as downloadable content, but he was removed late in the process due to Midway's financial issues despite Boon's announcement at the time that the character was "almost done." Character development Quan Chi became an instantly ubiquitous presence in the franchise following his first appearances in MK Mythologies: Sub-Zero and Mortal Kombat 4, which were both released in North America in October 1997. He was the centerpiece of print-media advertising for MK Mythologies that featured the tagline "Meet the root of our evil", while Mortal Kombat co-creator and programmer Ed Boon described MK4 as "the Quan Chi show". In Midway's attempt to use MK4 as a means of reintroducing the series to fans while enabling the machine to stand out in arcades, a large image of Quan Chi was displayed on both sides of the game's cabinet. Actor and martial artist Richard Divizio (Kano, Baraka, and Kabal in the two-dimensional games) portrayed the character in both installments. Designed by Mortal Kombat co-creator John Tobias, Quan Chi's original design that was first seen in the 1996 animated series and then MK Mythologies and MK4, is as a bald figure with an albino skin tone and black eye makeup, and who wears a teal bodysuit under a black tabard adorned with ornamental spikes on the shoulders and accented by a yin-yang symbol on the sternum. For Deadly Alliance, the first release following Tobias' 2000 departure from Midway, Quan Chi's design was minimized with his going shirtless, revealing an extensive collection of red tattoo-like markings on his body and an elliptical red gem on his forehead, in addition to a minimal black palette with Shinnok's amulet on his belt. In conceptual sketches by Deadly Alliance character designer Allen Ditzig, Quan Chi wielded a staff topped with a head carving that shot green mist and flies from its mouth, a concept that was instead used in the creation of Drahmin, whose offense included firing flies at his opponent. NetherRealm Studios character artist Solomon Gaitan initially referenced actor Yul Brynner when digitally sculpting Quan Chi's facial features for Mortal Kombat X. Gaitan said that series art director Steve Beran "wanted me to merge Bela Lugosi and Boris Karloff’s features" during the design process, in addition to researching vultures: "I wanted him to feel like he was in a permanent state of lurking and stalking; waiting for death to happen." Gameplay Alex Vo of GameSpy considered Quan