Mortal Kombat Trilogy

aka: MKT
Moby ID: 2036
PlayStation Specs
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Description official descriptions

All the characters from the first three Mortal Kombat games return for the ultimate battle. You can play as Kano, Reptile, Mileena, Kung Lao, Shang Tsung, Sindel, Sketor, Stryker, Nightwolf, Sheeva, Kitana, Scorpion, Sonya, Smoke (Cyber Ninja), Rain, Jade, Baraka, Johnny Cage, Ermac, Noob Saibot, Sub-Zero (Unmasked), Sub-Zero (Classic), Jax, Rayden, Cyrax, Liu Kang, Smoke (Human), Kabal, Goro, Kintaro, Motaro, or Shao Kahn.

This game is one-on-one martial arts fighting. The player can choose from over thirty different characters, all with their own fighting style and their own special moves. Trilogy differs from the other games in that you can play combinations of people that otherwise isn't possible, such as old Liu Kang vs. new Liu Kang, etc.

Mortal Kombat Trilogy also allows you to challenge a friend to a fight through a Windows IPX network connection.

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Screenshots

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Credits (PlayStation version)

33 People (26 developers, 7 thanks) · View all

Reviews

Critics

Average score: 72% (based on 28 ratings)

Players

Average score: 3.7 out of 5 (based on 128 ratings with 6 reviews)

One of the first and best N64 fighting games!

The Good
The graphics are as smooth and crisp as the UMK3 arcade. Just about every frame of animation is included here. Every character from Mortal Kombat I, II and 3 (hence the term "Trilogy") is included, even those who did not appear in MK3 or UMK3 such as Baraka or Rayden, which keeps you entertained for an extended period of time. Also, there a a lot of backgrounds to choose from, from the Courtyard to Goro's Lair to the three Pits. The bosses are also playable through a code and in certain backgrounds, and they even perform fatalities!

The aggressor bar is a great new feature, which enables you to perform more damage for a brief moment.

Bottom line, it's the controls that makes this game shine. Of all the MK games, this one has probably the most responsive controls. It's fast, smooth and is not overtly sensitive nor sluggish.

The Bad
The sounds: The renditions of the tracks are OK and are recognisable to the ear for those who are familiar with the arcade tunes, but I expected better due to the capabilities of the hardware. Also, the voice-over tend to be a little subtle and slightly slurred, sounding like it's played on a scratched LP.

Also, I would've liked to see the unmasked Sub-Zero included here with all the special moves of both old and new Subbies, as he had slightly better finishing moves than the masked one. Whatever the case, masked Sub-Zero has all the special moves of both, making him extremely formidable.

The Bottom Line
If you're an MK fan, a fighting-game fan, or even a casual gamer, I'd recommend this game to you! Sure the PS version has a few more characters, this one has better graphics and it doesn't have any annoying load times! The sounds should've been better, but it's the near-flawless controls and diversity of characters and backgrounds that keeps you hooked!

Nintendo 64 · by Stsung (30) · 2009

Great Game...

The Good
What I find incredible is that so many people bash this game...They site poor graphics and inferior sound, now while the latter may be applicable the former certainly is not...providing that you have an S-video cable attached to your N64. The characters are full sized and control well. There are a ton a moves to memorize and if you can master juggling it unlocks more depth as well. It is fun to pummel your friends into submission w/ a brutality or the occasional arcade machine to the head has never hurt anyone.

The Bad
My only gripe is that the audio is unbalanced and you have to do a reasonable amount of tweaking for it to sound decent. I am almost positive it is mastered in mono so sometimes a few of the sounds will bleed together. You can change this by lowering your bass a bit and in the options menu increasing the sound effects and lowing the music a tad. Once you correct these minor problems the game plays and sounds like the arcade games it was based on.

The Bottom Line
If you can find this game for 10 bucks somewhere...buy it. It is an excellent game w/ loads of characters. If you memorize the master code you're all set...everything is unlocked! Set the game to 'Bloody Kombat' and start bashing in skulls. This is one of the best 2D fighters of yester-year because it is shamelessly gratuitous and it does not try hide this one bit!

Nintendo 64 · by Stefan Grammer (5) · 2007

Sorry Compilation of a Great Fighting Genre

The Good
Nothing.

The Bad
I liked the original MK, MK2 was awesome, and MK3 was horrible, these three games combined make up the disappointing MK Trilogy. It would have been an awesome game if they gave you the option to play the three games separately in there entirety, instead they bunched them up and left out several aspects from each MK game. There are only a couple of character outfits from the original MK and MK2 games, and some of the backgrounds from the previous two versions were left out as well. The new aggressor mode and brutalities are uncreative and not amusing at all. The brutality finisher is nothing more than one combo repeated over and over, faster and faster until the player explodes after an uppercut. This is stupid.

The Bottom Line
This could have been one of the best games of all-time, but the makers carelessly threw together three good games to make this mess. Almost everything from the three MK versions are in Trilogy, but almost just isn't good enough, like this crummy excuse of a compilation.

PlayStation · by Tyrone Eugene (6) · 2003

[ View all 6 player reviews ]

Trivia

German Index

On February 28, 1997, Mortal Kombat Trilogy was put on the infamous German index by the BPjS. For more information about what this means and to see a list of games sharing the same fate, take a look here: BPjS/BPjM indexed games.

Graphics

Johnny Cage is the only character that has new sprites. There was a reason. Midway fired Daniel Pesina (who did Johnny Cage & the Ninjas in MK & MK II) because he dressed up as Johnny Cage to advertise an arcade game called BloodStorm, which turned out to be a emphatic flop among fighting game fans. So Chris Alexander did the sprites instead.

Version differences

There were several differences in the amount of secret/selectable characters in the Playstation and Nintendo 64 version.

The Playstation version allowed players to choose the bosses from the series: Goro, Kintaro, Motaro and Shao Kahn. The Playstation version also gave players a male version of Chameleon, as well as older versions of existing characters (MKII Kung Lao, MKII Jax, MKI Kano, MKI Rayden).

The Nintendo 64 version only had Motaro and Shao Kahn available, but also a female version of Chameleon, named Khameleon.

Awards

  • Electronic Gaming Monthly
  • March 1997 (Issue 92) - Fighting Game of the Year runner-up (PlayStation / N64 versions) + N64 Game of the Year runner-up (Readers' Choice) + Fighting Game of the Year runner up (Multiplatform) (Readers' Choice)

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  • MobyGames ID: 2036
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Contributors to this Entry

Game added by ReviewGames.Com.

PlayStation, SEGA Saturn, Nintendo 64 added by Kartanym. Game.Com added by Kabushi.

Additional contributors: Guy Chapman, Alaka, Luchsen.

Game added July 24, 2000. Last modified March 19, 2024.