Critical reaction was mostly average due to the graphics being inferior to the arcade version, the weapons deemed boring or useless, and game-breaking bugs and glitches.

Mortal Kombat Gold features the same character roster as Mortal Kombat 4, which includes Liu Kang, Jax Briggs, Sonya Blade, Johnny Cage, Sub-Zero, Reiko, Jarek, Raiden, Tanya, Scorpion, Kai, Reptile, Fujin, Shinnok, Quan Chi, sub-boss Goro, and the secret characters Noob Saibot and Meat.

[7] This version fixed the most severe bugs and glitches in the game and added VMU memory card support, which allowed the save feature to function properly.

"[13] Jeff Lundrigan reviewed the Dreamcast version of the game for Next Generation, rating it two stars out of five, and stated that "Mortal Kombat Gold goes a long way towards confirming that this series peaked with MK2, and it's been in steady decline ever since.

"[14] Conversely, Brazilian magazine SuperGamePower gave the game 4.5 out 5, regarding the graphics as superior to anything came up by Ed Boon and John Tobias on console or arcade.