Just as the title says, this version of MK3 for the Sega Genesis is nothing short of amazing. Watch as I destroy Shao Kahn in a battle to save the Earth Realm. Sleep soundly tonight knowing that he was defeated. Enjoy!
This is the version I grew up with. My Dad got it for me. I knew nothing about Mortal Kombat. Mom was upset because she thought it was too violent 🤣. Its still in my room somewhere. Kabal was my fav.
This was my version because I was a Sega kid in the 90’s. I remember getting this on release day in fall 1995 on the Genesis. I was so happy at the time to have a home version of this game. I remember UMK3 was released in arcades around this time but we all had to wait like several months to a year to get a home port of that. Good memories. Thank you for going through these old versions. The nostalgia is real!
Both the Genesis and the Snes versions were using 32 meg cartridges, a real improvement over the 24 meg cartridge used for MK2. Though, it REALLY sucks that the cemetery stage is missing from both the 16 bit ports...
The Genesis could have handled speech in MK II. The issue was Probe/Acclaim cheeped out on the Genesis port of both MK and Mk II (and also MK II on Saturn). They made up for it with the Sega CD port of Mk, and the 32X release of MK 2. There are fan scene rom hacks now that put the audio back into the Genesis games.
Yea Saturn MK 2 could've been great. They used the internal sound chip, not cd audio which was weird- the input delay sucked, and the floaty inconsistent controls were not good for MK- the graphics looked phenomenal though and the computer opponent 100% of the time does a fatality
Before we owned the SNES version, we use to rent the Genesis version many times. The music on the SNES version was better, but this version does have its charm. Looking at this version now, I can say the animations and gameplay does look a bit more faster than the SNES version. Both were good back in the day.
I find the dial-a-combos lag on the Genesis version, I can input the entire string of one for a character, and it takes a bit longer for the animations to finish out.
Considering how much these games cost back in the day, it's almost criminal how the sega versions of MK1 and 2 weren't given the same attention to detail as the SNES versions were. MK3 was a great course correction in terms of not feeling like a cash in. Glad someone behind the scenes made the call to give them both to Sculptured. Great developer.
This was a pleasant surprise. As a genesis owner, I always felt we got the short end of the stick when it comes to MK ports. Graphic and sound limitations are one thing, but in other respects it seemed as if the programmers put less effort into the genesis ports.. Never understood why the first two MK games never had speech.
I grew up on the Genesis ports of MK2 and MK3. My older cousin had the SNES version and I loved both. For years I never knew the cheat codes so the SNES was my favorite for the cheats and Genesis was my favorite to win play normally.
Genesis's worst flaw is the very limited number of colors it can display, no matter if the screen is not cropped like in the SNES or if it hasn't slowdowns, an emulator can take care of such things
@@user-ge2oh8nj5h Despite the Genesis could display more colors on-screen, it only had 64 color palettes which aren't enough to showcase much details in a game like MK3. It's 64 color palette was the reason why the Sega Genesis can't play Game Gear games even if an adapter for one existed unlike how Super NES could play Game Boy games via Super Game Boy. Game Gear despite being 8-Bit had 4,096 color palette whereas Genesis despite being 16-Bit only had 64 color palette. It make sense cause Genesis is 1988 hardware and Game Gear was 1990 hardware, there just wasn't enough color options for 16-Bit in 1988.
@@GeomancerHT I mean it in general, I loved the Genesis as I owned one back in the day but I couldn't bear the less colors on screen for many games compared to the SNES ones growing up
@@VOAN what you are talking about ? The genesis never has a 64 color pallete . The genesis pallete or total of colors are 512 or 1536 with the shadow highlight mode . The real limitation is the 61 colors on screen per frame . The genesis was very limited in color and sound not doubt but it is a 1988 hardware.
