Mortal Kombat 3

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Mortal Kombat 3
Developer(s)	Midway
Publisher(s)	Midway (arcade) Williams Entertainment (ports) SCEA (PS1 version)
Designer(s)	Ed Boon, John Tobias
Release date(s)	1995
Genre(s)	Fighting
Mode(s)	Up to 2 players simultaneously
Platform(s)	Arcade, Super Nintendo, Mega Drive/Genesis, Game Boy, Sega Game Gear, Sega Master System, PlayStation, PC
Input	8-way Joystick, Buttons: 6 (HP, LP, BLOCK, HK, LK, RUN)
Arcade cabinet	Upright
Arcade system(s)	Midway Wolf Unit hardware Sound CPU: ADSP2150 Midway Digital Compression System (DCS) - Amplified Mono Latest Game Version : Revision 2.1
Arcade display	Raster resolution 400 x 254

Mortal Kombat 3 is the third game in the Mortal Kombat series, released in arcades in 1995. It was updated into Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3, and later Mortal Kombat Trilogy.

[edit] Game System

Mortal Kombat 3 builds further on the gameplay of the previous game. A "Run" button, accompanied by a "Run" meter, was introduced. This was primarily to address concern from fans who thought that the previous games gave too much of an advantage to the defending player. The Run meter is drained by running (the character cannot run backwards, only forwards) and by performing combos. "Chain combos", also known as pre-progammed combos (labelled "dial-a-combos") were also introduced. Chain combos are preprogrammed button presses that are unblockable once one hit connects (e.g., one of Sonya's chain combos is HK-HK-HP-HP-LP-b+HP). Some chain combos end with an uppercut or other move that knocks the opponent into the air, so that more punishment can be dealt via a traditional juggle combo. To please players of various skill levels, a "Choose Your Destiny" screen appears in 1-player mode. This new feature allowed player-selectable difficulty.

For the first time, certain levels were interactive by allowing characters to be uppercutted through the ceiling where both characters would continue the battle in a different stage. This could alter the game's level cycle. Both normal uppercuts and uppercuts that are part of a ground combo would result in a level change. Kung Lao's "Whirl Wind Spin" move would also have the same effect. However, if the final hit of a round happens to be an uppercut (i.e., the character is defeated by an uppercut), there is no level change.

The "Choose Your Destiny" screen

All of the different style of finishing moves featured in Mortal Kombat II (Fatalities, Babalities, and Friendships) return in MK3. Additionally, the long rumored Animality, where the character transforms into an animal in order to kill their opponent, is featured for the first time. Another new addition is the Mercy, where the character can give their opponent a small sliver of life if they have won two rounds and are at the "Finish Him/Her" screen. It is necessary that a Mercy is performed for an Animality to occur. Finally, three new stage Fatalities can be performed in the Subway, the Bell Tower, and the Pit 3.

Another concept exclusive to this game are the "Kombat Kodes". These were 6 digit codes entered at the VS screen in a two player game to modify gameplay, fight hidden characters or display certain text messages. Also introduced in this game was the "Ultimate Kombat Kode", which was a 10 digit code that could be entered after a game was over in single player mode. If the correct code was entered, Smoke would become a permanent playable character on the character select screen. The arcade owner, however, could reset this code by accessing the game's diagnostic menu by hitting a DIP switch within the MK3 cabinet.

Sheeva performing a combo on Nightwolf

The game's overall style was envisioned differently than in the previous Mortal Kombat games. Opposed to the heavily Oriental themes of Mortal Kombat and Mortal Kombat II, MK3's theme is much more Western contemporary. The game's stages are set in modern locations, three of the characters are robots, and traditional character designs (such as Sub-Zero's or Kano's) have been dropped or modified in favour of modern replacements. The overall game has a much darker tone than its predecessors, and uses a noticeable darker and less vibrant colour palette. Characters are now heavily digitised (as opposed to the hybrid digitised/hand-drawn style of Mortal Kombat II.) Many of the game's backgrounds are now, for the first time, created using pre-rendered 3D graphics. This change is also reflected in the sound track, in which all Oriental motifs have been dropped in favour of modern instrumentation.

