The appeal for UMK3? The gameplay, its the ONLY MK game that can be played in tournaments at 100% high level. Since it seems your not really into gameplay and more into content, then you really should play something like MKDA or MKD.

I'm looking at the gameplay, as well, AND IT'S THE SAME GODDAMN GAMEPLAY AS MK3 AND MK TRILOGY. How is it the ONLY game that can be played at "100% high level"? What does that even MEAN, anyway? What, you can't play MK3 Arcade at 100% high level? It's the same freaking gameplay as UMK3, just with a few less characters! Seriously, what does UMK3 have as far as gameplay goes that you could NOT get from the original MK3 OR MK Trilogy? Same controls, same game mechanics, same combo potential, same EVERYTHING. The ONLY thing that is different with it is that you can play as a few more characters, and Stryker has his gun as a special move. THAT IS IT. Is THAT the 100% high level you're talking about? The ability to spam Stryker's gun to the point of breaking him? The ability to fight as your precious Scorpion and Classic Sub-Zero? What doe these characters have that you couldn't get from say...regular Subby or Robo-Smoke or something?

I'm sorry, but I don't see it; all I'm getting is vague, fanboy bullshit about how UMK3 is the OMFG GREATEST MK GAME OF ALL TIME!!!, and frankly, all I see from that is a lame attempt to exaggerate how a handful of new characters and a single new special move for a lame-ass character that turned him broken is supposed to be an improvement over MK3 or especially MK Trilogy, ESPECIALLY SINCE THEY'RE BUILT ON THE SAME EXACT GAME. All UMK3 is is a VERY, VERY SLIGHT UPGRADE to MK3, that's it; there's nothing special about it, almost all of the advantages and flaws with it you can find in either MK3 proper or MK Trilogy, and frankly, there's nothing about it that leaps out as making it any more special from those other two games. It would be like people exalting MK Gold as being the pinnacle of MK gaming, even above MK4, even though the former is just a small update to the latter; it's ridiculous overexaggeration brought on by blind fanboyism. with absolutely no basis for it. I'm not saying that the game isn't good, because it is; it's just not the best MK game in existence, even above the original, especially since they're essentially THE SAME GAME.

You ask too many questions.

UMK3 is a better game then MK3 gameplay-wise, it is the same gameplay with a few minor tweaks yes, but the fact that its balanced makes it better. With MK3 you have a over powered sub-zero with a cheap ice-clone, this was fixed in UMK3. In MKT you have Noob and the Boss characters.

the infinite combos take skill to pull off and require certain situations to be met, just about every fighting game has infinite combos anyway so its really not a big deal.

Not as many as UMK3, and as I said before, quite a few of the infinite combos in that game I've been able to at the very least start and maintain for a while, and I'm an amateur in the game, so it does NOT take skill to pull off, nor does it take any special requirements to achieve. Seriously, as I've said previously, most of the MK combo vids I've seen made have to do with breaking UMK3 arcade with infinites, so don't tell me that it's more 'balanced' than the original. If it was so balanced, why does it have so many goddamn infinites? A GOOD fighting game does NOT have any infinites, or if they do, they're kept to a minimum. A game with THIS many infinites is a clear sign that it is NOT that great of a game.

As for the broken characters, you don't call Stryker with his gun broken? That's a laugh; he was one of the biggest complaints about the game. And don't they usually ban the boss characters outright in a tournament? that's usually how online play goes for MKA; no boss characters. You can't bring in that argument, honestly. Hell, if you want to argue semantics, the original MK3 let you play as the bosses, but again, it's not like they would be legal in tournaments, anyway. Oh, sure, they may have fixed one or two MINOR complaints, but what about Stryker's Gun? What about Reptile's Running Backelbow juggle? What about the complaints made about Kitana and Mileena, in this game? Do those count for nothing?

