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Goro's Lair
The klassic arena from the first game returns, completely unchanged. This is where the hidden kombatants of Smoke, Jade, and Noob Saibot are fought. Goro's Lair is replaced by the Blue Portal stage. In the Game Gear/Master System version, it's just a wall of skull motifs with a giant yin-yang on the floor (elements cobbled from the Kombat Tomb).
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The Wasteland
A purple-tinted outdoor stage, with towers, mountains, weird statues, and skewered corpses visible.
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The Tower
A room inside what is apparently some sort of tower. An ornate series of carved-out sections of the wall serve as glassless windows, showcasing the passing clouds. A Shadow Priest floats in front of the center, largest window. Arcane imagery is abounds here and the red carpet has literally been rolled out for the fighters.
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Blue Portal
A blue-tinted version of The Portal stage, exclusive to the Sega Genesis version of the game. This is where hidden characters Smoke, Jade, and Noob Saibot are fought instead of Goro's Lair in this version.
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The Portal
Fights take place on a platform in front of a red sky with a portal in the background. Lightning occasionally can be seen in the portal's eye. A red-tinted moon lurks in the sky, and floating stone paths lead to the portal. Shang Tsung's Shadow Priests float in the background as well.
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The Pit II
The fight takes place on a bridge at night, just as the original Pit did. The moon high in the sky and strategically placed lanterns provide the only light here.
In the far background is another bridge, flanked to the sides with crags. Recolored sprites of Liu Kang can be seen in the background, with one on fire. These gave rise to rumored secret fighters named "Hornbuckle" and "Torch"; "Torch" was eventually canonized as Blaze in Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance, and "Hornbuckle" as one of Onaga's priests.
Performing a fighter's specific "Stage Fatality" motion at the match's end will have them uppercut the loser off of the bridge and onto the ground below, which does not have spikes this time, but is at a high enough altitude to be fatal.
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The Dead Pool
Not the Merc with the Mouth from Marvel. The Dead Pool seems to be a torture chamber with hooks on chains hanging from the ceiling, as well as acid surrounding the bridge that fighters stand on. The statues on each side are based on a real-life limestone carving of a Tang Dynasty Buddhist guardian.
Of course, popping a defeated opponent into the acid is an option at the end of the match, although this is not done with the traditional Stage Fatality move, but instead by holding Low Punch, and Low Kick when performing an uppercut.
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The Armory
This is where weapons are forged and stored in Outworld. Molten steel can be seen running through the background and various bladed weapons are littered around, propped up near columns. Scary faces are on the columns.
Exclusively in the Genesis version, Raiden can perform a specific stage finisher of sorts, the "Fergality", which transforms his opponent into a super-deformed version of Probe Entertainment president Fergus McGovern (1966-2016).
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Living Forest
Fighters stand in a small clearing in a deep wooded area where trees have grotesque animated faces that contort and roar occasionally. A hapless victim wearing a kasa like Raiden's can be seen entangled in vines.
Smoke and Jade may occasionally peek out from behind a tree during the fight to tease players into finding them.
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Kombat Tomb
Some sort of walkway with a heavy skull and yin/yang motif. Dark red skies can be seen in the background.
The ceiling is lined with spikes, and a player can finish their opponent with their chosen fighter's Stage Fatality move, uppercutting them into their death above. Holding Down on both joysticks/d-pads will slide the victim's corpse off of the spikes and hit the ground.
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Kahn's Arena
Shao Kahn's barbaric fighting koliseum. Most regular fighters can be matched against here in an arcade ladder run, but the player will always fight Kintaro and Kahn himself here.
Sonya and Kano are chained up near the arena's edge, and unless he is being fought, Kahn will sit in the throne in the stage's center. Whenever Kintaro or Kahn connects a particularly vicious strike, the audience will pop off.
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The Teahouse
Madame Bo's teahouse in the village of Fengjian, China.
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Vermilion Gates
A fantastical stage with a Japanese motif, filled to the brim with elements from the Land of the Rising Sun! A breakable balcony and big changes to the stage between evening and nighttime make every round different and dynamic!
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