Mortal Kombat's Test Your Might minigame is the most recurrent of the franchise's history. First appearing in the original Mortal Kombat game, Test Your Might has become the franchise's most well-known distraction. Although other minigames have been introduced through the course of the franchise, none of them have the staying power of Mortal Kombat's original.
The Mortal Kombat series has become just as known for its side ventures as its main mode of play. Between the normal application of the combat's signature fighting, numerous minigames have been introduced to break the monotony and incorporate new methods of play. Numerous minigames have filled this role, but the one that started it all (and inspired several spin-off minigames) is Test Your Might.
After every few rounds of fighting in the first Mortal Kombat, players engaged in the button-mashing Test Your Might minigame, building up power for their character to strike through an object of varying strengths. After Mortal Kombat, minigames found themselves taken out of the series in favor of arcade classics, like Pong or Galaga. In Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance, the homegrown side-games returned, with the series' first leading the way.
Test Your Might's History & Its Place In Mortal Kombat
MK: Deadly Alliance reintroduced the Test Your Might minigame, alongside a spin-off minigame called Test Your Sight. These minigames acted as part of a revival of the Mortal Kombat franchise after the bumpy road the series traveled during the era of MK Mythologies and Special Forces. After the establishment of the "3D Era" of Mortal Kombat that led to Deception and Armageddon, different side-modes, such as Konquest, Chess, Puzzle, and Motor Kombat, replaced the Test Your Might and Sight minigames.
Test Your Might next appeared in Mortal Kombat's final adventure game spin-off, Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks. Players were required to play the minigame in order to advance through specific sections of the main game, giving Test Your Might an importance beyond its place as a mere distraction. This served as a callback to its roots, too, as Shaolin Monks retold the events of the first two games in the series.
Similarly, Mortal Kombat (2011) served as a reset of the timeline, as it took fans back to the events of the first three games. Once again, Test Your Might returned, taking its place as an appropriate nostalgia trip for fans of the first title. Mortal Kombat X heralded a new generation of characters, similar to Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance, and Test Your Might returned to its place as the series' standard minigame. With the start of each new generation of Mortal Kombat, Test Your Might finds a way to return in various forms, signaling a new era in the franchise.