Goro

**Goro** is a character in the *Mortal Kombat* fighting game series, who made his debut in the first *Mortal Kombat* game as a sub-boss to Shang Tsung.

## About Goro

Goro is one of the original characters debuting in the first *Mortal Kombat* arcade game as the sub-boss, and later appeared as the sub-boss of *Mortal Kombat 4* (only available on home consoles). He first became playable in the Game Boy port of *Mortal Kombat*. He appeared as a four-armed Shokan warrior who had been the champion of the *Mortal Kombat*tournament for nine generations, remaining undefeated for 500 years. Goro is among Shao Kahn's favorite warriors and is well known for his power and brutality. Goro helped the emperor grow closer to dominating Earthrealm, but he lost at the tenth while fighting against Liu Kang, who later defeated the sorcerer Shang Tsung.

## Bios

* **Mortal Kombat** - *"Prince Goro has brought much honor to the Shokan race by serving Shao Kahn. His bloody achievements include crushed rebellions and conquered provinces. During the past 500 years, he has been celebrated for winning the last nine Mortal Kombat tournaments for Outworld. Should he defeat Earthrealm's champion this time, he will become more than legendary. His victory is assured. There are none in Earthrealm who can withstand the might of Goro."*

## Kombat Characteristics

### Power and Abilities

Goro is one of the most powerful warriors in the history of Mortal Kombat, being able to win 9 consecutive *Mortal Kombat*tournaments, as well as defeating the Great Kung Lao in his first tournament - which Shang Tsung, in his younger form failed to do. He also served as commander of Outworld's armies, crushing rebellions and aiding in the conquer of many new realms for the Emperor.

Goro's fighting style always revolved around taking advantage of his brute strength and surprising agility. In the early games, Goro was an imbalanced character. All of his moves did far more damage than all of the other characters, and because of that, he was notoriously difficult to defeat in the first game. In the 3D games, he was toned down to make him more balanced. His current depiction is being powerful, but slow. Goro is associated with the element of Fire. Like Kintaro, he could either project fireballs either from his mouth or his hands. In *Shaolin Monks*, he was able to shoot one fireball from each hand. He could also manipulate fire in his hands if he needed to attack using them.

## Movelist

### Signature Moves

* **Fireball:** Goro shoots a green fireball from his arm. This attack is stronger than most projectiles, just like his physical attacks. It also appeared in *MK IV*, but, this time, it was shot out of his mouth, similar to Kintaro. In *MKA*, the fireball is larger, redder, and does standard projectile damage. In *MK: Shaolin Monks*, Goro can shoot one from each hand, four in a row. In *MKvsDCU* Goro returns to shooting one fireball from his arm as well as in *MKII*, where the move is called **Shokan Bolt**.
	+ The enhanced version shoots a larger green ball that can also hit ducking opponents and has increased damage.
* **Leaping Stomp:** Goro jumps off the screen and lands on the opponent much like Kintaro and Sheeva. However, in the original *Mortal Kombat* and in *MK II*, he does not jump all the way off the screen; he only jumps the height of a normal jump. This is also known simply as **Stomp** in *MK II* and *MKO*. In *MKO*, the move changes to Goro jumping off-screen and landing on his opponent, similar to his Shokan counterpart's moves in past games.
	+ In *MKF*, this move can be enhanced in the challenge 150, the only one in which Goro is playable, although his move list does not include it. The enhanced version makes Goro leap at a much higher height and cause extra damage at landing.
	+ In *MKvsJU*, the enhanced move is called **Krush**; it hits when Goro jumps into the air, has armor and increased damage.
* **Punch Walk:** While moving forward, Goro lands a series of punches to his opponent with his left and right arms, knocking them away.
	+ The enhanced version is called **Fist Flurry** and adds an uppercut at the end, leaving the opponent vulnerable in the air. It also has armor, but no extra damage.
* **Shokan Grab:** Goro lifts his opponent with his lower arms, lands six punches at their head with the upper ones and a final slam with both ones before throwing them away.
	+ The enhanced version, **Shokan Slam** has Goro land his flurry of punches and instead of throwing them away, slams them directly into the ground. The attack has extra damage and armor on startup. The enhanced version also gives Goro the option to slam the opponent in the opposite direction.
* **Taunt:** Goro will flex his upper arms and roars. This move does no damage and is solely used to taunt opponents. However, if the opponent is standing too close when the move is used, it will knock them down.

