Its a flaw on Midways part because, I believe that back in those days, Boon and Co didn't have a clue as to what Noob Saibot, or who Noob Saibot was going to be. Classic SubZero was a novelty in Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3, nothing more.

The reasons for the story gaps are because that part of his story wasn't written during that time. This is just how I feel on the subject and shouldn't be take as the correct answer to your question.

yah, just a flaw. Other than that one flaw tho, everything else seems to fit. Such as why Noob has Sub's finishers in MK4... and other things that I can't quite remember right now.

Look at this way tho... in MK Trilogy... you can play as Human Smoke or Cyber Smoke. It's the same person, right? So I guess you can say that Noob is Classic Sub-Zero's alternative costume... with alternative moves and finishers

I thought it must have been a flaw cause i could not any other answer. Thanks -

Yeah, UMK3 was the reaction that midway had to the desperate outcries of the fans who wanted ninjas. Well, we got those ninjas...every single one of them in fact, even the mighty Ermac who started off as nothing more than a rare error and wild rumor.

As my good buddy Sub-Zero 187 already pointed out, 'classic Sub-Zero' was nothing more than a novelty character in UMK3/MKT. UMK3 had every other ninja...why not ninja sub-zero? I don't think the idea for making Noob Saibot the fallen Sub-Zero brother came about til around MK4...or maybe until after they read my original idea in 1999 and stole it from me, who knows. But remember, in MK4, Noob SAibot was originally going to be a playable character on the regular roster...perhaps his true identity was to be revealed then, but he was replaced with Reiko.

I was just wondering cause I couldn’t make any sense of it, without coming to the conclusion that it was just a flaw. And yeah, MK3 really lacked any decent ninja’s; I guess the only one was the younger Sub-Zero (who wasn’t even in traditional ‘Lin Kuei’ dress – I mean yeah he left cause they wanted to turn him into a cyborg but his new outfit was lame). So their solution for UMK3 – Scorpion, Reptile, Ermac and the classic Sub-Zero, and just to make sure it didn’t happen again in MKT they included all the ninjas from UMK3 as well as Rain, Noob Saibot and Human Smoke.

Simple. The "Classic Sub-Zero" in UMK3/MKT isn't the original Sub-Zero from MK1. It's someone else, someone they've never revealed(and probably never will). I've been saying this over and over again for years but nobody will listen and this is just more proof.

Look at his ending.

"Having been killed in the first tournament, Sub-Zero somehow seems to
have emerged to win the third tournament. However, upon removing his mask
both the Outworld and the Earth-born warriors are shocked to discover the
true identity of this warrior. A warrior who has long been missing from a
previous Mortal Kombat, and one who will return in the fourth tournament."


It's saying the dead Sub seems to have returned and won, however when he takes off his mask everyone is shocked that it's actually someone else. Someone that had been missing.

Noob Saibot and Rain r in UMK3 as well. i dont know y ppl say that they were first playable in MKT? cuz that isnt true....

anyways having "Classic Sub-Zero" in UMK3 i think they put in there just for the hell of it really. u can look at UMK3 as a rough draft or early version of MKT (roster wise that is). cuz it wasnt missing a whole bunch of chars in it. and hell when MKT came out i wasnt expecting the bosses to be playable.

well i dont think they came up with the whole Noob Saibot formally being the original Sub-Zero till some time after MK4. like when they were starting with MKDA. i thin kNoob Saibot was originally gonna be in MKDA. reason for coming up with this idea tho i think is cuz they wanted to explain Noob Saibot having same fatalities as Sub-Zero in MK4 and well form there on every thing just seemed to fall together perfectly.

They were in the home versions of UMK3.

Anyway, the "Classic" Sub-Zero in UMK3 was either someone else completely who will never return or he was non-canon like Human Smoke.
Either way, he's not worth worrying about.

I think a lot of us have blocked the SNES and Genesis attrocities out of our minds. I know I have.

It might be possible that reclaims his former idenity for a short time. I remember reading that in Ori. Subzeros ending everyone was shocked to see the warrior "masquerading" as Ori. subzero. It's a good chance that was Noob saibot. ...asuming he still has his ice powers.Then again Midway loves screwing with characters. But It seems to be the most logical explaination. It would have to be a character that wasn't in MK3 and one that was in MK4.

as far as noob and rain being in the 16-bit umk3's it was a couple of reasons for it. it couldnt be a direct port of the arcade, it came out alot later than the saturn version, it was released around the same time as trilogy, they took out alot of stuff, why not add noob and rain? lol. and umk3 classic sub's story didnt really happen storyline wise. if thats the case then that would mean that goro and kintaro in trilogy also happened, which isnt the case because they were there for trilogy's sake.

I assumed Classic Sub Zero to be like "Human Sub Zero" if you will, in that scarface John Turk is the real sub zero (mk2 sub zero) and Classic is just ye olde MK2 sub zero in there for play purposes.

While I've been saying that Noob is Sub Zero since mk4 days as well, people who had the PS version didn't think so because he did Reiko's fatalities. Now that it's supposedly official it's nice, but theorizing in the past is a bit off, as while most of the story is nice and relatively coherent, much of it was made on the fly. Remember in the early MK3, Noob Saibot was a matte of Kano.

actually I believe they had MKD planned since MK2 or even earlier, when you fight Smoke in MK2, what does it say?
"congratulations! NOW YOU MUST FIGHT AN UNDISCOVERED WARRIOR FROM MORTAL KOMBAT ONE! PREPARE YOURSELF...TO RETURN TO GORO'S LAIR"
what does it say when you fight Jade? the exact same thing!
but when you fight Noob...
"INCREDIBLE WINNING STREAK! A NEW WARRIOR APPROACHES!"
maybe because in MK1, Noob was quite discovered... as Sub-Zero!!! *BUM BUM BUUUUUM!!*
in MK3, in the temple stage, a window in the background shows an armored zatterian figure with two amulets to either side of him. there are four other windows with four other amulets shown. 2 + 4 = ... uh... carry the nine...... 6!!! as in 6 kamidogu!!!!
also, why was Noob not anywhere in Mortal kombat: Mythologies (after all, Noob was supposedly fearlessly loyal to Shinnok)? he was... AS THE HERO!!
in Classic Sub-Zero's ending, it never did say who was under the blue mask when he yanked it off... but it did say that whoever it was surprised people...... did it not Noob's ending surprise you!!!!

i dont think the incredible winning streak part was suppose to mean that Noob=Older Sub-Zero. i believe that that was just there just to be. i doubt MKD was planned at MK2 or earlier because MK1 was suppose to be just a quick project and since it gained so much popularity that they made the sequel. i highly doubt the amulets in the church windows mean anything either. unless if they looked exactly like each and everyone of the 6 kamidogu. before MKDA came out Midway was having money troubles so i believe they just wanted to bring Mortal Kombat back to help them with their money troubles. im pretty sure right when they saw how successful MKDA was thats when the story for MKD was begining to be made. thats what i believe.