An Animality is a finishing move from the Mortal Kombat fighting game series. It has appeared only in Mortal Kombat 3, Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 and Mortal Kombat Trilogy. In addition to Fatalities, Animalities were used to kill an opponent following a victorious match-up. It is a unique finishing move, in that the character turns into an animal to kill their opponent. Animalities from Mortal Kombat 3 were shown as the character morphing into a glowing animal of a certain color; while in Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 and Mortal Kombat Trilogy, the extra added characters' Animalities were shown as the character disappearing in a blaze of fire, and showing up as a cartoonish, (sometimes realistic) animal of realistic colors, (unlike the glowing, single colors from MK3's). Some characters turn into animals related to their own character persona, while others are totally irrelevant.
Animalities were dropped following Mortal Kombat 3. A brief Animality also appears in Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks, in which Liu Kang turns into a dragon. In addition, Scorpion couldn't turn into a scorpion in MK3 because Sheeva already possessed that animality, so Scorpion instead transformed into a penguin; it wasn't until MK4, that he finally turned into a scorpion
It is important to note that Animalities were one of many fan rumors the Mortal Kombat development team was aware of, and incorporated into a later game. Before Animalities were introduced in MK3, many fans were convinced Sub-Zero could turn into a polar bear in Mortal Kombat II. There was even a strategy guide which published a fake picture of this happening. In MKII 3.1, one of the possible lines that you would see in the game after beating Shao Kahn is a scrambling of the phrase "There are no Animalities". And of course, Liu Kang's Dragon Morph existed in MKII before it was made into his Animality in MK3.
The Animality concept also existed in Mortal Kombat: Annihilation, although disappointing to most fans. Nightwolf, after turning into a wolf, taught Liu Kang how to "use his Animality" and turn into a dragon. This was used in the final scene when Shao Kahn also turned into a multi-headed dragon creature that Liu Kang, turned into a bipedal dragon, engaged in battle with.
Notable Animalities[]
Nightwolf turns into a wolf to kill Liu Kang in MK3.
- Baraka: vulture
- Cyrax: shark
- Ermac: frog
- Jade: cat
- Jax: lion
- Johnny Cage: kangaroo
- Kabal: rhinoceros
- Kano: spider
- Kitana: rabbit
- Kung Lao: jaguar
- Liu Kang: dragon
- Mileena: skunk
- Nightwolf: wolf
- Noob Saibot: anteater
- Rain: elephant
- Raiden: electric eel
- Reptile: monkey
- Scorpion: penguin (MK3)/scorpion (MK4)
- Sektor: bat
- Shang Tsung: cobra
- Shao Kahn: hydra (only in Mortal Kombat: Annihilation movie)
- Sheeva: scorpion
- Sindel: wasp
- Smoke (human): porcupine
- Smoke (robot): bull
- Sonya: hawk
- Stryker: tyrannosaur
- Sub-Zero: Polar bear