Khameleon

Overview

Original Timeline

Moveset

Videos

Gallery

Khameleon
General Information
Gender	Female
Origin	Zaterra
Resides	Outworld
Species	Saurian
In Mortal Kombat
Weapons	Steel Fans (MKT) Sai (MKT) Bo (MKT) Falchion (MK:A)
Fighting Styles	Eagle Claw (MK:A)
Games	Mortal Kombat Trilogy (Nintendo 64) MK: Armageddon (Wii, sub-boss) Mortal Kombat X mobile (cameo)
Portrayers	Becky Gable (MKT) Johanna Añonuevo (MKA)

“	I have spent a lifetime hidden from view...	„
—Mortal Kombat: Armageddon Bio

Khameleon is a character in the Mortal Kombat fighting game series. She made her debut in the Nintendo 64 version of Mortal Kombat Trilogy as a hidden character and returned as a playable character in MK: Armageddon for the Nintendo Wii version.

About Khameleon

Khameleon made her debut as a secret character in the Nintendo 64 version of Mortal Kombat Trilogy, while the PC, PlayStation, and Sega Saturn versions instead had Chameleon, a similar male character. After being absent for a long time she made her return in the Nintendo Wii version of Mortal Kombat: Armageddon with a new design.

Appearance

Khameleon first appeared as a grey palette swapped female ninja in Trilogy. During gameplay, she flickers in and out of full and partial invisibility. Her costume does not change when fighting herself, but rather one of the Khameleons will have a darker skin tone (identical to Jade's). In Armageddon, she wears clothes that are similar to the classic female ninja attire in Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 and Trilogy, and the color of her clothes also change in the same manner as Chameleon. She is now shown to wear turquoise by default, although she is also able to turn grey in the color of her outfit, despite none of her special moves forces her costume to change color to gray. Her skin is also changed to a clear white in promotional renders, however, her body is fully transparent during gameplay, similar to Chameleon's.

Combat Characteristics

At her debut, Khameleon possessed the powers and abilities of every female ninja to appear up to Trilogy and proved to be quite a formidable fighter. Because of her mimicking abilities, she had access to all weapons wielded by the three female ninjas, including Jade's staff and razorangs, Mileena's sais and Kitana's steel fans. She was also depicted with more effective invisibility than her male counterpart, Chameleon. The only female ninjas she has not borrowed techniques from yet are the cryomancer Frost, and the hemomancer Skarlet.

In Armageddon, her powers are condensed into a single moveset so that she has access to powers from all three at once as well as Tanya, confirming her as one of the ninjas; she is toned down, though, as she does not have all of their powers. She is also depicted with nigh-invisible skin, only noticeable by faint outlines.

Signature moves

• Yellow Surge: Khameleon shoots a fireball at her opponent. This move is taken from Tanya. (MK:A)
• Square Wave: Khameleon jumps into the air and attacks incoming foes with a flying punch. This move is taken from Kitana. (MKT, MK:A)
• Venom From Above: Khameleon slides through the ground and quickly hits her opponent from above with a jump kick. This move is taken from Mileena. (MKT, MK:A)
• Serpent's Shadow: Khameleon spins with a cloud of green smoke surrounding her and appears behind her opponent. This move is taken from Jade. (MK:A)

Shared Moves

• Soaring Sai: Khameleon launches a pair of sai at the opponent. This move is taken from Mileena. (MKT)
• Rolling Thunder: Khameleon curls into a ball and launches herself at the opponent's knees. This move is taken from Mileena. (MKT)
• Razorang: Khameleon throws a razor-sharp glaive at the opponent. This move is taken from Jade. (MKT)
• Down Razorang: Khameleon tosses a razor-sharp glaive at the opponents knees. This move is taken from Jade. (MKT)
• Up Razorang: Khameleon tosses a razor-sharp glaive at the opponents head. This move is taken from Jade. (MKT)
• Blazing Nitro Kick: Khameleon turns green and delivers a kick to the opponent. This move is taken from Jade. (MKT)
• Fan Toss: Khameleon throws a razor-sharp fan at the opponent. This move is taken from Kitana. (MKT)
• Fan Lift: Rotating the fans very quickly, a gush of air lifts the opponent in the air, setting them up for a free hit. This move is taken from Kitana. (MKT)

Character development

Khameleon was a secret character in Trilogy and was playable by activation of a secret code. In the first surfaces of Armageddon, she (along with Chameleon, Motaro and many other minor characters) was hoped to appear in the game as none of them had yet been confirmed. In the September 2006 issue of Official Xbox Magazine, an article about Mortal Kombat: Armageddon mentioned that Khameleon would appear in 3D for the first time. However, in an interview with Midway producer Shaun Himmerick at the Games Convention in August 2006, he said that she would not appear in Armageddon. Later, Cinder, an administrator at the Midway Forums, posted that she would not appear in Armageddon for the PlayStation 2 and Xbox consoles. The Wii version of the game, which would be released at a later date, was not mentioned. This appeared to leave the possibility that she could appear in that version. However, Cinder later removed the console references from his post, thus seeming to imply that she wouldn't be in any version. Later, Cinder specified that she would not appear in the Wii version either, making her the only main character in the franchise who was not included in Armageddon. Midway later stated that they had wished to include her, but time constraints prevented them from doing so. As a result of a great number of complaints from the fans, Ed Boon and Shaun Himmerick finally confirmed that Khameleon would be a playable character in the Wii version at the 2007 Winter Gamers Day event.