[edit] Characters and cast

[edit] New characters

• Cyrax (Sal Divita)
• Kabal (Richard Divizio)
• Nightwolf (Sal Divita)
• Sektor (Sal Divita)
• Sheeva (Stop motion)
• Sindel (Lia Montelongo)
• Kurtis Stryker (Michael O'Brien)

[edit] Returning characters

• Maj. Jackson Briggs a.k.a. Jax (John Parrish)
• Kano (Richard Divizio)
• Kung Lao (Tony Marquez)
• Liu Kang (Eddie Wong)
• Shang Tsung (John Turk)
• Smoke (Sal Divita)
• Lt. Sonya Blade (Kerri Hoskins)
• Sub-Zero (John Turk)

[edit] Boss and sub-boss

• Motaro (Stop-motion)
• Shao Kahn (Brian Glynn)

[edit] Other Characters

• Noob Saibot ([[Richard Divizio)

[edit] Arenas

Main article: List of Mortal Kombat arenas

• The Balcony
• Bell Tower
• The Graveyard
• Kombat Temple
• The Pit III
• Soul Chamber
• The Subway
• The Bank
• The Bridge
• The Rooftop
• The Street
• Noob Saibot's Dorfen
• The Hidden Portal

[edit] Storyline

Fed up with continuous losses in tournament battle, Shao Kahn who had lost to Liu Kang in the Outworld tournament, enacts a 10,000 year-old plan. He would have his Shadow Priests, led by Shang Tsung, revive his former Queen Sindel, who unexpectedly died at a young age. However, she wouldn't be revived in the Outworld. She would be resurrected in the Earth Realm. This would allow Shao Kahn to cross the boundary lines and reclaim his queen.

When Sindel is reincarnated in Earth Realm, Shao Kahn reaches across the dimensions to reclaim her. As a consequence of his action, the Earth Realm becomes a part of the Outworld, killing billions instantly. Only a few are spared, as Raiden protects their souls. He tells them that Shao Kahn must be stopped, but he cannot interfere; due to his status, he has no power in Outworld, and Earth Realm is partially merged with Outworld.

Shao Kahn has unleashed extermination squads to roam throughout the Earth Realm and kill any survivors. Also, Raiden's protection only extends to the soul, not to the body, so his chosen warriors have to fight the extermination squads and repel Shao Kahn. Eventually somehow every human on Earthrealm comes back.

Mortal Kombat 3 follows Mortal Kombat II and shares continuity with both Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 and Mortal Kombat Trilogy which were both updates of this game. The next new game in the series was Mortal Kombat 4.

[edit] Criticisms

Although the game was a hit , some MK fans disliked the inclusion of new main characters in place of highly praised characters such as Raiden, Johnny Cage and Scorpion[1] In fact, this was the first mainstream Mortal Kombat game to lack the traditional palette-swapped masked ninjas (Sub-Zero is not counted due to his new appearance). This proved to be unpopular with fans of the series, which lead to the ninja concept being reinstated in Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3. Also, many fans found the urban areas such as subways and city streets which served as the games "Kombat Zones" uninteresting in comparison with the previous games, which contained Oriental and fantasy settings.

[edit] Ports

Mortal Kombat 3 was ported to nearly all of the major home consoles available at the time of its release: Mega Drive/Genesis, Super Nintendo,Sega Saturn and PlayStation. It was also released for portable game systems such as the Game Boy. To fit on the gameboy major sacrifices had to be made. Only nine of the original fifteen fighters (Kano, Sonya, Sub-Zero, Cyrax, Sektor, Sheeva, Sindel, Kabal, and Smoke) were available, only five stages existed, there were no button-link combos and no Motaro sub-boss, and Shao Kahn uses his moves from Mortal Kombat II. Although rated M for mature, this version did not include much of the overt gore and violence seen in its parent systems but kept some of the "burning" fatalities (immolating a defeated opponent down to just a burnt skeleton). However, the graphics are superb for a Game Boy title, with smoother animation and greater attention to detail on the fighters than the older MK titles for Game Boy. There was also a scaled down Game Gear version of MK3 which was never released in the US. Only Europe and Japan saw a release, and it is rare to find; a complete packaged version can be seen on Internet auctions for as much as $90. This version also had to make many sacrifices to fit on the small cartridge. There was also a port for the Master System, which is similar to the Game Gear version.

