I am Reiko. General to Shao Kahn's Army.


—Reiko introducing himself to Taven in Mortal Kombat Armageddon


About Reiko



In his first appearance, Reiko appeared as a male adult with glowing blue eyes and black markings on his face, similar to Shang Tsung's in MK3, and black hair featuring white highlights on the sides. Much like many of the characters that debuted in MK4, Reiko bore a facial semblance to another person in the MK team, with the case of Reiko being Ed Boon himself. His attire was the standard ninja outfit with a maroon sheen, although he lacked the traditional mask and the insignia of The Brotherhood of Shadow was printed on the back. This outfit was used in Mortal Kombat: Armageddon as his alternate costume, excluding the Brotherhood of Shadow insignia. Making his reappearance in Armageddon, he was redesigned to feature an outfit strikingly similar to Shao Kahn, as a reference to him fancying wearing his helmet and pretending to be him when he was not around. However, unlike Shao Kahn, he wears pants and his skin is slightly tanned.

Character development

Originally, Noob Saibot existed in Reiko's place on the character selection grid for MK4.[2] It was decided that the game had too many ninjas already, which was a subject of complaint from Mortal Kombat Trilogy, the game most immediately prior to MK4, in addition to Noob Saibot being described as being too hard to see in some stages as he blended into the background very easily. Due to this, Noob Saibot was remade into Reiko.[3][4] The outfit for Reiko was largely unchanged from the Noob Saibot character model; only the character's head was changed, while the colors were changed, a Brotherhood of Shadow emblem was added to the back, and spikes were added to the forearms. Home versions of MK4 included Noob Saibot as a secret character, and it can clearly be seen that the character model is virtually identical to Reiko's.

With MK4's arcade release, it was hinted that Reiko has an affiliation with Kia and Sareena, as mentioned on the game's official website[5] and in the official strategy guide.[6] This was justified by both wearing the emblem of the Brotherhood of Shadow on their clothing and that the events of Mortal Kombat 4 mostly followed up on the events of Mortal Kombat Mythologies: Sub-Zero.


Combat Characteristics

Powers and Abilities

Reiko is a powerful fighter, skilled in the use of shuriken and while originally depicted as favoring dodges and various teleports in his first appearance in MK4 and Mortal Kombat Gold, he gained a variation of Shao Kahn's shoulder charge and was shown to be strong enough to wield the Crude Hammer with ease.

The current timeline has further revealed Reiko's brilliant tactical mind, showing his capacity to form strategies to lure opponents to their deaths or expose weaknesses he can exploit. Reiko was also shown to be strong enough to dominate Jax Briggs in a one-on-one battle and when his power was enhanced by Blood Magik from two Kamidogu, Reiko became strong enough to shatter Kotal Kahn's sword with his bare hands and easily beat the Osh-Tek into submission and rip D'Vorah's body in half with no effort. Even after being temporarily killed by Mileena, upon reviving thanks to the Blood Code, Reiko was strong enough to battle her, Kotal Kahn, and Ermac, one of Shao Kahn's most powerful creations, to a virtual standstill before he was killed a second time.

Signature moves

  • Flip Kick: Reiko twists his body in an impossible fashion, landing a backflip kick with one foot without his opposite foot even leaving the ground. Li Mei received this move later in Deadly Alliance and Deception under the name Carnival Spin. In Armageddon, the move was renamed Devastating Flip Kick. (MK4, MKG, MK:A)
  • Charging Pain: Reiko performs a shoulder ram like that of Shao Kahn's, but with a bluish energy representation of Shao Kahn's helmet covering his head. (MK:A)

Other Moves

  • Flipping Strikes: Reiko grabs his opponent and smashes them against the ground with his fist, causing them to bounce up into the air. Reiko follows up the attack with a flipping soccer-esque kick to their backside, sending them headfirst back onto the ground. (MKA)


  • Shuriken Barrage: Reiko throws a deadly multitude of shurikens at the opponent, covering the entire body before throwing the last one to the head. The opponent then collapses and dies in a puddle of their own blood. (MK4, MKG)

The Reiko/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 Color, some alarming and heavily-debated developments took place. In the early releases of MK4, Reiko's ending showed him stepping through a portal and nothing more.[7] 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 Shao Kahn's throne room, where the Emperor's skull mask lowered onto his face.[8] This quickly led to a division among fans, some believing that Reiko was actually Shao Kahn or becoming his successor, with others rejecting the idea entirely.







Appearances in other media



Comic books

Reiko also has a very minor one-frame appearance in the official MK4 comic that was distributed with some versions of the game. He was shown as one of the hundreds of warriors travelling to Edenia through a portal to aid Shinnok in his invasion of the realm.[15]

Game information


Though this character is male, Reiko is actually a feminine Japanese name, meaning "beautiful" or "lovely child,"(Hotaru is another male character in Mortal Kombat series who uses what is normally a female Japanese name) causing another bizarre controversy. His name is clearly pronounced "RAY-ko," but was often misheard as "REE-ko" in MK4 and Gold, causing debate among fans over how his name is meant to be pronounced. Also, in his Armageddon Kombat Card video, John Vogel and Ed Boon pronounced his name "RAI-ko."


Mortal Kombat 4

  • Reiko was added in the first revision of the second major revision for Mortal Kombat 4, replacing the ? icon seen in the first release.
  • One of two characters (the other being Sektor) to never speak in their respective ending or in any of the endings.
  • Reiko is never generally grouped with the male ninjas, despite his costume essentially being a minor modification of the standard male ninja attire though without a mask.

Mortal Kombat: Deception


Mortal Kombat: Armageddon

  • There are two erratums in his in-game Move List; his False Emperor style-branching combo is misspelled as "False Emporer," and his Flipping Strikes throw attack is misspelled as "Flipping Stikes".
  • Reiko's Assassin Throwing Stars special move allows the player to make 50 coins per every use, making him a candidate for an easy way to make money in the game. Using only his Assassin Throwing Stars attack in Versus Mode and achieving a Flawless Victory for 2 rounds allows a guaranteed 1100 coins per match [+___ (coin amount) depending on which kind of Fatality you perform afterwards].

Mortal Kombat (2011)

  • He appears in the background of the Pit II stage fighting Daegon, Frost, Kenshi, or Sareena, his appearance unchanged from Mortal Kombat: Armageddon.


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External links


