Not arcades. Clubs.

Arcades were nonexistent in Slovakia as nobody actually had the raw money necessary to buy more than two or three of those things in the late nineties. Besides PC and console gaming was way more prominent.

That said we had a competitive circuit (mostly Quake and Descent, again on the pc, and then some consoles) and when MK3 came along in numbers it was played, but the overall critical reception was lukewarm. Mostly because of the lack of ninjas and the martial arts stuff. UMK3 remedied this somewhat, but it was never considered to be a popular game to put in the half-year circuits.



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Exactly

Most of them had recognizable, distinct appearances and gimmicks, once they became absent for a few entries people started to miss them .

I guess it depends on whether you're talking about first introduced or first playable. Ermac was a rumor in MK1, Smoke, Noob and Jade were all introduced in MK2.

Take them away from MK3/UMK3/Trilogy and the new characters introduced for that game, to me, were the weakest bunch in the entire series. If I compared who I consider to be the top 5 newly introduced characters of each game, I'd rather have THE TOP 5 of any other game, even Deception.

But given that MK3 was part of the original, digitized 2D era of MK, it's easy to see why they get a lot of love too. Plus, there are diehard Sindel fans and Sektor fans and Rain fans and Kabal fans and what not. That's always been the case. I don't think that this is a new phenomenon.

All of these characters are grouped in to the same era, so there's much love and nostalgia for the era as a whole. But if anything, I think that the tide is turning.

For a lot of MK fans, I think that there's still respect for the original era, but I think people really also want to see the 3D era characters get some love.

A lot of people want to see what NRS can do with Shinnok. Many want to see new iterations of Tanya, Reiko, Fujin, Kenshi, Bo Rai Cho, Havik and much like MK3, there are the slightly less popular 3D era characters that still have a following as well.

I think a lot of people originally kinda wanted this next game to do for the 3D era what MK9 did for the trilogy era, and while that's clearly not going to happen now, it'd still be cool to see at least SOME of these post-nostalgia misfit toys get a real second chance.

Correct. That's like saying Rain and Kenshi weren't in MK9, they were in MK9: Komplete Edition.

My thoughts too? I don't really remember hating characters the way I do now haha. Characters like Ashrah, Nitara, Dairou, and Movado? Blah.

Gaming and Mortal Kombat was totally different back then.

I agree with all of this. Except, well, you're one of THOSE people who believe Smoke, Jade and Noob are MK 2 characters, even though they didn't become their own characters until UMK3 (or MKT for Noob).

MK3 characters have always been popular. Like that roster is pretty iconic. Some of the character may not be popular aka fan favorites, but that roster has always been popular "well know". Like most of us grew up with the mk3 roster therefor they're Mortal Kombat for a lot of us.

I never understood the hate some of mk3 fighters received during the 3d era even though most of them didn't transition well into the new generation. With mk9 most of them made a come back except for like sheeva, but its not her fault Nether Realm hasn't gotten her right in the 3d era.

Those people who are right? :P Specials and playable identity aside, that's where they first showed up, it's how I classify them and always will. You won't find many people who wouldn't associate Reptile with MKI. But if we must?

-Cyber and Human Smoke were instant arcade favorites due to insane damage output.

-Jade was an occasional UMK3 arcade pick I'd see every so often who's built a solid fanbase, but only over time. There was some good hype about her when UMK3 dropped, everyone raged on her AI because it was evil. You got some good players who knew how to use that projectile invulnerability.

-Noob's a bit harder to classify because his only arcade appearance was very early versions of MK4, but I remember a lot of buzz and people excited to see him as a starting character before he was swapped out for Reiko. He's always had a lot of fans, I think.

Every once in a while, I run into a post where someone wants him to actually have the power in canon do to Scorp and Sub's moves.

And on those days, I lament that The Force is weak in me and I cannot choke men over a distance with my mind.

this is all accurate

paired with the fact that MK9 brought them all together again and it causes the illusion that they are now "so popular"

So which MK3 character(s) other than Kabal, the Cyborgs, Ermac and Rain is/are most wanted by the fanbase?

Why didn't people want Tanya in MKD?

I don't remember Tanya ever being unpopular, at least on MKO, until AFTER Deception came out, and even that was most often people who "hated" her the way the audience hates and boos a heel in wrestling, they didn't like her villainy and were weirdly taking it personally, they weren't making judgments of her quality as a fictional creation.

What puzzles me is that the fanboys are so quick to toss the 3D characters out the window while drooling over someone like Fujin who's only been a playable twice and has contributed little to the storyline in the seventeen years of his existence.
In regards to the topic, give me an Ashrah or Bo' Rai Cho over Nightwolf or Kabal any day of the week.

People who don't like the 3D era characters also lump in MK4 characters with that.

People who do like Fujin, Reiko, Tanya, Shinnok, etc. are also likely to enjoy the likes of Havik or Ashrah or at least want to see them have a second chance in an engine where the moves won't suck.
Bo' Rai Cho's a fuzzy area with any group because he's a good core idea but the farting/puking ruins it.

I used to visit these boards in the early 2000s, and Tanya was often criticized. Maybe not the most unpopular character (though a poll on another MK site said otherwise), but she certainly didn't have the fanbase she does now.

But whether Tanya was unpopular or not, I think many of us here can agree that Nightwolf was unpopular before MKD.

And again, I must ask, which MK3 era character(s) other than Kabal, the Cyborgs, Ermac and Rain is/are most requested?

The farting and vomiting is exactly the ONE THING keeping him from being the generic sacharine old mentor/obi-wan stereotype that is utterly useless in the end.

Nah, it's that he could've been Jackie Chan.

Besides, there are still ways to do the "wise old teacher" without it being cliché. Bo' having an irreverent attitude was good. It's just that toilet humor is a step too far. Maybe that's what they had to do to make him comedic in a game where the tools they have to display character are limited to body language and text, but if he were brought back, now that the games have a ton of cutscenes and voice acting at the beginning of every fight, you can show him behaving that way withOUT doing stuff as obvious as having a throwing up move.

I know this thread is months old, but I think it's still relevant. Mostly because MKX is almost out, and the only MK3 Era character we've got so far is Ermac, and maybe Rain. Sindel's likely a NPC. There has been no news or even rumors of Cyrax, Sektor, and Kabal, the three most popular MK3 characters after Ermac and Rain, making it in MKX. So much for MK3 characters having as much of a chance as those of the first two games like some people in this thread seemed to think.

Why is it that Kabal has never become a core character, like Kitana, Scorpion, and Jax, despite his popularity? He's made fewer appearances in non-compilation games than Cyrax, Sektor, and Ermac.

Cyrax, Rain, and Kabal have been said to help(well their moves) in tower missions. I doubt they'll be playable.
(Plus Ed saying Cyrax's bus was running late)

Rain more popular than Kabal? What.

People kind of focused too much on the lack of the 3D characters, so the fact that MK3 representation is pretty low has gone somewhat unnoticed, at first I thought characters like Cyrax were a given, but now I'm not so sure, I'm interested to see how they will distribute the remaining spots left. Maybe 50% new, 30% MK3 and 20% post trilogy, who knows.

From what I understand people were always whooping ass with Stryker, Kabal, Nightwolf, Sindel, Sheeva, Rain, and Ermac.