Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3

[Melf]

Everyone's played some version of Mortal Kombat at some point or another, though many of us still aren't all that good at it. Midway's taken great pains to ensure that there's a game in the series for every console out there, and the Genesis, being dominant during its heyday, got just about every 2D version released. The last one to come to Sega's wonder box was Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3, which included everything but the kitchen sink (though I think there was a coupon in the manual to send away for one), and the debate still rages today as to how it holds up versus the SNES version. We've weighed in on the issue with a full review. Is it worthy of a friendship or a fatality? You'll have to read it to find out!

[Aarzak]

UMK3 was basically a bone thrown at 16-Bit gamers by Midway, and it didn't make it entirely intact either, as the previous ports of MK3 had already maxed out the 32 MEGA POWER cart limit. The 16-Bit ports of UMK3 were noticeably missing backgrounds and soundbytes, the former made the game less interesting to play as the same couple of backgrounds would cycle over and over.

Stick with vanilla MK3, which made it entirely intact for both Genesis & SNES. Otherwise get MKT for PS1 or UMK3 on XBLA.

My cousin wasted $70 for this for Christmas '96. It was quite exciting for us broke 16-Bit gamers back then, but nothing much of value today.

[Puffy2k316]

Yeah, I wasn't much a fan of the 16 bit UMK 3 ports. I'd stick to MK 3.

Plus, Rain and Noob were the most broken characters of all time. I don't think they were balanced at all before they got added.

[Zebbe]

I remember playing the Genesis version on my Mega Drive back in the day. It amazed me. Not because the game is great, but because a game of another region was playable.

[The Coop]

I'm torn about UKM3. On the one hand, the graphics are the same as MK3, there are lots of extra characters, some new backgrounds, and Brutalities. On the other hand, there aren't that many backgrounds, some of the new characters are out of whack power-wise, there's a character missing, there are considerably fewer voice samples, and the game still relies on the rather cheap AI tactics introduced in MK3.

I'd give it between a 5 and a 6. It just doesn't feel as complete when compared to the MK3 port. Not a bad game, but the problems virtually equal the good areas.

[Da_Shocker]

I thought it was a decent translation I got it for under 10 dollars back in 98 I think it was. Much better translation than the trash that MKII was.

[NeoVamp]

it would have rocked had they made this a lock-on cartridge,
you have MK3? just buy UMK3 and lock it on and voila! all the new stuff added to MK3.
that way they could have saved on rom space, made it like a 16mbit upgrade or something.

of course that would have crossed the 32mbit boundary but I'm sure Sega
could have figured out how to do bank switching.

[Baloo]

it would have rocked had they made this a lock-on cartridge,
you have MK3? just buy UMK3 and lock it on and voila! all the new stuff added to MK3.
that way they could have saved on rom space, made it like a 16mbit upgrade or something.

of course that would have crossed the 32mbit boundary but I'm sure Sega
could have figured out how to do bank switching.

Nah, that would've been kind of pointless. It would've costed too much for such a small use of the technology.

[Ratix240sx]

Never played the console versions, but I do remember lining up to play it in the arcade only to be dominated by the dude who was monopolizing the machine.......

[bohokii]

ive always liked #2 best

[johnnyb]

ive always liked #2 best

Yea I agree, for me MKII has the best line up of characters and right amount of controls, I find MKIII goes all weird with some of the characters and I`m not a big fan of high button combos, plus the AI can be bloody cheap!

[Aarzak]

Most people consider II to be the best of the series. It was also when the series experienced its peak popularity. In 1993-1994, MKII was what SF2 was in 1991-1992: a coin-op phenomenon. Both the Genesis & SNES ports sold over a million copies. MK3 was popular as well, but it alienated some who found the combo system off-putting; plus they didn't consider the game as a big jump as MKII was to MK1. Oh, and the lack of popular characters, such as the ninjas and Raiden (replaced by new, bland characters like Stryker and Nightwolf) turned fans off as well. Still, both the Genesis & SNES ports sold at least a million copies; it was the last-ever Genesis game to sell that much.

But yeah, Mortal Kombat fever peaked at MKII.

[gamegenie]

UMK3 was basically a bone thrown at 16-Bit gamers by Midway, and it didn't make it entirely intact either, as the previous ports of MK3 had already maxed out the 32 MEGA POWER cart limit. The 16-Bit ports of UMK3 were noticeably missing backgrounds and soundbytes, the former made the game less interesting to play as the same couple of backgrounds would cycle over and over.

Stick with vanilla MK3, which made it entirely intact for both Genesis & SNES. Otherwise get MKT for PS1 or UMK3 on XBLA.

My cousin wasted $70 for this for Christmas '96. It was quite exciting for us broke 16-Bit gamers back then, but nothing much of value today.

QFT.

[gamegenie]

the bigger jump is MKII to MK3. MKII plays fairly close to MK1 with the only short addition of connect moves, and new characters and backgrounds.
MK3 takes MKII and streamlines it, gives the game a much sharper cleaner detail, introduces an improved combo system, more finishing moves and background fatalities, a big roster of characters, and one of the sickest storylines to date. (e.g. No one won MKII, Shao Khan defeated the MK warriors and escaped from Outworld into the Earth realm to take over)

I don't get why 32Meg was max. What prevented someone from making a 64 Megabit game?
Also with memory being dirt cheap today, wouldn't it be possible to see today a 16,384 Megabit cart. That's only 2GB which would probably cost about $10 today if attached to a USB drive.

[NeoVamp]

the bigger jump is MKII to MK3.

Too bad its a jump back.


they raped the story and added robots and a combo system for beginners.
furthermore the music is not the creepy stuff anymore but weird techno stuff.
the fatalities were obviously not as important to the team as they were with the first two games,
seeing how they are horrible MSPaint cut & paste jobs.

the stage fatalities are also not much to write home about,
with MKII you saw your opponent fall down top side before splattering all over the floor,
MK3 on the other hand has.. bone like.. blades.. and then you explode in a million bones!
and lets not forget the subway one where you get hit by a subway train,
of course the only sound you hear is CLANG when it hits you.

the story was also fucked up, Kahn invades the Earth by reclaiming his bride of Frankenstein lookalike wife.

MK3/UMK3 = Scifi B movie.

I don't get why 32Meg was max. What prevented someone from making a 64 Megabit game?

Hardware restrictions, apparantly the Sega can not access more then 32mbit without extra hardware.
(like they had in the Super SF2 cart for the extra 8mbit)

Though i have it on good authority that a cart is in the works that can play the UMK3Trilogy hack on real hardware.