Reiko

Reiko is a character in the Mortal Kombat video game franchise.

Reiko first appeared in Mortal Kombat 4, replacing Noob Saibot as a playable character. With some developments in his game endings, Reiko has developed into a topic of debate among many fans of the game.

Millennia ago, when Shinnok fought against Rayden, Reiko was among his generals. After Shinnok's innitial defeat, Reiko disappeared, presumed dead. However, when Shinnok escaped the netherrealm with help from the sorceror Quan Chi, Reiko mysteriously resurfaced to help in Shinnok's conquest of realms.

Reiko's abilities in the game rely on use of skill, along with some useful special abilities such as teleportation and the use of shuriken. Reiko's weapon is a massive hammer, similar to Shao Kahn's.

The "Reiko is Shao Kahn" Controversy

For the most part, Reiko began as a simple new character added to put new faces in MK4. However, as the game arrived on PlayStation and Game Boy, some alarming and heavily-debated developments took place.

In the early releases of Mortal Kombat 4, Reiko's win scene showed him running through a portal and nothing more. However, as the game made its way into home systems, this scene was further elaborated on. On the other side of the portal, Reiko arrived in the throne room of Shao Kahn, the emperor's skull mask lowering onto his face. This quickly led to a division among MK fans. Some believed that this was a sign that Reiko was actually Shao Kahn, while others rejected the idea entirely.

In opposition of Reiko's being Kahn, it was put forth that the character's win scene is not necessarily fact, as many previous win scenes have been neglected in developing the story. Another argument was the profound difference in heights of the characters (Shao Kahn being much taller than Reiko). Also given is an episode of Mortal Kombat: Conquest in which Reiko and Shao Kahn are seen together. Also used as evidence is Ed Boon's confirmation that the two are not the same. Those supporting that Kahn and Reiko are the same have found counters for each argument, however. They generally accept Reiko's (and many other) win scenes as canon until they are contradicted in future games. As for the profound differences in stature of the characters, they point out that Mortal Kombat hosts many super natural abilities, such as body-hopping and shapeshifting. They also remind us that the TV shows and movies are not considered part of the video game story line, and thus can be disregarded as any kind of evidence. Another point against Ed Boon's statement is his lack of involvement in the story line, a position originally held by John Tobias.

Another convincing piece of evidence is Reiko's ending from the Game Boy release of Mortal Kombat Gold, which states that he returns to ruling the realm that he commanded before Shinnok's return and continued his plans for the conquest of earth realm. While not specifically stating that Reiko is Shao Kahn, the text is oddly specific and is quickly accepted as proof by the believers in the conspiracy.

The video game Mortal Kombat: Deception used its Konquest Mode to debunk the myth that Reiko is Shao Kahn. A mission on which Shao Kahn sends Shujinko leads him to Reiko, who tells him that he likes to wear Shao Kahn's helmet. Moreover, Reiko claims he is a commander in Shao Kahn's army. This is clear evidence that the two characters are indeed different entities.