Mortal Kombat Trilogy

Did You Know?

• Actors Ho Sung Pak, Philip Ahn, Elizabeth Malecki, Katalin Zamiar, and Daniel Pesina left Midway prior to production due to royalty disputes.
• Carlos Pesina's original sprites were used for Raiden's gameplay, but Sal Divita's image was used for his versus screen picture.

Gameplay

Mortal Kombat Trilogy added the Aggressor bar, which builds up during a fight and fills twice as quickly when the opponent blocks. Once full, it temporarily boosts movement speed and attack damage. Several characters received new special moves, some just tweaked versions of old ones, like Stryker tossing two grenades instead of one, and others were leftover animations never used in earlier games. Examples include Kano's Knife Spin from the first game, Kung Lao's Air Torpedo from the second, Goro's Spinning Punch, Raiden's lightning that strikes from behind the opponent, and Baraka's Blade Spin. Shao Kahn got a throw and a grab-and-punch, while Motaro gained a proper throw. The Brutality finishing move was introduced, where the player attacks the opponent repeatedly until they explode. All arenas from Mortal Kombat II, Mortal Kombat 3, and Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 are included, but only four stages from the original game appear: Courtyard, Goro's Lair, the Pit, and the Pit Bottom. The PC, PlayStation, and Saturn versions are missing the Hidden Portal and Noob's Dorfen stages from MK3, while the Nintendo 64 version lacks Kahn's Arena from MKII and the Bank from MK3.

Characters

Along with the Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 roster, Trilogy adds Raiden and Baraka as they appeared in Mortal Kombat II, with running animations created for this game. Raiden was portrayed by Carlos Pesina (except for one sprite by Sal Divita), and Baraka by Richard Divizio. Johnny Cage is added, portrayed by Chris Alexander, replacing Daniel Pesina due to legal disputes; he is the only non-secret character exclusive to this version. He kept his moves from MKII except the Split Punch, as no MK3/UMK3 characters had graphics for groin hits. Bosses Goro, Kintaro, Motaro, and Shao Kahn are playable from the start, except on Nintendo 64 where only Motaro and Shao Kahn are included and must be unlocked. The PC, PlayStation, and Saturn versions contain alternate versions of Jax, Kung Lao, Kano, and Raiden as they appeared in the first two titles; these versions lack proper running animations and use sped-up walk cycles. Two new secret characters appear: Chameleon, a semi-transparent ninja who switches between male ninjas, portrayed by John Turk, is in most versions. The Nintendo 64 version replaces him with Khameleon, a female character who switches between Kitana, Mileena, and Jade, portrayed by Becky Gable.

Release

Avalanche Software handled the development of this version. The PlayStation release saw at least three public updates, with the final being the North American Greatest Hits and European Platinum editions. Each update brought the gameplay closer to the arcade version of Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3, removing many infinite combos and glitches. Shang Tsung is absent from the Choose Your Destiny towers, likely because of the loading delays his morphing caused on the PlayStation; players could disable morphs entirely or have the system load two extra characters into memory to avoid the long waits. The CPU only controls Shang Tsung during the attract mode. Beating the PlayStation version reveals a credits message that says MK4 coming in 1997. Playing this version on a PlayStation 2 or PlayStation 3 can cause the game to freeze due to various bugs. The Nintendo 64 port draws from the Windows PC and PlayStation versions of Mortal Kombat 3, as well as the Sega Saturn version of Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3, and was created by Leland Interactive Media. It features exclusive 3-on-3 simultaneous battles. Players start with four credits and earn an extra after a two-player match, whereas the CD-ROM versions offer free play from the start; Free Play must be unlocked on the N64. The N64 version includes a Supreme Demonstration mode that shows every Fatality, Babality, Friendship, Animality, and Brutality for each character, unlike the PlayStation and Saturn versions which cannot display all finishers in the given time due to loading. Its music comes only from Mortal Kombat 3 and is of noticeably lower quality than the CD versions, but all ending tunes and Finish Him/Her loops are present. Some backgrounds use the wrong background track compared to the arcade version of Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3.

Reception

Critical reception varied by platform and publication. Brazilian magazine SuperGamePower gave the Nintendo 64 version 4.8 out of 5, calling it the best Mortal Kombat game. French magazine Super Power gave the N64 version 91%, favoring it over the PlayStation version. Electronic Gaming Monthly's four reviewers all recommended the Nintendo 64 version, citing the amount of content and absence of load times, though Dan Hsu and Crispin Boyer found the graphics disappointing. Both Boyer and Shawn Smith said the game converted them to Mortal Kombat fandom. GamePro praised the content, accurate arcade graphics, Aggressor meter, and new mechanics for older characters, but noted slowdown and muted music. Jeff Gerstmann of GameSpot contradicted GamePro, saying the music is normal for a non-CD game and the sound effects are muffled; he complimented the N64 version's play modes but noted missing animation frames and omitted characters. Peer Schneider of IGN said all audio sounds muffled, called the N64 version a faithful conversion but compared it unfavorably to the PlayStation version, and held that the arcade games were too aged for the N64. Forbes called it a particularly horrible game among the N64 library. It was honored in Nintendo Power Awards '96, coming second in Best Tournament Fighting Game.