The game avoids the tournament storyline of its predecessors, as various warriors instead fight against the returning Shao Kahn, who has resurrected his bride Sindel and started an invasion of Earthrealm.

Mortal Kombat 3 was a commercial success and received generally positive reviews, but drew criticism for omitting several popular characters from previous games.

To please players of various skill levels, a "Choose Your Destiny" screen appears in the single-player mode to allow player-selectable difficulty.

He would have his Shadow Priests, led by Shang Tsung, revive his former Queen Sindel, who unexpectedly died at a young age.

Also, Raiden's protection only extends to the soul, not to the body, so his chosen warriors have to fight the extermination squads and repel Shao Kahn.

Ho Sung Pak (Liu Kang in the first two games, as well as Shang Tsung in the first Mortal Kombat), Phillip Ahn (Shang Tsung in Mortal Kombat II), Elizabeth Malecki (Sonya Blade), Katalin Zamiar (Kitana/Mileena/Jade) and Daniel Pesina (Johnny Cage and Scorpion/Sub-Zero/Reptile/Smoke/Noob Saibot) were not involved in the production of MK3.

[6] Prior to the release of Mortal Kombat 3, Daniel appeared in an advertisement for another fighting game, BloodStorm, which resulted in a false rumor that it got him fired by Midway.

All this led to the use of new actors for Liu Kang (Eddie Wong), Sonya Blade (Kerri Hoskins), and Shang Tsung and Sub-Zero (both played by John Turk) in MK3.

[13] On the Game Boy, only nine of the original 15 fighters (Kano, Sonya, Sub-Zero, Cyrax, Sektor, Sheeva, Sindel, Kabal, and Smoke) are available, only five stages exist, there are no button-link combos, and no finishers outside of Fatalities and Babalities.

There is also a port for the Master System, which is nearly identical to the Game Gear version with the addition of blood and a wider view of the stage and fighters, although it was only released in Brazil by Tec Toy, distributor of Sega's products in that country.

[21] Mortal Kombat 3 was one of three 1995 recipients of the American Amusement Machine Association's Diamond Awards (which are based strictly on sales achievements), along with Sega's Daytona USA and SNK's Neo Geo MVS.

[23][24] Williams Entertainment, which published the Super NES and Genesis versions, reported combined sales of 250,000 copies in the first weekend they were available, placing them among the best-selling games of 1995.

[29] Although Mortal Kombat 3 was commercially successful, many disliked the inclusion of arguably less-appealing new characters (especially Stryker) in place of established stalwarts such as Scorpion and Kitana.

[43][44][36] According to PC Gamer in 1998, "While Mortal Kombat 2 managed to improve upon the fast-paced, gore-galore formula of the original, the third incarnation didn't fare nearly as well.

MK3 suffered from monkeywrenched gameplay, needlessly stupid finishing moves like 'Animalities,' and unbearably campy character designs.

"[45] Next Generation reviewed the arcade version of the game, and stated that "in an industry which depends on innovation to keep it fresh and interesting, MK III just doesn't deliver.

While Midway had been constantly adding subtle gameplay tweaks to its franchise since the release of Mortal Kombat, its once exciting series was suddenly looking rather tired.

[31] EGM and IGN both criticized the heavy lag during Shang Tsung's morphing while assessing the conversion overall as a near-perfect replication of the graphics, content, and controls of the arcade original.

However, IGN gave it a negative assessment based on the shortcomings of Mortal Kombat 3 itself, recommending Street Fighter 2D fighting games over it unless one is a "die-hard MK fan".

[33] According to a later IGN retrospective, "Despite the evolutions in gameplay, Mortal Kombat 3 was simply not met with same kind of enthusiasm as its predecessor.

He complimented the game for delivering on the elements most important to the Mortal Kombat fanbase, but added as a final note that "as a whole, the MK series is getting stale and in dire need of some major reworking.

"[49] Next Generation similarly felt the arcade-perfect quality of the PlayStation version was overshadowed by the game's lack of innovation: "There is little, outside of a few new, conspicuously uninspired characters, a run feature, and a new combo system, which simply mirrors its competition, to differentiate MK3 from its predecessors.

"[38] Maximum praised the PlayStation version's wealth of customization options and "eerie combat music tracks", but remarked that the game was outdated with Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 already out in arcades and slated for release on the Saturn.

[32] While they listed some problems with the AI and sound, GamePro had a similar reaction, concluding that "Converting a mammoth arcade game like MK 3 to the 16-bit Super NES is no easy task, and Williams has done a respectable job of keeping all the key elements intact.

"[51] Next Generation at the time called it "one of the best fighting games ever released for the PC" and "a title you must own" for the fans of the genre, awarding it four out of five stars.

[35] GamePro panned the Game Boy version in a brief review, venturing that "even portable power players will find the soft controls and eye-straining graphics unbearable.