Character Analysis: Goro(Feat Lousy)

Backstory

Age: Over 2000 years old

Height: 8’2

Weight: 550 lbs

Goro is the half-dragon prince of the Shokan race, and one of Outworld’s strongest warriors. So strong that for the longest time he was the reigning Mortal Kombat champion, holding a total of 9 tournament wins over the course of 500 years. Among his defeated opponents was the ancestor of Kung Lao, something that would hang over the head of Kung Lao all his life.

Goro’s victories were almost enough to give Shao Kahn his 10th win in Mortal Kombat, which would have allowed him to invade Earthrealm. But then a Shaolin Monk by the name of Lui Kang showed up and defeated him. In one fell swoop Goro lost his pride and favor with Shao Kahn.

Goro would attempt to win the title of Mortal Kombat champion back in Mortal Kombat 4, but ultimately lost to Lui Kang again. However, Goro soon found there were more pressing matters to deal with beyond petty revenge. War broke out between the Shokans and the Centaurians, and the Shokans needed their prince. A peace treaty was eventually established due to a combination of Kitana’s intervention, and Goro’s race having fallen out of Shao Kahn’s favor.

Under the new treaty, Goro and his army marched against Shao Kahn alongside the people of Edenia. He was nearly killed by Noob Saibot, but narrowly survived due to Shao Kahn’s own intervention. Kahn convinced Goro to return to his side, and in return the Centaurians would be ousted so the Shokans could thrive. Goro agreed.

Due to this agreement, Kahn was back on the throne of Outworld, his fortress reclaimed, with Goro at his side. Goro then had a run-in and defeat at the hands of Taven, before the Battle of Armageddon where his and everyone else’s story in the original timeline ends.

In the new timeline, Goro’s fate against Lui Kang is much the same. His run-in with Kung Lao and Cyber Sub-zero, however, wasn’t. Kung Lao faced off against Goro, avenging the death of his ancestor, and Cyber Sub-Zero too managed to defeat him and Kintaro.

With Shao Kahn’s defeat at the end of Mortal Kombat 9, the new Kotal Kahn had taken over. Who Goro had an even more rocky relationship with than Shao Kahn. In the battle, Goro turned against Kotal Kahn, and lost perhaps the most prized things he had: His arms. He returned to his father, Gorbak, the current reigning king of the Shokans in shame.

Gorbak retaliated against Kotal Kahn, but lost his life. Goro’s arms, honor, father, and claim to Shokan throne was all lost. Even so, that wouldn’t stop Goro from trying to accomplish his goals. Exiled and outcasted, Goro began studying methods of getting his arms back. At the end of the Mortal Kombat X comics, he speaks with the demi-god Daegon in an attempt to get his arms back, presenting the captured Kenshi, who he (presumably) defeated. His last appearance is as a corpse resting on the throne in his layer in Mortal Kombat 11, having died from unknown means. What happens in-between then and the comics is unknown, but considering the corpse has 4 arms, Goro presumably found a way to get his arms back.

Experience

-Goro is the 500 year reigning Mortal Kombat champion, and has a share of experience to go with it. While his story presence in the main games isn’t as extensive as others, he has won 9 consecutive tournaments, and is one of Shao Kahn (and Shang Tsung’s) main protectors. The degree of skill and power his opponents possessed from the past 9 tournaments isn’t clear-cut, but they should presumably be comparable to some of the modern kombatants to some extent, knowing one was Kung Lao’s ancestor.

-Knowing Shao Kahn had invaded other realms such as Edenia prior to the events of Mortal Kombat, Goro was also presumably involved in Shao Kahn’s battles and conquering to some extent.

-Goro is also shown to be a master of two fictitious fighting styles: Shokan, and Kuatan (See the Abilities section).

Arsenal

Dragon Fangs: Arm wrappings with daggers protruding from them, attached to all 4 of Goro’s arms. They are also used as one of his variants in Mortal Kombat X.

Abilities

Beyond superhuman strength, speed, and durability Goro has...

Energy Projection: Goro can fire green energy from his hands and mouth to form an energy projectile.

Green Energy Projectile in the games: https://youtu.be/PBuFq0lGGK0?t=202

In the comics: https://2.bp.blogspot.com/6IyBbz8m1AKXZByLSQdnYwKBZixXT1krzMaTNS5H3XABg7VVk6ShnIT-DT0b3S8j_xrB6aXrEutE=s1600


Pyrokinesis: Goro also is capable of shooting fire from both his mouth and his hands. He can shoot this fire either as a stream that can be left on the ground to damage foes, or as a more traditional projectile.

