Mortal Kombat (XB360/PS3)

[What Would Kevin Do?]

In the first few arcade versions of Mortal Kombat, there was a listing in the audit menu for "ERMACS". In Revision 3.0 it was actually listed directly underneath "Reptile Battles" giving the appearance that they were grouped together. It was believed to reference a character the same way "Reptile Battles" does which led people to believe that Ermac was also a secret character. The Ermac listing is a shortening of the term "Error Macro". This is referenced in a hidden reversed message in Mortal Kombat: Deception's Konquest mode which states "It is a little known fact that Ermac is short for Error Macro". Electronic Gaming Monthly published a photo to accompany a letter from Tony Casey reporting an alleged encounter.[1] However, Ermac did not appear in any version. There is also no naturally occurring default character palette that would provide a full pallette swap for Ermac. The MK crew denied that he existed in Mortal Kombat II with one of the jumbled messages that appeared at the bottom of the screen after beating the game: CEAMR ODSE NTO EXITS (an anagram of "Ermac does not exist"), and the occasional appearance of the secret character Jade with the message "Ermac Who?" The numerous rumors of his existence led to his debut as an official character in Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3. His storyline is even based off his own rumor as well and later changed to become a legit character in Mortal Kombat Trilogy. Until Mortal Kombat: Deception, he was just another palette swapped ninja. Around the time of Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance, the creators made the choice to give all the ninjas their own look and identity.