Mortal Kombat 3

Mortal Kombat 3 brings Midway’s 1995 arcade fighter to PlayStation, with Williams handling development and Sony Computer Entertainment publishing the North American release. It follows Mortal Kombat II as Shao Kahn uses Sindel’s resurrection to invade Earthrealm, leaving Raiden’s surviving champions to fight through the invasion and defeat Kahn.

The PlayStation game is a one-on-one, digitized-sprite fighting game for one or two players. Its core roster has 14 selectable fighters, including returning combatants such as Liu Kang, Sonya Blade, Jax, Kano, Kung Lao, Sub-Zero and Shang Tsung, alongside newcomers Kabal, Nightwolf, Stryker, Sindel, Sheeva, Cyrax and Sektor. Smoke is a secret playable character, while Motaro and Shao Kahn serve as the sub-boss and final boss.

MK3 introduced the Run button and its limited meter, letting fighters close distance or extend pressure but consuming the same resource used by certain attacks. It also added preset chain combinations—often called dial-a-combos—which can be followed with juggles, giving the series a faster, more aggressive rhythm than its predecessors.

Single-player play offers a Choose Your Destiny difficulty path, while two-player matches support six-symbol Kombat Kodes that can alter match conditions or reveal extras. The game’s stages move the series into contemporary, invaded-Earth settings such as the Subway, Rooftop and Street, while several arenas are linked: a forceful uppercut or Kung Lao’s spin can send both fighters upward to a new battleground.

Brutal finishers remain central to the experience. Fatalities, Babalities and Friendships return, and MK3 adds Animalities, which require the winner first to grant a Mercy and then win again. The Subway, Bell Tower and Pit 3 also support stage fatalities, letting the arena itself complete the finishing blow.

On PlayStation, Mortal Kombat 3 is a close content-and-presentation conversion of the arcade game rather than the reduced 16-bit editions. Its CD format comes with a pronounced tradeoff: loading interrupts occur before fights and after some finishers, and Shang Tsung’s ability to morph into other fighters can cause especially conspicuous pauses during a match.

This is the original Mortal Kombat 3 lineup and ruleset, not the later Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 revision or 1996’s Mortal Kombat Trilogy. Those follow-ups restored and added characters absent here, including series mascot Scorpion, so the PS1 release stands as a faithful snapshot of the first arcade version’s distinct roster and mechanics.