After 20 Years, Mortal Kombat’s Secret Menu Has Been Found

Back in the wild, early days of game programming, designers slipped secret levels, in-jokes and Easter eggs into their games without knowing if anyone would ever appreciate their effort. The controversial classic Mortal Kombat is particularly infamous for secret characters and hidden endings. But those games have been around over 20 years and it seemed like every secret had been found. Until the gang at Cutting Room Floor found a secret menu hidden in the several Mortal Kombat arcade games.

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Called the Ultimate EJB Menu, it’s found in Mortal Kombats 1, II and 3 as well as Ultimate Mortal Kombat III. Co-creator Ed J Boon hinted in interviews that not everything had been found in Mortal Kombat. He was not kidding. Below, you can watch a demo for accessing the menu on an arcade cabinet.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=0WK1Ec-KVVQ

There’s some diagnostic testing options but that’s not really any fun. Some menus option that allows you to turn on free play mode. There’s the Hello menu, that displays the word “hello” and a list of names including ‘Mom’ and ‘Dad’. Aww, cute. Anyway, there’s plenty of Mortal Kombat content, including animated sprites, secret characters, and an option that allows you to watch all the character’s ending cut scenes and fatalities. UMK III has a Galaga-type game in the EJB menu and it is rumored to be super difficult.

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