Goro (Mortal Kombat)

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Series Mortal Kombat series
First game Mortal Kombat (1992)
Voiced by Kevin Michael Richardson (film)
Frank Welker (vocal effects)
Fictional information
Origin Outworld
Fighting styles Shokan (MK:D, MK:A)
Kuatan (MK:D)
Weapons Dragon Fangs (MK:D, MK:A)

Goro is a fictional character in the Mortal Kombat fighting game series.

Conception and creation[edit | edit source]

Unlike other characters in the first Mortal Kombat, Goro was not based on a digitized actor but instead on a clay sculpture created by Curt Chiarelli. After creating it, he used it as a base for a latex model to make a 12-inch tall painted miniature. After recording a video of an actor making motions similar to those Goro would make in the game, John Tobias used stop motion animation to move the miniature's body to match the actor's movements frame for frame.[1] In the early stages of the first Mortal Kombat's development, Goro's name was set as "Gordo" which means "fat" in Portuguese and Spanish. It was later changed to Goro by the game designers.[citation needed] According to Ed Boon in an interview about the character, 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 is still in usable condition to this day.

Attributes[edit | edit source]

Goro made his first appearance in the first Mortal Kombat game, where his story described him as a 2,000 year old half human-dragon. He had been helping the sorcerer Shang Tsung in winning the Mortal Kombat tournament. Goro remained champion for nine consecutive tournaments, until he was defeated in the first game by Liu Kang. A tenth victory was all Shang Tsung would have needed in order for Shao Khan, the Emperor of Outworld, to take over Earth. After the tournament, Goro was thought to have been killed, but returned later in Mortal Kombat 4. He is known today as the Prince of the Shokan, a race from the Kuatan area of Outworld.

In video games[edit | edit source]





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.[2]

Appearances in other media[edit | edit source]

Film[edit | edit source]




Comic books[edit | edit source]


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.

Reception[edit | edit source]

Goro was awarded Hottest Gaming Hunk of 1993 by Electronic Gaming Monthly.[4] UGO.com featured Goro on their "Top 11 Mortal Kombat Characters" list, with comments focused on his appearance due to the "twist" his first appearance gave since he was very different from the other characters.[5] He appeared in the fourth spot on GamePro's "Excessively Limbed Villains We Love" list.[citation needed] He also won a GameSpot award for one of the top ten boss fights due to how difficult was defeating Goro in Mortal Kombat. Additionally, they noted that despite the introductions of bosses similar to Goro in sequels, Goro still remained as the "grand champion."[6] When it was announced the release of a third Mortal Kombat live-action film, Phil Pirrello and Jesse Schedeen from IGN listed him as a character they want to see fighting in the film, but unlike the one from the first film which was a man wearing a suit, they wanted him to be made with CG technology.[7] IGN also listed him as a character they would like to see as downloadable content for Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe, noting "Goro was the real challenge" of the first Mortal Kombat title although Shang Tsung was the final boss from such game. IGN also added that "MK is all about visceral thrills, and it doesn't get more visceral than bludgeoning your enemies to death with four giant, muscular arms".[8] Goro was ranked 20th in a poll by GamePro ranking the 47 most diabolical video game villains.[9]

Eurogamer's Robert Purchse was also saddened with the fact that Goro was not playable character stating that he was his favorite character and hoping that he could become an unlockable character.[10] Additionally Techtree.com stated that, "Although Goro wasn't the main boss, he is probably the hardest boss to kill." [11] Jeff Gerstmann from GameSpot praised Goro's design and moves in Mortal Kombat 4 as in contrast to the game's boss, Shinnok, he harder to defeat.[6] His addition to the GameCube port of Mortal Kombat: Deception received positive response by Greg Kasavin of the same site; he claimed he and Shao Khan fit well within Deception despite looking "anemic".[12] GameSpy's Miguel Lopez described Goro as a "legendary villain" but at the same criticized his physical appearance from Deception as his "anatomical proportions seem a little off".[13] Another editor from GameSpot, Alex Navarro, commented that the fight against Goro in Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks was very easy to win in contrast to other bosses fights from the same game.[14] In a 1994 article by Business Week, the film version of Goro was described as "the most advanced mechanical creature H[o]llywood has ever made."[15]

References[edit | edit source]

  2. Goro's Armageddon info at Mortal Kombat Warehouse
  3. Delrio, Martin (1995). Mortal Kombat. Tor Books. Retrieved on January 7, 2010
  4. Electronic Gaming Monthly's Buyer's Guide. 1994. 
  5. Top 11 Mortal Kombat characters. UGO.com. Retrieved on 2008-12-22
  6. 6.0 6.1 TenSpot Top Ten Boss Fights. GameSpot. Retrieved on December 17, 2009 Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; name "gamespotps" defined multiple times with different content
  7. Pirrelo, Phil; Schedeen, Jeese. TenSpot Rebooting the Mortal Kombat Franchise. IGN. Retrieved on January 31, 2009
  9. Template:Citeweb
  10. Purchse, Rob (2008-09-12). Midway reveals MK vs. DC character List - Eurogamer. Eurogamer. Retrieved on 2008-12-09
  11. Template:Citeweb
  12. Kasavin, Greg (March 2, 2005). Mortal Kombat Deception review. GameSpot. Retrieved on December 13, 2009
  13. Lopez, Miguel (March 7, 2005). Mortal Kombat: Deception review. GameSpy. Retrieved on December 13, 2009
  14. Navarro, Alex (2005-09-19). Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks Review. GameSpot. Retrieved on 2009-11-10
  15. Template:Citeweb

Template:Mortal Kombat Characters

ca:Goro it:Goro (Mortal Kombat) pt:Goro (Mortal Kombat) simple:Goro (Mortal Kombat) fi:Goro ur:گورو (مارٹل کامبیٹ)