Khameleon is a fictional character in the Mortal Kombat fighting game series.

About Khameleon

Khameleon made her debut as a secret character in the Nintendo 64 version of Mortal Kombat Trilogy, while the PC, PlayStation, and Sega Saturn versions instead had Chameleon, a similar but male character. She returned in the Wii version of Mortal Kombat: Armageddon with a new design and look.

Storyline

Khameleon's biography and ending screens in Mortal Kombat Trilogy describe her as the last female of her race, as Reptile is said to be the last male. They reveal that her race, the Saurians, also known as Raptors, were originally from Earthrealm, but a great war drove them out and killed many more. Raiden mentions this in the introduction FMV to the home versions of Mortal Kombat 4 and also Mortal Kombat Gold, though not by name. They found a new home in another realm, which they called Zaterra or "New Earth." However, Shao Kahn eventually found it, and after defeating them in Mortal Kombat, he drove the Raptors to near extinction and then merged the realm with Outworld.

It is said that Khameleon spent an indefinite amount of time trying to find Reptile in an attempt to restore their race, although he remained unaware of her, focusing on serving Shao Kahn. Khameleon finally reached Reptile and told him the truth of how Kahn was responsible for the extinction of their race. However, Reptile fell under the emperor's influence once again and turned against her. Having failed in her attempts to slay Shao Kahn, she began to wander the realms contemplating a way to strike back at him. Later, during the events of Mortal Kombat: Armageddon, she learned of the battle that would occur in Edenia and the gift of ultimate power that would be granted to the victor. Distressed by the fact that Kahn was also seeking this power, Khameleon sought out to attain it for herself so as to exact revenge on him and his followers for what he did to her race.

Her Armageddon ending states that after defeating Blaze and gaining god-like power, Khameleon confronts Shao Kahn. Although Kahn pleads for his life, Khameleon transforms him and his army into Raptors as an act of revenge for the death of her species. However, she also loses control of her powers and accidentally transforms the heroes into Raptors as well. Even so, this act restores Zaterra to its former glory.

Combat characteristics

Signature moves

• Yellow Surge: Khameleon shoots a fireball at her opponent. This move is taken from Tanya. (MK:A)
• Square Wave: Khameleon jumps into the air and attacks incoming foes with a flying punch. This move is taken from Kitana. (MK:A)
• Venom From Above: Khameleon slides through the ground and quickly hits her opponent from above with a jump kick. This move is taken from Mileena. (MK:A)
• Serpent's Shadow: Khameleon spins with a cloud of green smoke surrounding her and appears behind her opponent. This move is taken from Jade. (MK:A)

Appearance

Khameleon first appeared as a grey palette swapped female ninja in Trilogy. During gameplay, she flickers in and out of full and partial invisibility. She does not wear anything other than her usual shade of gray when fighting herself; rather, one of the Khameleons will have a darker skin tone (identical to Jade's). In Armageddon, she wears clothes that are similar to the classic female ninja attire in Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 and Trilogy, and the color of her clothes also change in the same manner as Chameleon. She is now shown to wear turquoise by default, although she is also able to turn grey in the color of her outfit, despite none of her special moves forces her costume to change color to gray. Her skin is also changed to a clear white in promotional renders, however her body is fully transparent during gameplay, similar to Chameleon's.

Character development

Khameleon was a secret character in Trilogy and was playable by activation of a secret code. In the first surfaces of Armageddon, she (along with Chameleon, Motaro, and many other minor characters) was hoped to appear in the game as none of them had yet been confirmed. In the September 2006 issue of Official Xbox Magazine, an article about Mortal Kombat: Armageddon mentioned that Khameleon would appear in 3D for the first time. However, in an interview with Midway producer Shaun Himmerick at the Games Convention in August 2006, he said that she does not appear in Armageddon. Later, Cinder, an administrator at the Midway Forums, posted that she would not appear in Armageddon for the PlayStation 2 and Xbox consoles. The Wii version of the game, which would be released at a later date, was not mentioned. This appeared to leave the possibility that she could appear in that version. However, Cinder later removed the console references from his post, thus seeming to imply that she wouldn't be in any version. Later, Cinder specified that she would not appear in the Wii version either, making her the only main character in the franchise who was not included in Armageddon. Midway later stated that they had wished to include her, but time constraints prevented them from doing so. As a result of a great number of complaints from the fans, Ed Boon and Shaun Himmerick finally confirmed that Khameleon would be a playable character in the Wii version at the 2007 Winter Gamers Day event.

Game information

In Trilogy, her ability to turn partly invisible made her quite hard to see, even for the player controlling her. She had no moves or fatalities of her own; rather, her name in her life bar changed color, determining whether her moves are Jade's (green), Mileena's (purple), or Kitana's (blue). Since the lifebar is blue, this made her name quite hard to see most of the time. She technically had access to all of the three ninjas' moves and fatalities, though the timing is quite difficult. She may be fought in a one-player battle in a manner similar to Smoke's appearance in Mortal Kombat II. First, a battle must be fought on "The Star Bridge" (a level exclusive to the Nintendo 64 version of Mortal Kombat Trilogy). Then, when Dan Forden appears to say "Toasty!", if the player presses Down and Start together, that player will be taken to the "Living Forest" level to fight Khameleon. She also can be fought by enabling the secret endurance ladders. If done, Khameleon will appear towards the bottom of the highest-level ladder, still fighting in the Living Forest arena.

Prior to her return as a playable character in Armageddon, Khameleon was occasionally referenced in the intermediary MK titles. In Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance, upon failing an objective for one of Nitara's Konquest mode chapters, the failure message reads: "You must successfully learn the Kama. Khameleon would have mastered it with ease had her culture not been clubbed by Shao Kahn ages ago." This is a reference to the 80's song Karma Chameleon by the group Culture Club. In Mortal Kombat: Deception, she is listed in Reptile's Character Card as one of his allies, acknowledging their ties together.

In Reptile's ending story in Mortal Kombat: Armageddon, he discovers a female Zaterran inside a sarcophagus. When the female awoke, Reptile was restored to his original humanoid form, and soon their race would prosper again. This unnamed character was initially thought to be a reference to Khameleon, but in an online chat event held in November 2006, John Vogel stated that she is most likely a new, unrelated character.

References