Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3

From Sega Retro

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Umk3 title.png

Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3
System(s): Sega Mega Drive, Sega Saturn
Publisher:
Sega Mega Drive
Williams Entertainment (US), Acclaim Entertainment (EU), Tectoy (BR)
Sega Saturn
Williams Entertainment (US), GT Interactive Software (EU)
Developer:
Sound driver:
Sega Mega Drive
GEMS
Genre: Fighting

















Number of players: 1-2
Release Date RRP Code

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Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 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.

Ports

Mega Drive Version

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.

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

Williams Entertainment Team

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

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

Promotional Material

Physical Scans

Mega Drive Version

Sega Retro Average 
Publication Score Source
80 №182, p68
86 №53, p80/81[1]
Sega Mega Drive
83
Based on
2 reviews
Sega Retro Average 
Publication Version Score
1700 igr dlya Sega (RU)
80
[2]
Cool Gamer (RU)
80
[3]
Computer & Video Games (UK)
75
[4]
Entsiklopediya luchshikh igr Sega. Vypusk 1 (RU)
80
[5]
Entsiklopediya luchshikh igr Sega. Vypusk 10 (RU)
100
[6]
GamePro (US) NTSC-U
70
[7]
Mean Machines Sega (UK) PAL
86
[1]
Sega Power (GR)
80
[8]
Tricks 16 bit (RU)
98
[9]
Sega Mega Drive
83
Based on
9 reviews

Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3

Mega Drive, US
UMK3 MD US Box.jpg
Cover
UMK3 MD US Cart.jpg
Cart
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[10]
86
82
73 №85, p61
90 №43, p40/41
80 №6, p126
93 №44, p60-64[11]
90 №64, p90/91/92
93 №80, p40/41/42/43
91 №8, p66/67[12]
Sega Saturn
86
Based on
10 reviews
Sega Retro Average 
Publication Version Score
576 KByte (HU)
91
[13]
Consoles + (FR)
96
[14]
Computer & Video Games (UK)
75
[10]
Electronic Gaming Monthly (US) NTSC-U
86
[15]
Freak (IL)
89
[16]
Gambler (PL)
85
[17]
GameFan (US) NTSC-U
82
[18]
Game Players (US) NTSC-U
73
[19]
GamePro (US) NTSC-U
85
[20]
Joypad (FR)
80
[21]
Maximum (UK)
75
[22]
Mega Force (FR) PAL
73
[23]
Mean Machines Sega (UK) PAL
93
[11]
Next Generation (US) NTSC-U
50
[24]
Player One (FR)
90
[25]
Secret Service (PL)
90
[26]
Sega News (CZ)
86
[27]
Sega Power (UK) PAL
93
[28]
Sega Saturn Magazine (UK) PAL
91
[29]
Total Saturn (UK) PAL
81
[30]
VideoGames (US) NTSC-U
80
[31]
Sega Saturn
83
Based on
21 reviews

Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3

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



Mortal Kombat II, Dragon.png
Mortal Kombat games for Sega systems
Mortal Kombat (1993) | Mortal Kombat II (1994) | Mortal Kombat 3 (1995) | Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 (1996) | Mortal Kombat Trilogy (1997) | Mortal Kombat Gold (1999)
Mortal Kombat & Mortal Kombat II (unreleased)
Unlicensed Mortal Kombat games for Sega systems
Mortal Kombat 5 (1999?)
  1. 1.0 1.1 File:MeanMachinesSega53UK.pdf, page 80 Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; name ":File:MeanMachinesSega53UK.pdf_p80" defined multiple times with different content
  2. 1700 igr dlya Sega, "" (RU; 2001-xx-xx), page 140
  3. Cool Gamer, "9" (RU; 2002-10-13), page 136
  4. Computer & Video Games, "January 1997" (UK; 1996-12-11), page 68
  5. Entsiklopediya luchshikh igr Sega. Vypusk 1, "" (RU; 1999-xx-xx), page 340
  6. Entsiklopediya luchshikh igr Sega. Vypusk 10, "" (RU; 2003-10-08), page 104
  7. GamePro, "December 1996" (US; 1996-xx-xx), page 155
  8. Sega Power, "Ávgoustos-Septémvrios 1997" (GR; 1997-xx-xx), page 53
  9. Tricks 16 bit, "Tricks Sega Gold 800 igr" (RU; 1998-03-20), page 208
  10. 10.0 10.1 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
  11. 11.0 11.1 File:MeanMachinesSega44UK.pdf, page 60 Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; name ":File:MeanMachinesSega44UK.pdf_p60" defined multiple times with different content
  12. File:SSM_UK_08.pdf, page 66
  13. 576 KByte, "Szeptember 1996" (HU; 1996-xx-xx), page 20
  14. Consoles +, "Mai 1996" (FR; 1996-0x-xx), page 93
  15. Electronic Gaming Monthly, "June 1996" (US; 1996-xx-xx), page 20
  16. Freak, "9/96" (IL; 1996-xx-xx), page 1
  17. Gambler, "8/1996" (PL; 1996-xx-xx), page 32
  18. GameFan, "Volume 4, Issue 6: June 1996" (US; 1996-xx-xx), page 21
  19. Game Players, "Vol. 9 No. 6 June 1996" (US; 1996-05-04), page 60
  20. GamePro, "July 1996" (US; 1996-xx-xx), page 68
  21. Joypad, "Mai 1996" (FR; 1996-0x-xx), page 74
  22. Maximum, "April 1996" (UK; 1996-04-27), page 126
  23. Mega Force, "Mai 1996" (FR; 1996-0x-xx), page 85
  24. Next Generation, "July 1996" (US; 1996-06-18), page 80
  25. Player One, "Mai 1996" (FR; 1996-0x-xx), page 94
  26. Secret Service, "Październik 1996" (PL; 1996-10-01), page 27
  27. Sega News, "Říjen 1996" (CZ; 1996-xx-xx), page 12
  28. Sega Power, "July 1996" (UK; 1996-05-09), page 40
  29. Sega Saturn Magazine, "June 1996" (UK; 1996-05-22), page 66
  30. Total Saturn, "Volume One Issue Four" (UK; 1996-12-29), page 38
  31. VideoGames, "June 1996" (US; 1996-05-21), page 63