Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 (Saturn)

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Umk3 title.png

Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 (Saturn)
System(s): Sega Mega Drive, Sega Saturn
Publisher:
Sega Mega Drive
Williams Entertainment (US), Acclaim Entertainment (EU),
Sega Saturn
Williams Entertainment (US), GT Interactive Software (EU)
Developer:
Original system(s): Arcade boards
Developer(s) of original games: Midway
Sound driver:
Sega Mega Drive
GEMS
Peripherals supported:
Sega Mega Drive
Six Button Control Pad
Genre: Fighting

















Number of players: 1-2
Release Date RRP Code
Sega Saturn
US
$59.9959.99 T-9701H
Sega Saturn
EU
T-25403H-50
Sega Saturn
AU
Sega Saturn
BR
Sega Mega Drive
US
T-97146
Sega Mega Drive
EU
T-81616-50
Sega Mega Drive
PT
MDJAK0402
Sega Mega Drive
BR
R$79.9979.99[5] 047240

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Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 (Saturn) is an update to Mortal Kombat 3, adding extra characters and stages as well as tweaking some of the gameplay. As well as appearing in the arcades, it was brought first to the Sega Saturn and then to the Sega Mega Drive and the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. More recently it has been re-released for the Nintendo DS and Xbox Live Arcade.

Versions

Mega Drive version

Using the prior MK3 port as a base, the Mega Drive version takes a hit in terms of graphical quality, but still provides extras not seen in the arcade original. Like the SNES port, Rain and Noob Saibot are made playable characters along with bosses Motaro and Shao Kahn. Mileena, Ermac and Classic Sub-Zero are playable without any need of codes. Shang Tsung can morph into Robot Smoke, Noob Saibot, and Rain, which is not possible in the arcades.

Brutalities are also included in this version. Nightwolf has his Red shadow shoulder move from Mortal Kombat Trilogy and this version contained a rendition of Pong entitled "MK4".

Animalities and Mercies were removed, reducing the number of finishing moves. (however, Kabal still has his animality combination coded and if executed, it causes lots of random glitches.) Shao Kahn's treasure chest has only 10 boxes instead of 12, and the announcer no longer says the characters' names. Most of the levels seen in Mortal Kombat 3 are missing, including The Balcony and The Street, so uppercutting in the Subway and Soul Chamber does not take the player to the level above. Although the Bell Tower has been removed, the Stage Fatality is still in the code and executable.

Another leftover from MK3 that wasn't totally deleted was code data for the 'Endurance Mode', which is still accessible through a Game Genie code. Sheeva has been removed, although her sound clips are still available in the sound test. Sonya's Friendship from Mortal Kombat 3 is used, as opposed to her Friendship from the arcade version of UMK3.

Scorpion's "Flaming Hand" Fatality is different too: he takes the opponent back to the Scorpion's Lair stage, where they just catch on fire and explode. Kitana's Kiss of Death only inflates heads with the same effect as Kabal's "Air Pump" Fatality. Rain and Noob were given a Brutality, but no other finishing moves. Human Smoke shares Scorpion's combos, rather than having unique ones and in Stryker's friendship, the running characters are replaced by dogs.

On the Mega Drive, Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 is generally seen as closer to the original arcade game than its Super NES counterpart when it comes to gameplay and content. The Super NES has the advantage of higher quality audio and more colourful (if lower resolution) graphics, though some stages lack parallax scrolling, or are omitted from the game due to cartridge space or time restraints.

Saturn version

Curiously, the Saturn version is less accurate, being closer to Mortal Kombat 3 in design, dropping many Ultimate features.

The Bank level that was present in MK3 but was missing from the arcade UMK3 returns. Shang Tsung was given a morph for the Robot Smoke, which was not possible in the arcades. The secret characters can be unlocked via a secret options screen, eliminating the need to enter three separate Kombat Kodes to unlock them, which is useful as there is no save system. The Kombat Kodes (to unlock the secret characters) were shortened to have six slots instead of ten (probably in order to allow it to be performed with only one controller), but this method is still slower than entering one code to access the secret options screen.

There are a few new Kombat Kodes, but several that were present in the arcade release no longer work in the Saturn version. Noob Saibot is a shadow Kano as in MK3, not a black ninja as in the arcade version of UMK3. Since the arcade intro is missing, Rain does not appear in the game, yet the message Kombat Kode "Rain can be found in the Graveyard" can still be displayed.

Loading times cause the "Supreme Demonstration" mode to take almost 30 minutes to complete.

