Mortal Kombat Trilogy
Encyclopedia
Mortal Kombat Trilogy is a fighting game
developed and published by Midway
in 1996
. It is a compilation of content from the previous Mortal Kombat titles, based primarily upon the gameplay
mechanics of Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3
. Trilogy follows the same story as UMK3, but contains all characters and most of the stages from Mortal Kombat
and Mortal Kombat II
as well.
Along with the UMK3 roster, MKT adds Baraka, and Raiden
as they appeared in MKII. In addition to both characters gaining one new special move each, both characters have brand new sprites for running and standing falls (these animation types weren't introduced until 'Mortal Kombat 3
). A new version of Johnny Cage
played by a new actor was also introduced as well. He retains all of his regular moves from MKII except for the Split Punch, which had to be excluded since none of the characters from MK3/UMK3 had "reaction" sprites for this particular move. Bosses Goro, Kintaro, Motaro and Shao Kahn
, are also now playable
.
The PlayStation (PSX), Sega Saturn
, and PC
versions also contain alternate versions of Jax, Kung Lao
, Kano and Raiden as they appeared in the first or second game, as they were the only actors who returned as special characters in the game; Ho Sung Pak
(Liu Kang
), Philip Ahn (Shang Tsung
), Elizabeth Malecki
(Sonya Blade
), Katalin Zamiar
(Kitana
/Mileena/Jade) and Dan Pesina
(Johnny Cage and Scorpion
/Sub-Zero/Reptile
/Smoke) left Midway prior to the production of MK3 due to royalty disputes. Johnny Cage is the only character to have all new sprites for this game; his new sprites are that of Chris Alexander. Pesina is the actor for the sprites used during Raiden's gameplay, but Sal Divita is used for the versus screen picture. In addition, new sprites were created to show MKII Raiden and Baraka running and falling from a standing position. New frames were also created for the original Kano to replace the old frames used for his victory stance and heart rip Fatality
by modifying Kano's MK3 sprites.
A new secret character
appears, as well. This character, known as Chameleon, rapidly switches between all the male ninja
s (Classic Sub-Zero, Scorpion, Noob Saibot
, Human Smoke, Rain, Reptile, and Ermac) during combat. He is similar to the original Mortal Kombat version of Reptile
, but Chameleon changes his color, not just his stance. This character is playable by performing a special button combination.
Mortal Kombat Trilogy introduces the Aggressor bar, which fills as the combatants fight (twice as much if the opponent is blocking). When the bar fills, the character becomes much faster and stronger for a short period of time.
A finishing move known as a Brutality is featured in this game: it requires the player to perform an 11-button combo which causes their opponent to explode. (Brutalities were also added to the Mega Drive/Genesis and SNES
ports of UMK3.) All of the arenas that featured a Stage Fatality are featured in this game with their respective Fatalities except The Pit II. This arena's Stage Fatality had to be omitted as no MK3 characters had the unique sprites for falling off the bridge.
Many of the characters have brand new special moves and finishing moves. Several have unused special moves never implemented in previous games which made their first official appearance in Mortal Kombat Trilogy. These special moves include MK1 Kano's Spinning Blade move, MKII Kung Lao's Air Torpedo, Goro's Spinning Punch move, Raiden's Lightning that shoots from behind the opponent, and Baraka's Blade Spin move. In addition, Shao Kahn has a throw move and a grab and punch move that is exclusive to this game, and Motaro has added an overhead toss to his arsenal.
