Game-Art-HQ

Skarlet is a character from the Mortal Kombat game series and made her debut as a downloadable character in June 2011 

 She was created by Shao Kahn the main antagonist of Mortal Kombat by using sorcery and the blood of fallen warriors.

Skarlet is one of the characters who were rumored to be in earlier Mortal Kombat games already, and were made official characters later including own moves and endings.

While her alternate costume is available in the PsVita version of Mortal Kombat 9 and was found in the console versions as well, it can not be unlocked in them.

Skarlet is the so far only blood-related Mortal Kombat character, and also the only female Ninja in the games which can be called a Kunoichi due to her using the Taijutsu fighting style as well as the traditional Kodachi Swords and Kunais.

Her fatalities, especially the “Make it Rain” finisher are extraordinary brutal even for Mortal Kombat 9

Skarlet was one of the first characters that were revealed to return in Mortal Kombat XI (2019). Her visual design was changed drastically, however. 

Skarlet’s main costume

Skarlet’s alternate costume

Back in the early nineties, when the Internet was not yet the standard it is today, gamers often carried rumors through the community and many “urban legends”  were spread 🙂

Remember how people talked about a nude cheat for Tomb Raider? About playing as Reptile in the original Mortal Kombat or as “Sheng Long” in Street Fighter II?

Ed Boon and his team did their part to make the Mortal Kombat games and especially Mortal Kombat II a true chest of secrets and rumors for the players with the hidden (and unplayable) characters like Jade, Noob Saibot and Smoke, making Reptile the formerly unplayable secret character from MK I a normal character in the sequel and hinting that there are more and more undiscovered secrets to be found in the game to get the people searching them.

Skarlet is such an “urban legend”..according to people there was a female ninja in MK II wearing red clothes and while some said she would be a graphical glitch others swore that she would be a different character and not be like Kitana.

The truth, as mentioned by Ed Boon is that there was not such a glitch (the image there is photoshopped) but like with Ermac too, they finally made this character who was once just a rumor a full character in 2011. The “red ninja” in MK II was called Skarlet by players. 😉

Skarlet got MK II and UMK III costumes in the MK PSVita version while she never was in these classic games. NRS still likes to have fun with the players.

Thanks @ The Netherrealm Studios for making rumors like that playable individual characters. We look forward to seeing Belokk and Zebron in future MK games!

Skarlet Kombat Intro

Scorpion won’t like it

Skarlet’s Fatality

Skarlet Alternate Costume

Skarlet was the second DLC character in Mortal Kombat 9 and like Kenshi, Rain and Freddy Krueger too, she got a trailer about her story as well as an ending in the arcade mode of the game. Here is her official bio:

“Shao Kahn has many warriors under his command, but his trust lies solely in the fighters of his own creation. Warrior blood gathered from countless battlefields, fused with sorcery, produced his most effective enforcer yet: Skarlet. An expert tracker, she preys on those deemed enemies of the empire. During kombat, Skarlet gains strength from her opponent’s blood, absorbing it through her skin. Shao Kahn has a new mission for this formidable kombatant: discover Quan Chi’s true intentions and kill him if he plots betrayal of the emperor.”

During her ending of the arcade mode it is revealed that Skarlet became controlled by the powerful sorcerer Quan Chi and she killed Shao Kahn by herself.

When she got covered with the blood of the Emperor, she absorbed it and its immense strength which stopped the control by Quan Chi. Skarlet attacks the new “Brotherhood of Shadow” and kills Quan Chi finally, waiting for Shao Kahn to be reborn.

~

You can enlarge nearly all Skarlet illustrations here!

“Skarlet Wins” by sicmop

While Skarlet is the currently newest Mortal Kombat character she got a big base of fans already in a very short time.

It seems a lot players liked her mix of mysterious origins, sexy visuals and the brutal looking moveset.

A lot talented artists drew or cosplayed Skarlet since her debut in 2011.

Here you can find a selection of the maybe best ones.

Skarlet Cosplay & Interview with Nebulaluben and Hidrico

The Bloodthirsty Skarlet

by Asai Balboa

Skarlet Portrait

by Fiorique

Lady in Red

by Kachakacha

by Filipe Aguiar

by Sven Zupancic

by MadiBlitz

by MadiBlitz

by Infernal-Overkill

by Daisy Birkin

by Darren Flood

Skarlet

by Molim

by Sven Zupancic

by HzBlunte

by Letticia Maer

by Ricardo Ivan Castillo Oviedo

by Alan Francisco Fernandez Lopez

Skarlet is a really fun character to play with in Mortal Kombat 9, and the whole thing about being related to dark blood magic makes her a character with an interesting back story as well for me, but i really wish NRS and every game company would stop to release characters in fighting games as additional DLC..especially when the characters were developers together with the other vanilla version characters already. I hope Skarlet returns in the next Mortal Kombat, maybe with a relevant and canon story as well.

by GA-HQ Founder Reinhold “GBK” Hoffmann

~

Skarlet was a very pleasant addition to the Mortal Kombat 2011 roster and I got to admit she was fun to use as well, but that is only speaking in terms of gameplay. It was disappointing to see her being released as a DLC which made her character all the more irrelevant to the storyline, but even more so when the creators attached the most clichéd of powers to her. Clue is fore ice, yellow is for fire and red – since this is Mortal Kombat – should logically be for blood. In that aspect, Ermac was the lucky one.

Her exclusion from the storyline coupled with the slightly boring (if not downright unimaginative) bio failed to make Skarlet a more two-dimensional fighter, her clothes as don’t look as if they’d be practical for wear given her occupation.
But does that keep her from some character development? Well, her fatalities were real kickass and her background does yield some promise that can help Skarlet be more than just the butt of period jokes. She’s a favourite amongst fans after all. I just hope that when the sequel pops out Skarlet makes a return, more badass, more brutal than before.

by Game Art HQ Contributor UltimateSushiLord