ULTIMATE GUIDE MORTAL

THIRTY YEARS AGO, MIDWAY LOOKED TO MAINTAIN ITS GRIP ON THE ARCADE FIGHTING GENRE WITH THE RELEASE OF MORTAL KOMBAT 3. BUT COULD LIGHTNING REALLY STRIKE THRICE? JOIN US AS WE REVISIT THE FINAL ACT OF THE SERIES' 2D HEYDAY. PREPARE FOR KOMBAT...

- WORDS BY MARTYN CARROLL

Mortal Kombat 3 swept into arcades on a wave of hype, bluster - and absolute inevitability. The first two games, released in 1992 and 1993, had already established the series as an arcade juggernaut, an entertainment phenomenon. At a time when a solid coin-op hit sold maybe 4,000 units, the original Mortal Kombat shifted 24,000. The sequel did 27,000. That alone generated more than $1.1 million in revenue for publisher Midway. Add in the many home conversions of both games, which achieved sales of 11m, and the series was steamrolling towards the $2b mark. And that's without all the other stuff - comics, action figures, movie deals and plastic lunch boxes.

When it came to a third game, the 'if' was redundant, the 'when' was April 1995. For fans experiencing the coin-op for the first time, wondering what secrets and surprises the Mortal Kombat team had cooked up, there were clues on the cab itself. The side-art displayed series boss Shao Kahn and a new character - Sindel, Khan's queen. She was one of seven playable characters that were added to the now 15-strong roster. Now obviously it's always tricky to introduce new characters into an established lineup and Mortal Kombat 3 suffered more than most in this regard. In particular fans seemed unimpressed with newcomers Sheeva (a female Goro-alike) and Stryker (an everyman cop). Worse were the characters that had been dropped to make way. There was no Kitana, no Raiden, no Scorpion even. On the plus side, Kano and Sonya returned to the series after sitting out Mortal Kombat II and were blessed with new moves.