Almost every battle arena that has been featured in MKII, MK3, and UMK3 makes an appearance in MKT, however only a handful of backgrounds from the first Mortal Kombat make it into this game (Courtyard, Goro's Lair, The Pit, and The Pit Bottom). The PC, PSX, and Saturn versions only lack The Hidden Portal and Noob Saibot's Dorfen from MK3, while the Nintendo 64
version lacks Kahn's Arena and The Bank from MK2 and MK3, respectively. In some of the Kombat Zones a character can be uppercutted into different backgrounds: The Subway → The Street, The Bank → The Rooftop (only in the PC, PS and Saturn versions), The Soul Chamber → The Balcony, Scorpion's Lair → Kahn's Kave, Goro's Lair → The Armory → Kombat Tomb (N64 exclusive).
versions of the game. In all versions of the game, many of the songs do not match their respective arenas when compared to their original arcade counterparts. In all versions of MKT, none of the music appears from the original Mortal Kombat game. All of the CD-ROM games read the background music directly from the CD providing high-quality CD sound. Unfortunately, they lack all song endings as well as all of the music loops used when "Finish Him/Her" appears during a matches finale. All of the music taken from MK3 on the CD-ROM MKT games is noticeably slowed down in both speed and pitch. When these particular songs were converted to MKTs Red Book CD quality, they were downsampled from 48 kHz to 44.1 kHz without resampling them to maintain the original tempo and pitch in the PC, PSX and Saturn versions.
coming in 1997".
port exclusively features 3-on-3 simultaneous battles. In the N64 version, like in the arcade, the player has four credits from the start. However, after playing a 2-player match, the player gets an extra credit, while in the CD-ROM versions, anyone can play for free. Free Play needs to be unlocked on the N64 version. The N64 port also has a more cohesive "Supreme Demonstration" feature (which shows every Fatality, Babality, Friendship, Animality, and Brutality for every character) than the PS or Saturn versions (as the latter versions needed to load the Fatalities and thus cannot show every one in the allotted time). This version only uses music from MK3 and it is played through the system's internal synth, resulting in considerably lower quality than the CD versions. However, all ending tunes and music loops used during the "Finish Him/Her" screen are intact unlike the CD-ROM versions.
Due to limitations of cartridge space there are only 30 total characters on N64, instead of 37 in the PS1, Sega Saturn, and PC versions of the game. The N64 version lacks Goro and Kintaro, and the classic versions of Jax, Kung Lao, Kano, and Raiden. The other versions of the game have both masked and unmasked Sub-Zero whereas the N64 version only has masked Sub-Zero (however, in addition to his own moves, he is able to perform unmasked Sub-Zero's moves as well). Chameleon is replaced with the secret character Khameleon, a grey female ninja, and is present as both a secret opponent and a playable character. While she, too, switches her move sets (making her considerably weaker), she has a cohesive backstory, unlike her male counterpart. The N64 version of the game, like MK3 and UMK3, provides the player with an "Ultimate Kombat Kode" screen after a single player game is over where a 6-digit code can be entered to unlock Human Smoke and Khameleon for normal play.
The N64 game also includes a new level: the Star Bridge, which is The Pit II background with a star-filled sky. Some older backgrounds are also "enhanced" with extra graphics and added animation. Some examples of this are The Portal, which now includes a temple-like building on each side of the stage, and the Kahn's Kave, which has animated clouds and a glowing floor added to it. The sky of The Pit I stage has been redone in all versions: the PlayStation, PC, and Saturn versions feature a sky almost identical to that of The Pit II, while the N64 version features a pitch-black, star-filled sky. Kahn's Arena no longer has the sprites of Kano and Sonya in the background (most likely due to storyline reasons). Living Forest also no longer has sprites of Smoke and Jade emerging in the background as they are playable characters of Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3. The N64's Lost Bridge also has Hornbuckle and Blaze appear at random in its background. The N64's Graveyard stage has more names on the gravestones near the front: as well as the original Midway design team of MK3, names of the team at Williams Entertainment were added (the date of death on the stones was changed, from April 1, 1995 to September 30, 1996 to the creators' birthdates).
In this version there are two secret menus (blue question mark and red question mark) because not all the playable characters are unlocked from the start. Motaro and Shao Kahn are given Fatalities to perform, either as computer-controlled or regularly controlled characters. Johnny Cage has two Fatalities that he had in MKII (though one is performed differently; instead of ripping an opponent in half at his/her waist, he performs a powerful Shadow Kick move that knocks out the middle section of this opponent's torso). He also has new/different animations whenever a Fatality has been performed on him are different (an example is Kabal's Head Inflation, where in the other versions his shades are placed on the top of his head while in the N64 version his glasses are enlarged with his head). Nightwolf has a very different Friendship move exclusive to this version, which he pulls out 3 hatchets and begins to juggle as opposed to turning into Raiden since this character returned as a playable character to this game (although in the other versions, Nightwolf has his original MK3 Friendship move). In addition, many frames of animation had to be cut from each character in the game and Rain's stance is the same as Reptile's.
version, converted by Point of View and released almost a year after the PlayStation and Nintendo 64 versions, is a straight conversion of the PlayStation version without any substantial changes in content. Due to hardware differences and inadecquate code adapting, the porting process from the PlayStation had some technical changes which included the replacement of almost all transparency effects with mesh patterns and the loss of certain voice samples like most fighters' running yells and some alternative phrases used by characters like Raiden and Scorpion in their attack techniques.
and subsequent variants (the game would crash frequently), however an unofficial patch called mktv2.sdb makes the game fully playable in Windows Vista
(the CD or ISO image has to be mounted to the first drive letter in order for CDDA music to play).
handheld console. The game includes multiplayer mode, accessible only with the compete.com game link cable. Only 13 characters (Cyrax, Ermac, Jade, Mileena, Sektor, Kitana, Motaro, Nightwolf, Noob Saibot, Raiden, Reptile, Shao Kahn) and 10 Kombat Zones remain in this version (screenshots of early releases included Smoke, Scorpion, Classic Sub-Zero, Human Smoke, Goro, and Kintaro as characters, while Nightwolf and Raiden were not present and were probably added to include characters that were not palette swaps). In addition, each character has only two special moves and four finishing moves: one Fatality, Babality, Friendship, and Brutality. In this version, each finishing move has the same command for every character.
A beta version of the PlayStation version of the game was revealed on a trailer, using UMK3 menus as the structure of the game; this would later change in version 1.0, and 1.1. A hack of the Mega Drive/Genesis version of UMK3 that includes all the variations of characters appeared in the previous games except Noob Saibot's MK3 version is known as Ultimate Mortal Kombat Trilogy.
magazine even called the Nintendo 64 MKT a "particularly horrible game" in comparison to the PlayStation/Saturn version Nevertheless, the N64 version was honored in Nintendo Power Awards '96, coming second in the category Best Tournament Fighting Game.).
Fighting game
Fighting game is a video game genre where the player controls an on-screen character and engages in close combat with an opponent. These characters tend to be of equal power and fight matches consisting of several rounds, which take place in an arena. Players must master techniques such as...
developed and published by Midway
Midway Games
Midway Games, Inc. is an American company that was formerly a major video game publisher. Following a bankruptcy filing in 2009, it is no longer active and is in the process of liquidating all of its assets. Midway's titles included Mortal Kombat, Ms.Pac-Man, Spy Hunter, Tron, Rampage, the...
in 1996
1996 in video gaming
-Notable releases:*January 29 — Duke Nukem 3D, successor to the simple side-scrolling originals, and a genre-redefining title for first person shooters....
. It is a compilation of content from the previous Mortal Kombat titles, based primarily upon the gameplay
Gameplay
Gameplay is the specific way in which players interact with a game, and in particular with video games. Gameplay is the pattern defined through the game rules, connection between player and the game, challenges and overcoming them, plot and player's connection with it...
mechanics of Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3
Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3
Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 is a fighting game in the Mortal Kombat series, released in arcades in 1995. It is an update of Mortal Kombat 3 and was later updated again into Mortal Kombat Trilogy...
