The Pit has been one of the most iconic stages in Mortal Kombat. The first game introduced a narrow concrete wall. The design was simplistic. One could uppercut their enemy into the bottom BUT there was no Fatality bonus.
It wasn't until Mortal Kombat II that stage fatalities were fully implemented. Quite interestingly, the second game had a simplistic kill. Midway decided to brag their editing skills. A pseudo-3D effect was done. The enemy dropped down into the Pit II bottom (no such stage, SORRY IN ADVANCE) and hit the hard concrete floor. A pool of blood was there. Blood quickly vaporized back then in gameplay. However, the blood was left there. I feel there were graphical constraints!
Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks was a loose retelling of Mortal Kombat II. I prefer to consider it was a retcon of that old timeline. The adventure game featured Pit I on Shang Tsung's Island. A secret quest would allow one to access The Pit II. This time, both Blaze and the character dubbed as "Hornbuckle" could be seen fighting for real. It was rumored back then that one could fight a character named Fire from the background. Skarlett was rumored to be a character named Blood. However, that was easily refuted as there was only Jade, Smoke, and Noob Saibot in the list of hidden challengers. The enemies could be dropped -- providing that animation.
This reminds me of how Mortal Kombat Trilogy bit off more than it could chew. Certain moves were unavailable due to sprite unavailability. It will take numerous edits before one can film the Mortal Kombat II downward fall. Years later, fangames would manage to say, "Hah! Midway was just lazy!" Mortal Kombat Trilogy has notoriously SLOW LOADING TIMES for the PSX. The fifth generation consoles didn't have that much memory. Remember how the Marvel vs. Capcom games were given a shortcut edition? Marvel vs. Capcom 2 would not fit at all that time either!
Mortal Kombat (2011) merged the two pits INTO ONE. There are no two separate Pit stages. Heck, the Pit III wasn't even included probably due to its lack of popularity OR they preferred Shao Kahn's Arena as the final boss stage. This time the design of the Pit II was no longer in Outworld but on SHANG TSUNG'S ISLAND. The concept got carried over into Mortal Kombat 11 in the Krypt Mode -- complete with characters fighting on the other side! The stage also returned in Mortal Kombat X with a variation of the stage fatality. The Mortal Kombat X version had the arm getting severed before the opponent landed facing downwards.
The Pit (2011) added that good old impalement. The Pit (X) had the character lose an arm before hitting the spikes. I wanted to see both variations -- one without spikes and the other with spikes. Apparently, Midway wanted to merge Pit I and Pit II in Mortal Kombat Trilogy. The decision was probably rejected and there went Pit II WITHOUT the classic fatality. They could've gotten rid of Pit I and put the Pit Bottom on Pit II's bottom. That decision probably didn't sound good. The possibility that fans didn't like Pit II not having a fatality at all -- caused outrage!
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