Quick End is the easy finisher option, it allows you to set any finisher to be easy toggle for example if you want to do an Animality and don't want to do the full input you could press the last input initiate and it will work for example Liu Kang's Animality is Down, Down, Up at sweep distance but by turning on Quick End for Animality you could just press Up while standing at sweep distance. If you set it to Fatality 1, you could perform Liu Kang's first fatality the Flame Engulf which was originally Forward, Forward, Down, Down, Low Kick by just simply pressing Low Kick. The Flame Engulf fatality could be perform anywhere just like the Arcade Drop. Also the bosses could only be play in 2-Player mode and only one player could choose em, Williams Entertainment doesn't want player to cheat when playing the game by themselves so the bosses can't be play against the computer. When one player choose the boss the other player is lock-out from choosing the other one, if you win a match with a boss and try to attempt to go single player the game will just sent you back to the character selection screen.
" Also the bosses could only be play in 2-Player mode and only one player could choose em, Williams Entertainment doesn't want player to cheat when playing the game by themselves so the bosses can't be play against the computer. When one player choose the boss the other player is lock-out from choosing the other one, if you win a match with a boss and try to attempt to go single player the game will just sent you back to the character selection screen." Not true, from what i remember (played both 16bit MK3 versions back in the day), the limited boss select you're talking about was only true on the snes version where in VS mode only one player could choose a secret character (either bosses or smoke), i don't know if it was just a gimmick of the programmers or due to technical limitations of the snes (in the char. select screen, there was only one box dedicated to the three secret characters that was looping between the three). In the genesis on the other hand, all secret chars had a dedicated select box (like shown on this video), thus making VS between bosses or between a boss and smoke possible. For the quick end part, i didn't know how it worked back in the day, well it works differently than the snes easy finisher cheat in which each controller button is dedicated to a finisher. I think it was made this way because Genesis default controller had three buttons only.
@@anouarderdek I got the Sega Genesis version right now and I could confirm to you that playing in 2-player mode with them on, only one player could select a boss. If I pick Motaro, the other human player can't pick Shao Kahn even though his box is just right there. The only way to let both players pick both bosses at the same time could only be done through a Game Genie code. Picking bosses in the Super NES version was dumb too cause if one player pick one of the bosses then the other player can't pick Smoke as all three share the rotating box together and the rotating box stopped rotating once the cursor is lock to the player. Genesis version at least let both players pick Smoke and one of the bosses. In Ultimate MK3, the Genesis version suck even more cause you can't even pick both bosses this time, the cheat will only allow one boss to be enabled.
Makes you wonder, if Probe Entertainment wasn't the developer of MK2 for Sega, it probably would have done better. Sculptured did all of the SNES MKs and then took over for MK3 for Sega and you see the vast improvement there.
Probe did a very good job of porting MK1 and MK2 to the system, considering how little space on the cartridge they had to work with. MK3 on the Mega Drive was released on a 32 megabit cart, about four times larger than MK2. They had no chance of fitting all the content in such a small ROM, so a lot of cutbacks had to be made.
Mortal kombat 3 was all done in house thou Midway and Williams Entertainment but I do agree that Sculptured did a great job porting MK2 to SNES. it was the best one next to Playstation coming in 2nd. Which they did the port for MK2 themself. playstation keep it true to the arcade 1 to 1
MK2 wasn't an 8Mbit cart,@@rocznik83 . It was 24Mbit, and the 32X version was even larger - 32Mbit IIRC. Storage space was not the issue here. Probe simply were not attempting or able to deliver a faithful port. All of their 16-bit ports are seriously flawed, because they're happy to alter, cut and compromise in unacceptable places. Their 8-bit Z-80 work is fantastic, however.
Awesome!!!i remember reading somewhere that they used a clever trick to fit all the music and sound fx,of course i don't know the technical details lol😂 but sure is impressive!!! it's also one of those games that i think the colour palette of the genesis actually compliments the game!!!great stuff buddy!!!i also have umk3 on the genesis and as far as i remember that one also plays really nicely!!!
