Fatality

In the Mortal Kombat series of fighting games, a Fatality is a special finishing move that can be used against one's opponent at the end of the final match. When the announcer says "Finish Him" (or "Finish Her" if the opponent is female), the player can choose to kill him or her through a fatality move. If input correctly, the background will darken, followed by a desired result. 
Unlike special moves, a fatality may require certain distances and quick button sequences in order to achieve the desired result. For example, in Mortal Kombat 3, one of Sub-Zero's fatalities requires that he stands close to the opponent and quickly execute Block, Block, Run, Block, Run. Every character has their own special fatality that must be performed at a certain distance from the opponent.
==Fatality Types==
*Decapitation - The most recurring type. Removes the head from the body through blunt force, forcefully removed or a slicing weapon.
*Immolation - Another common type. Victim suffers from severe burns from high-powered flames that often remove skin and flesh from the body, leaving behind charred bone.
*Bifurcation - Splits the victim in half at the waist area.
*Explosion - Reduces the victim into a pile of gore through explosive techniques and/or devices.
*Impalement - Runs the opponent through, often with a sharp weapon.
*Limb removal - Removes appendages through forceful means. Victim dies of blood loss.
*Devour - Kills opponent by eating a part or their entire body.
*Morphing - Changes into a creature to kill the opponent in a gruesome fashion.
*Miscellaneous - Fatalities of a unique nature not shared with others.
*Animality - This finisher allows the player to morph into an animal and maul or eat their opponent alive. This style of fatality debuted in Mortal Kombat 3. Some say the precursor to the Animality was Liu Kang's Dragon Fatality from Mortal Kombat II, in which he turned into a dragon and ate the upper half of his opponent. That fatality was turned intro Liu Kang's Animality in UMK3.
*Brutality - Introduced in Mortal Kombat Trilogy and the SNES and Sega Genesis ports of Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3, this finisher allowed players to perform a combo which would cause the opponent to explode. Brutalities were not very popular, as they were extremely difficult to accomplish, requiring the player to memorize and perform a special 11-hit combo. Many felt the pay-off was lacking with the only result being a fiery explosion where the victim disappears and an unrealistic amount of bone and flesh are sent flying and covering most of the screen. In some versions, the bone and flesh flies completely offscreen. This finisher didn't appear in another game until Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks, in which it wasn't explicitly used as a finisher, but rather as a power-up.
*Multality - Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks also features multalities, which are fatalities performed on multiple enemies at one time.
*Heroic Brutality - In Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe, many of the DC characters are superheroes who have sworn an oath against ever taking lives, Superman and Batman for example. Instead of performing Fatalities, they can perform Heroic Brutalities, which severely injure their opponent, but leave them alive to face justice.
*Babality - The defeated characters turns into a baby, sitting on the floor and wearing a miniature version of their adult clothing and accessories and/or a diaper (nappy). In some versions, the sound effect of a baby crying plays, along with a lullaby, and the word "Babality" is spelt out by colored building blocks that fall from the top of the screen. The announcer then declares (Albeit unusually and unnervingly gently) "Babality!!"
*Friendship - Instead of injuring the loser, the victor will make a peace offering, such as Sub-Zero using his powers to make a snowman, Scorpion startling his opponent with a skull in a Jack-in-the-Box, or Johnny Cage offering a signed photo of himself. The announcer is generally disappointed when a match ends in Friendship, sometimes saying "What? Friendship? Again?!"
===Stage Fatalities===
Stage fatalities brought a new level of environment interaction within the series. A stage fatality occurs when a player uses a part of the stage or map to execute a fatality that is not a standard character fatality. Some examples of stage fatalities are having the victim fall into a pool of acid or a pit of razor-sharp spikes, or to be run over by a subway train. Stage fatalities are present in the series from Mortal Kombat through Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks and Mortal Kombat: Armageddon, though are absent from Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance.
Mortal Kombat: Deception features more stage fatalities than any previous Mortal Kombat game. Renamed "Death Traps", there are more stages that allow death by stage interaction than not. No longer is a special button combination required as the opponent only needs to be either standing or hit in a particular spot on the stage. Unlike previous stage fatalities, "Death Traps" can be initiated anytime during a round and only require the opponent be hit into them, meaning an instant victory. However, if they are not executed in the decisive round, the fight does not end, going on to the next round. This action acts as a ring out.
===Hara-Kiri===
The new kind of fatality introduced in Mortal Kombat:Deception|Deception is the Hara-Kiri. The Hara-Kiri (which is a type of Japanese ritual suicide, and literally means belly cut; even though Kenshi is the only character who literally commits Hara-Kiri in this form) is a move in which the defeated player kills him/herself upon defeat at the end of the last match, rather than be finished off by their opponent. This still results in a win for the character who was victorious in battle, it is just seen as an incredibly stylish way to go out. It is the first and so far only time in the Mortal Kombat series in which the defeated player is allowed to perform a finishing move.
==Trivia==
*The fatality concept was listed #8 on ScrewAttack's "Top 10 OMGWTF Moments"
*In addition, Screwattack also created the list "Top 10 Mortal Kombat Fatalities". Some of them included Scorpion's Spear Shot from Deadly Alliance (Number 4, nicknamed 'Party Popper') and Quan Chi's Leg Beatdown from MK4 (Number 9).
*Screwattack also made the list "Top 10: Worst Mortal Kombat Fatalities". Some of them included Quan Chi's Neck Stretch from Deadly Alliance and Liu Kang's Flipping Uppercut from the first Mortal Kombat.
==External link==
*GameFAQs Mortal Kombat codes, move lists and fatalities