Game information

In Trilogy, her ability to turn partly invisible made her quite hard to see, even for the player controlling her. She had no moves or fatalities of her own, but rather her name in her life bar changed color, determining whether her moves are Jade's (green), Mileena's (purple), or Kitana's (blue). Since the lifebar is blue, this made her name quite hard to see most of the time. She technically had access to all of the three ninjas' moves and fatalities, though the timing is quite difficult. She may be fought in a one-player battle in a manner similar to Smoke's appearance in Mortal Kombat II. First, a battle must be fought on "The Star Bridge" (a level exclusive to the Nintendo 64 version of Mortal Kombat Trilogy). Then, when Dan Forden appears to say "Toasty!", if the player presses Down and Start together, that player will be taken to the "Living Forest" level to fight Khameleon. She also can be fought by enabling the secret endurance ladders. If done, Khameleon will appear towards the bottom of the highest-level ladder, still fighting in the Living Forest arena.

Prior to her return as a playable character in Armageddon, Khameleon was occasionally referenced in the intermediary MK titles. In Mortal Kombat: Armageddon, Khameleon is now able to perform a select number of the other ninjas' moves at any time, forcing her costume to change to the color of whatever ninja the move belongs to. She did not receive a move from Frost. In Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance, upon failing an objective for one of Nitara's Konquest mode chapters, the failure message reads: "You must successfully learn the Kama. Khameleon would have mastered it with ease had her culture not been clubbed by Shao Kahn ages ago." This is a reference to the 80's song Karma Chameleon by the group Culture Club. In Mortal Kombat: Deception, she is listed in Reptile's Character Card as one of his allies, acknowledging their ties together.

In Reptile's ending story in Mortal Kombat: Armageddon, he discovers a female Zaterran inside a sarcophagus. When the female awoke, Reptile was restored to his original humanoid form, and soon their race would prosper again. This unnamed character was initially thought to be a reference to Khameleon, but in an online chat event held in November 2006, John Vogel stated that she is most likely a new, unrelated character.

Trivia

• Khameleon and Kratos are the only playable characters in the series whose appearances were console-exclusive, the former only appearing on Nintendo systems and the latter only appearing on PS systems.
• Despite Khameleon's ties with Reptile, she is never referenced in his story line.
• If the Ultimate Endurance Ladder code is activated, Khameleon will always appear in the bottom of the Master ladder, fighting in the Living Forest.
• Like Reptile before her, Khameleon will randomly appear at the beginning of a match in Mortal Kombat Trilogy to give hints on how to fight her.
• Her second player palette swap in Trilogy has a dark skin tone, as opposed to differently colored or shaded clothes. She is the only character in Mortal Kombat history to have this.
• Khameleon was the only Mortal Kombat character who was previously playable that did not return as a playable fighter in Mortal Kombat Armageddon up until the release of the Wii version.
• Despite only appearing in the Wii version of Mortal Kombat: Armageddon, she can be created in Kreate A Fighter.
• She is one of the few characters that do not have an alternate costume.
• Khameleon is one of the few characters who do not have a relic item to be found in Mortal Kombat: Armageddon's Konquest mode (along with Chameleon and Taven).
• She is one of three characters to bleed green blood in Mortal Kombat: Armageddon.
• Unlike every other character in Mortal Kombat: Armageddon, Khameleon doesn't appear on the cover of the game's box set.
• Khameleon appears in the background of some scenes in Mortal Kombat 9.
• Bo' Rai Cho alludes to Khameleon in an intro dialouge with Reptile in Mortal Kombat X:

Bo' Rai Cho - "I sensed a Zatteran"

Reptile - "The last Zatteran."

Bo' Rai Cho - "No, there is another..."

• A female Saurian appears in Reptile's Mortal Kombat X ending that bears a resemblance to Khameleon.
• One of Kitana's skins in Mortal Kombat 11 is called "Living Forest", which recolors her outfit to feature gray, black and green, a mixture of Khameleon's colors throughout her appearances, with the name directly referencing the Living Forest, where she was fought in the Nintendo 64 version of Mortal Kombat Trilogy.
  • Additionally, a Gauntlet tower dedicated to her consists of an endurance match comprised of Kitana, Jade and Skarlet in different color palettes with variation names referencing other female ninjas. Unlike Chameleon's Gauntlet Tower, her own features a unique invisibility modifier that causes the ninja to bleed in and out of sight, referencing her flickering invisibility from her debut appearance.
• Khameleon is the only female ninja to never have been unmasked.