GAME · 1995 · USA
Mortal Kombat 3
26 archived facts 1 topic 1 source Last reviewed Oct 2026
All facts (26)
- #001
Lia Montelongo, who played the ancient Sindel, was only 20 years old at the time the game was made.
- #002
This was the first time Sub-Zero appeared without his mask.
- #003
This marked the first appearance of Motaro, Sindel, Stryker, Kabal and Sheeva.
- #004
In an interview (published in the MK3 Official Collector's Book released by the EGM Masters series in 1995), John Tobias said Motaro was actually inspired by a toy he had as a child. The toy in question was The Micronauts villain Baron Karza, which came with a horse that, when disassembled and combined with the figure, formed a centaur-like creature.
- #005
Sindel's original name during this game's development was Muchacha.
- #006
Some arcade cabinets sent to arcades had side panels reused from earlier MK games with Johnny Cage depicted on them. Johnny Cage does not appear in MK III.
- #007
The Graveyard and Bell Tower stages were originally named "The Boonyard" and "Tobias Tower" respectively, but criticism about the over-saturation of Boon and Tobias's names in the game quickly surfaced, resulting in both levels being rapidly renamed with more generic descriptions.
- #008
This marked the first appearance of Cyrax, Sektor and Smoke in their robot forms. Apart from Noob Saibot (via a Game Genie code as a black version of Kano) and the unmasked Sub-Zero, no ninja warriors appear in this game.
- #009
Many characters and concepts in this game are rejected ideas from MK2. However, Striker was a character concept that evolved from Sonya in MK1 and Jax in MK2. Striker finally became a reality as Stryker in MK3.
- #010
The plot of this game is the main plot of the film Mortal Kombat: Annihilation (1997).
- #011
This is the only MK fighting game in which Scorpion does not appear. However, he reappears in the Ultimate version of Mortal Kombat 3.
- #012
Before her name was finally decided, Sheeva's original name was "She-Goro".
- #013
This is the first game in which Jax has metallic arms.
- #014
John Tobias left Midway shortly after this game's completion, citing numerous company-related problems. He eventually returned during the making of Mortal Kombat Vs DC.
- #015
Kano and Sonya were the first characters approved for the game.
- #016
In the arcade version, Kung Lao had no character biography during his attract mode. Midway created one for the game's home versions.
- #017
Nightwolf's "projectile reflect" attack does not work against Smoke's spear. This was fixed in Ultimate Mortal Kombat III, where the spear would pass through if he used the technique.
- #018
In an interview, Ed Boon stated that this game received nearly ten times more advertising than the first two games. Despite this, the game was less successful.
- #019
Mortal Kombat 3 served as the basis for Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 and Mortal Kombat Trilogy.
- #020
This was the first appearance of the Run button.
- #021
The Graveyard stage does not appear in the Super Nintendo and Sega Genesis versions.
- #022
It is the only game without Scorpion, despite his having been added to Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3.
- #023
The player who played Liu Kang was named Eddie Wong. Tekken had a character named Eddie Wong.
- #024
This is one of the few instances in the series where Liu Kang's iconic Dragon Fatality was not part of his first two Fatalities, but instead became his Animality alongside the other fighters' Animalities.
- #025
It is the only Game Boy game to carry an "M" rating.
- #026
The Smoke's Portal and Noob's Dorfen stages were not included in the Super Nintendo and Sega Genesis versions.
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Sources & editorial notes
Sources for the entries on this page
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Information from external sources is independently selected, consolidated and edited by Arka Evren. Sources are listed for verification and further reading. Encyclopedia text is used under its licence (CC BY-SA). How we work