#### Dragon Fangs

Gains unique attacks utilizing Bladed Gauntlets. Bladed gauntlets are added onto his forearms.

* **Shokan Stabs**: Goro grabs the opponent with an upper arm, stabs their abdomen multiple times with the Dragon Fangs on his lower ones and tosses them away with a final slash to the face. This replaces the **Shokan Grab** in the Dragon Fangs variation.
	+ The enhanced version has Goro end the attack by slamming the opponent against the ground and then stomp on their head, which bounces them, adding extra damage. It also has armor on startup.
* **Fang Spin**: Goro spins forward, slashing the opponent with his Dragon Fangs three times.
	+ The enhanced version pops the opponent up at the final slash, allowing for a juggle, and has armor.

#### Kuatan Warrior

Gains powerful Ground Pound and Chest Charge. A Shokan helmet is added on his head.

* **Tremor Pound:** Goro jumps at the ground or hits it with all his arms making an earthquake. In *MKF,* this is called **Ground Pound** and Goro only smashes the ground with his upper two fists. In *MKII* this is called **Quake** and Goro once again hits it with all of his arms twice, tripping the opponent.
	+ The enhanced version has Goro hit the ground five times, doing more damage, but only makes the opponent stumble instead of knocking them down. This attack is also capable of hitting grounded opponents, unlike Tremor Pound that needs the opponent to be standing for the move to hit.
* **Chest Lunge**: Goro dashes at the opponent to grab them with his lower arms and throw them over his head, after which they land behind him.
	+ The enhanced version is called **Chest Charge** and has increased damage. As he grabs them, Goro immediately slams the opponent to the ground behind him, making them hit their heads on it. Goro will also roar in triumph after the slam.

#### Tigrar Fury

Gains Flame Ball and Dragon Breath. Markings on his back illuminate in a fiery aura.

* **Flame Ball**: Goro shoots a fireball from his mouth at the opponent, much like Kintaro. This replaces his **Shokan Bolt** in the Tigrar Fury variation, and travels faster than it.
	+ The enhanced version has Goro shoot three fireballs in quick sucession, with the last one knocking the opponent down.
* **Ground Fire**: Goro spits a fireball at the ground, hitting the opponent's feet and knocking them down. There are close and far versions of this move.
	+ The enhanced versions make the fireballs pop the opponent up, allowing for a juggle.
* **Dragon Breath**: Goro breathes a stream of fire in front of him, burning the opponent if they're near.
	+ The enhanced version makes Goro breath fire for a longer time and move his head to hit the opponent three times.

### Other Moves

* **Throw:** Goro grabs the opponent and slams them onto the ground with such force that they bounce into the air, giving Goro the opportunity to punch them away.
* **Reverse Throw:** Goro grabs the opponent and crush on the ground and throw away.

### X-Ray Move

* **Crusher:** Goro grabs and raises his opponent from the waist with his lower arms, then puts his upper hands to their head and presses hard until he eventually crushes their skull. He then throws them overhead and slams them into the floor, damaging their skull, ribs, and spine.

## Finishing Moves

### Fatalities

* **Torn Apart:** Goro grabs the opponent with his upper hands and rips off the enemy's legs with his bottom hands. He flips them upside down and rips off their arms, and finally vertically rips the body in half.
* **Shokan Amputation:**Goro jumps down on the opponent. He then grabs both arms and legs with his four arms and rips them all off at once, still standing on his opponent.

### Brutalities

* **Speed Bag**: Goro grabs the opponent with his bottom two arms and beats on their head until it breaks, causing their brain to fall on the floor. A different version of this brutality occurs in his **Dragon Fangs Variation**: Goro grabs the opponent with his upper arms and stabs him/her multiple times with his lower ones, and he then slams them against the ground. He proceeds to stomp them while they're lying on the floor, which causes the opponent's upper half to rip in two vertically.
* **Krush**: Goro jumps into the air and lands right on top of his opponent; crushing them into bloody giblets.
* **Tail Spin:** Goro performs his Spinning Fist attack with his Dragon Fangs and lands the final hit which completely obliterates his opponent's torso. *(Dragon Fangs Variation)*
* **Chest Bump:** Goro charges into the opponent, which knocks their heads off, and quickly throws upward with his lower arms tearing the flesh off of their legs. *(Kuatan Warrior Variation)*
* **Shokan Flame:** Goro breathes fire and burns his opponent completely; leaving nothing but a charred skeleton. *(Tigrar Fury Variation)*
* **Krushing Flurry:** Goro performs his **Fist Flurry** attack, with the uppercut at the end completely obliterating the opponent's torso. (*Secret*)

