A good MK game,not as good as the first two MK games,but has combo attacks and faster speed.
I loved playing MK and MK2 at the arcades and on my home console.MK3 changed things a bit by being the first MK game to have a combo attack system,and it has it's good and bad points.
Some of the combo attacks do over 40% damage to your opponent's health,however,performing combo attacks required you to remember long,sequences of different button presses.When I did a 7 hit combo with Sub Zero that resulted in 30% damage to my opponent's health,I had to perform 7 button presses.I found this system to be a bit annoying,because in other fighting games,I could do a good amount of damage with a combo attack that requires only 2 or 3 button presses and certain motions with a joystick.D-Pad.
A run button was also introduced to MK3 and it made the fighting faster and allowed you to rush at your opponent and try to catch them off guard with an attack or combo.
The CPU AI still isn't very good,just like in the first two MK games.The CPU opponents will constantly try to run at you and do combo attacks on you,and after you defeat a few CPU opponents,the CPU will counter or block many of your attacks,but there is a few strategies that you can use to easily beat the CPU because the CPU doesn't learn how to adapt to them,but it takes away a lot of the creativity and style from the fight.
However,the game was still a lot of fun for it's time,and the boss fights were hectic,against Motaro(a giant centaur)and against Shao Kahn once again.
In the story for the game,Shao Kahn has finally found a way to invade Earth by using priests to create portals,so he won't have to rely on trying to win another tournament.Billions of humans die within the first few hours of Shao Kahn's invasion,and you'll see many empty city streets.
The characters in MK3 have a different feel to the ones in the previous MK games.There is now robot ninja characters,Sub Zero doesn't wear a mask,there's a character who carries a life support system on his back and attacks his opponent with metal hooks etc.The robot ninja character named Cryrax shoots a net(which spreads out over a wide radius) that can trap his opponent and allows him to have a free hit on them.Sector is another robot ninja who can launch missles(either in a straight direction or make them follow you for a period of time) and he can perform a teleport kick move where the quickly teleports to the other side of his opponent and kicks them with a powerful kick.Smoke can do the Scorpion style harpoon and has the teleport kick move.
Sub Zero is back and unmasked and no longer dresses like a ninja,and the new moves he has are he can make ice fall from the sky or make an ice clone of himself and any opponent who touches it will freeze.Plus he has the regular ice projectile that he shoots straight ahead.
Kabal is the character who carries a life support system on his back,his face is heavily disfigured so he wears a mask.He uses metal hooks as weapons for his combo attacks and he can do a dash attack that makes his opponent dizzy so he can land a free hit or combo.Kabal can make a saw appear under his opponent and it will cut up his enemies and will make them unable to move so he can do a free hit or combo on them.
Sindell is the former Queen of the outworld,who was forced to marry Shao Kahn to save her people.She is the first Mortal Kombat character who can fly.
Sheeva is a creature who's similar to Goro/Kintaro,she has 4 arms and long reach,powerful strength,and can perform devestating combos and can jump up in the air and stomp her opponents.
There is other characters but I won't mention them.
Sonya and Kano are back,but Johnny Cage,Raiden and Scorpion are left out.What a MK fighting game with no Scorpion!!??
There is fatalaties,friendships,babalities,animalities and mercies as finish moves.The fatalaties aren't as gorey as in MK2,but are still violent and more comical(such as ripping your opponent's skeleton out of their mouth).A mercy is when you give a defeated opponent a little bit of health back and an animality transforms your character into an animal and lets them kill your opponent .For example,Sub Zero can transform into a polar bear and maul his opponent.
The stage fatalities allow you to knock your opponent in front of a moving train,off a balcony(which sends them smashing through many wooden floors and onto a bed of spikes)the new Pit Stage which has rotating saws below that cut up the poor victim.
The fighting environments suit the story and have the trademark realisitic feel that early MK games use.Some of the environments are empty city strees,on top of buildings,in the subway,on an apartment balcony,in a Church.
The GENESIS version of this game has slightly grainy graphics though.
I don't like the music for MK3 as much as the music in the first two MK games,but it suits the atmosphere of the game.Same with the fight announcer.I love the eery music at the church though.
Overall-The game is fun and the people who did the GENESIS version of MK3 did a reasonably good job at bringing the arcade version of this game to the GENESIS.