I'll never forget begging for mercy as the bullies did a fatality on my character. After that, it was time for the actual, physical beatings on ME. The pain, the suffering they inflicted on not just my body, but my soul, the humility...never should one person have to suffer the way I did.
Too many people think that if it looks better is a better game. Genesis has the better gameplay. And anyway genesis had better resolution and more animation frames... Colours and details in static image are not the most important thing...
Resolution is the crutch for which gamers that suck try to justify themselves. Either version, just pick Cyrax, and net the opponent when they get close to sweep range, works every single time.
There's been a couple hacks on several fighting games and the concensus is if the developers were given enough time the accuracy of the ports when compared to arcade versions could have been much better. The limitations we see are more time based instead of hardware based
I had the PS1 version at the time and never actually played the 16-bit versions.. I think the PS1 version was better than the arcade, so long as you weren't playing as Shang Tsung of course. 🤣
I remember pre-ordering this game back in the day. It was so good. They added so many voices, animation was great, and the names were in the life bars. I don't know why SNES took the names out of the life bars.
MK1: better on Genesis (SNES port looks and sounds great, but it plays with a weird lag), MK2: SNES (one of the best arcade to 16bit ports ever), MK3: SNES (looks and sounds better, gameplay is quite similar and good on both), UMK3: Genesis (more backgrounds, but gameplay is quite similar and good on both).
I really think the lag on thr SNES version is intentional so thay your character doesn't move when doing inputs for special moves. It sucks, but I think that's why it feels that way.
For MK3 I prefer Genesis, if only for the higher 320X224 resolution. The SNES 256X224 really hurts this game its really really soft. I was shocked because the SNES MK2 graphically slaughtered the Genesis MK2. For MK1 I slightly prefer Genesis to the SNES but I like some of the unique finishing moves from the SNES especially Raidens. The absolute best of the best for 16-bit Mortal Kombat is Mortal Kombat 2 on the SNES for the hardware it was about perfect and mindblowing at the time.
I find resolution makes no difference in this, nor any game. Both still have cheesy AI, and Cyrax can pretty much cheese his way through every opponent except Motaro (immune to projectiles, including Cyrax's net) and Shao Kahn (who can be cheesed in his own way with Smoke's spear).
I always been impress with the genesis version of MK3 fun fact it was made by the snes developer sculptured software it was their first MK on genesis they have done a way better job then probe !!!
The Genesis had the better port. I'm not sure if I remember correctly but I believe the Genesis port was a 32 mb cartridge while the SNES only got a 24 mb cartridge. There is a hack for the SNES rom called UMK3 Deluxe which has all of tge missing stages and backgrounds that were removed from the SNES port.
Not sure where you are getting the SNES version of vanilla MK3 had less stages than the Genesis version. Both had the exact same amount of stages, both were missing the graveyard stage from the arcade original. I own both versions and confirmed long ago that they both have the exact same amount of stages as one another, and magazines pretty much back in the day pointed out that both were missing that graveyard stage.
Sega Genesis was my first console (technically it was my dad's) and MK3 was one of the first games I ever played even though I was like 4 years old lmao
I'm not quite familiar with the Sega Genesis port, I am mostly familiar with the SNES port. Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 on the Genesis that I am very familiar with. Great job and great video, it is always nice to see video games with the nostalgia value. I love the original timeline, but I also love the new current timeline. Thanks for uploading and making these videos
Great upload bro. This version was definitely a step up from MK2 on Genesis. Controls are great, sound is "sega", Graphics are improved and honestly this looks better blown up than what i remember on the CRT TV. MK3, 6 button controller, Genesis = Not bad at all. 👍👊
Yeah dude I had no complaints playing this version.. except for Kintaro who is a HUGE pain in the butt on this one. Thanks for the comment PAX the MAN 👊🏼
It helps to keep in mind that the Sega Channel was thing back when these games where being developed, so there was feedback from players before the games hit retail, which is why some of the stuff was so great.
