Shao Kahn's Lost Treasures – selectable prizes, of which some are extra fights and others lead to various cutscenes or other things – are introduced after either the main game or the eight-player Tournament are completed.

UMK3 features several new backgrounds: Scorpion's Lair/Hell (this stage also contains a new Stage Fatality, where an uppercut can send the opponent into a river of lava); Jade's Desert (in a reference to his MK3 ending, Cyrax is seen stuck waist-deep in sand in the background); River Kombat/The Waterfront; Kahn's Kave/The Cavern; Blue Portal/Lost (a combination of the background from the UMK3 "Choose Your Destiny" screen, the Pit 3 bridge, and the mountains and bridge from the Pit II in Mortal Kombat II); Noob's Dorfen (based on the Balcony stage, which can now be played using a Kombat Kode without having to fight Noob Saibot to see it as in MK3).

The Sega Genesis and SNES versions were released the same month as Mortal Kombat Trilogy and incorporated that game's finishing move Brutalities, an 11-button combo which causes the character to rapidly beat on their opponent until they explode.

The boss and sub-boss from MK3, Motaro (stop motion) and Shao Kahn (Brian Glynn, voiced by Steve Ritchie), also return.

[3] Returning characters were warmly welcomed by critics as an improvement to the "lackluster roster" of MK3 with "the greatly missed" Kitana, Mileena, Reptile, and especially Scorpion.

[4][5] The female ninja characters (Mileena, Kitana and Jade), returning from Mortal Kombat II, were portrayed by a different actress, Becky Gable,[6] due to the lawsuit issued by Katalin Zamiar and some of the other MKII actors against Midway; they were also given a different set of outfits and hairstyles, which were again identical for all of them (in the game there are just three palette swapped character models for male, female and cyborg ninjas, not counting the MK3 Sub-Zero but including Classic Sub-Zero).

Although Noob Saibot was featured in the original MK3, he is no longer a palette swap of Kano but instead of a ninja; as before, he is fought via a Kombat Kode.

[9] Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 was ported to many home consoles with varying results, including home (Super NES, Genesis and Sega Saturn) and portable consoles (Game Boy Advance and Nintendo DS), the Xbox Live Arcade, and iOS-based mobile devices and mobile phones.

It is highly unlikely that any Wave Net test games were ever released to the public after the infrastructure was dismantled, and so there are no known ROM image dumps of this version.

The limitations of the system led to many cuts being made to fit everything in the SNES cartridge: the announcer no longer says the characters' names, Sheeva was removed,[notes 2] only the five new arcade backgrounds are featured, and Shao Kahn's Lost Treasures chest has only 10 boxes instead of 12.

On the other hand, Brutalities were introduced; a finishing move in which the player attacks their opponent with a series of kicks and punches which result in the victim exploding.

Like on the SNES, Sheeva was removed, Shao Kahn's treasure chest has only 10 boxes, the announcer no longer says the characters' names, Kitana's "Kiss of Death" only inflates heads, Scorpion's "Hellraiser" Fatality is different, Sonya's Friendship from Mortal Kombat 3 is used, and the game retains the Bank stage.

Shang Tsung can morph into Robot Smoke, Noob Saibot, and Rain, which is not possible in the arcades, while Nightwolf is given the Red Shadow shoulder move that was later used in MKT.

The Sega Saturn version was developed by Eurocom and published in 1996 by Williams Entertainment in North America and by GT Interactive in Europe.

There are some minor glitches in the network play on Xbox Live and there is no option to save the Kombat Kode unlocked characters.

Online leaderboards were created to keep track of all time network stats and friends, the screen size was adjustable for anything between 4:3 and 16:9 televisions, and unlockable Achievements were also included.

The game was accidentally released by Midway on the digital download service on the Friday evening of October 20, 2006, but was quickly pulled about 20 minutes later.

On June 27, 2007, MK co-creator Ed Boon officially confirmed a Nintendo DS port entitled Ultimate Mortal Kombat.

[15] The game features only six playable fighters (Cyrax, Liu Kang, Scorpion, Sub-Zero, Sonya, Kitana) and a single boss character (Shao Kahn).

Network communication allowed for scores to be posted online, and a simplified control scheme was also included to improve accessibility.

[17] Reviewing the arcade version, a Next Generation critic expressed concern that the Mortal Kombat series was headed for the same rut Street Fighter had fallen into, in which unnecessary updates of the same game replaced new installments.

"[27] According to a later IGN retrospective, "the revision helped to win over some frustrated fans, but followers of Johnny Cage, Raiden, and Baraka remained perturbed.

EGM named it their "Game of the Month", commenting that it is a "near-perfect" translation of the arcade version, with the only problem being the long loading times.

While noting that since the original MK3 had never been released for the Saturn, the publishers could not be accused of trying to sell consumers the same game twice, he felt MK3 was a slapdash and unexciting entry in the Mortal Kombat series.

[28] Rich Leadbetter of Maximum commented that while Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 does not measure up to contemporary Capcom fighters in terms of gameplay, it is unsurpassed in its huge number of secrets and replayability.

"[32] A review by Computer and Video Games called it an "excellent conversion of a great coin-op", as well as "[e]ssential for fans, and something well worth consideration from all Saturn owners.

He summarized, "Mortal Kombat fans looking for a quick fix should enjoy UMK3, and players new to MK will find this game a treat.

[37] The four reviewers of Electronic Gaming Monthly likewise praised the quality of the Super NES conversion while noting that it offered little new for fans of the series.

[45] Looking back now, we should have made [sic] the Genesis & Nintendo versions ALSO as Mortal Kombat Trilogy instead of selling 2 games at the same time.

Also, it introduces features such as the "Aggressor" bar, a meter that fills during the course of the match to make a player character faster and stronger for a short time, and the Brutality finishing moves (which were then incorporated into the Super NES and Genesis versions of Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3).