You might not think that the average video game, especially a game from the ’90s, has much in the way of a shelf life. After all, smaller dev teams and fewer technical resources to work with mean that older games physically can’t contain as much content, and the fact that some of our favorites have been around for decades means that deeply devoted fan bases have had years to poke and prod at every corner of a game to find its secrets. Games are a lot like archaeology in that respect – the older something is, the less likely we’ll stumble across something brand new.
Imagine the surprise, then, when it was announced that a brand new secret had been uncovered within the depths of the original Mortal Kombat, from 1992.
Video game secrets website The Cutting Room Floor revealed the existence of a long-hidden secret menu in the early Mortal Kombat games. Known as the EJB Menu (so named for Ed J. Boon, the series creator), the secret includes things like links to diagnostic tests and game audits, but also allows shortcuts to view each character’s game ending. The Cutting Room Floor listed the button combination needed to access the menu:
From the game’s Attract Mode menu, press:
1P Block (×5), 2P Block (×10), 1P Block (×2), 2P Block, 1P Block (×2), 2P Block (×3), 1P Block (×4).
If you’re dextrously challenged like yours truly, you can view this in action, as YourMKArcadeSource posted a video on its YouTube channel: