Midway released Mortal Kombat 3 in North American arcades on 15 April 1995. Ed Boon and John Tobias designed it, and Dan Forden composed the music. The game added a Run button with its own meter, pre-set chain combos known as dial-a-combos, and Animalities that require a Mercy first. An uppercut can send the opponent through the ceiling to another level, and three stages have their own stage Fatalities.
The roster has 14 playable fighters plus the secret Noob Saibot, with newcomers such as Cyrax, Kabal, Nightwolf, Sektor, Sindel, Sheeva and Stryker. Scorpion is absent, making this the only main installment without him, and Kitana is missing too.
Home versions for the Genesis, Super NES, MS-DOS, Game Boy and PlayStation all came out in North America on 13 October 1995; in Japan the PlayStation version was published by Sony Computer Entertainment. The game was later updated as Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 and led to Mortal Kombat Trilogy in 1996.12
Names and releases
| Region | Title on the box | Platform | Date | Publisher | Src |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| NA | Mortal Kombat 3 | Arcade | Apr 15, 1995 | Midway | 1 |
| NA | Mortal Kombat 3port by Software Creations | Game Boy | Oct 13, 1995 | Williams Entertainment | 1 |
| NA | Mortal Kombat 3port by Sculptured Software | Genesis | Oct 13, 1995 | Williams Entertainment | 1 |
| NA | Mortal Kombat 3port by Sculptured Software | MS-DOS | Oct 13, 1995 | GT Interactive | 1 |
| NA | Mortal Kombat 3port by Leland Interactive Media | PlayStation | Oct 13, 1995 | Sony Computer Entertainment | 1 |
| NA | Mortal Kombat 3port by Sculptured Software | SNES | Oct 13, 1995 | Williams Entertainment | 1 |
| NA | Mortal Kombat 3port by Leland Interactive Media | Windows | 1996 | GT Interactive | 1 |
| EU | Mortal Kombat 3 | Genesis | Oct 20, 1995 | Acclaim | 1 |
| EU | Mortal Kombat 3 | SNES | Oct 20, 1995 | Acclaim | 1 |
| EU | Mortal Kombat 3 | PlayStation | Dec 8, 1995 | Sony Computer Entertainment | 1 |
| EU | Mortal Kombat 3Europe only | Game Gear | 1995 | Acclaim | 1 |
| BR | Mortal Kombat 3Brazil only | Master System | 1996 | Tec Toy | 1 |
Also known as: MK3 WW2
Box art by region
NA Mortal Kombat 3
Box art © its publishers, shown to identify each release. Scans: Wikipedia.
Version differences
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ContentGame Boy
The Game Boy version has only nine of the 15 fighters and five stages. Motaro and the button-link combos are gone, the only finishers are Fatalities and Babalities, and there is less gore.1
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CensorshipGame Gear
The Game Gear version, released only in Europe, is in color and keeps Noob Saibot as a hidden fighter, but it has no blood or gore.1
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GraphicsMaster System (BR)
The Master System version, released only in Brazil, is almost the same as the Game Gear one but has blood and a wider view of the stage.1
Where to play legally today
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GOG Purchase
How to run it today
GOG sells the MS-DOS version in the Mortal Kombat 1+2+3 bundle. It runs in a preconfigured DOSBox, is DRM-free and is listed as compatible with Windows 10 and 11; a macOS build is also offered.
- Mortal Kombat 1+2+3 on GOG gog.com
Reception
RePlay named it the most popular arcade game of May 1995, and it was the highest-grossing arcade conversion kit of 1995 in the US. Williams reported 250,000 Genesis and Super NES copies sold in the first weekend, and the Super NES version passed one million copies by 23 November 1995. Critics disliked the missing characters, the combo system and the Animalities, but praised the faithful PlayStation and Super NES conversions.1
In lists
Sources
Checked: 2026-10-13Text reviewed: 2026-10-13
Spotted a mistake? Write to atlas@old-games.net.