Production credits

Mega Drive version

Midway MK3 Ultimate Design Team
  • : Ed Boon, John Tobias, Steve Beran, Dan Forden, Tony Goskie, Dave Michicich, John Vogel
Avalanche Software Development Team
  • Programmers: Jim Henn, Gary Penacho, John Blackburn, Todd Blackburn
  • Artists: Derek Newman, Alan Taylor
  • Sound By: Chris Braymen
  • Avalanche Software Testing: Jason Humphrey
  • Special Thanks To: Patrick Alphonso, Mike Crandall, Paul Blagay, Jeff Knight, Neil Melville, Mike Lott, Kent Barney, Roy Wilkins, Jim 'Crash' Jung
  • Thanks To: Ned Martin, Adam Clayton, Rob Nelson, Mike Callahan
  • : Michael Rubinelli, Michael Gottlieb, Curtis R. Cherrington
  • Williams Entertainment Testing: Mike Vinikour, Eddie Ferrier, J.R. Salazar, Richard Blair, Ross Deynata, Kevin Elrod, Andy Kaffka, Fred Pampo, Ben Larkin, Toan Ngo
  • Special Thanks To: Dave Schwartz, Mark Guidarelli, Paul Dussault, Jim Flaharty, Justin Heber, Will Shen
Source:
In-game credits

Saturn version

Ultimate MK3 Design Team:
  • Software: Ed Boon
  • Graphics: John Tobias, Steve Beran, Tony Goskie, Dave Michicich, John Vogel
  • Sounds and Music: Dan Forden
Ultimate MK3 Saturn Development Team:
  • Producer and Programming: Mark Hetherington
  • Hardware Code: Paul Bates
  • Programming: Dave Pridmore
  • Sound and Music: Neil Baldwin
  • Steve Richie as The Voice of Shao Khan
  • Grunts, Screams, Groans and Gibberish: Jon Hey, Peg Burr, Dan Forden, Ann Mazza, Vince Pontarelli, Ed Boon
  • Eurocom Entertainment Testing: Richard Moody, Kevin Holt
  • Many Thanks Go To: Hugh Binns, Adrian Mannion, David Schwartz, Greg Miller, Mark May, Mark Guidarelli, Scott Patterson, Rob Atesalp
  • Packaging and Print Material: Debbie Austin, Steve High, Shawn Murphy, Dave Young
  • Product Manager: Brian Johnson
  • Williams Entertainment Testing: Peter Chang, Steve Kramer, J.R.Salazar, Will Shen, Jason Shigenaka, John Stookey, John Ubalde, Eddie Fe
  • Special Thanks: Michael Rubinelli, Michael Gottlieb
Source:
In-game credits

Magazine articles

Main article: Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 (Saturn)/Magazine articles.

Promotional material

Main article: Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 (Saturn)/Promotional material.

Physical scans

Mega Drive version

Sega Retro Average 
Publication Score Source
80 №182, p68[3]
86 №53, p80/81[6]
Sega Mega Drive
83
Based on
2 reviews
Sega Retro Average 
Publication Version Score
Sega Mega Drive
N/A
Based on
0 reviews

Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 (Saturn)

Mega Drive, US
UMK3 MD US Box.jpg
Cover
UMK3 MD US Cart.jpg
Cart
Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 MD US Manual.pdf
Manual
Mega Drive, US (cardboard)

UMK3 MD US Cart.jpg
Cart
Mega Drive, EU
UMK3 MD EU Box.jpg
Cover
UMK3 MD EU Cart.jpg
Cart
Mega Drive, BR
UMK3 MD BR Box.jpg
Cover
UMK3 MD BR Cart.jpg
Cart
UMK3 md br manual.pdf
Manual

Saturn version

Sega Retro Average 
Publication Score Source
80 №175, p72-77[1]
86
82
73 №85, p61
90 №43, p40/41
80 №6, p126
93 №44, p60-64[2]
90 №64, p90/91/92
93 №80, p40/41/42/43
91 №8, p66/67[7]
Sega Saturn
86
Based on
10 reviews
Sega Retro Average 
Publication Version Score
576 KByte (HU)
91
[8]
Consoles + (FR)
96
[9]
Computer & Video Games (UK)
75
[1]
Electronic Gaming Monthly (US) NTSC-U
86
[10]
Freak (IL)
89
[11]
Gambler (PL)
85
[12]
GameFan (US) NTSC-U
82
[13]
Game Players (US) NTSC-U
73
[14]
GamePro (US) NTSC-U
85
[15]
Joypad (FR)
80
[16]
Maximum (UK)
75
[17]
Mega Force (FR) PAL
73
[18]
Mean Machines Sega (UK) PAL
93
[2]
Next Generation (US) NTSC-U
50
[19]
Player One (FR)
90
[20]
Secret Service (PL)
90
[21]
Sega News (CZ)
86
[22]
Sega Power (UK) PAL
93
[23]
Sega Saturn Magazine (UK) PAL
91
[24]
Total Saturn (UK) PAL
81
[25]
VideoGames (US) NTSC-U
80
[26]
Sega Saturn
83
Based on
21 reviews

Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 (Saturn)

Saturn, US
UMK3 Saturn US Box Back.jpgUMK3 Saturn US Box Front.jpg
Cover
UMK3 Saturn US Disc.jpg
Disc
Umk3 sat us manual.pdf
Manual
Saturn, EU
UMK3 Saturn EU Box.jpg
Cover
UMK3 Saturn EU Disc.jpg
Disc
Saturn, BR
UMK3 Saturn BR Box Front.jpg
Cover

Technical information

ROM dump status

System Hash Size Build Date Source Comments
Sega Saturn
 ?
CRC32
MD5
SHA-1
459,042,192 CD-ROM (EU) T-25403H-50 V1.007
Sega Saturn
 ?
CRC32
MD5
SHA-1
459,053,952 CD-ROM (EU) T-25403H-50 (Alt) V2.000
Sega Saturn
CRC32
MD5
SHA-1
459,025,728 CD-ROM (US) T-9701H V1.006

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 File:CVG UK 175.pdf, page 72 Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; name ":File:CVG UK 175.pdf_p72" defined multiple times with different content
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 File:MeanMachinesSega44UK.pdf, page 60 Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; name ":File:MeanMachinesSega44UK.pdf_p60" defined multiple times with different content
  3. 3.0 3.1 File:CVG UK 182.pdf, page 68
  4. File:GamePro US 096.pdf, page 76
  5. 5.0 5.1 http://www.tectoy.com.br/releases/index.htm (Wayback Machine: 1998-06-25 19:48)
  6. File:MeanMachinesSega53UK.pdf, page 80
  7. File:SSM_UK_08.pdf, page 66
  8. 576 KByte, "Szeptember 1996" (HU; 1996-xx-xx), page 20
  9. Consoles +, "Mai 1996" (FR; 1996-0x-xx), page 93
  10. Electronic Gaming Monthly, "June 1996" (US; 1996-xx-xx), page 20
  11. Freak, "9/96" (IL; 1996-xx-xx), page 1
  12. Gambler, "8/1996" (PL; 1996-xx-xx), page 32
  13. GameFan, "Volume 4, Issue 6: June 1996" (US; 1996-xx-xx), page 21
  14. Game Players, "Vol. 9 No. 6 June 1996" (US; 1996-05-04), page 60
  15. GamePro, "July 1996" (US; 1996-xx-xx), page 68
  16. Joypad, "Mai 1996" (FR; 1996-0x-xx), page 74
  17. Maximum, "April 1996" (UK; 1996-04-27), page 126
  18. Mega Force, "Mai 1996" (FR; 1996-0x-xx), page 85
  19. Next Generation, "July 1996" (US; 1996-06-18), page 80
  20. Player One, "Mai 1996" (FR; 1996-0x-xx), page 94
  21. Secret Service, "Październik 1996" (PL; 1996-10-01), page 27
  22. Sega News, "Říjen 1996" (CZ; 1996-xx-xx), page 12
  23. Sega Power, "July 1996" (UK; 1996-05-09), page 40
  24. Sega Saturn Magazine, "June 1996" (UK; 1996-05-22), page 66
  25. Total Saturn, "Volume One Issue Four" (UK; 1996-12-29), page 38
  26. VideoGames, "June 1996" (US; 1996-05-21), page 63



Mortal Kombat II, Dragon.png
Mortal Kombat games for Sega systems
Sega Mega Drive
Mortal Kombat (1993) | Mortal Kombat II (No results?) | Mortal Kombat 3 (1995) | Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 (1996)
Sega Master System
Sega Game Gear
Mortal Kombat (1993) | Mortal Kombat II (1994) | Mortal Kombat 3 (1996)
Sega Mega-CD
Mortal Kombat (1994)
Sega 32X
Mortal Kombat II (No results?)
Sega Saturn
Mortal Kombat II (No results?) | Mortal Kombat 3 (unreleased) | Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 (1996) | Mortal Kombat Trilogy (1997)
Sega Dreamcast
Mortal Kombat Gold (1999)
Unlicensed Mortal Kombat games for Sega systems
Mortal Kombat 5 (1999)