Characters Guide: Mortal Kombat Scorpion

Characters Guide: Mortal Kombat Scorpion
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Character Summary - Mortal Kombat: Scorpion

In a series based on mutilation and creative corporeal destruction, Scorpion has beaten many of the other Kombatants to the punch in terms of death, as he is so at the series’ debut. Scorpion was previously a ninja warrior of the Shirai Ryu clan, but is now cursed to roam as a specter on a quest for revenge for the death of his clan and his family. He himself was killed by Sub Zero, who remains to this day his biggest rival.

Scorpion is without a doubt a fan-favorite of the Mortal Kombat series. His spear toss accompanied by his famous “GET OVER HERE!” made quite an impact in Mortal Kombat’s early days. The series always finds an excuse to pit Sub Zero against Scorpion to highlight their rivalry, though a notable exception was made in the 1995 film in which Sub Zero and Scorpion were both slaves under Shang Tsung’s power, and he was ultimately defeated by Johnny Cage.

Fighting Abilities

Scorpion is one of the few Mortal Kombat characters to

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have a semi-official fighting style: Ninjutsu. While this fighting style has been represented extremely limitedly by Scorpion for the majority of the character’s life, his techniques in more recent games have highlighted the flashy kung fu movie techniques we have come to expect from our video-game shinobi.

Spear - Scorpion’s signature attack. He tosses a spear (or a reptilian head if you happen to be watching a cheesy 90’s flick) attached to either a rope or a chain which stabs the opponent, after which he yanks them over to him to deliver a more custom form of punishment.

Teleport Punch - Scorpion dives out of his side of the screen to emerge from the opponent’s side with a punch – would be an excellent cross-up move if Mortal Kombat didn’t have a block button, rendering the entire concept of cross-ups irrelevant.

Summon Hellfire - A more recent move that has seen consistent appearances; Scorpion raises his hands, bringing up a pillar of fire out of the ground at his opponents’ location.

Fatalities

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Being a specter from the Netherealm, most of Scorpion’s fatalities usually have to do with some form of full-body immolation, whether releasing flames from his mouth, or giving his opponent a quick trip to the Netherealm themselves. However, Scorpion’s ninja abilities have recently come into play in this department in Mortal Kombat 9, with him using his sword to carefully split his opponent at the torso and decapitate them without their body falling apart, side-kicking said torso away leaving their head and lower-body to fall, and splitting their head in half before it hits the ground – significantly enhancing the authenticity of his ninjutsu.

Character Evolution

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Unlike many of the other palette-swapped ninjas of Mortal Kombat Scorpion has more or less stayed with multiple variations of the same black and yellow ninja-garb format. While his designs have experimented to varying degrees with the skeleton/ninja motif (overall becoming much bulkier than his initial design), he has kept the same base design.

This post is part of the series: Mortal Kombat Characters

Get the lowdown on your favorite Mortal Kombat characters. Uncover their motivations for participating in the tournament. Know what to expect from their unique fighting abilities. Witness how powerful they’ve become as they develop throughout the series. Get all the gory details here!

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