When did Midway decide that Noob=older Sub-Zero?

[dodheimsgard]

Back in the day revealing Noob's 'trve' identity in Deception was pretty unexpected, at least for me. To this day, I haven't found answer if this was just a Deception recap or maybe it was planned all along? Any proof like interviews etc.?

In MK2 Noob shares Sub-Zero fighting stance and and winning pose but it's just how Midway creates cheap palette swap characters so ti means nothing. However, there is no "Now you must battle an UNDISCOVERED warrior from MK1" prompt, unlike Jade and Smoke.

UMK3 - there is very little background in Noob bio/ending but there is a weird Classic Sub-Zero ending where he takes off mask and reveals his true self. Problem, this is a absolute bullshit...

"a warrior who has long been missing from a previous Mortal Kombat, and one who will return in the fourth tournament"

... because only Goro fits there! WTF!

Then there is Mythologies when Raiden warns Bi-Han that he is tainted with evil blahblahblah... this geam is highly related to MK4, maybe they want to reveal Noob-Sub thing in his outro before they retextured Saibot into Reiko? Noob is back in home ports as hidden character which shares everything with Reiko except for Fatality, which is stolen from MK4 Sub-Zero!

Then, MK:TE on GBA - another chance to give us more hints but no, Noob is just some unemployed Shinnok's random minion who joins Shao Kahn and defeats Goro.

Anyone knows the answer?

 

[Tarkatan Trash]

Noob Saibot actually had Sub-Zero's Deep Freeze Fatality in the N64 port of MK4. Additionally, Noob Saibot, who was revealed to be native to the Netherrealm, part of the Brotherhood of Shadow, and a Shinnok worshipper in Trilogy, was absent in Mythologies, despite the fact that Mythologies features the Netherrealm, Shinnok as the main antagonist, and Raiden warning Sub-Zero to "beware the Brotherhood of Shadow". These were the first hints of Noob Saibot's identity. I even remember this being a fan theory before it was ultimately made canon. I also remember maybe one or two people being called liars on various forums for posting this theory, including one case about a couple of months before Deception was released (and boy, did those people calling "Noob = old Sub-Zero" people liars immediately regret it and start apologizing when they saw Noob's ending).