From the very first time the world was introduced to Mortal Kombat, Shang Tsung was there to strike fear in the hearts of players. As the main antagonist of the original Mortal Kombat arcade game, the elderly, soul-stealing sorcerer was established early on as a force to be reckoned with. Though players defeat him at the end of the game, Shang Tsung returns in Mortal Kombat 2 as a younger man and a playable character. Ever since then, he has been revived, redesigned, reworked, and rebooted many times throughout the franchises' 30-plus years of history. Appearing in almost every mainline Mortal Kombat game released since 1992 except for just three, Shang Tsung is one of the most important reoccurring characters in the franchise.