Back then, I remembered palette swap was a downside in classic gaming. Who could remember how Luigi was practically a palette swap of his older twin Mario? Who could remember playing the Super Mario World games only to realize that the Yoshis were all palette-swapped? Either it was a lazy way to do it or it was there to conserve memory space. Granted, I'm not a programmer or game designer so I can't really say what was going on. Mortal Kombat was no different with how it worked with new characters. There were cases of palette swap. Such was the case when the original costume was Scorpion then they decided to make a blue and green palette swap for two other characters. We had Sub-Zero (both Bi Han and Kuai Liang) as well as Reptile (who eventually got unique designs).
I think one reason why I can't take any older Mortal Kombat series was the palette swap. We had a new character? Palette swap! We had introductions such as Ermac as a red ninja, Rain as a purple ninja, Smoke as a gray ninja, and Noob Saibot as a black ninja. Maybe, we can talk about the cybernetic ninjas Cyrax, Sektor, and Smoke. The three female ninjas Kitana, Mileena, and Jade were all palette swaps. It was so easy to do it, right? Well, that was going to change if Mortal Kombat expected to enter into the later arena.
It was time to go beyond palette swapping since Mortal Kombat 4. It was a relief to see Reptile finally well, REPTILIAN. Scorpion was now having his trademark skull face mask. Now, the Sub-Zero and Scorpion costumes were NO LONGER palette swaps. It didn't take long until all the palette swaps got unique designs. They had a visual identity aside from a different identity. Otherwise, it was just a lazy way to play around.
Still, some people prefer to use classic costumes. Not for me. I simply like how Scorpion's Shirai Ryu outfit totally shows his motif. Sub-Zero's Lin Kuei outfit is so much cooler than the original palette swap. I just love how the ninjas were given their visual identities especially in the reboot era. I'm just totally glad that the palette swap costumes are just bonus content. Otherwise, palette swap designs begone for good!
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