Mine would be:

10 - The House of Pekara
9 - The Soul Chamber
8 - The Lin Kuei Palace
7 - Shang Tsung's Palace
6 - The Dragonfly
5 - The Wastelands
4 - The Bank (Interior)
3 - The Dead Pool
2 - The Pit 3
1 - The Living Forest

Loving the diversity here especially since there not specifically all from a certain point in time in MK, I think there's one stage from every MK here right?

The blue portal! MK2

I was bummed they didn't include revamp for the portal in 2011, I guess they did it in deception, but I would have liked to see it in 2011 also.

Almost, I didn't really like any of the MK4 arenas except for the Living Forest, but that vote goes to all versions... Except for Deception. And the original MK, I dunno, none of them really stood out except the Warrior Shrine.

The only stages that are potentially iconic are Goro's Lair, The Pit, and The Living Forest.

Now favorites is another story.

Yeah, the Pit from MK1 is definitely the most iconic stage if you ask me. The gore factor is what set's it apart. The first time you see some one uppercutted off the ledge and impaled by spikes at the bottom, while being surrounded by severed heads and sliced up bodies is a truly "holy shit!" moment. There was nothing like it at the time in 1992.

As for other iconic stages, the only one that comes to mind is The Living Forest from MK2. The atmosphere and music are very memorable and the trees roaring was a nice addition. Smoke and Jade peeking out from behind the trees at random moments was the cherry on top.

I agree with the Pit but I think the Pit 2 edges it out for me because not only does this pit seem higher but you have 2 other fighters fighting in the background. Plus This Pit is probably the most creative one in the fact that every other pit incarnation you get impaled threw a sharp object on the way down where as in The Pit 2 you fall until your body is crushed deep into the concrete, also the way it showed the character's front view on the way down, Also it was the 2nd pit that was remade for 2011 as well. But everyone had there opinion & I will say had it not been for the first pit the rest would not follow.

Where's The Courtyard from MK1 and The Portal from MK2 ? You can't talk about classic stages without mentioning these!!!

No Warriors Shrine? Plus you don't have to limit it to 3, If you want to add your other 7 favorites as substitutes for Iconic then go ahead & share with us friend! :D that is unless you don't want to.

As far as I'm concerned, The Portal is THE stage.

A giant swirling red hole in the sky that you can walk through to travel between dimensions? That IS Mortal Kombat. That's what it's all about, it sums up THE WHOLE PLOT OF THE SERIES in a single image.

It's also the one you see pretty much the most often when playing MK2 because not only does it have a regular spot on the rotation, but you also see it during the message that plays onscreen if you ever unlock the Smoke, Jade, or Noob fights.

It's completely insane to me that they didn't put it in MK9.

A real good argument can be made for Pit 1, Courtyard, and Goro's Lair too though because they're the first Stage Fatality, the perfect image of a 70's kung fu tournament arena, and Goro's Lair most captures the mystery of the series because back in the day, everyone was always fascinated by the little yellow eyes watching you in the dungeon background. Living Forest has the same thing going for it.

When I think MK3, I think Rooftop, Street, and Church. MK4 is all about the Fire Well to me. And...I dunno, nothing from Deadly Alliance/Deception/Armageddon really stands out to me. Y'know, when I think Deception, I think of a bunch of bland fucking deserts with cliffs you can be knocked off of. Seriously, why are there so many arenas in the boring-ass sandy yellow desert in DA and Deception? Like...I get that Onaga's burial site is a pyramid in a desert, but the others, like the one with the drummers, have nothing to do with anything! These deserts are supposed to be in Outworld, right? So they could have at least made things more interesting with some alien sky or sand colors like how the Wasteland is all purple...
So I guess I've only got 9.

Absolutely. Shame the remake has only Smoke.

3D era had Crumbling cliffs. This arena was pretty scary, and sticks in my mind for that reason.

After thinking about it, I'd like to add the Pit 2 and the Dead Pool from MK2 to my previous post. I think they fit the "iconic stage" quota, but it's all subjective. The Rooftop from MK3 is right there too, mainly because of KHAN's temple in the background among the skyscrapers. Goro's Lair from MK1 and the Portal from MK2 are close, but I wouldn't call them iconic.

This isn't really my opinion, and those aren't exactly my favorites either.

I thought the thread was about potentially iconic stages. If it were about favorites, I would have posted a list a long time ago.

Now, I'm confused. What the hell is this thread about? lol

Same here. Is it about most iconic or favorites?

No it's iconic list but if you can name only 3 or whatever then I suppose those are good enough, Just saying besides those if you had to pick 7 more that you think would be worthy of the title Iconic what would they be but I suppose 3 is good if that's all you got.

It seems like everyone's mentioning their favorites, rather than stages they feel are actually iconic.

To say, I have no idea how the Acid Bath and Dragonfly would be considered iconic, as they have only been in one game and were never expanded on. Really, I don't think any arena debuting after the MK3 era can be considered iconic, with the possible exception of Shang Tsung's Palace.


If I were to list potentially iconic stages by game, I guess it would go as the following:

Mortal Kombat
The Pit
The Courtyard
Goro's Lair

Mortal Kombat 2
The Living Forest
Dead Pool
The Pit II

Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3
Jade's Desert
Scorpion's Lair

I made the mistake and listed my favorites. Whoopsies.

The downside when you kinda skim read stuff.

Well at least you made it to 8, Still tho I'm kinda shock that no one but me has mentioned the Warrior's Shrine, I mean it has all 7 of the original as well as Goro in Statue form but to each there own I suppose.

And how often do you see or hear of the Warrior's Shrine?

I had actually forgotten about the stage until you mentioned it. It is indeed an interesting arena, but I don't think it can be considered iconic. Maybe memorable, but not iconic.

Would it be safe to say all the stages remade for deception were iconic?

Not really.

The Living Forest was absolute crap. None of the trees moved, the arena was WAY too huge for no particular reason, and I really don't think there was any roaring in the background. You can't make the Living Forest just be a bunch of weirdly smiley trees.

I also thought the Pit wasn't really good either, mainly because the whole 3D thing just was... eh. The Fall Cliffs would have been a decent replacement, we kinda didn't need the Pit be thrown in there.

But I will say, the Dead Pool was one of the best ones. Especially since you can see Shang Tsung in the background.

No not the stages in the actual game but the reasons they were choosen to be brought back in that game, was probably because those stages were the iconic stages of MK up until that point & maybe even now?

No not the stages in the actual game but the reasons they were choosen to be brought back in that game, was probably because those stages were the iconic stages of MK up until that point & maybe even now?

Reptiles Lair
Scorpions Lair
Deadpool
Living Forest
Soul Chamber
The Graveyard
Prison
Ying Yang Island
Acid Bath
Elder Gods

These are my favorites.