Actually, it was finding out he was Sub-Zero's best friend turned cyborg assassin that brought me in. It's almost like one of those mangas/anime; two childhood friends, seperated and pitted against each other by their power-hungry clan, reuniting and overcoming all obstacles through their power of Friendship! (^_^)

I think being a dumbass did it for me.

It had to be dat voice and dat hair!

He was the only cyborg in MK3 who had a backstory.
You had to use a code to unlock him, with his picture in that cool rotating block on the character select screen, which made him mysterious and intriguing.
With Scorpion not in the original MK3, he was the only character with the famous spear move in that game.
His bluish-purple color sceme and puffs of smoke coming off his body looked awesome.
And the whole thing about Sub-Zero trying to save him was very touching.
I obviously knew about him being in MK2 before that, but I've always found that version to be a bore. In MK3, he just really popped out in every way and made a mark.

I thought he looked Pretty cool in MK:D, and i allways wondered what he would have been like as a Human, I know he was there IN MK3 and Trilogy in Pallette swap form but that didn't interest me.

He was always sort of "meh" to me, I didn't think he was bad i just had a lack of interest in him.

Then MK9 came along and wow, His Design, his personality and moves were all cool, I really like Smoke as a character now.

In all honesty, it's the smoke. It's such an odd power to have and doesn't really sound all that deadly, other than if you were to suffocate in it, but... thaaat's not really all that cool. But the way Smoke utilize it is quite cool.

Oh, and of course that fabulous hair of his. ;)

When I first fought him in MK2 I just thought he was so mysterious.

I was 6 yo at the time, and it was so cool.

because his powers are tha kush smoke

Anything involving his Cyber-ness...

More like Cyber-less...

I know,I know,I am just on the other side of the camp

His fabulous hair, that's a stylish assassin....no seriously, his unique gameplay and story portrayal, unique and original for the first time, yeah!

I have always liked Human & Cyber Smoke, so technically Smoke in general.

Liked him since I was little

Never cared about him until this game.

In MK2011 I like his special moves, win pose, his gibberish is awesome and his voice actor was good too. I liked how he cared for his buddy and I really felt sorry for him when that bottom tier bitch snapped his neck. That's when I realized that for the first time ever I cared about Smoke.

The devs said she's best in the game.

I've always been a sucker for a good-guy forced to be bad against his will, and the friendship-angle of trying to turn him back. Smoke was strong (he kicked ass in MK3/UMK3), but he was ultimately tragic. He was a good guy forced into the body of a bad guy, pretty much.

And having smoke as a power? Really unique and interesting.

Whoever said that was trolling.

While I did find Smoke to be a cool concept in his MK2 cameo it was MK3 that made him my favorite, though for abnormal reasons:

In MK1 my main was Scorpion. In MK2 I mained Reptile, Kitana, and Baraka. I had already comes to terms with the likely hood Reptile, my MK2 favorite, would be cut from MK3 due his bottom tier reputation. But I had 3 other familiar characters to fall back on and surely at least one of them would make the cut right? Wrong.

When MK3 was first released I tried to get into the roster. Some like Sektor, Cyrax, and Kano where fun but none of them really felt right to me. Then Smoke was unlocked and I found my main. The familiar spear plus the different but similar enough tele-punch just felt right.

UMK3 cemented me as a Smoke fan thanks to the human Smoke trick. Normally I would pick cyber Smoke then use the human Smoke trick if I lost a round.

Where I drifted to favoring human Smoke over cyber was after MK3/UMK3. Cyrax hijacked the "unwilling cyborg coming to terms" plot, Sub-Zero ended up with wayyy too many other plot points to expand on his friendship with Smoke, and Smoke ended up a mindless plot device for Noob Saibot. IMO it just seemed like NRS just had no interest in fleshing out the solid points about cyber Smoke's MK3 plot concepts. So when MK9 came around with a time travel plot having Smoke avoid automation seemed like a good candidate for major changes to the timeline. Gave him a fresh new direction that might actually go somewhere this time (Yes I'm aware Sindel killed him trolls, just like plenty of others that will most certainly be resurrected).

However I have no problem what so ever with cyber Smoke making non-cannon cameos, as an outfit or unique player, for old times sake. I'd even encourage it.

It was this for me. Reptile has always been a fave of mine because of his first emergence, when he dropped down and gave cryptic hints in MK1, and this harkened back to those days. I have no basis for this, but it's possible Smoke's rotating center square was even a nod to the center 'backwards' dragon square in MK1, that was long rumoured to be a hidden character.
The mystery factor just added an allure that made cyber Smoke all the more appealing.
The fact he's a bit of a beast gameplay-wise only helps, and who remembers his secret stage in MK3? A quick mash-up of old backgrounds, but one of the most memorable. Probably my fave portal stage in MK - wipes the floor with Scislac Busorez.

Cool message when you unlock him too:

It was the fact that he kicked your ass SO BADLY in MKII that did it for me; plus I was always a fan of grey/black patterns. Seriously. Just popped out of the ether looking awesome, smoking, and raping your face.

"Hello, I'm in front of you now, jabbing the shit out of you, and now you're on the ground. Now you're on the ground on the other side of the arena 'cause I threw your ass. Now you're dead, I've won, and did I mention I look awesome? You ain't got shit on me, punk. See you next time."

It was that. When MKII on SNES came out, I trained in hours-long match sessions against him.

I loved his story in MK3, but it always bothered the shit out of me that he was basically a robot stand-in for the then-missing Scorpion. I wanted him to have a unique moveset for over a decade.

I liked the robots best in MK3, my first MK game. Obviously there was appeal in the secret character I couldn't access without a code. He was fun to play as.

I haven't liked him since.

Getting the munchies and laughing like a maniac.

LMAO

What you said thats how i became a fan.I like Smoke hes my second fave.

The fact I couldn't play as him in MKII.



HAHAHAHA