Friendship (Mortal Kombat)

A Friendship is a finishing move introduced in Mortal Kombat II in order to soften the violence and the controversy that surrounded the Fatality in the original Mortal Kombat. Friendships allowed players to perform an act of friendship and goodwill towards their opponent rather than kill them after winning the match. This included giving a present, blowing bubbles, and turning into a snowman. To perform a Friendship, when the opponent is defeated, the player must perform a special button combination for their character and have won that round using only High or Low Kick. In Mortal Kombat 3 and its updates, Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 and Mortal Kombat Trilogy, the player had to win the round without using Block.

Whenever a Friendship was performed in MKII, the announcer (the voice of Shao Kahn) was heard incredulously muttering, "Friendship. Friendship?" while large, multicolored balloon letters would wiggle on the screen stating the name of the finishing move. When Friendships returned in MK3 and its updates, the announcer responded, "Friendship. Friendship, again?" in disbelief that such a thing would reappear in another game.

It is generally accepted that the introduction of Friendships to the Mortal Kombat series was intended to mock the parental outcry that the game was too violent, similar to Babalities. However, they were dropped from later games as the series returned to its dark roots. They appeared in Mortal Kombat II, Mortal Kombat 3, Mortal Kombat Trilogy, and Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3.

Notable Friendships

 * Baraka: give his opponent a birthday gift
 * Johnny Cage: gives an autograph
 * Classic Sub-Zero: scares the opponent with a snowman in a jack-in-the-box (MKT)
 * Cyrax: dances the Charleston
 * Jax: cuts out some paper origami dolls (MKII), plays jumprope (MK3)
 * Liu Kang: breaks out into a disco dance (MKII), shadow puppet of the MK dragon symbol (MK3)
 * Kano: blows a bubble with gum
 * Kung Lao: plays fetch using his hat and a dog (it must be noted however that his hat's rim is actually bladed. As such, the dog yelps and Kung Lao cringes in horror and shakes his head gloomily.)
 * Nightwolf: He performs a Raiden transformation. However, in the Nintendo 64 version of Mortal Kombat Trilogy, he instead juggles tomahawks.
 * Rain: summons water drops
 * Reptile: shows a Reptile doll (MKII), scares the opponent with a snake in a jack-in-the-box (UMK3)
 * Scorpion: shows a Scorpion doll (MKII), scares the opponent with a skull in a jack-in-the-box (UMK3)
 * Shang Tsung: makes a rainbow with his hands (MKII), turns into The main character of the retro game, joust. (MK3)
 * Sindel: kicks a football and states, "That was fun!"


 * Sonya: waves her arms back-and-forth (MK3), a row of flowers grow (UMK3, MKT)
 * Stryker: In MK3, Stryker pulls out a school crossing sign and all the MK3 characters run across the screen. In Mortal Kombat Trilogy, all the ninjas (male, female and cyborg) run across. However, in the Nintendo 64 version of Trilogy, a dog pulling a small red wagon passes through holding baby versions of Sub-Zero, Sindel, and Jax.
 * Sub-Zero: shows a Sub-Zero doll (MKII), snowman (MK3)