Number 11: Mortal Kombat 3

There is little denying that MK3 was for a time my favourite game. I was young impressionable and this satisfied my lust for gore at that age. Sure, it wasn’t the most complex fighter, but I hadn’t played them and I sure as hell didn’t care either. Many hours were spent with my friends, pulling off fatalities, friendships or just unlocking Shao Khan and laying the beatdown on my friends (if I got to his portrait on the select screen first).

The thing that really got me was that it was really simple to get into, you could win by button mashing but there was some depth to it a button masher was generally no match for a more skilled opponent the combo system was well implemented, even if I was more concerned with the flashy special moves. The character roster was close perfect with many characters to choose (some may argue too many) from and none of them played exactly the same as the other (Sektor and Cyrax came very close).

Of course I also have to mention the controller crushing moments of the Arcade mode. As is the tradition of fighters both Montaro and Shao Khan were exceptionally cheap with (what seemed like) unblockable extremely overpowered attacks. It’s almost a wonder that the SNES controller wasn’t crushed with frustration.

Unsurprisingly this was the game that brought to the fore the classification debate for Australia, prior to this games were a largely unregulated medium. To many people’s dismay the problem with classification has only just been resolved and it remains to be seen if it has arrived at a satisfactory outcome for all, but as always I digress (perhaps a topic for some other time).

Yep, It sure Could be bloody

This was also the last MK before the series tried to move on and become a 3D fighter. Unfortunately MK has started to fall by the wayside, possibly with the decline of the arcade. The newest iterations still have their moments but ultimately it has lost its lustre that made MK3 one of the great fighting games. Make no mistake this was a great and above all fun fighter.

As an aside, I highly recommend seeking out the most recent Mortal Kombat reboot as it returns to MK3 form, going back to its 2D roots.