It's a lost art in fighters, truly it is.

Remember when locating hidden challengers was actually fun, and not a chore?

I'll probably come across as another fanboy wishing for the old glory days of MK, but one of the things that made MK what it was, was the oodles of secrets so present in the game. I remember players pumpking tokens into MKII, and engaging in 3-round back-and forth uppercut matches at the Portal, holding down on the joysick and slamming the Start button rapidly to be given the honor of fighting Smoke.

I remember watching Reptile pop up and say "Look To La Luna" and wondering who the hell this guy was, and what he meant.

I remember how grossed out and enthralled I was when I first fought him at the Pit's bottom, severed heads and dead bodies all around. Hell, even a return to Goro's lair in MKII was nice.

I remember when Kombat Kodes were introduced, it all started to go down the krapper. Suddenly there was no challenge in finding or fighting secret guys anymore - you just entered the code, and the winner got Smoke or Noob - old characters, and neither particularly challenging. We still got a nifty portal stage in Smoke's case, though I can't say much for "Noob's Dorfen". That came off as kind of boring.

Ultimate Kombat Kodes? Once you entered them , you got a new character. Admittedly, this was good, as it was the first time playable characters coudl be unlocked. But finding them was no challenge. There was no hunt.

Smoke was fun to use, and became an instant classic. It was great to finally see Ermac, a longtime rumor, in action. But Classic Sub-Zero and Mileena were old characters. The signs of wear and tear began to show. And it was as easy as beating the game and choosing an option to fight them - and they weren't especially difficult.

We got Human Smoke - admittedly, somewhat fun to discover, and Wavenet players got Noob. No one popped up before a match to offer clues, though.
And Rain? A pathetic sham of a hoax, and the first in a series of red herrings that the developers would put in, just to give off the illusion that there was something more to discover, when there really wasn't.

They hit something with Khameleon, Motaro and Kahn in Trilogy, having them pop up before rounds now and then, but two of these were boss characters we already knew, and if memory serves, Khameleon was fought by - again - down and Start at the Star Bridge. And no new background.

That was the last time finding a secret character was remotely fun.

MK4/Gold? More codes to access - again - Noob Saibot. And to use him, Goro or Sektor, just fiddle about on the character select screen. You couldn't even fight Sektor in any way, I don't think. As well, these were all old characters, and again, no one popped up before matches.

MKDA: Beat Konquest. We already knew at this point, thanks to Boon, that we'd get "Torch" at some point. Out went the fun. And when we finally saw Blaze, we were underwhelmed - A half-complete character, at best. And I'm not going to start on Mokap. And once more, you couldn't fight them. This was the series' low point for secrets.

MK: D was a small step in the right direction - but thanks to the magic of the Internet, previews, and those blasted shaded boxes, fans guessed long beforehand who was where. After that, it was simply a matter of finding boxes. And there was, once again, no truly "Secret" character to fight. No secret backgrounds. No hints before matchups.

The art of finding a secret character was dead.

Finding and Fighting Reptile was a big thing back in the day - Capcom saw fit to use this to fight Akuma. It was fun, and a challenge.

There've been so many rumors in the old vein on fighting hidden characters - Remember when people said you could fight "Konga", the MKDA drummer by tieing three straight matches?

I'm glad MK's fighting system is being improved. It's what the series needs. But secrets helped to make MK what it was, and that's all but gone now.

I'd be happy if, just for once, we had to meet a set criteria during a match in order to find and fight someone secret - truly secret, not even showing up on the select screen.

I'd be happy if they were a challenge, and were actually difficult to beat, like Jade, Smoke & Noob were.

I'd be happy if they showed up on a background accessible no other way.

I'd be happy if they popped up before matches to give us hints.

I'd be happy if there was a completely different way to actually unlock them for play.

I'd be ecstatic if they were a new character, or even a character we've not seen for ages - hell, at this point, I'd actually take Tremor, or the imaginary red female ninja Skarlett. That was the appeal of Jade, Noob, Smoke, and Ermac - they were brand spanking new.

I miss real secrets, and I'd like them back for MKA.