Goro was introduced in the very first Mortal Kombat game as the sub-boss, where he was notoriously difficult to defeat. More than two thousand years old, he is the Prince of the Shokan race, hailing from the Kuatan realm of Outworld. As a General in the Outworld Emperor Shao Kahn's militia, he fights for the pride and glory of his people.

In his profile on the official Mortal Kombat comic and instruction manual for the first game, Goro is stated to have seven wives. Sheeva has often been theorized to be one of them, but this has never been mentioned within canon.