Games That Weren't^®

1996 Various

Platforms: Atari Jaguar, SEGA Saturn, 3DO and Apple Mac

Mortal Kombat 3 was once officially announced for the Atari Jaguar, SEGA Saturn, Apple Mac and 3DO platforms way back around 1995, but sadly would never see release on any of them. Despite its high-profile status, the project quietly disappeared. However, from research by Games That Weren’t’s Ross Sillifant – available documentation, magazine press and developer recollections suggest the game progressed further than people might realise on those platforms.

Our main focus at the moment is on the Atari Jaguar version that Ross has looked at in particular, though over time we will cover more details regarding the Saturn, Mac and 3DO versions. For the Jaguar – Atari Corporation and Williams Entertainment had issued a joint press release in March confirming that Mortal Kombat 3 was in development for the Atari Jaguar, with a planned release window of Q2 1996. Atari described the title as one of the most frequently requested games from Jaguar owners and positioned it as a major upcoming release for the system.

At the time, Atari had also secured a licensing deal with Acclaim Entertainment, which was to cover titles such as Mortal Kombat, NBA Jam and Batman Forever. However, developer recollections suggest that Mortal Kombat 3 required further re-negotiation with Midway Games, particularly as Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 emerged during the same period. These licensing complications may have slowed progress on any development.

Development of Mortal Kombat 3 for Jaguar was outsourced, and so far – the evidence that has been provided to Games That Weren’t, points to Probe Software as the primary studio involved. Firstly, internal Atari payment schedules indicate milestone payments for MK3-related work naming Probe. Secondly a fax from Probe to Atari references the project too. Then finally, an ex-Probe developer named Mark Roll lists MK3 (Jaguar) on his LinkedIn profile. We have tried to reach out to Mark to learn more, but unfortunately have not yet had a response.

According to Atari producer Farran Thompson, Probe had prior experience with the Mortal Kombat series, making them a logical choice. He recalls that the game was likely “playable” at some stage, though he could not definitively state how far development progressed. The intention though was to base the code off of the PlayStation codebase, rather than the arcade original.

Former Atari staffer Tal Funke-Bilu has claimed in an interview (https://www.arcadeattack.co.uk/tal-funke-bilu-atari/) that Mortal Kombat 3 was “very far into development” and that it would have compared favourably to Primal Rage on the Jaguar CD. This seems to conflict though with Farran, who feels it didn’t get far off the ground, but recollections were sketchy after 20 years at the time he was asked about the game.

Interestingly, Joe Cain in an interview with Arcade Attack (around 26 minutes) mentions that Atari had a MK3 arcade in their offices. Seems a bit odd considering the game was being ported from the PlayStation version of the game.

It isn’t clear why the game was cancelled and no single reason seems to have been given. Several factors were likely combined – namely ongoing licencing delays and renegotiations with Midway, possibly an internal concern over too many fighting games (including Fight for Life and Thea Realm Fighters), possibly delays related to the planned six-button Jaguar controller and of course – the broader collapse of Jaguar software support as Atari began winding down console development.

By early 1997, John Skruch explained that Atari Corp had effectively cancelled all remaining Jaguar projects, saying there was no money being made from it all, and that Mortal Kombat 3 was among the casualties.

At present, there are no actual Jaguar screenshots or videos or anything of the game out there. We’re unsure how far the game got, and its going to be key to contacting those at Probe to learn about what happened exactly and if there is anything that can be preserved of the title.

If you know anything more about the developments for any of the platforms, please do get in touch and we will continue to update this page. For the Apple Mac version, thanks to credits at the end of one of the releases, we know that a Christopher Burke was involved as developer.

What isn’t clear is whether the 3DO and Mac versions mentioned in the press were actually regarding Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3, which was an update of the game. In the gallery, it has a 3DO news snippet for MK3, but did they meak UMK3?

At some point soon, we will try and create a separate page anyway for UMK3 for the 3DO and Mac (and any other unreleased editions of that game) and may remove 3DO/Mac as a platform from this page if its confirmed that MK3 was not being done for them.

With thanks to Ross Sillifant for all the information collated, Archive 3DO for information, Ded for info regarding the Saturn and 3DO releases and scans via Archive.org

Assets

• Press Release from Atari and Williams

Gallery