## Sequences

### Battle Intro

Goro stomps onto the battlefield with a skull in his hand. He holds it up, and then crushes it to pieces, and says, “I will give you a warrior’s death!”

### Victory Pose

Goro roars and cracks his knuckles before doing his classic pose.

## Trivia

### General

* In the original *Mortal Kombat*, as well as *Mortal Kombat Trilogy*, Goro's name was never announced after he won a fight. He is the only character to apply to the latter case, with the exception of Shao Kahn in *Mortal Kombat II*, *3*, *Ultimate MK3* and *Trilogy*.
* Though Goro is a playable character in the Game Boy version of *MK*, the game itself is very slow, which renders Goro's gameplay very sloppy, with some of its moves being hard to pull off. Nonetheless, Goro is a very powerful character, able to deplete an opponent's health with minimum hits.
* Goro has the shortest Bio Kard video out of all the characters.
* Goro's Kuatan fighting style in *Deception* and *Unchained* is borrowed by Sheeva in *Armageddon*.
* In his profile on the official *Mortal Kombat* comic and instruction manual for the first game, Goro is stated to be a polygamist, having seven wives. Sheeva has often been theorized to be one of them, but this has not been proven. To date, Sheeva has never been seen interacting with Goro in any capacity.
* Goro is sometimes portrayed with two sets of pectoral muscles stacked on top of each other matching his arms. This was most notable with his design in *Deception* and *Armageddon,*but is typically the result of artistic liberty.
* Goro has a cameo in *Deception*'s Konquest mode, where he appears in the Netherrealm, missing his two lower arms. He is shown fighting Johnny Cage on an island amid a sea of lava.
* Ed Boon said there were actually two Goro models made, one of which they kept changing over and over so it fell apart over time. He also said he had one stashed at his home; it is unknown if he still has it as of today (since Goro's Bio Kard, like many other characters, was recorded in 2004, the year *Mortal Kombat: Deception* was released).
	+ In April 2013, Ed Boon found the original stop motion models for Goro, Kintaro, and Sheeva after a flood hit the Chicago suburbs. They will be added to the *MK* collection in Netherrealm studios.
* In the movie, Goro's head and upper arms were an animatronic, while the bottom arms and walking movement were provided by an actor.
* In a Top 10 list hosted by Screwattack.com, Goro was placed at #3 of the Best *Mortal Kombat* characters in the *Mortal Kombat Series*.
* Unused sprites of Goro were recently discovered by a user named FLY. Among these sprites were of Goro falling to his knees and suddenly turned to stone with half of his body blasted off, which may have reinforced the idea that Goro was supposed to have been killed by Raiden. [1]
* According to John Tobias, his early name was Gongoro, but the team decided to shorten the name. [2]
* In the Super NES version of *Mortal Kombat*, if the player performs Raiden's Fatality on the last opponent on the third Endurance round, Goro will appear in a glitchy silver form.
* In Kung Lao's ending for *MK Gold*, Goro mentions that he has a son.
* Although he is playable in the Gamecube and PSP ports of *Deception*, he still appears in the background of the Dark Prison.
* Goro's storyline in *Deception* carried over from *MK Gold* and *MK Tournament Edition,* two updates of their original games.
* Goro is killed by Johnny Cage upon his defeat in *Shaolin Monks*.
* In *Mortal Kombat*, he is playable in the 150th mission of the Challenge Tower, called "Gor-owned".
* Goro's throw attack in *MK* is nearly identical to how he throws Johnny Cage in the intro of *Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks*, where it was also his Fatality.
* Goro is the only boss character whom the player can actually perform both a Fatality on. This is done during the 59th mission of the Challenge Tower.