Darryl, I've seen most of your Mortal Kombat vids, awesome fun to watch, Mortal Kombat 2 and 3 were my very first MK games on the Sega Genesis and I couldn't stop playing them for months and this when I was 9 yrs old, and Mortal Kombat 3 on the Sega was fun, but unfortunately you can't play the boss characters in single player mode but only in two player mode, but the graphics, characters, and all and all this was a fun MK game in that system.
I’ll never forget walking into my cousin’s birthday party after this had just come out and seeing The Subway. It blew my mind. I didn’t think the Genesis was capable of this.
55" looking nice. I'm getting my MKII on with a 65", Mame emulator, and Hori Fightstick. 2 much fun, thanks for the inspiration, keep the videos coming
I remember when this came out on the Sega Genesis I was very pleased with this version a lot. At the time I had only played this & the Arcade Version. I didn't realize at the time that the arcade version was a lot better since both of these games played excellent. At the time I was more concerned about spending 50 cents each time I played Mortal Kombat at the arcades. I would spend like $20 a day just to beat this in the arcades. So when I bought this back then for $80 for the Genesis version, I was like yeah I am just going to play it here & beat it here without spending any additional money on this game plus I have options in this that I can put it on an easier level to beat it with every said character to see their ending. Which in the arcade at the time I never did that because they had it set to probably normal or hard & I guess on hard because they wanted money.
I remember the SNES always having slightly better graphics (colors) and audio but I always felt they played better on Genesis. The controls just always felt sluggish and spongey on SNES whereas it felt quick and tight on Genesis and the same goes for other fighters like Street Fighter 2 and SNK games.
The genesis had a faster input polling rate then snes. Its noticible. I prefer sf2 on sega. Genesis was only second to turbo grafx which had zero polling cycles. Input went to the cpu first instead of waiting for memory bus or scanline operation. I ordered sf2 for it finally and am anxious to try it.
I still play SF2 on my Genesis from time to time. The graphics take a major hit, of course, but the gameplay is still dead on. There are original cabinets for both Champion Edition and Hyper Fighting near me so I can vouch based on those as well :)
It was the most fun I ever had growing up finding secrets and codes for these games, looking forward to new gaming magazines coming out etc. the internet is awesome don’t get me wrong, but that time before internet when gaming was exciting and thrilling, it’ll never be that way ever again. Thank you for the comment 👊🏼
On the SNES version, the cheat menus are called Kool Stuff, Kooler Stuff, and Scott’s Stuff. Interesting. I suppose that’s because it was developed by a different company. I grew up with the SNES version and I prefer its BGM over Sega, but still not a bad port. Thanks for the video!
the memories i have of sitting in the living room floor at 7 yrs old kicking my dads butt over and over playing mk3 still brings a smirk to my face. i just sent this vid to him and hope he sees this comment just to rub it in one more time.😂💀 love you dad i’m ready for a rematch anytime.
Once Williams/Midway took the porting in house instead of using Probe, the conversions got a lot better. Just shows it wasn’t a hardware limitation on the Genesis, that made it look so much worse than the SNES variants. It was the dev team.
Funny thing about this version (and the Genesis UMK3 version as well... probably I already mentioned it on the UMK3 video) is the fact that it has a 2nd minigame in the form of Pong, it blew my mind to put a specific kombat kode one, having a message of a teaser of the next MK game and then out of nowhere... Pong time!!!
I was very happy that sculptured software did this version instead of Probe. They would’ve just butchered it like they did with every single version of MK1 and 2.
