How To Find Mortal Kombat's Hidden Fights

Mortal Kombat games have always included a treasure trove of hidden goodies, and this new installment is no different. There are several nods to hidden fights from the past buried throughout the arcade ladder, and there are achievements/trophies tied to each one. I managed to unlock three of them last night, and I'll describe how to find these hidden fights here.

IMPORTANT TIP: For all of these, you need to be on a specific stage during the arcade ladder. It's best to put the difficulty on beginner, and you'll want the stage to be one of the very early rungs on the ladder. If you don't get one of these three stages when you start the ladder, back out to the main menu and restart until you get the desired stage. Noob and Reptile both require two rounds, so make sure you have that option set appropriately.

Klassic Smoke (Unlocks "Hide and Seek" Achievement)

This is the easiest one to get, although it might take the longest to get him to appear. While playing on the Living Forest stage, Klassic Smoke will sometimes peek his head out of the left side of a specific tree. To find the tree, go to the right after starting the match. You'll pass a tree with a sick man sitting against it, and he'll have a Raiden-like hat on his head. The tree you need to look at is to the right of this one.

Jump around and avoid your enemy for about 15 to 20 seconds. If Smoke does not peek out by that time, go back to the player select screen and jump back in. Once you do see him peek out, immediately press down and the back button (select on PS3). Your enemy will disappear, Klassic Smoke will come out to fight you, and the achievement/trophy should unlock. You'll notice that he has his old moves, such as the Scorpion's spear and teleport. Be patient with this one, as it took me around a dozen restarts to finally spot Smoke.

Klassic Noob (Unlocks "Brotherhood of Shadow" Achievement)

For this one, you'll need to be on the Temple level. Luckily, you won't have to wait around for an appearance like you did with Smoke. Sometimes when you start this stage, you'll see Noob creepily lurking around to the right of the altar. He doesn't come and go, he'll just be there during some fights. If he's not there right at the beginning, bump back to player select and try again.

Once you do see him at the beginning of the fight, you need to win the first two rounds without hitting the block button at all. This means no X-Rays, enhanced moves, or anything that would make you hit RT or R2 at all. Complete this successfully, and Klassic Noob will come out for a bout and an achievement.

Klassic Reptile (Unlocks "Pit Master" Achievement)

This one is a throwback to the original hidden kombatant. Like in the first Mortal Kombat, this one requires you to wait for silhouettes to fly across the moon on The Pit (Pit II in this case). Upon starting a match on The Pit II, you'll sometimes see a silhouette of a witch or Santa Claus fly across the screen. This will occur early on in the fight, so back out to player select and restart if you don't see it within 10 seconds or so.

If you do see it, this means you have an opportunity to fight Klassic Reptile. You'll need to win with two flawless victories, and then finish things off with a stage fatality. I recommend doing this with Nightwolf at the first rung of the ladder. Your enemy will barely move, and you can just sit back and fill him with spirit arrows until he dies. Once "Finish Him" shows up, just get close to your enemy and perform Nightwolf's stage fatality by pressing down-down-down-block. Because the input ends with block, you don't even run the risk of accidentally messing up and hitting someone, thus ending your chance at the fatality.

Do this correctly, and Klassic Reptile will challenge you at the bottom of The Pit II. He'll have Sub-Zero's ice ball and Scorpion's spear, just like he did in the first game.

What about Jade?

We know that Jade is the final hidden kombatant, and she unlocks the "You Found Me!" achievement/trophy. However, no one on the internet seems to know a surefire way to unlock the fight. The most common strategy described is beating Shang Tsung with two flawless victories in the arcade ladder. However, many reports are claiming they performed this feat and Klassic Jade didn't appear. It seems that there is another criteria for the unlock, and no one seems to know for sure yet. We'd recommend experimenting with various techniques on Shang Tsung. If past hidden fighters are any indication, you may have to finish the fight while avoiding a particular button, using only a particular button, avoiding jumping, or something else entirely. Let us know in the comments if you're able to unlock her, and we'll update the story accordingly.