. Trilogy follows the same story as UMK3, but contains all characters and most of the stages from Mortal Kombat
Mortal Kombat (video game)
Mortal Kombat is a 1992 fighting-game developed and published by Midway for arcades. In 1993, home versions were released by Acclaim Entertainment. Released in the Fall of 1994, the Microsoft Windows 3.1x version was released by Activision Interactive. It is the first title in the Mortal Kombat...
and Mortal Kombat II
Mortal Kombat II
Mortal Kombat II is a competitive fighting game originally produced by Midway Games for the arcades in . It is the second game in the Mortal Kombat series. Like its predecessor, various home versions were produced...
as well.
Cast and characters
Raiden (Mortal Kombat)
Raiden is a player character in the Mortal Kombat fighting game series. Raiden, also known as Lord Raiden, is a thunder god of the Mortal Kombat universe and protector of Earthrealm. He commands many supernatural abilities such as the ability to teleport, control over lightning, and flight...
as they appeared in MKII. In addition to both characters gaining one new special move each, both characters have brand new sprites for running and standing falls (these animation types weren't introduced until 'Mortal Kombat 3
Mortal Kombat 3
Mortal Kombat 3 is a fighting game developed by Midway and released in 1995, first as an arcade game. It is the third game in the Mortal Kombat series...
). A new version of Johnny Cage
Johnny Cage
Johnny Cage, whose real name is John Carlton, is a video game character from the Mortal Kombat fighting game series. Cage is portrayed as a film actor who enters the game's tournament, and provides the comic relief of the franchise....
played by a new actor was also introduced as well. He retains all of his regular moves from MKII except for the Split Punch, which had to be excluded since none of the characters from MK3/UMK3 had "reaction" sprites for this particular move. Bosses Goro, Kintaro, Motaro and Shao Kahn
Shao Kahn
Shao Kahn is a boss, announcer and recurring playable character from the Mortal Kombat fighting game series. The main antagonist in the Mortal Kombat series, Shao Kahn is the Emperor of Outworld known for his godlike strength, extreme brutality and knowledge of black magic...
, are also now playable
Player character
A player character or playable character is a character in a video game or role playing game who is controlled or controllable by a player, and is typically a protagonist of the story told in the course of the game. A player character is a persona of the player who controls it. Player characters...
.
The PlayStation (PSX), Sega Saturn
Sega Saturn
The is a 32-bit fifth-generation video game console that was first released by Sega on November 22, 1994 in Japan, May 11, 1995 in North America, and July 8, 1995 in Europe...
, and PC
Personal computer
A personal computer is any general-purpose computer whose size, capabilities, and original sales price make it useful for individuals, and which is intended to be operated directly by an end-user with no intervening computer operator...
versions also contain alternate versions of Jax, Kung Lao
Kung Lao
Kung Lao is a player character in the Mortal Kombat fighting game series.Kung Lao is a former Shaolin monk and a former member of the White Lotus Society. He stands in the shadow of his great ancestor, the Great Kung Lao, but unlike his great ancestor he has no desire to be champion and would...
, Kano and Raiden as they appeared in the first or second game, as they were the only actors who returned as special characters in the game; Ho Sung Pak
Ho Sung Pak
Ho-Sung Pak is an American film actor, martial artist, action choreographer, writer, and producer.-Early life and career:Pak, a Korean American, was born in Seoul, South Korea...
(Liu Kang
Liu Kang
Liu Kang is a video game character in the Mortal Kombat fighting game series. First appearing in the series' first title, Liu Kang is portrayed as a Shaolin monk who enters the Mortal Kombat tournament to save his world, Earthrealm, from being destroyed due to having lost nine consecutive...
), Philip Ahn (Shang Tsung
Shang Tsung
Shang Tsung is a boss and player character in the Mortal Kombat fighting game series. A powerful and deadly sorcerer and a primary antagonist in the Mortal Kombat series, Shang Tsung is a shapeshifter who absorbs the souls of those he slays in order to maintain his youth and power...
