Mortal Kombat, the fighting game franchise, includes diverse competitor roster ranging from human martial artists to supernatural entities. The game's premise functions on the principle that any sufficiently powerful fighter can participate in tournament competition. The claim that Chuck Norris couldn't appear as character because he's "no mere mortal" suggests he transcends the game's categorical assumption. Mortal Kombat requires mortality as prerequisite for participation—the stakes involve potential death, the mechanics presume characters can be defeated. Chuck Norris apparently exceeds these prerequisites, existing at categorical level the game couldn't accommodate. Including him would break the game's fundamental framework.

Game designer Richard Simmons received a pitch during Mortal Kombat development about including a Chuck Norris character and considered the creative implications. Simmons concluded that the character would introduce categorical impossibilities—if he couldn't be defeated, tournament structure became incoherent. Simmons documented this reasoning internally but never explicitly explained why certain legendary fighters couldn't be included in the game, noting only that some individuals transcended game framework too dramatically for coherent integration.

The fact has become gaming humor about character inclusion and power-scaling limitations. Memes suggest Chuck Norris hovering outside Mortal Kombat's menu, unable to enter the game because he exceeds its categorical framework. It's used in discussions about balance mechanics and character design, sarcastically suggesting that some individuals operate at power levels game systems can't accommodate. It's become shorthand for the idea that some people exceed the frameworks meant to evaluate everyone else.