The Goro VS. Kintaro Narrative

Mortal Kombat certainly has a couple of characters. I remembered the first three entries of the game and there were two sub-bosses that seemed to compete a lot for the top spot. Goro was first introduced in Mortal Kombat and Kintaro in the second game. So, why did Goro become more popular than Kintaro? It baffles me to a certain extent. One reason is that the first game just didn't click as much as the much-improvised Mortal Kombat II which I think is just overrated. Kintaro himself appeared to be stronger, more agile and he vowed to avenge Goro for the latter's supposed death. Later, that plotline just got conveniently ignored in both Shaolin Monks and the reboot game Mortal Kombat (2011) or MK9.

So, Kintaro appeared as this large, intimidating sub-boss. I thought his tiger features made him even cooler than Goro! Goro himself was already difficult. Kintaro himself was able to leap higher (something that was given to Goro in later games), shoot faster fireballs, and grab you in mid-air. He's supposedly stronger than Goro (physically) and he's from the long line of royal bodyguards. However, Goro himself had a stronger backstory of being Outworld's champion for nine Mortal Kombat tournaments. The Mortal Kombat 11 krypt also has Shang Tsung say he misses Goro the most. Goro was the turning point. Liu Kang eventually defeated Goro becoming the new champion.

Kintaro's storyline was at first, interesting. Kintaro was from a lower-tier Shokan lineage. In the original timeline, Liu Kang eventually defeated Kintaro in the second tournament. Kintaro's loss resulted in Shao Kahn bringing in Motaro as the new general. In the reboot, Motaro was just rightfully excluded (presumably for balance reasons) and I always hated that guy. Kintaro's storyline in the reboot removed his "must-have revenge for Goro" since Goro made it safe and sound to Outworld for the second tournament. The Shaolin Monks retcon (if ever) also diminished his storyline to just another added character. Goro was made boss in Shaolin Monks where he played a more prominent role while Kintaro was just an add-on. Also, the original timeline had Kintaro missing after Mortal Kombat Trilogy and only Goro returned for Mortal Kombat 4/Gold which both are lackluster. Goro eventually returned in Mortal Kombat X as downloadable but never had involvement in the story mode.

Goro had a lot of backstory in the MKX comic book storyline. It was interesting to see Goro get a backstory more than Kintaro. Goro was involved in the Osh-Tekk massacre as ordered by Shao Kahn. Fair enough, Kotal gave Goro a fate worse than death by sawing off the latter's arms. Goro was disqualified from his claim to the Shokan throne due to his injuries. Sheeva would become the new queen. Meanwhile, Kintaro was there to be there and what, he can't swim? Kintaro could've been given more backstory but no, the writers didn't. I wish Kintaro could've been given that closeness with Goro. His lack of backstory really ticks me off since he was a badass character. Also, Kintaro died at Sonya's hands while the latter was under Havik's influence. Sheeva did mourn but reassure that Kintaro died a warrior's death. Kintaro would later make a cameo in Shang Tsung's MK11 fatality called "Shokan Reborn".

What would be interesting is that the now-discontinued MKX comic book series ends with Goro wishing to get his arms back. In dialogues in MK11 - one can see that Sheeva mentions Goro. Some dialogues with Noob Saibot and Sheeva mention that Goro became a vessel for Onaga. Goro was actually planned to become Onaga's new vessel in the comic book series? Sadly, I wish that Onaga, not Kronika, was the final boss of MK11. What was also interesting was that Sheeva was supposed to be Onaga's bride - presumably due to Onaga being in Goro's body. The plans went defunct and sunk into developmental hell. For that, we never got see what happened to Goro after he went to Daegon hoping for his arms to return. Too bad the comic book series was discontinued. Sigh!