Nineteen ninety-five was a weird year for fighting games. Midway was sitting on top of the world, but they decided to set the whole kitchen on fire with the Mortal Kombat 3 roster. If you weren't there, it’s hard to explain the sheer confusion of walking up to an arcade cabinet and realizing Scorpion—the literal face of the franchise—was just... gone. No yellow ninja. No spear. No "Get Over Here."
Honestly, it felt like a glitch. But it wasn't. Ed Boon and John Tobias wanted to push the series into a gritty, urban future. They traded the mystical Shaolin temples for subways and bank lobbies. To make room for the new blood, they took a hatchet to the classics.
The Shock of the Missing Ninjas
The most controversial thing about the Mortal Kombat 3 roster was the lack of traditional ninjas. Sub-Zero was back, but he was unmasked and looked like a regular guy in a blue vest. Fans were basically rioting. Along with Scorpion, we lost Kitana, Mileena, and Reptile.
Why? It came down to a mix of legal drama and tech limits. Many of the original actors, like Daniel Pesina (who played Johnny Cage and the ninjas), had a falling out with Midway. Plus, the dev team wanted to prove they didn't need palette-swapped ninjas to make a hit. They replaced them with cyborgs. Sektor and Cyrax—internally nicknamed "Ketchup" and "Mustard"—were the new high-tech assassins. They were cool, sure, but they weren't Scorpion.
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Every Character in the Original MK3 Roster
The base game launched with 14 playable characters plus a few hidden surprises. It was a diverse mix, but definitely leaner than what we were used to in the sequels.
- Cyrax (Yellow Robot): The Lin Kuei's unit LK-4D4. He used green nets and bombs.
- Sektor (Red Robot): Unit LK-9T9. He was the aggressive one with heat-seeking missiles.
- Sindel: The long-haired Queen of Outworld. Her scream could literally strip the skin off your bones.
- Sheeva: A Shokan warrior (like Goro) but with four arms and a nasty stomp move.
- Nightwolf: A shaman who used green energy axes and arrows. He was actually the first character to have a "Reflect" move for projectiles.
- Kabal: A former Black Dragon member with a respirator and hookswords. He was notoriously "broken" in competitive play because of his speed.
- Stryker: Basically a riot cop. People hated him at first because he looked like a "normal guy" in a sea of monsters, but he’s become a bit of a cult favorite since.
- Jax: Back with metallic arms this time. He was a powerhouse.
- Kano: The Black Dragon leader was back with a laser eye and a much-improved move set.
- Sonya Blade: She missed MK2, so her return was a big deal for lore fans.
- Kung Lao: The hat-throwing monk.
- Liu Kang: Still the champion, still throwing fireballs.
- Shang Tsung: He looked younger and could still morph, which was a nightmare for the hardware to process.
- Sub-Zero: The unmasked Kuai Liang. No freeze-clone yet, but he had the ice shower.
The Secret Characters
You couldn't just select everyone. Smoke was in the game, but he was a hidden cyborg (unit LK-7T2) you had to unlock using a "Kombat Kode" on the versus screen. He was basically a gray version of the robots but with Scorpion’s spear move, which helped soothe the pain of Scorpion’s absence.
Then there were the bosses. Motaro was a four-legged centaur who reflected projectiles, making him a total pain to fight. Shao Kahn returned as the final boss, mocking you every time you lost a round. Neither was officially playable in the arcade version without cheats.
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Mechanics That Changed the Roster's Feel
The roster didn't just look different; it played differently. MK3 introduced the Run Button. Suddenly, the game wasn't just about zoning with fireballs. It was about rushing down your opponent.
Combos became "dial-a-combos." You didn't just time your hits; you memorized a specific string of buttons to unleash a pre-animated sequence. This made characters like Kabal and Sony incredibly dangerous. If Kabal caught you with his "Raging Flash" spin, you were basically guaranteed to lose 40% of your health bar.
Animalities were also new. After winning a match and performing a "Mercy" (giving your opponent a tiny bit of health back), you could turn into an animal and maul them. Scorpion eventually got a penguin transformation in the later updates, which is as ridiculous as it sounds.
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The Ultimate Fix
Midway realized pretty quickly that the fan backlash was real. They released Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 (UMK3) just months later. This version was basically an apology. It brought back Scorpion, Jade, Kitana, and Reptile. It also added Ermac, a character who started as a fan rumor about a "Red Ninja" glitch in the first game.
If you’re playing on a home console like the SNES or Genesis, you likely have a version that's a hybrid. The SNES version of MK3 is surprisingly decent, but it had to cut Sheeva because her sprite data was too big for the cartridge.
Actionable Tips for Playing the MK3 Roster Today
If you’re firing up an emulator or a legacy collection to revisit this roster, keep these things in mind:
- Master the Run: Don't play it like MK2. Use the run button to cancel animations and stay in your opponent's face.
- Kabal is King: If you want the "easy mode" character, pick Kabal. His hooksword combos and dash move are arguably the best in the game.
- Watch Motaro’s Tail: When fighting the sub-boss, never throw a projectile. It will bounce off his skin and hit you. Jump over him and use physical combos instead.
- Unlock Smoke: On the title screen (or via the Ultimate Kombat Kode), entering the sequence 01062-01062 is the classic way to get the human-turned-cyber ninja.
The Mortal Kombat 3 roster was a bold, messy experiment. It tried to kill the "Ninja" era of the series and almost succeeded, but the fans' love for the classics was just too strong to ignore. It remains the most divisive lineup in the history of the franchise.