Goro (Mortal Kombat)
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Goro is a fictional character in the Mortal Kombat fighting game series.
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[edit] About Goro
Goro was introduced in the first Mortal Kombat game as the sub-boss, where he was notoriously difficult to defeat, because all of his attacks did more damage then everyone else's. More than two thousand years old, he is the Prince of the Shokan race, hailing from the Kuatan realm of Outworld. As a General in the Outworld Emperor Shao Kahn's militia, he fights for the pride and glory of his people.
[edit] Storyline
Goro became Grand Champion of the Mortal Kombat tournament after defeating the Great Kung Lao. For 900 years, he remained undefeated and helped Shang Tsung grow ever closer to achieving Shao Kahn's goal of domination over Earthrealm. In his 10th title defense, however, he faced Liu Kang. Kang pushed him to his limits and finally defeated the mighty Shokan warrior. In the tournament's aftermath, Goro went missing after a battle where he fought Kano, Johnny Cage, and Sonya Blade. He was believed to be dead. It is theorized that he actually retreated back to his kingdom during this time. Shang Tsung, meanwhile, faced execution for his defeat at the hands of Liu Kang and for Goro's apparent death.
Goro would resurface after Kahn's downfall, during the events of Mortal Kombat 4/Mortal Kombat Gold. Despite having the intent to avenge his losses at Liu Kang's hands, Goro began to take an interest in the matters of his own race and joined his fellow Shokans in war against the Centaurians. Princess Kitana intervened and negotiated both races through a truce and peace accord. The meeting was interrupted by Kung Lao who desired to challenge his ancestor's killer. The Shaolin Monk lashed out with a ceremonial strike of revenge that left Goro's chest scarred. Considering the score settled, the two shook hands. When Shinnok and his legion were defeated and Edenia was free once more, Goro and the Shokan race decided to ally themselves with the Edenians, agreeing to sign a peace treaty with the Centaurs as a condition of their new partnership.
Years later, during the time of Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance, the united Edenian and Shokan forces attacked the weakened Shao Kahn's armies. Exhausted from battle, Goro was struck from behind by Noob Saibot. He was mortally wounded, apparently dying from the injury, and Kitana held a royal funeral for the fallen Shokan prince. However, Goro is able to survive, being saved from death by Shao Kahn himself, with the promise of returning the Shokans to their former glory and the banishment of the Centaurs in exchange for his allegiance. Agreeing to these terms, Goro placed his royal seal on a nearby disfigured fallen Shokan (whom Kitana and the Shokan army found and mistook for him, successfully deceiving them while hiding his defection), and resumed his place at Shao Kahn's side.
In Konquest Mode in Mortal Kombat: Armageddon, Goro is confronted in Shao Kahn's fortress by Taven who wishes to kill Quan Chi but must get past Goro in order to do so. Taven eventually defeats Goro, who storms off.
