Hiroyuki Sanada tried to prepare for his role as Hanzo Hasashi/Scorpion by playing Mortal Kombat video games. "Of course I was beaten every time, just losing and losing," he laughs. "But I kept at the games to keep learning the stories, the background and the characters. It was so much fun."
Hanzo Hasashi uses a kunai weapon in his garden. These knives are the most recognized ninja weapon, but they were an all purpose tool mainly used to dig and scale wall, ninjas preferred this tool because it was light and easy to travel with.
Max Huang was a member of the Jackie Chan Stunt Team and would pitch ideas to make Mortal Kombat's choreography even better. He even used this background to retrain himself when adopting Kung Lao's martial arts style, which is very different from his own.
Hiroyuki Sanada had no knowledge of the Mortal Kombat franchise prior to being cast for the film. He researched the property online but also tried a "hands-on approach" by finding the classic game at a game center, in which he was "beaten every time, just losing and losing." Despite his worries about the role, he discovered that fans had Photoshopped his face on the body of Scorpion even before he was offered the part. The character's look was based on traditional Samurai armor with certain twists, such as a sharp chain from hi kunai on the shoulder plates.
Before Jax and Sub Zero fight, a wall can be seen having "Down Arrow, Right Arrow LP" spray-painted on it. That is the video game command for Sub Zero's Ice Freeze move in the "Mortal Kombat" games.