), Elizabeth Malecki
Elizabeth Malecki
Elizabeth Malecki is a professional dancer, actress, and aerobics instructor, who is best known for her portrayal of Sonya Blade in the original Mortal Kombat arcade game....
(Sonya Blade
Sonya Blade
Sonya Blade is a player character from the Mortal Kombat series. She is portrayed in the games as an officer of the United States Special Forces.-In video games:...
), Katalin Zamiar
Katalin Zamiar
Katalin Rodriguez-Ogren is an American martial artist, sportswriter and actress.-Biography:...
(Kitana
Kitana (Mortal Kombat)
Kitana is a recurring player and a one-time boss character in the Mortal Kombat fighting game series. One of the lead characters of the Mortal Kombat saga, Kitana is the princess of the otherdimensional realm of Edenia and the daughter of Queen Sindel...
/Mileena/Jade) and Dan Pesina
Daniel Pesina
Daniel Pesina is a martial arts expert and a former employee of Midway. He is most recognized as the actor who played Johnny Cage and ninjas Sub-Zero, Scorpion, Reptile, Smoke, and Noob Saibot in Mortal Kombat and Mortal Kombat II.Pesina was fired from Midway in 1994 for wearing Cage's costume in...
(Johnny Cage and Scorpion
Scorpion (Mortal Kombat)
Scorpion is a recurring player and boss character in the Mortal Kombat fighting game series. He has been a playable character in all the games, with the exception of the original version of Mortal Kombat 3.-In video games:...
/Sub-Zero/Reptile
Reptile (Mortal Kombat)
Reptile is a fictional character in the Mortal Kombat series of video games. Created for Midway Games by John Tobias and Ed Boon, Reptile debuted in Mortal Kombat as a hidden boss and appeared in subsequent titles as a playable character. The character has also appeared on various merchandise,...
/Smoke) left Midway prior to the production of MK3 due to royalty disputes. Johnny Cage is the only character to have all new sprites for this game; his new sprites are that of Chris Alexander. Pesina is the actor for the sprites used during Raiden's gameplay, but Sal Divita is used for the versus screen picture. In addition, new sprites were created to show MKII Raiden and Baraka running and falling from a standing position. New frames were also created for the original Kano to replace the old frames used for his victory stance and heart rip Fatality
Fatality (Mortal Kombat)
In the Mortal Kombat series of fighting games, a Fatality is a finishing move that can be used against one's defeated opponent at the end of the final match, after the boss character says "Finish Him/Her." The Fatalities are usually lethal, featuring a brutal and morbid execution of the defenseless...
by modifying Kano's MK3 sprites.
A new secret character
Secret character
A secret character can be a player character or a non-player character in a video game that must be unlocked by completing a goal within the game...
appears, as well. This character, known as Chameleon, rapidly switches between all the male ninja
Ninja
A or was a covert agent or mercenary of feudal Japan specializing in unorthodox arts of war. The functions of the ninja included espionage, sabotage, infiltration, and assassination, as well as open combat in certain situations...
s (Classic Sub-Zero, Scorpion, Noob Saibot
Noob Saibot
Noob Saibot is a video game character from the Mortal Kombat fighting game series. He debuted as a hidden character in Mortal Kombat II , although the later game Mortal Kombat: Deception established his true identity as that of the original Sub-Zero, who was killed by his nemesis Scorpion after...
, Human Smoke, Rain, Reptile, and Ermac) during combat. He is similar to the original Mortal Kombat version of Reptile
Reptile (Mortal Kombat)
Reptile is a fictional character in the Mortal Kombat series of video games. Created for Midway Games by John Tobias and Ed Boon, Reptile debuted in Mortal Kombat as a hidden boss and appeared in subsequent titles as a playable character. The character has also appeared on various merchandise,...
, but Chameleon changes his color, not just his stance. This character is playable by performing a special button combination.
