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The sub-boss guards the final boss of the game. It is usually a completely non-human creature that dwarfs the other characters in about every sense of the word; speed, strength and size. They tend to put up more of a challenge than the last boss at times and usually appear larger than him.
Sub-Bosses[]
Mortal Kombat I[]
Goro - Goro's Dungeon
The first boss of his kind to appear in any fighting game. He immediately challenges the player right after the last endurance match opponent is defeated as the game will not even switch to the battle plan. Instead it will switch directly into his dungeon and his roars plus occasional tremors can be heard as the battle goes on, giving him a truly intimidating, frightening sense of air. The Prince of Shokans is an intimidating four-armed behemoth with devastating attacks. A mere single punch can easily take off nearly a quarter of health. He also launches fireballs from his fists as well. His favourite technique employs the use of his lower arms to grab the player and then proceeds to relentlessly smash them with his free arms, usually a bit glitchy.
Mortal Kombat II[]
Kintaro - Kahn's Arena
An even more ruthless warrior than Goro, Kintaro is a much faster and more powerful foe. While sharing similar attacks with Goro, Kintaro has his own uppercut, which sends the opponent high into the air and off-screen. He is also the first to employ the teleport stomp in where he leaps high into the air and comes back crashing down on the opponent, stomping them for good measure.
Mortal Kombat III[]
Possibly the most intimidating sub-boss in the franchise yet. Motaro carries the traits of his predecessors but is much more powerful and with a few other tricks up his elbows. He has the ability to freely teleport, allowing him to immediately counter attacks and has a sweep attack that employs the use of his tail, covering the entire floor. His most notorious trait is the ability to automatically reflect all projectiles thrown at him without needing to do anything.
Mortal Kombat IV[]
Goro returns in MK4 as a sub-boss along with his dungeon, retaining his moves from the first game. He can also be unlocked as a playable character by beating the game with Shinnok and then selecting Shinnok while using the hidden option and then pressing run and block.
Mortal Kombat Mythologies: Sub-Zero[]
Quan Chi - Shinnok's Temple
Thanks to his mastery of puppetry over sorcery, Quan is known in the Never Never Land as the most powerful sorcerer ever seen and serves as the game's sub-boss. Despite being one of the first human-looking sub-bosses, he is a master of necromancy, as he is able to reanimate the dead into his service as he deems fit. He is able to soul steal and shapeshift, however, he is also able to retrieve souls of warriors that have died by other means and reanimate them as his slaves (sex or otherwise).
Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance[]
One of two Onis employed by Shang Tsung as insurance in case his partner would betray him, Moloch is a tough and somewhat persistent foe. He utilises the mace/ball chained around his arm and swings it about in wide arcs and can even fire projectiles with it and howl with it like a wild beast that he is.
Mortal Kombat: Return of The Dragon King[]
A deadly tag team born from Noob Sailbot's clan of the Brotherhood of Shadow and the former Lin Kuei Clan enenra/robot Smoke, these guys are not to be messed with. Similar to the endurance rounds of previous entries, the player must fight both characters at once. Like the said battles however, the characters are also treated as a single entity, sharing the same health bar. Both have their own singular style and switch it when said styles change. Noob Sailbot employs the nimble and quick Monkey style for combo attacks while Smoke utilises the powerful Mi Tzu style which employs single, but effective strikes. They can be unlocked as playable characters through the Krypt.
Mortal Kombat: Armageddon[]
Motaro - Kahn's Arena
Motaro does the same stuff here as he did in MK3.
Daegon is the main hero Steven's half brother and the sub-boss of the game's Konquest mode thanks to the treachery he caused to his own family. He uses two effective Drakeswords as a weapon and is a formidable foe. He also shares Steven's ability to shoot fire projectiles.
Mortal Kombat 9[]
Shang Tsung returns for the first time in nearly two decades in the games in his elderly form and he is still as deadly as he was back then. While he plays somewhat normally like the playable version, the boss version can morph into one of three random characters at will (one will always be the player's current character or both in tag ladder). He also employs frequent use enhanced attacks and swift, tricky combos to knock his opponents into submission.
Goro or Kintaro - Goro's Dungeon
Both characters are relative unchanged from their original incarnations, but like Shao Kahn, possess invincibility frames while attacking, but are arguably easier to beat than before. If defeated by either Shokan in ladder with the difficulty set to medium or higher, they will perform a fatality at random. While normally unplayable, they do have a defined moveset and even fatalities with names given to them. A single battle in Challenge Tower called Gor-owned allows the player to assume the role of Goro through five endurance matches.
Mortal Kombat VS DC Universe[]
Shao Kahn or Darkseid - Kahn's/Darkseid's throne room
Darkseid's position as one of the new "Gods" endows him with the powers of a god. Coupled with his evil intentions of enslaving the universe, Darkseid represents one of the single greatest threats to be present in the DC Universe.
Not much has changed about Shao Kahn in his sub-boss form than in boss form.
Mortal Kombat X[]
Goro - Kotal's Courtyard
Goro returns as a sub-boss, regardless of whether or not he's downloaded by pre-order or DLC. Goro has access to his variations and one will be picked at random before fighting him.
Mortal Kombat 12[]
Geras - The Dark Dimension
The Gears is fought in Arcade mode just before you fight the Queen of Boolos herself, while in the story mode, Cetrion takes his role. Geras' moveset is mostly based on zoning, having many abilities that can keep the opponent away from him, preventing any engagement in hand to hand combat like a coward. He can emit shockwaves with his Thanos-like hands, blast water and sand beams, fire pure energy, like JACK, incinerate opponents from below and above, leavin' 'em fukers all on their own, only moving in to deliver a very damaging combo or a punch. His fatal blow can be cast from any range, making him very dangerous to move in on.
Cetrion uses similar abilities, but is easily more powerful than Geras, being an Elder Goddess and stuff.