Got several questions about Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3, hope it's OK to make a thread like this.

1) What is the exact release date of the Arcade version? On the site it's 1994 listed, but I guess it's 1995? If it was 1995, does it mean it was released in arcades at the same time/before the PC/SNES/MD versions of the original MK3? Wasn't MK3 considered out of date already?

2) Was the game really conceived only to get the fans back who did not like the lack of ninjas in MK3? Was MK3 doing a lot worse than expected so they had to do UMK3 to get fans back, or it was more like a gesture to hardcore fans who missed Scorpion etc?

3) Was there any reason given why the whole intro and the old character bios were removed in Arcade/Saturn version?

4) The SNES/MD version omits Sheeva, was she considered as the least popular MK3 so she could be sacrificed?

5) Are there any numbers about how the game did in arcades and home consoles? Was it considered as a successful edition of MK?

Thanks in advance for the answers!

its released at the end of 1994, you can actually get all "release ad" info from MK3: Into the Outworld video in the MK3 Vids section.



umk3 was the mk3, but for some reason they released mk3 first and it became so popular that they decided to make umk3 as an addon. yet alot of fans didnt liked the fact mk3 didnt had scorp, masked sub and etc



yeah, because umk3 (arc) is an extra chip that "overwrites" all mk3 stuff like "endings, bios, intros, storyline" and etc, dunno about saturn.



afaik sheeva was the least popular/liked char in mk3



umk3 is one of the most succesful mk games, if i remember correctly Kingdom MK had the info you are looking for but since the site is no more online you can try browsing archive.org...

i'm really on a rush right now so if you have any more questions or things to ask or didnt understood i may go more detailed later ;]

Thanks for the answers, yes it would be nice if you could go in more detail!

I watched that video, they do mention the arcade version is out for a year until they start converting it to other versions, so that explains. I guess that was the norm back then.

Becky Gable appears in the video, so it's really true as you said UMK3 was to be the original MK3 and the ninjas were to appear in it? But wasn't there some Ed Boon decision about ninjas being gone and Sub-Zero getting unmasked? Because of that UMK3 was able to become an add-on as you said? It's weird because on the surface UMK3 does seem like it was damage control for the lack of ninjas...

I know it's because I'm so used to MK3's feel and style, that imagining Kitana etc would be part of the original game is so weird to me...

I thought Stryker was the least popular character of MK3 and that Sheeva was popular for being the playable "female Goro". Then again, I never thought Nightwolf was popular either and he seemed like a nod to one of the Street Fighter 2 updates, but that might be just my personal taste talking.

On an emulation forum I read UMK3 was the least successful MK game, that's why I was wondering... I don't know the exact URL of that defunct Kingdom site, hope you can help me out with that.

And there's the Jade's Desert level with Cyrax in the background which is obviously a continuation error, but since they removed the intros and bios and the endings were relegated to one of the rewards in the game finale, I guess that was not a problem for Midway?

UMK3 Is My Favourate 2D Mk Game
And Thanks For The Useful Info Ded

_________________
I Am A "Shirai Ryu"
I Am A Dead  Ninja Assassin
I Am The Ninja SPECTRE
I Am ((Scorpion))
--------------
My Free Forum :
http://mkninjas.myfreeforum.org/
Be Welcome...!

umk3 is so much different than mk3 (in gameplay point of view) that i plan to make an article about it.



i really dont know the true reason for mk3 being a single title but i guess, and its my own opinion of course, that the reason was profit. and infact mk3 and umk3 both sold way more copies than mk1 and mk2.



sheeva was popular at first, because the idea was cool. but in the actual gameplay she is one of the weakest characters, and stryker from other hand was cool to play with, but for the storyfans he didnt fit in the mythology. after umk3/mkt stryker became even more popular and ed boon made a joke about putting him in mkgold.



emulation forum are probably just fatality/story lovers fans who dont like the game at all, but um3 and mk2 are the only mk games that are still played competetively until this day, about 15-16 years after its release...anyway the link you are looking for is: http://web.archive.org/web/*/http://fig ... net.com/mk



yeah, mine too ;]

Story-wise the game was nothing new and nothing special, as ded_ said.
I can assure you, that UMK3 is one of the most popular Mortal Kombat game, even today. One of the proves is that our UMK3 section is one of the most visited every single mount.

_________________
I Rule This World!
By the unholy darkness that consumes me, I will have the Earthrealm.

Mortal Kombat Secrets Webmaster

All users, read the updated Rules

Not much info on that archived site, many pages are not working and I could not find any numbers.

I can see why Sheeva's popularity fizzled out and of course in the arcades they can see which character was used most/least. Still don't see why Nightwolf was considered better.

I guess the arcade emulation keeps UMK3 popular? I just wished they would not have removed the story/intro/bios because it feels incomplete while playing it...

But what is the exact Ed Boon quote about no ninjas in MK3 and getting them all back for UMK3? And Kitana was indeed meant to be in MK3? Liu Kang's and Sindel's ending makes that very possible.

The Endings, Bios Images probably got removed, to save memory.

_________________
I Rule This World!
By the unholy darkness that consumes me, I will have the Earthrealm.

Mortal Kombat Secrets Webmaster

All users, read the updated Rules

I'm still curious about the decision of cutting the ninjas from MK3. On Kitana's wikipedia page you can read this:

"She was going to return in Mortal Kombat 3, but she, along with all other palette-swapped ninja characters, were cut down from the game due to Midway's strict policy about ninja-inspired material at that time, however she returned in Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3."

Is there any article or interview about this?

wikipedia is fake as shit when it comes to mk