I have two theories...
A) Look at humans.. Whites... asians... blacks.... Should we be more consistant? haha My point is.. its possible for a species to look different.. it keeps things interesting and unique
B) Kintaro was originally an actual Tiger guy... Kintaro is a being from japanese mythology that looks like a tiger... But after designing him, they couldnt come up with a costume that would work.. so being the creative people they are.. they decided to change his face.. add two more arms.. take his Karate garb off... And call him another shokan...
Personaly i really would have liked to see the original version of Kintaro.. i think it would be freaaaakin sweet

Goro is a shokan/jaguar cross bred warrior. Look at the his back. Jaguar dots.

True, I was thinking about our own species variation, but our skin pigmentation along with our morphology goes with the environments our ancestry evolved in. There wouldn't be much explanation for how a humanoid dragon race grew fur with tiger patterns. Come to think of it, I don't see how they are "dragonish" to begin with.
Anyways, your theory B makes sense, how they just jumped from one idea, modified it to go with then current mk elements, and just mixed japanese mythology with mk lore.

Hopefully Kintaro will look different in the end, and have a deep storyline.
While I think he looks cool in the render pics, I still dislike the look when I compare it to the one of the Mk2-MkT days. You guys remember that sketch that came in the MKT booklet?
Kintaro looked AMAZING. Big, fat and incredibly powerful, that’s how he should look. He looks rather skinny and less powerful then even Sheeva in MKA.
I also want some background info, what happened to him, where has he been, and I hope his role in MKA is not the same role they give all sub-bosses. I want them to explore and expand the possibilities.

Does it look like Kintaro has a mini Ponytail in the Roster pic?
I sure hope not..

Yes, I see it too. He should have stayed bald.

Yeah it does look he has a ponytail on the roster pic, but the close-up render of him with Rain in the GI pictures doesn't appear have one.
Hopefully he doesn't. The whole ponytail thing is Goro's gig, and Kintaro should be trying to stand out from Goro, not look more like him.
I'm really looking forward to Kintaro in MKA. He's my favorite Shokan. I thought Goro was pretty brutal in MKD, but certain things of his just didn't click with me, like his weapon. Hopefully Kintaro is more in line with my big and brutal style of play.

So I am guessing there isn't all that much on his backround about him, was there further elaboration in Shaolin Monks, or even MKD konquest?
The ponytail thing doesn't seem in place, but maybe its a sign of Shokan status, just like in certain cultures having a certain type of beard denotes where you stand.
Jaguar/Tiger/Liger, wtv, I'm guessing this is something we will just have to take for granted unless they clarify he is of a certain breed of Shokan.

I hope they reveal who beat him in MK2,seems like I heard somewhere it was Raiden who beat him but anyone got confirmation? I wanna know who was a bad enough of an MK character to beat him.

Are you sure about that now? I definitely see a ponytail, take another look.

Not sure about the quality of that close up pic, since his head is on a dark backround, and the quality of it is low, there could be a pony tail without being able to clearly see it. I'm pretty sure I see the outline of it.

In MKD Konquest mode someone made a comment about Kintaro how we made the invasion of Edenia possible and that time and time again he has shown his loyalty to Shao Kahn.
If that is anything to go by then Kintaro will side with Shao Kahn in MKA.

Yes glad to see his return with Sheeva also. They should have created more characters from this race and motaro's. It would have been cool.

Maybe if they do take the time to design Motaro they will make another Centaurian, probably a female one.

I hate how small and pointless Kintaro looks in the group render for MKA. He looks nowhere near as big or intimidating as he once did and I hate that. goro actually looks bigger than him and that never was the case. I hope they beef him up to his proper size before release.
I also hope they explain his absence with a good story and make him somewhat decent gameplay wise. It'd be awesome if he was as powerful as he used to be.

Maybe the size thing has no relevance like some people said Blazes size wont factor into the game.
I don't think he will be as powerful to play with as before since aparently the bosses will be balanced to play like normal characters.

umm im pretty sure that balze's size hasa whole lot to do with the story of mka and i to hope that kintaro is beefed up a whole lot cause goro was never close to the size of kintaro (i mean even in mksm he was way samller as a boss )

kintaro's render looks good!

i dont care is he is half tiger half dragon or half human he has always been a bad ass and i hope is makes for an awesome story

Yea Kintaros render looks good and I dont really what him to be a tiger cause that be to Japenese "Tekenish" and just stupid.
P.S. Strykers render is the worst costum Ive ever seen. I never liked him anyway,

I do agree, Kintaro should stay bald

Well your question about Kintaro's apperance has been answered but you said you wanted more back gorund info so here you go man enjoy. If you want info on any other character tell me and I will post a topic as I did with Reptile.
Statistics:
Age: Over 2,000 years
Height: 8'0"
Weight: 850LBs
Place of Origin: Outworld
Game Apperances: Mortal Kombat II, Mortal Kombat Special Forces
Race: Shokan
Allies: Shao Kahn, Goro
Enemies: Kung Lao, Liu Kang, Johnny Cage, Kitana
Alignment: Evil
Story:
Kintaro is a gigantic humanoid with four arms he is the supreme commander of Outworld's armed forces, he is only second to Shao Kahn himself. Kintaro is Goro brother, in Mortal Kombat II, after hearing of Goro's defeat at the hands of Liu Kang, Kintaro vowed to avenge his comrade and crush Liu Kang in Mortal Kombat. Stronger and more agile than his predecessor, but even with these skills he wasn't able to defeat the earth warriors with their champion of the first new Mortal Kombat tournament, Liu Kang. What became of him is unknown for certain.
My Thoughts:
He is an awesome character and I am glad to see him return why I do not like him as much as goro (because he is part cat) I am happy to see him return. Mainly I like his evil and how strong and mean he is I hope to see a lot of that in the new MK.

What you're seeing there isn't a ponytail. It's a braid.
And I like it, personally.
I can't stop wondering what kind of weapon he'll use. I'm hoping against all common sense it's some sort of giant frigging claymore he holds with 4 hands. XD

ReignofRain,
Stop making up info.