The Mortal Kombat Character Ed Boon Originally Created As A Hoax
The collective roster for Mortal Kombat is full of iconic fighting game characters. Elemental ninjas, four-armed beasts, and even a cocky actor regularly throw hands during the repeated struggles between Earthrealm, Outworld, and Netherrealm. The goriest and bloodiest fighting game franchise of all time has held strong over the years due to gripping story arcs, improved graphical fidelity, and tightly tuned gameplay mechanics.
Another reason why fans have flocked to each new entry of MK is the series' penchant for introducing clever Easter eggs and other secrets. Figuring out the button combinations for Fatalities, Brutalities, Friendships, and more never gets old. And coming across all the hilarious inside jokes shared between each character during their intros is just as much of a part of MK's charm.
One of the bigger secrets from MK's past had fans in a frenzy, but it turns out that secret was nothing more than a hoax ... at first. It's pretty wild to see that a simple Ed Boon joke eventually morphed into one of MK's most highly regarded ninjas.
This is how Rain came to be.
Rain was nothing more than a prank before he became a legit roster member
Gamers who were treated to Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3's attract mode saw a quick glimpse of something unexpected: A purple ninja could be seen doing battle with MK's big boss Shao Khan. This was the first-ever appearance of the man who eventually came to be known as Rain, which made MK fanatics do everything they could to unlock him.
It turns out that Rain wasn't even a real character at that point. In fact, Ed Boon threw him into UMK3's attract mode as nothing more than a quick joke in honor of one of his favorite pop stars. During an interview with PlayStation.Blog, Boon detailed his thought process behind Rain's unexpected inclusion.
"When we were working on Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3, I was thinking 'what ninja color have we not done yet?' ... and I'm a huge Prince fan, so I was thinking Purple Rain," Boon said. "I was probably still listening to the album." He went on to explain that Rain eventually got a real moveset in Mortal Kombat Trilogy after fans went crazy over his brief showcase.