I'm sorry, but I did my homework on this, and nothing I've heard or read so far gives ANY sort of credence to the hype of this game. There is virtually no change to the gameplay overall, only minor changes to a select few of the existing characters (one of which made said character obscenely powerful to the point of being complained as broken by THE ENTIRE FANBASE), virtually no new modes introduced to the game, and the number of new characters put in I can count on one hand, and out of those, only about HALF of them are actually DONE. Like I said, all the hype over what's essentially a pointless MINOR update to the third game, to the point where THE ORIGINAL GAME is passed over as inferior to it, is like saying that MK Gold is the best game of the series, even above the original MK4; it's the same game, with just a few new unfinished characters in it, nothing else. Did anyone rave that any off the Street Fighter upgrades were the best game ever, even beyond the original? I don't think so. That's what this game is: a "Hyper Fighting Edition" of MK3. There's really nothing at all special about it, and the only thing that makes it so great was that it was built on the original MK3. It's too hyped up for what little it improves on the original, and as a result, it forces Midway to shovel it out and shoehorn it into as many rereleases as they can, when they could be releasing other games that desperately need it, or games that are more appropriate for the release (like MK Trilogy in the MKA special edition). And to anyone who says that it's "the best competitive MK game EVAR!!!", here's my response: take off the rose-colored glasses, open your eyes, and stop trying to put Capcom's Street Fighter logic to the MK series.

The infinite combos are hard to pull off against GOOD players, of course you can just pull it off on a cpu or second player that does nothing. Street Fighter Alpha 3 is a good game but it HAS infinites, many King of Fighters games are good but they have infinites.

Any character in UMK3 can beat any other character unlike MKT which has the boss characters or MK3 which has broken sub-zero. The arcade version of every 2D MK game does not let you play as the bosses, it is the arcade version that I am talking about.

Stryker is ranked mid-tier in UMK3, if he was broken, he would be ranked God-tier and be unbeatable, but no, the game is balanced enough to where any other character can beat him.

This is a tier list and strategy guide for each character
http://ultimatemk.com/cguide.php
(copy and paste it)

The other character that is a threat with a infinite is Kung Lao, but there is counter strategies to beat him.

Look at next message.

As for MK Trilogy, it is a good game, though I wish that it would be done this way of what Kabal_MK did (see this site below):

http://umk3.hacking-cult.org/eng/index.htm

An example of this here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6nueP9pRgtg, then look at the character select screen from 0:20-0:30.

Meaning that they should have also included ALL of the MK 1 & 2 counterparts of Johnny Cage, Kano, Rayden, Liu Kang, Scorpion, Sub-Zero, Sonya, Reptile, Shang Tsung, Kung Lao, Kitana, Jax, Mileena, Jade, Smoke, & Noob Saibot, & the female Chameleon (along with all of their old fatalities, & friendships), instead of just having the MK 1 counterparts of Kano & Rayden, & the MK 2 counterparts of Kung Lao, & Jax. Now that would really be sweet!

See here (Ultimate MK Trilogy Supreme Demonstration):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-JXEMimJnLw (Part 1).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jdp0yxNuVAw&feature;=related (Part 2).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b1T1SBfW8fc&feature;=related (Part 3).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Uw9ACILTk0&feature;=related (Part 4).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PbVLDnsvsAk&feature;=related (Part 5).

First of all, those games you mentioned have FAR LESS INFINITES TO THEM THAN UMK3! I have checked, ever since I first found out about the "break UMK3" videos, and NO GAME IN EXISTENCE has the number of infinites than UMK3 does. NO GAME IN EXISTENCE. And let me guess; you consider Street Fighter Alpha 3 and King of the Fighters to be WORSE as far as competitive gameplay goes than UMK3, right? What the fuck are you smoking, huh?

Once again, since you seem to have the attention span and brain capacity of a chickpea, IN TOURNAMENTS, BOSSES ARE BANNED FROM USE! No, you CANNOT use the boss characters in a tournament play of MKT, because YOU WOULD BE BANNED FROM DOING SO. Do you REALLY play competitively in MK, or are you just saying that you do to make yourself look "smart" and "superior"? Because even I know that broken and boss-tier characters aren't allowed in tournaments or serious competitive play. How can you even SAY that UMK3 is "better" because you can't play as the bosses in it? That's not even a fucking issue, with this!

Stryker ranked MID TIER in UMK3? What, so ALL OF THE FANS COMPLAINING ABOUT HOW HIS GUN MADE HIM BROKEN AND GAVE HIM AN EASY INFINITE TO EXPLOIT means NOTHING? Bullshit! There would NOT be the kind of fervor over him that there was when UMK3 was released if the complaints weren't at least somewhat VALID. Maybe you just play with a crowd that sucks at playing as him and playing the game, in general, because that's the only explanation I can think of for your stupid dismissal of him as a non-issue.

