After the first two wildly successfulMortal Kombatgames,Mortal Kombat 3was released to lukewarm responses on July 29, 2025. The various gameplay changes and a ton of missing characters left both casual and hardcore fans puzzled, but as time went on, especially with the release ofUltimate Mortal Kombat 3later in ‘95, I’ve grown to love this game, like many others before me. It’s superior in many ways to what’s seen as the best arcadeMortal Kombattitle,MK2.
When looking atUltimate MK3, Midway went all-out,giving the fans everything they wanted and then some. Plus, while negatively received at launch, the gameplay and content additions were pretty influential, and one has to lovethe over-the-top finishing moves. There’s a reason whyMortal Kombatco-creator Ed Boon has stated thatUltimate MK3is his favorite 2DMortal Kombatgame.
Mortal Kombat 3’s Gameplay Changes Were Controversial But Necessary
A Needed Evolution
One of the core reasons why manyMortal Kombatplayers droppedMK3back in the day was its gameplay changes, and it makes sense. In the arcades,MK3brought a brand-new sixth button to the established five-button layoutofMortal Kombat. It was the Run button used to get up close to the opponent immediately, changing up gameplay significantly. The Run ability has its own meter that’s also drained by the most notorious feature ofMK3: dial-a-combo.
Dial-a-combo is almost like an early predecessor to how combos work in fighting games today, withtough button sequences that’ll reward only the most seasoned players. Many couldn’t adapt to this combo system and left the game because of it, which is funny because so many future fighting games work like this. One can see the incredibly tough one-frame link Evil Ryu combos inUltra Street Fighter 4and notice that dial-a-combo is very much a progenitor of that.
A combo system like this was just too wild for the playerbase in 1995. However,MK3needed something different. It couldn’t just beMK2again, or it would have felt stale. Succeeding in the arcade space requires new, eye-catching innovation, andMK3did just that. Even putting the combo system to one side, the dynamic stages with multiple levels were hugely innovative, and later 3D fighting games would implement the same feature, first withSamurai Showdown 64but perfected inDead or Alive 2. Combos weren’t the only controversial aspect ofMK3, though.
Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 More Than Made Up For A Rough Character Selection
Did A Better Job Than Street Fighter 3: 3rd Strike At Bringing Back Characters
The other major reason a ton of players droppedMortal Kombat 3was the wild amount of missing characters. All the human male and female ninjas were gone, minus Sub-Zero, who looked completely different. AMortal Kombatgamewithout Scorpion is like aStreet Fightergame with no Ryu. Johnny Cage is also gone, and, sure, Sonya and Kano return from the firstMortal Kombat, but when a player’s main is absent in a sequel, it shouldn’t be surprising to see the playerbase tank as it did. However,Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3made up for all of that.
Mileena, Ermac, and Classic Sub-Zero are unlocked through Ultimate Kombat Kodes, which can be entered at a Game Over. These characters must be unlocked for each arcade cabinet.
Midway included just about everybody except Johnny Cage inUltimate MK3. Scorpion, Reptile, Kitana, Mileena, and Jade all returned, but Midway didn’t stop there. Ermac, who was a rumored red ninja in the firstMortal Kombatthat didn’t actually appear in the game, makes his debut here. One can also play asClassic Sub-Zero for those who don’t like his new look inMK3. Even human Smoke fromMK2is playable via a code.
The one negative would be the lack of secret characters, with only Noob Saibot appearing.Mortal Kombatis famous for its secret characters, even going to the newest installment,MK1, with Floyd being incredibly tricky to find. In the original title,Reptile was the first secret character ever in a fighting game, so the absence of secret fighters is disappointing. However, it’s hard to complain too much, given what else was offered here.Ultimate MK3offered a ton.
Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 Has An Unrivaled Amount Of Content
For An Arcade Game, Ultimate MK3 Is Stacked
Not only didUltimate Mortal Kombat 3give the fans exactly what they wanted in regards to characters, but it also offered a surprising amount of content for an arcade game, encouraging fans to play it time and time again. Right off the bat, there are four types of finishers: fatalities, friendships, babalities, and the new type, animalities. The number offinisher types rivals even the newestMortal Kombatgames. While visually, many animalities are kind of weak, in terms of gameplay, they’re incredible to pull off.
To perform an animality, one has to win a game and do a Mercy. This will allow the opponent to regain a bit of life, but if they lose again, the player can now perform an animality.This was awesome to do in online matches, and it was frustrating to see an opponent rage quit when performing the Mercy input. Sadly, animalities never reappeared until their triumphant return inMortal Kombat 1, where they’re even better.
The difficulty ofUltimate Mortal Kombat 3was also far more balanced.Mortal Kombat 2felt like a mugging with how brutal the AI reads button inputs, but Midway leaned up a bit here. It’s important to note, however, that there arefour difficulty options, each having a longer and tougher ladder to climb. These aren’t superfluous, as clearing the higher difficulties allows one to choose more from Shao Kahn’s Lost Treasures. After beating the final boss, the player can pick one of Shao Kahn’s 12 Lost Treasures, each with a different reward.
Shao Kahn’s Lost Treasures are also accessible through the EJB Menu, but nobody discovered that until decades after release.
The first is simply the character’s ending, while the final one, only viewable through clearing the highest difficulty, is the Supreme Demonstration, a video montage of every finisher in the game. That’s a great reward. All of this adds a ton of replay value to the game, much more so thanMortal Kombat 2. 30 years later,Mortal Kombat 3and, subsequently,Ultimate MK3don’t see enough love for how great they are as arcade fighters with a tremendous amount of content, important gameplay innovations, and impact to the series.
