In October of 2004, Midway released Mortal Kombat: Deception, a follow up to the highly popular Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance. Deception introduced many new features that were sorely missing in Deadly Alliance - multiple level arenas, breakable boundaries, deathtraps, stage weapons, two fatalities per character, and a new suicide move which allowed the loser to deprive the winner the satisfaction of performing a fatality. Three new mini-games were also introduced - Konquest, Puzzle Kombat, and Chess Kombat. Deception also was the first MK game to be fully online. Players who had a broadband connection and the PS2 Network Adapter, could easily connect online and play other people in Arcade, Puzzle, and Chess modes.

In February of 2005, Midway released Deception on the Nintendo Gamecube. However, due to the lack of online play, the Gamecube version included two extra playbable characters - Goro & Shao Kahn.

Also of note, both Sony and Microsoft released special versions of Deception that came with a second disc containing the arcade version of Mortal Kombat and a metal colletor's card. Sony released their Premium Pack, featuring Sub-Zero on the cover. Microsoft released four versions of their Collector's Edition, featuring Scorpion, Raiden, Mileena, and Baraka on the covers. Unfortunately, Gamecube never received a special edition.

Ashrah (Playable),  Baraka (Playable),  Bo' Rai Cho (Playable),  Dairou (Playable),  Darrius (Playable),  Ermac (Playable),  Goro (Playable),  Havik (Unlockable/Playable),  Hotaru (Unlockable/Playable),  Jade (Unlockable/Playable),  Kabal (Playable),  Kenshi (Unlockable/Playable),  Kira (Unlockable/Playable),  Kobra (Playable),  Li Mei (Unlockable/Playable),  Liu Kang (Unlockable/Playable),  Mileena (Playable),  Nightwolf (Playable),  Noob Saibot (Playable),  Noob Smoke (Unlockable/Playable),  Onaga (Final Boss),  Raiden (Unlockable/Playable),  Scorpion (Playable),  Shao Kahn/General Shao (Playable),  Shujinko (Unlockable/Playable),  Sindel (Unlockable/Playable),  Smoke (Playable),  Sub-Zero (Playable),  Tanya (Unlockable/Playable)

Beetle Lair,  Chamber of Artifacts,  Courtyard,  Dark Prison,  Dead Pool,  Dragon King's Temple,  Dragon Mountain,  Falling Cliffs,  Golden Desert,  Hell's Foundry,  Liu Kang's Tomb,  Living Forest,  Lower Mines,  Netherbelly,  Nexus,  Pit,  Portal,  Sky Temple,  Slaughterhouse,  Yin Yang Island