Hello! I from Eastern Europe. Excellent game! 😊👍 I played it on my SNES and played on Sega Mega Drive 2 with my cousin. Both versions very very good! 👌 I like to play Sub-Zero and Cyrex, cousin like Kabal and Tsung. Kabal and Cyrex be best chose to beat Motaro. MK3 be first MK game which I played, later in 1996 in «ГУМ» shop on centre of Moscow I saw Arcade machine MK2, and how I hear it be only arcade machine of this game in city and maybe in country. Every time when I been in «ГУМ» we go to what arcade but it be impossible to play, because big crowd be around this arcade and they all play one after other. And I go to have a good drive on Sega Daytona 500 arcade, where much grown up played, I be teenager and it be not easy to reach gas and break pedals for me, but I drive good 😊 Sorry, for my poor English. Glory to Ukraine! 🇺🇦
No bones during fatality, no talk during friendship, no talk during animality - but they are all not a big deal! 🤣🤣🤣🤣 What was the input for Cyrax's helicopter fatality?? I think it was ,,Down Down Down Up Down HP,, if I remember correctly? 🤔 I give you a sub I like your contents!
The Genesis version looks like something between a NES bootleg version of MK3 and the actual SNES MK3 version. The graphics are poor but not NES/Master System poor.
As someone who had the Megadrice (as the Genesis is called in Europe) in the 1990s and had MK1 and 2 on it, this is a much better conversion regarding the sound than they were. MK1 and 2 only had a few speech samples.
My favorite version! I owned a Genesis and was so bummed about how much better the SNES MK games looked and sounded (even if MK1 Genesis had superior gameplay and blood). But this one actually had the speech and sounds I'd been missing for years. It was a dream come true lol (not to be too dramatic)!
And HERE IT IS!! LOL my first real MK3 experience after the gameboy version...all credits still goes to the GB version so when i started this i knew most of the finishers LOL but this right here was my thing...my gosh that feling of everytime i put on my genesis was awesome! I forgot i had other games to play LMAO!! Aw man this was awesome to watch again..made me find that Kfusion emulator once again just to play it! Been a treat watching brother thanks for the upload most grateful!
There are better emulators for Genesis nowadays. If you use retroarch, there's even a widescreen version of the Gens core which can run the games in widescreen.
@@MoonOvIce retroarch is too demanding on the PC or even the PS4 in my opinion in terms of genesis emulator Kfusion is the best for the PC if anyone name any other i'll be stoked to know please.
Bosses was for 2 player games only. You could use a 3 button controller but it was awkward, A was LP, A+B was HP, B was Block, Start was Run, B+C was HK and C was LK
what people forget is the snes came out 2 years after the megadrive and what i hated about the snes was the slowdown as that made me feel ill yes it had more colours but it just messed me up still had good games though
Music wise, the absence of Matt Furniss in the MK3 Genesis soundtrack is REALLY felt. The quality dipped and I prefer the SNES version of it over the Genesis.
When we were in elementary we would play this and our friend let us barrow his version so we take turns every week, like that Simpsons episode of bart, we wanted the game so bad, then we go umk3 the following year
There was definitely speech in MK2 on Genesis, but a lot of phrases were missing, like Shao Khan only said "You will die!" (omitting the "mortal" at the end, and tons of other phrases found in other versions).
I played the snes version back in the day at a friends house then ended up getting it myself for Sega, i was very disappointed when i found out it was the lesser version.
As a kid i never saw SNES vs Genesis as a thing. I had the SNES but was always interested in Genesis but we couldn't afford both. I was always interested in the differences between the same games.
Este fue el primer juego Original de Mortal Kombat que compre. Caja con booklet. En Argentina era dificil conseguirlo en los años 90. Mk1 fue el primer juego de mi sega genesis. Los mejores recuerdos! Sin duda alguna, MK2 fue el mejor de los 3... pero sega genesis no tuvo buena edición del mismo.
I grew up with the PC version. I remember each character had 3 or 4 “blood enemies” or something to that effect that even on the easiest setting would absolutely kick your ass.
I had the original with the long case they used to put them in. But of course like many other great games my older brother took them and sold them a long time ago. Maybe one day again I’ll have it, it was a great version minus the loading time. Thanks for the comment 👊🏼
