Back in the video game side of things, Mortal Kombat 3's release was a big deal for its time. In fact, it got a massive amount of hype thanks to a strong marketing campaign. So strong in fact that it has a Guinness World Record for it). It hit arcades in April of 1995, and it wouldn't take too long for home console ports to once again come out on almost every major console at the time in October of that year. Including the first big MK release for the Sony Playstation.
However this time around, the once strong bond between Acclaim and Midway was no longer there. It's unclear if it was Midway wanting to branch out from Acclaim, or Acclaim's actions in poor developers like Probe led to the parting of ways, but for the releases of MK3, they were ported by Williams, and both 16-bit versions saw development by Sculptured Software, meaning that for once the Genesis version is on equal ground in terms of graphics and sound (albeit lessened a bit due to the Genesis hardware).
The story for this game continues that of Mortal Kombat II. After being defeated, Shao Kahn decides to fight even more dirty. He brings his bride Sindel back to life in Earthrealm. This gives Kahn the power to start to merge the two realms together, turning Earthrealm into a hellish post-apocalyptic world similar to that of Outworld. Once again you have to choose a fighter and put an end to Kahn's tyranny once and for all.
However, while the roster houses plenty of new faces, it takes away some of the franchise's biggest names. No Scorpion. No Rayden. No Johnny Cage. No Kitana, Mileena, Baraka, or Reptile. While the roster added contain some great characters, losing so many established ones does hurt the game.
In terms of the gameplay, Mortal Kombat 3 changes it up considerably. Perhaps in an attempt to compete with the likes of the Street Fighter and Tekken market, the game now puts in a bigger emphasis on speed and combos. The Y button on the Genesis controller now is the run button, which gives a burst of speed to your player in hopes of landing a move faster. Combos have now been added, which require a specific number of buttons pressed to execute a certain heavy hitting multi move. It takes some getting used to in comparison to the easier to pick up and play Mortal Kombats in the past, but doesn't hurt things either. In fact it adds for more strategy to how you fight making it a welcomed addition.
There are tons of new areas to fight in this time around, and they're some of my favorite in the series. I love the apocalyptic urban feel of every level. From subways to bridges, abandoned banks and cathedrals, there's tons of places to battle in. And a neat function to some of the levels is that they're duel tiered. Uppercut someone in the subway to send them flying into the street, where the battle will continue.
On the fatality side, they're back, and crazier than ever. Albeit, while I like a lot of the fatalities here, it does feel like the most cartoonish ones in the series, especially compared to the more gory ones in MK2. Some like Liu Kang setting his foe ablaze make sense, but Jax turning into a giant and crushing his foe? What logic does that make? But then again, trying to make sense of Mortal Kombat is a foolish thing to do.
Friendships and Babalities return, as well as the new Animality. These allow for the player to morph into an animal to defeat their foes. To do so, you must perform a new trick called mercy. Win one match, lose another, and then beat the foe in the third round. Go to the corner, hold run and press down a couple times to allow the foe one last chance. Beat them again, pull of the combo, and enjoy beating someone with Liu Kang's dragon morph, or Cyrax's shark morph.
Gameplay wise, the controls on the genesis feel smooth and responsive. As far as AI in the main single player though is where things get a bit annoying. It feels all over the place, and even on the easiest setting the AI can destroy you in seconds one round, and in the next become simple to beat. It feels like the difficulty in AI could have been tweaked a bit better to feel gradually harder like the other games, but just feel random and spotty in the final version.
Graphically, this game is one of the best looking on the Genesis and comes as close as possible to comparing to the SNES version. No real missing frames on the sprites, every level (except the graveyard on both versions) are intact. All the endings are still in, the font isn't an ugly yellow. Having Sculptured Software work on both versions this time around shows just what could have been done with Mortal Kombat II if Probe wasn't involved. And while a bit washed out color-wise, the fact that they came so close to Arcade perfect in terms of the Sega Genesis is still quite commendable.
Sound wise, every sound bite is intact, all the songs from the arcade are in, emulated as close to the arcade as the Genesis could handle. This game was 32 megs. A pretty big cart for its time. So you can tell that Midway put that cart size to good use, doing everything in their power to come as close to the arcade as possible, and it shows with the sound and graphics in this game.
Mortal Kombat 3, while removing some classic characters in the roster, still is a great video game, especially on the Genesis. it tries to change the game once again with new updates to the overall gameplay, which your taste will vary on. It feels like the most ambitious graphically as well. And while far from perfect in a lot of ways, it's still a must have for any Mortal Kombat fan. It's one of the Genesis' best games.
RATING: A-