Gameplay
A finishing move known as a Brutality is featured in this game: it requires the player to perform an 11-button combo which causes their opponent to explode. (Brutalities were also added to the Mega Drive/Genesis and SNES
Super Nintendo Entertainment System
The Super Nintendo Entertainment System is a 16-bit video game console that was released by Nintendo in North America, Europe, Australasia , and South America between 1990 and 1993. In Japan and Southeast Asia, the system is called the , or SFC for short...
ports of UMK3.) All of the arenas that featured a Stage Fatality are featured in this game with their respective Fatalities except The Pit II. This arena's Stage Fatality had to be omitted as no MK3 characters had the unique sprites for falling off the bridge.
Many of the characters have brand new special moves and finishing moves. Several have unused special moves never implemented in previous games which made their first official appearance in Mortal Kombat Trilogy. These special moves include MK1 Kano's Spinning Blade move, MKII Kung Lao's Air Torpedo, Goro's Spinning Punch move, Raiden's Lightning that shoots from behind the opponent, and Baraka's Blade Spin move. In addition, Shao Kahn has a throw move and a grab and punch move that is exclusive to this game, and Motaro has added an overhead toss to his arsenal.
Almost every battle arena that has been featured in MKII, MK3, and UMK3 makes an appearance in MKT, however only a handful of backgrounds from the first Mortal Kombat make it into this game (Courtyard, Goro's Lair, The Pit, and The Pit Bottom). The PC, PSX, and Saturn versions only lack The Hidden Portal and Noob Saibot's Dorfen from MK3, while the Nintendo 64
Nintendo 64
The , often referred to as N64, was Nintendo′s third home video game console for the international market. Named for its 64-bit CPU, it was released in June 1996 in Japan, September 1996 in North America, March 1997 in Europe and Australia, September 1997 in France and December 1997 in Brazil...
version lacks Kahn's Arena and The Bank from MK2 and MK3, respectively. In some of the Kombat Zones a character can be uppercutted into different backgrounds: The Subway → The Street, The Bank → The Rooftop (only in the PC, PS and Saturn versions), The Soul Chamber → The Balcony, Scorpion's Lair → Kahn's Kave, Goro's Lair → The Armory → Kombat Tomb (N64 exclusive).
Audio
Most of the background music tracks remain intact from MKII and MK3, especially for the CD-ROMCD-ROM
A CD-ROM is a pre-pressed compact disc that contains data accessible to, but not writable by, a computer for data storage and music playback. The 1985 “Yellow Book” standard developed by Sony and Philips adapted the format to hold any form of binary data....
versions of the game. In all versions of the game, many of the songs do not match their respective arenas when compared to their original arcade counterparts. In all versions of MKT, none of the music appears from the original Mortal Kombat game. All of the CD-ROM games read the background music directly from the CD providing high-quality CD sound. Unfortunately, they lack all song endings as well as all of the music loops used when "Finish Him/Her" appears during a matches finale. All of the music taken from MK3 on the CD-ROM MKT games is noticeably slowed down in both speed and pitch. When these particular songs were converted to MKTs Red Book CD quality, they were downsampled from 48 kHz to 44.1 kHz without resampling them to maintain the original tempo and pitch in the PC, PSX and Saturn versions.
PlayStation
There were at least three public revisions of this game for the PlayStation (the final version was the North American Greatest Hits and European Platinum edition). With each revision, aspects of the gameplay were refined, producing gameplay closer to Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 for the Arcade. Many of the infinites and bugs found in the game only existed in earlier revisions. Shang Tsung never appears anywhere within the "Choose Your Destiny" towers, probably because of the loading delays when morphing in the PS version (there's an option that lets the system load two additional characters into memory when playing as Shang Tsung, eliminating the long loading delays of MK3 and UMK3 when morphing); the only time the CPU ever controls Tsung is during the attract mode. After beating the PS version of the game, the final message in the credits says "MK4Mortal Kombat 4
Mortal Kombat 4 is the fourth main game in the Mortal Kombat series of fighting video games developed by Midway Games. Released to arcades in 1997, Mortal Kombat 4 is the first title from the series to use 3D computer graphics as well as one of the first games that Midway made in 3D. Eurocom later...
coming in 1997".
