walls (possibly there to watch).

Note: Goro's Lair arena theme from MK1 (arcade version) was also used for MK4 Goro's lair (PC, N64, PSX, etc.) the only possible difference with this is the fact that MK4 Goro's theme is now an arranged theme of the original music.

In the original Mortal Kombat (arcade version), 2-player and demonstration fights staged in Goro's Lair are set to the music from the Warrior Shrine, while the final battle against Shang Tsung is set to the Throne Room's music. In the attract mode, Goro's theme is used exclusively for Goro's bio.