Goro’s fire in MKX: https://youtu.be/Q-CflLRLbUo?t=98

https://youtu.be/Q-CflLRLbUo?t=345

Martial Arts Mastery: Shokan and Kuatan. As the name of the former implies, Shokan is themed around utilizing the extra arms that Shokans are born with for powerful attacks such as spinning lariats.

Footage of the Shokan Fighting Style: https://youtu.be/RGMTVZcq_ag?t=67

Kuatan meanwhile is slightly more elaborate, working in kicks and the like.

Footage of the Kuatan Fighting Style: https://youtu.be/dRI5XrWOwFA?t=402

Extended Age: Goro is over 2000 years old, and was the reigning Mortal Kombat champion for 500 of those years. The Shokan race presumably has a longer lifespan than humans, similar to other races in Outworld.

Other

Special Moves

Fireball: A projectile move that can be fired from Goro’s hands and mouth. It can also be enhanced for a move called Shokan blast, and spat onto the ground.

Stomp: Goro leaps into the air and stomps on his opponent.

https://youtu.be/Q-CflLRLbUo?t=345

Chest Pound: While grabbing an opponent with one set of arms, Goro pummels their chest with his other set of arms.

Tremor Pound: Goro creates a light tremor on the ground that damages opponents.

Arm Spin: Goro spins around with his arms held out, harming anything he hits.

Dragon Breath: Goro lets out a stream of fire from his mouth.

Punch Walk: Goro makes a series of punch combinations while moving forward.

Goro Grab: Goro palm-strikes his opponent’s face while he grabs them with his lower arms.

Crusher: An x-ray move in which Goro crushes his opponent’s skull with one set of hands before slamming them down with the other set.

Spine Adjustment: Goro breaks his opponent’s neck by twisting it before using his lower arms to stretch his opponent, breaking their spine.

Variants

Kuatan Warrior: A style that implements more of Goro’s grapples, and physical attacks.

Tigrar Fury: Gives Goro access to more fire-based attacks and projectiles.

Dragon Fangs: Goro equips his arm daggers, giving him bladed attacks and new moves.

Fatalities

Dragon Fangs: Goro uses his titular Dragon Fangs to slice and impale his opponent.

Limb Rip: Goro uses his 4 arms to rip off his opponent’s arms and legs.

Disconnect Four: Goro rips off his opponent’s head before pulling it apart with his four arms.

Shokan Amputation: Goro rips off his opponent’s limbs while standing on them.

Feats

Strength & Destructive Power

-Goro, like all the other kombatants, is capable of doing the Test Your Might challenges. He isn’t playable in any of the games with the diamond crushing feats, but should logically be capable of performing the diamond crushing feat (and should scale to it regardless).

-Crushed a large car (Mortal Kombat: Goro The Prince of Pain, Issue #1, Page 4).

Durability & Survivability

-Survived hits from Kotal Ketz, who was using Shao Kahn’s hammer (Mortal Kombat X II, Issue #3, page 13).

-Can survive being frozen by Sub-Zero (Mortal Kombat: Goro The Prince of Pain, Issue #2 , Page 4).

-Logically speaking, Goro should be capable of surviving the maximum force he can deal out.

Scaling

Who does Goro Scale to?

Goro should reasonably scale to mid-tier Mortal Kombat characters such as Kotal Kahn, Kabal, Johnny Cage, ETC. He hasn’t directly fought all of them, and several he has lost to. However, he generally puts up a good fight, and or course, is noted as being an undefeated champion of the tournaments for the past 500 years. He’s also the same species as Kintaro, and his rival, so he should naturally scale to him.

Kotal Kahn

-Destroyed a large ship (Mortal Kombat X Comics, Issue #2, Page 32)

Kintaro

-Survived a large explosion. (Mortal Kombat X Comics, Issue #7, Page 26)


Kabal

-Can deflect automatic-fire.


Johnny Cage

-Can smash diamond

-Can duck a bullet

Weaknesses

Goro is powerful, but certainly not invincible. Despite his 500 year status as Mortal Kombat Champion, he hasn’t fared as well against a lot of his modern opponents, such as Lui Kang, Johnny Cage, and Cyber Sub-Zero. He also cannot regrow arms, at least not without prep or outside intervention.