Secret characters in fighting games wereall the rage in the ‘90sand 2000s. Secret characters are those the player couldn’t pick at the start of the game and had to fulfill certain requirements to get them. There have been many such unlockable characters, but some are really difficult to obtain.
Nowadays, the concept of secret characters has been done away with and has made way formore DLC characters. This might be due to the time-consuming nature of unlocking characters and the fact that people just do not have that time anymore. This list will look back over the years to find the hardest secret characters to unlock in the fighting game genre.
Mokap…Mokap is a character from the 11th game in theMortal Kombatfranchise,Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance. The game — which is one of thedarker ones in the franchise’s history— started with killing off the game’s main protagonist, Liu Kang. It released inMK’s3D era and featured unlockable characters like Mokap and Blaze.
To unlock Mokap, the player had to complete Konquest Modewith all the characters. This is no mean feat, as each character’s missions start easy but increase in difficulty with each mission. Once done, the player is congratulated and can unlock both Mokap and Blaze. The player will have to highlight Cyrax on the character select screen and then press ‘down’ and ‘X’ simultaneously to access Mokap.
Tekken 2
Experience “TEKKEN2”, enhanced with up-rendering, rewind, quick save, and custom video filters.Relive the excitement of the white-hot fighting game that lit up the arcades! Skilled fighters from around the world join the King of Iron Fist Tournament to seek fame and glory. Choose one of the unique brawlers, master their techniques, and dominate your opponent as you battle your way to the title of King of Iron Fist!
Devil Kazuya is an alter ego of one ofTekken’smain villains, Kazuya Mishima. InTekken 1, he won the King of Iron Fist tournament and repaid his father, Heihachi’s, treatment of him at the beginning of the game by throwing him off a cliff.
InTekken 2, the player cannot pick Kazuya but must first beat the game with every character, which unlocks those characters’ rivals. Then, the player must beat the game again with every single rival before having access to Kazuya. To go a step further and obtain Devil Kazuya, the player willthenneed to defeat the game with Kazuya to get Devil Kazuya. Considering howdifficult the AIfor the first twoTekkengames was (especially for the arcade modes), doing all that to unlock one character was a big ask.
Capcom VS SNK: Millennium Fight 2000 Pro
Capcom vs. SNK: Millennium Fight 2000
THE MILLENIUM CHALLENGETwo monster corporations at war. One solution. A massive martial arts event is organized to settle the score and eliminate conflict between the two parties. Join over 25 brawlers from Capcom’s legendary Street Fighter and SNK’s world-renowned King of Fighters series as they fight for universal domination. Capcom vs. SNK… the ultimate collision of strength and power.• Over 25 characters from the Street Fighter and King of Fighters series collide in the ultimate test of supremacy.• Select from two different fighting styles: Capcom Groove and SNK Groove.• Groove Points System - fighting skills are evaluated in real-time.
SNK and Capcomhave an interesting history, especially regarding fighting games. The creator ofStreet Fighter, Takashi Nishiyama, left Capcom and joined SNK, also helping with the creation ofThe King of Fighters. When the two companies combined forces forCapcom VS SNK: Millennium Fight 2000 Pro, it captured the imagination of fans.
The game included characters from both Capcom’sStreet FighterandDarkstalkersseries and SNK’sArt of Fighting,Fatal Fury, andKing of Fightersseries. Two of the unlockable characters were Morrigan fromDarkstalkersand Nakoruru fromSamurai Shodown. To unlock them, players had to defeat the game with all the Capcom characters to unlock their EX versions and then defeat Morrigan to get her. The same was necessary for Nakoruru, as players had to beat the game with every SNK character and purchase their EX versions from the secret store.
Mewtwo is a character from the world ofPokémonwho was added toSuper Smash Bros. Meleeback in 2001. The character was to appear on the Nintendo 64’s version of the game, but that never happened, and Mewtwo was instead introduced in the Gamecube version ofSmash Melee.
Unlocking Mewtwo isn’t hard in the traditional sense of the word, but it is quite a grind. A player would have to put20+ hours into the gamebefore Mewtwo became available. There is another way to do this, but it is just as time-consuming, as the player will need to have registered 700+ versus games. That’s a lot, and for a character that wasn’t particularly overpowered or anything, it would take a dedicated Mewtwo lover to go through with unlocking the character.
Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo
Super Street Fighter II Turbo
A new phase in the legendary rivalry of the World Warriors has begun. Newcomers Cammy, Dee Jay, T. Hawk and Fei Long have joined the ranks of the Street Fighters in the hopes of becoming the ultimate martial arts champion.But there is another…An ancient foe named Akuma has surfaced to crush the battle-hardened Street Fighters. His power knows few limitations and he has the ability to retire the World Warriors… permanently.There is hope for the heroes, however, as they have prepared for Akuma’s arrival by learning new moves and techniques to combat this deadly new enemy. These new abilities add enough firepower to the mighty cast of characters to make even Akuma realize that he too is in for the fight of his life!This incredible arcade classic challenges your fighting skills with all-new offensive and defensive capabilities for every player! Do you have what it takes to battle your way through a world of opposition? The only way you’ll ever know is to dare to play!
The 1994Super Street Fighter 2 Turbowas an update forSuper Street Fighter,which had already added a couple of new characters. In this game, players got their first glimpse of Akuma who is one of thebest villains of the franchiseand a shoto character like Ken and Ryu.
The game allowed players to face Akuma, but not before jumping through quite a number of hoops. The player would need to beat all the characters leading to M. Bison without using a continue and within a short period — 25 minutes. This is very hard to do, but its fitting, considering Akuma would only take on the strongest fighters… no matter what universe they are in. To select him in versus mode, one would first have to highlight Ryu for three seconds, then do the same for T. Hawk, Guile, and Cammy, before going back to Ryu, where they’d have to wait a further three seconds before hitting the Start Button and all three Punch buttons at once.
Mortal Kombat
Mortal Kombat (1992)
PREPARE YOURSELF… The #1 arcade hit is here!- Deliver Cage’s patented shadow kick!- Liu Kang’s fireball!- Let the tournament begin!
Reptile is a character from theMortal Kombatfranchise that first appeared as a secret unlockable boss in the first game. He was notoriously difficult to unlock, even though he was a palette swap with the other ninja characters in the game (Sub-Zero and Scorpion).
To unlock Reptile, one would have to be playing the single-player mode against the CPU and must be on ‘The Pit’ stage, one of the mosticonic Mortal Kombat stages. The player would have to win the fight with a double Flawless Victory (taking no damage), all without blocking, and the fight must end with the character’s fatality. Furthermore, it’d only be valid if a silhouette is flying past the moon on the stage at some point during the fight. On the bright side, if defeated, the player would get 10,000,000 points for their trouble.