Nintendo 64
The Nintendo 64Nintendo 64
The , often referred to as N64, was Nintendo′s third home video game console for the international market. Named for its 64-bit CPU, it was released in June 1996 in Japan, September 1996 in North America, March 1997 in Europe and Australia, September 1997 in France and December 1997 in Brazil...
port exclusively features 3-on-3 simultaneous battles. In the N64 version, like in the arcade, the player has four credits from the start. However, after playing a 2-player match, the player gets an extra credit, while in the CD-ROM versions, anyone can play for free. Free Play needs to be unlocked on the N64 version. The N64 port also has a more cohesive "Supreme Demonstration" feature (which shows every Fatality, Babality, Friendship, Animality, and Brutality for every character) than the PS or Saturn versions (as the latter versions needed to load the Fatalities and thus cannot show every one in the allotted time). This version only uses music from MK3 and it is played through the system's internal synth, resulting in considerably lower quality than the CD versions. However, all ending tunes and music loops used during the "Finish Him/Her" screen are intact unlike the CD-ROM versions.
Due to limitations of cartridge space there are only 30 total characters on N64, instead of 37 in the PS1, Sega Saturn, and PC versions of the game. The N64 version lacks Goro and Kintaro, and the classic versions of Jax, Kung Lao, Kano, and Raiden. The other versions of the game have both masked and unmasked Sub-Zero whereas the N64 version only has masked Sub-Zero (however, in addition to his own moves, he is able to perform unmasked Sub-Zero's moves as well). Chameleon is replaced with the secret character Khameleon, a grey female ninja, and is present as both a secret opponent and a playable character. While she, too, switches her move sets (making her considerably weaker), she has a cohesive backstory, unlike her male counterpart. The N64 version of the game, like MK3 and UMK3, provides the player with an "Ultimate Kombat Kode" screen after a single player game is over where a 6-digit code can be entered to unlock Human Smoke and Khameleon for normal play.
The N64 game also includes a new level: the Star Bridge, which is The Pit II background with a star-filled sky. Some older backgrounds are also "enhanced" with extra graphics and added animation. Some examples of this are The Portal, which now includes a temple-like building on each side of the stage, and the Kahn's Kave, which has animated clouds and a glowing floor added to it. The sky of The Pit I stage has been redone in all versions: the PlayStation, PC, and Saturn versions feature a sky almost identical to that of The Pit II, while the N64 version features a pitch-black, star-filled sky. Kahn's Arena no longer has the sprites of Kano and Sonya in the background (most likely due to storyline reasons). Living Forest also no longer has sprites of Smoke and Jade emerging in the background as they are playable characters of Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3. The N64's Lost Bridge also has Hornbuckle and Blaze appear at random in its background. The N64's Graveyard stage has more names on the gravestones near the front: as well as the original Midway design team of MK3, names of the team at Williams Entertainment were added (the date of death on the stones was changed, from April 1, 1995 to September 30, 1996 to the creators' birthdates).
In this version there are two secret menus (blue question mark and red question mark) because not all the playable characters are unlocked from the start. Motaro and Shao Kahn are given Fatalities to perform, either as computer-controlled or regularly controlled characters. Johnny Cage has two Fatalities that he had in MKII (though one is performed differently; instead of ripping an opponent in half at his/her waist, he performs a powerful Shadow Kick move that knocks out the middle section of this opponent's torso). He also has new/different animations whenever a Fatality has been performed on him are different (an example is Kabal's Head Inflation, where in the other versions his shades are placed on the top of his head while in the N64 version his glasses are enlarged with his head). Nightwolf has a very different Friendship move exclusive to this version, which he pulls out 3 hatchets and begins to juggle as opposed to turning into Raiden since this character returned as a playable character to this game (although in the other versions, Nightwolf has his original MK3 Friendship move). In addition, many frames of animation had to be cut from each character in the game and Rain's stance is the same as Reptile's.