Just how old is this list? Really? I'm sure Konqrr has changed his mind about the list order, by now, and if I remember correctly, he wasn't one of the people involved with the combo videos that keep popping around. You want an expert to tell you the tiers for the game, talk with TremorMK, and I'm betting his list is VASTLY different than Konqrr's.

...You really haven't played competitively OR seen the combo videos for the game, have you? You must not have, if you're making yet another stupid comment dismissing the sheer amount of infinite combo potential in this game. Kung Lao is NOT the only character with high infinite potential; Sindel has it, Shang Tsung has it, STRYKER HAS IT...there's just way too many characters in UMK3 that have at least 1 infinite combo they can easily exploit, one that you CANNOT ESCAPE FROM, thanks to the juggle system in the game.

You are a fucking moron. I don't think you even know a thing about UMK3, except for its name and the fact that you OMFG LUV IT <3. I will never understand you or your ilk; you are all blind, ignorant, gullible idiots living in a fool's paradise who can't see how broken and mediocre this game really is. You clutch at it like it was the second coming of Jesus or something, fiercely defending it from the slings and arrows of those who do see it for the unnecessary, unfinished Gaiden Game that it is. You're acting just like those Street Fighter idiots who rave about the newest Hyper Fighting Edition of their precious Street Fighter 2. That's sad, it really is. If you can be so willfully blind and ignorant to overlook the obvious flaws of this game and exaggerate its nonexistent merits to near-godhood, then maybe Midway deserves to crash and burn and take the MK franchise with it, because maybe then they can finally put the game - and you - out of your misery.

edit- I won't bother with this anymore, I am pretty much done here, you obviously don't know anything about high level gameplay. Have fun.

Refer to the next post.

This is the Tier List from one of the moderators of another site:

http://round2.18.forumer.com/index.php?showtopic=34

Another Tier List here (Just scroll down to the bottom):

http://www.gamespot.com/pages/unions/forums/show_msgs.php?topic_id=25237458&union;_id=1260

UMK3 is the most balanced, deep, and competitive 2D MK game. That is the bottom line. All other factors are debatable.
SynjoDeonecros, the questions you ask the examples you post show that you very much don't have a full comprehension of competitive play, and that probably irritated ded_ lol. For example, I saw you mention something about Mileena and Liu Kang having the same special moves in MKII and UMK3, and why aren't they God tier in that. The reason is, the moves have different properties in the respective games, the gameplay is different, particularly Run button changes the game drastically, enough to the point most MKII players won't bother playing it or understand the differences.
The Riot Gun is not broken. Stryker is mid tier at best.
There are various other reasons why, but UMK3 is far more playable, serious, and solid of a game than MKII. Regardless of anything else, whatever ded_ said is full on fact, and I didn't even have to read his posts. Anyone saying MKII is a BETTER game than UMK3 is delusional at best. Anyone can like MKII more, but it's not better, based on mathematics. It's a fact. It's a better game. There are more on the fly options, you can literally play the game exactly as if you were playing MKII if you consciously eliminate all the added properties to the game.
ded_ and I are pro UMK3 players, and experienced the entire 2D MK franchise in doses, as it was released. The best people to evaluate the series are the ones who experienced all of it, and absorbed it as it went on. You should probably take a look at my sig, it speaks wonders as this argument has been going on forever.

Haven't played it as much as I did MK3, but for all I know - ninjas were both the only addition and the only worthy addition (aside from the killingly unimaginative battlegrounds). The rest is a copied MK3's glory, but that's just me.

Way more to it than that.

Now, now! Ain't nothing wrong with the fan art brother.

I agree with arguements on both sides. Perhaps Mortal Kombat 3 in all its incarnations is an unbalanced game. I have yet to go back to MK3 as I have been so busy playing the genesis version of MK and the snes version of MK2, but as far as I am aware, MK3 is the game that sort of jumped the shark as far as the series goes. All of the ninjas were eliminated from the third game and had to be readded for UMK3, many of the fighters were pants and unmemorable compared to characters in the last two installments I didn't like the bosses in MK3, bringing back Shao Kahn was a bore and Motaro was a shite boss too. Still, MK3 is still a good game on its own merits but just lacked some of the charm that made the first two games great. Its funny because I would have liked to have seen a MK I & II game where you get to fight with Sonia and Kano and have all of the levels of MKI in the MKII universe before MKIII. That way there would have been a cool new compilation game and MKIII wouldn't have been a rush job. Just my two cents.