In his Armageddon ending, Goro defeats Blaze and attains the power of a god. Onaga, Shao Kahn, Quan Chi, and Shang Tsung had formed an alliance to get this power, only to have it stolen from them. They confronted Goro in an attempt to get it, but Goro released an ancient Shokan roar and from beyond the pyramid came an army of Shokan that killed the four attackers. The Shokan then ruled Outworld.[1]
[edit] Combat characteristics
[edit] Signature moves
- Fireball: Goro shoots a fireball out of his hand. This move was stronger than most projectiles, just like his physical attacks. It also appeared in Mortal Kombat 4, but this time he shot it from his mouth, similar to Kintaro. In Mortal Kombat: Armageddon, the fireball is larger, red, and does standard projectile damage. In Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks, Goro can shoot one from each hand, four in a row. (MK, MKT, MK4, MKG, MK:D, MK:SM, MK:U, MK:A)
- Leaping Stomp: Goro jumps off screen and comes crashing down on his enemy, much like Kintaro and Sheeva. (In the original Mortal Kombat, he only jumped the height of a normal jump; he did not jump all the way off screen.) (MK, MK4, MKG, MK:D, MK:SM, MK:U, MK:A)
- Chest Pound: Grabbing his opponent with his lower arms, Goro then pounds them with his upper arms, shaving off a good portion of his opponent's life. In Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks, a Test Your Might event occurs against Goro when he uses this attack. (MK, MKT, MK4, MKG, MK:D, MK:SM, MK:U, MK:A)
- Tremor Pound: Goro either stomps or pounds the ground, creating a small tremor and knocking his opponent into the air. (MK4, MKG, MK:D, MK:U, MK:A)
- Spinning Slaps: Goro holds his arms out and spins around, smacking the opponent multiple times with his outstretched fists. In some games, his hands catch on fire, hitting his oppenent with his flaming fists. (MKT, MK:D, MK:U , MK:A)
[edit] Appearances in other media
[edit] Film
Goro appears in the first Mortal Kombat movie, in accordance with his original story, as the champion of Mortal Kombat. After defeating numerous opponents, including Johnny Cage's friend Art Lean, he is in turn defeated and sent falling to his death by Cage. In the movie, Goro is portrayed as an evil warrior, steeped in the authoritarian traditions of Outworld. He does not look favorably upon humans. He is voiced by Kevin Michael Richardson, with vocal effects provided by Frank Welker.
Goro also appears in the animated film Mortal Kombat: The Journey Begins. In the movie Goro confronts his older brother Durak for a jeweled egg with which the winner was to tribute to their father Gorbak. He ends up winning the fight when, after hanging from a cliff and helped up by his brother, Goro betrays him and knocks him into the pit.
[edit] Comic books
Goro had a prominent role in Malibu Comics' MK series, and was the first character to have his own three-issue miniseries, entitled Goro: Prince of Pain. Goro's story did not differ greatly from his in-game profiles, being the Mortal Kombat champion and having previously bested the Great Kung Lao. He was also portrayed as an unstoppable force, easily dispatching the Earthrealm warriors alone, and only having a hard time against Raiden. He remained undefeated during the first three issues of the Blood & Thunder series, having lost for the first time in the second issue of Prince of Pain against Zaggot's creation, the Kombatant.
In the following Battlewave series, he remained on Earth after his defeat, and, to appease for his failure, started hunting down the Earthrealm warriors. He injured Jax in battle but was unable to defeat Liu Kang. In the fourth issue he had a mini-story at the end ('When Titans Clash) where he returned to Outworld to fight for Shao Kahn, settling a rivalry with Kintaro along the way.
[edit] Character development
Goro's original appearance through the 2D games was nearly human-shaped with an extra arm under each armpit, dragon scales on his back, and spikes on his forehead. In later appearances, Goro would have an extra set of pectorals to match his second set of arms.
As Goro had four arms, he could not be portrayed by an actor when the original Mortal Kombat games were digitized from real subjects. He was, in fact, a latex mold created from a clay sculpture. The mold was animated incorporating moves from another actor. This technique was later incorporated into the first Mortal Kombat movie as well. According to Ed Boon, the clay sculpture used to animate Goro in the first Mortal Kombat was twisted around and bent so many times that it simply fell apart.
In Goro's Deception bio card, when explaining how Goro was animated, Ed Boon mentions a second model for Goro had also been created. This second model was not used for animation and still survives to this day.
The creation of Goro lead to other Shokans, notably Kintaro in Mortal Kombat II and Sheeva in Mortal Kombat 3.
[edit] Alignment
Goro's alignment has been in a constant state of flux since his introduction in the original Mortal Kombat. Due to the nature of his fighting style and appearance, he was presumed to be evil in the first game. In Mortal Kombat 4 and Mortal Kombat Gold, his alignment is somewhat ambiguous; his bio states that he wanted revenge on Liu Kang, while Kung Lao's ending and the comic book packaged with the PC version of MK4 clearly showed that Goro is actually good-natured and wishes to end the meaningless violence caused by Shao Kahn and the Centaurs. In the end, his desire to see peace wins out, leading him to settle his long lived grudge with Kung Lao and Liu Kang. Here, it is revealed that Goro was never truly evil, but that he was simply fulfilling his role as Champion of Mortal Kombat until the title was taken by Liu Kang.
In Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance, Goro is described as being killed in battle while fighting alongside Kitana against Shao Kahn's forces, which indicates his alignment at the time was good. However, in Mortal Kombat: Deception's GameCube incarnation, Goro was saved at the last moment by Shao Kahn himself, pushing him to pledge his loyalty to the former emperor. In Armageddon's Konquest mode, Goro is shown to still be loyal to Shao Kahn.
In Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks, Goro is intentionally portrayed as being evil as indicated by his dialogue in the wastelands. This same also applies to the first movie. In both the film & Shaolin Monks, he is defeated by Johnny Cage (in Shaolin Monks, Cage only appears to preform the fatality, Goro easily defeats him in the game's opening movie).
[edit] Game information
In the SNES version of the original MK, if the player performed Raiden's finishing move on the final endurance match, a glitch would occur, resulting in a metallic looking Goro.
While Goro was billed at 8' 2" (249 cm) in the first Mortal Kombat in 1992, in the games, he looks nowhere near that height. However, in the GameCube release of Mortal Kombat: Deception, Goro is nearly as tall as Onaga, the Dragon King, who towers over the other warriors, so it is likely that he is at his listed height again.
Goro is a secret playable character in the Game Boy version of the first Mortal Kombat game. To play as Goro a player must first beat the game, then during the credits enter a secret code. There are also other changes made as a result of this secret code. One of the more notable changes is that all the fighters would have new names (Kano would now be named Eric for example). In addition, you would now have to fight Goro twice (the first time during the mirror match just before the Endurance Matches and the second time just before Shang Tsung himself). Goro has no personal ending in this game and he is also unbalanced enough to play. Goro had no fatality, only special attacks and all can be difficult to execute.
It was rumored that Goro was to be a playable character in Mortal Kombat II. That rumor was finally put to rest when it was confirmed that Goro was not in the game.
Because of Goro's unusual body size and shape, his Game Over sequence in Mortal Kombat 4/Mortal Kombat Gold was greatly glitched: his tumble down the pit was awkward, he would land on the spikes at the bottom head-first (thus sinking his head in below the shoulders due to clipping issues), and an odd computerized laugh would be heard.
Goro's appearance in Deception is unusual because the game depicts him as using three distinctly different weapons: his Dragon Fangs (as his Weapon Style), four sais (for his Fatality and Hara-Kiri), and four poison-laced swords (in Shao Kahn's ending, against the Dragon King). As there is no in-game reason given for his use of all these weapons, seemingly arbitrarily (and mutually exclusive from one another), some fans find this confusing and nonsensical for the character.
Goro is considered a boss character in Armageddon due to his resistance, being invulnerable to both throws and most knockdown attacks and that he shares his Kreate-a-Fatality combinations set with characters of the like of Onaga and Blaze. Because of this, he's one of the 6 random sub-bosses one can fight before reaching the final boss Blaze.
[edit] Miscellanea
- While Goro's skin is either flesh colored or yellow in the games, he is dark brown in the Mortal Kombat movie.
- Goro is mentioned in the videogame BloodStorm, where a Game Over message would insult him by saying "Who cares where Goro is?"
- In Shaolin Monks, Goro is playable through Action Replay and Codebreaker codes. He is incapable of performing fatalities, multalites, or brutalities.
- Goro won a GameSpot award for one of the top ten boss fights.
- Goro appears in Deception's Konquest Mode, In the Netherealm, He is seen fighting Johnny Cage on a small arena.
- In an episode of Law & Order: Criminal Intent, Goro is the name of a suspect, and a reference to the Mortal Kombat character is made.
- In the (officially unreleased) Judge Dredd arcade-game made by Midway, a miniature version of Goro can be seen walking through the streets, being kept as a domestic animal.
[edit] References
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