There were 2 different versions of MK3 for the PC. The first was a DOS version, which is unique as it does not closely resemble any of the other ports. It features good animation, sound, graphics, and it implements the gameplay of the arcade with a high level of precision. The second version was a Windows version. It is a direct port of the PlayStation version of the game, featuring the same menus, identical sprite sizes and qualities and the same gameplay as the PlayStation version.

MK3 for Windows and for PlayStation is also the base for Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 for the Sega Saturn. These games feature the same sprite sizes and qualities and almost identical menu systems but the Sega Saturn version has the additional content from UMK3 roughly added in as well.

[edit] Port Screenshots

SNES	Sega Genesis	DOS	Sega Master System/Game Gear
Game Boy

[edit] Trivia

• When the player picks the Master difficulty level, it is possible to fight Shang Tsung twice.
• In the arcade version, Kung Lao lacked a character bio during attract mode. Midway created one for the home versions of MK3.
• Noob Saibot is not a fully black 'ninja' palette swap, but is actually a completely black version of Kano, because there were no 'ninjas' in this game until Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3. He also has no special moves but uses some of Kano's combos. It should be noted that when Noob wins a round, the announcer says, "Kano shows mercy!" This is most likely a programming glitch. In the Super NES version, upon defeat, the announcer says " Its Official You Suck".
• The reason Johnny Cage wasn't featured in MK3 was because the actor who portrayed him (Daniel Pesina) was fired in 1994 after dressing as Cage in an ad promoting the short lived fighting game BloodStorm. [2]
• The Graveyard stage contains gravestones with the last names of MK3's entire design team: Ed Boon, John Tobias, Dan Forden, John Vogel, Steve Beran, Tony Goskie, and Dave Michicich. For each round, four of these names will appear randomly on each of the four closest gravestones. Each gravestone also has each person's date of birth as well as the "alleged" date they died, which is April 1, 1995, the day the first version of MK3 was released in the arcades. A gravestone in the background can also be seen reading "Cage", making reference to Johnny Cage being deceased (at the time).
• The Subway stage has a sign in the background that reads: "BOON/TOBIAS". These are the last names of Mortal Kombat co-creators, Ed Boon and John Tobias, and when BOON/TOBIAS read inversely it is spelled, NOOB SAIBOT.
• Many of the new characters weren't officially named till late in the production of the game. During production, Sektor and Cyrax's names were Ketchup and Mustard (respectively), due to their coloration, while Sindel bore the name "The Bride" as well as the odd moniker of "Muchacha." Kabal, meanwhile, was nicknamed "Sandman".
• The early names for the Graveyard and the Bell Tower stages were "The Boonyard" and "Tobias Tower," respectively, but criticism regarding the oversaturation of Boon's and Tobias' names in the game soon surfaced, resulting in both levels being quickly renamed with their generic descriptions.
• This was the first Mortal Kombat game to feature Sub-Zero unmasked. He was unmasked to not only give him a new look, but to also convince the fans that this was in fact the younger brother of the original Sub-Zero (who died in the first Mortal Kombat).
• When Smoke was unlocked via Ultimate Kombat Kode upon beating Shao Kahn, but he did not stay in the CPU's memory for the Arcade version.
• There are many similar voices for the characters in this game, but this varies in the different versions. Listed below are the various platforms, and the characters which share voices.
  *Arcade: Shang Tsung, Jax, and Kano | Stryker and Kabal | Sub-Zero and Kung Lao | Sonya and Sindel | Cyrax, Sektor, and Smoke | Liu Kang, Nightwolf, and Sheeva all have their own unique voice.
  *Super NES: Shang Tsung, Jax, Kano, Stryker, Sub-Zero, Kung Lao, and Kabal | Sonya, Sindel, and Sheeva | Cyrax, Sektor, and Smoke | Liu Kang and Nightwolf each have their own unique voices.
  *Sega Genesis: Shang Tsung, Jax, Kano, Liu Kang, Stryker, Sub-Zero, Nightwolf, Kung Lao, and Kabal | Sonya and Sindel | Cyrax, Sektor, and Smoke | Sheeva has her own unique voice.

[edit] External links

• Mortal Kombat 3 at MobyGames