Sega Saturn
The Sega SaturnSega Saturn
The is a 32-bit fifth-generation video game console that was first released by Sega on November 22, 1994 in Japan, May 11, 1995 in North America, and July 8, 1995 in Europe...
version, converted by Point of View and released almost a year after the PlayStation and Nintendo 64 versions, is a straight conversion of the PlayStation version without any substantial changes in content. Due to hardware differences and inadecquate code adapting, the porting process from the PlayStation had some technical changes which included the replacement of almost all transparency effects with mesh patterns and the loss of certain voice samples like most fighters' running yells and some alternative phrases used by characters like Raiden and Scorpion in their attack techniques.
PC
The PC version is a direct port of the PlayStation version developed by Point of View and released almost at the same time as the Sega Saturn version. This version is a carbon copy of the PlayStation version, only lacking the extra load times and providing some minor cosmetic differences in the game introduction. There were at least two public revisions of this game for the PC and the final version (indicated by the word "final" next to the version number in the about dialog box) has gameplay identical to the Greatest Hits release on PlayStation. The game is not officially supported by Windows 2000Windows 2000
Windows 2000 is a line of operating systems produced by Microsoft for use on personal computers, business desktops, laptops, and servers. Windows 2000 was released to manufacturing on 15 December 1999 and launched to retail on 17 February 2000. It is the successor to Windows NT 4.0, and is the...
and subsequent variants (the game would crash frequently), however an unofficial patch called mktv2.sdb makes the game fully playable in Windows Vista
Windows Vista
Windows Vista is an operating system released in several variations developed by Microsoft for use on personal computers, including home and business desktops, laptops, tablet PCs, and media center PCs...
(the CD or ISO image has to be mounted to the first drive letter in order for CDDA music to play).
Game.com
The game was a launch release for the Game.comGame.com
The Game.com is a handheld game console released by Tiger Electronics in September 1997. It featured many new ideas for handheld consoles and was aimed at an older target audience, sporting PDA-style features and functions such as a touch screen and stylus...
handheld console. The game includes multiplayer mode, accessible only with the compete.com game link cable. Only 13 characters (Cyrax, Ermac, Jade, Mileena, Sektor, Kitana, Motaro, Nightwolf, Noob Saibot, Raiden, Reptile, Shao Kahn) and 10 Kombat Zones remain in this version (screenshots of early releases included Smoke, Scorpion, Classic Sub-Zero, Human Smoke, Goro, and Kintaro as characters, while Nightwolf and Raiden were not present and were probably added to include characters that were not palette swaps). In addition, each character has only two special moves and four finishing moves: one Fatality, Babality, Friendship, and Brutality. In this version, each finishing move has the same command for every character.
Other versions
Reception
Mortal Kombat Trilogy was met with mainly mediocre and positive reviews. The game was praised for having every character from the previous Mortal Kombat games, and adding new content to the game not seen in Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3, however it was criticized though for its brutal difficulty and high number of glitches. On GameRankings, the PSX and Saturn versions have an average of 75% and 80% respectively, but the N64 version has an average of only 50% (ForbesForbes
Forbes is an American publishing and media company. Its flagship publication, the Forbes magazine, is published biweekly. Its primary competitors in the national business magazine category are Fortune, which is also published biweekly, and Business Week...
magazine even called the Nintendo 64 MKT a "particularly horrible game" in comparison to the PlayStation/Saturn version Nevertheless, the N64 version was honored in Nintendo Power Awards '96, coming second in the category Best Tournament Fighting Game.).