Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3

Title: Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3
Platform Played On: Sega Genesis
Release Date: October 1995
Date Played: 1995 - 1998
Time Played: 40+ Hours
Completed (Y/N): N/A
Score: 5/5



Opinion:
Mortal Kombat 3 kind of sucked. And it sucked for one reason only, there were no ninja characters. Something Midway quickly remedied with the release of Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3. Which went on to be one of the best games in the franchise.

I came into Mortal Kombat at an interesting time. I never played the first or second games and MK3 managed to bypass my Sega Genesis. It was this game, Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 that ha me blow into the cartridge and jam it into the Genesis.

This interesting timing ensured that I would get spoiled with the Mortal Kombat franchise it placed Mortal Kombat into a special place in my heart. This game was the first game to make fighting games fun for me, and it wasnt the fatalities, heck I couldnt pull them off 99% of the time. It was the the visceral combat that truly felt like the characters were fighting to the death each utilizing awesome gadgets to get the upper hand  on top of the realistic looking sprite based graphics and fluidity of animations.

Mortal Kombat (not just UMK3) has always been jam packed with secrets, with so many characters each having unique moves and gadgets you never knew what you are going to be up against next. The fatalities were a cool addition too, they put the final dot on the match, not only did you win, but you FREAKING WON!

The MK ninjas are some of my favorite characters, there was a fad for ninjas during my childhood and these ninjas looked awesome, for whatever reason Midway (developer) decided to get rid of them for MK3. What were they thinking? I have no idea! But that alone made MK3 worse than its 2 predecessors. Luckaly they came to their senses and included all of the ninjas in the Ultimate edition of the game. I imagine my fondness for the franchise would be in a completely different place if it was MK3 and not UMK3 that I played first.

Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 features a giant roster of characters, it seems like Midway set a goal to double the number of characters with each game, because MK2 doubled the number of characters from MK1 and UMK3 doubled what MK2 had. What is impressive is that they managed to keep majority of the characters interesting and unique. While there are characters I prefer over others, I wouldnt mind playing as any of them, something I cant necessarily say for other fighting franchises.

Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 held its title as the "difinitive MK experience" for nearly 16 years, until it was finally outclassed by the 2011 reboot for Xbox 360 and PS3 named simply "Mortal Kombat". If you are unable to play the new reboot, UMK3 is THE version to get! Between the great character selection, great sprite graphics and animations UMK3 will keep one entertained for a very long time. It definitelly stood the test of time, and while it is still fun the graphics are not nearly as sophisticated as the modern gamers are used to, but just imagine how insane they looked back in the day.