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Curiosities of Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 Arcade : Definitive Edition

Mgo

Noob


Based on an original idea of mine. Due to the great success of the original video trilogy (better reception than I expected to my surprise), I have conceived this remake with the help of some fellows of the MK community. This is a remake based on the previous videos about the curiosities of Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 Arcade, that I have collected over time (with help from several other players) and that is meant to be definitive. It includes new curiosities, new examples, covering many features of the game that we find "curious"/interesting. It is not a video that tries to cover all known glitches, but some other aspects of the game too. The video includes curiosities related to the damage, CPU specifics, special moves, advanced properties, unexpected unblockables, finishers and fatalities, graphics, audio, hitbox, etc. Enjoy.


We built the video thanks to the information of many players but I would like to give a special mention to these guys who helped me the most: @mkholic @Stew @ded @KanoKriminal

Original:


Versión en Español:


Русская Версия:


Edição Em Portugues:

 
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mkholic

Noob
congrats on releasing it finally @MGO
i gotta say that now that i have a pretty good understanding of how much effort and time goes into videos such as this one i appreciate them a lot more and have a greater respect for their creators
i wish mgo's YT channel would get more love, he truly deserved it
 

Biggs

FOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL
@mkholic Can you explain the inputs for the block buffer glitch. I saw Speed's video on it about a year ago but it was never explained. I heard it is only possible with autofire
 
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mkholic

Noob
@mkholic Can you explain the inputs for the block buffer glitch. I saw Speed's video on it about a year ago but it was never explained. I heard it is only possible with autofire
the easiest way is to hold block+forward (run too in case u wanna do the running variation), release block and do 3 more block presses (starting at a specific frame of animation)
another way is to hold down+forward (run too in case u wanna do the running variation), release down and do 3 more block presses (starting at a specific frame of animation)
here's a video to break it down:
2071 is when i release block, cycle 6 frames, 2077 - 1st block input, cycle 1 frame, 2079 - 2nd block input, cycle 1 frame, 2081 - 3rd block input (i keep holding it)
there mught be other slightly less convoluted ways (and i don't mean AF) but i'm not certain
 
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Mgo

Noob
@mkholic Can you explain the inputs for the block buffer glitch. I saw Speed's video on it about a year ago but it was never explained. I heard it is only possible with autofire
autofire effect can be done manually but is pretty hard. By holding the button and releasing the MINIMAL time possible and holding it again (you have to have a good sensibility in your button) its possible to achieve that effect. For example Liu Kang and Jax moves that involve holding LK for some seconds. In the case of autoblock walking, its harder as you need your character to interrupt your blocking animation so you have to come from ducking or jumping I believe.

Thats and old video when i trying to get that multi ground pound:

 

Mgo

Noob
release block and do 3 more block presses (starting at a specific frame of animation)
these three blocks are meant to be somewhat like "you re almost not releasing the button" (like the video above) , right?

Also check that one:


Seems you can throw normal moves while blocking at some point of the duck animation. This is another variation of glitch jabs plus you can use other moves like uppercuts, rondhouses, sweeps, standing kicks, croching hks and etc. while blocking
 

mkholic

Noob
these three blocks are meant to be somewhat like "you re almost not releasing the button" (like the video above) , right?
you press it every other frame basically
Seems you can throw normal moves while blocking at some point of the duck animation. This is another variation of glitch jabs plus you can use other moves like uppercuts, rondhouses, sweeps, standing kicks, croching hks and etc. while blocking
u sure can, there's a 1-frame window for that
also, i'd mentioned it to you among other things, but it slipped under the radar it seems
 

Mgo

Noob


Some quick toughts:


Some combos deal less damage than what you would expect due to damage protection (reduced damage).


Altough there is a normal balance for it, some of these looks not that normal

In some cases the hit/damage percentage counter doesn't register the hits or damage correctly.

I bet they forgot to add it

If multiple moves hit at the same time, the game will register them as one hit.

Difficult to be more precise for the game?

Special moves that don’t deal damage will give damage if they’re performed in a juggle with Damage Protection activated.

-

CPU Mileena has unique pop-up combos.

Not sure why the did that

Human Smoke always fights on the Blue Portal stage against the CPU (except vs bosses).

Being a exclusive character (secret) they forgot to treat it like a normal one

The input for Jade's Returning Boomerang doesn't work when you play against the CPU.

Perhaps to make it easier for the IA? Same with many moves that doesnt work against the bosses

Jade and Unmasked Sub-Zero's largest autocombos deal more damage when performed by the cpu.

That might be accidental. I think that wasnt present on MK3

In some cases the CPU recovers faster than a player.

Another easy way to have a more difficult IA

Kung Lao doesn’t need to do a move between the spins when performing his corner infinite against Shao Kahn (the same applies to Motaro, but isn’t an infinite).

Idk, perhaps accident

Robot Smoke and Sektor can link two Teleport Uppercuts against Shao Kahn.

The same here

Although in general Motaro is immune to projectiles, you can sometimes hit him with Sindel's Air Fireball and Jax's missiles.

Glitch

Player 1 Sektor can launch a straight missile while a homing missile is out, Player 2 Sektor can’t.

-

Player 2 Jax can’t do his Dash Punch or Gotcha Grab while buffering his Ground Pound unlike Player 1 Jax.

-

You can repeat certain special moves without the need to repeat the full input

For some reason the effect keep going

You can take advantage of Jade's Projectile Invincibility input and throw her boomerangs as well.

Same than above

You can break out of the dizzy animation caused by Kabal's Spin with any special move.

A cancel in the game

Sometimes you can cancel the block and hit animation using special moves.

-

Some projectiles have different speeds in certain instances.

A possible intentional buffer that wasnt too effective

You can throw out faster single jabs by pressing and instantly releasing any button other than punches or directionals.

Another accidental cancel

In any given round one of the players (decided at random) has Frame Advantage (hit priority).

They should put interleaved priorities i guess

The other player instead has a property called Glitch Cancel which allows you to land an extra hit before a special move locks.

-

Players 1 and 2 have priority to remain in their own corners.

A good decision by them

You can throw punches while holding block and the character will block automatically when hit (glitch jabs).

Another "glitch" hard to notice at the development time i guess

The timer counts down slower in 2on2 mode.

It would be a pity to spent lot of coins and lose by time with your first character I think

You can infinitely trap an opponent with jabs in the corner

Hard to notice at the development time i guess

You can reach a fifth round at most.

-

In this round there is no Finish Him/Her sequence and the game ends immediately.

-

There are many instances when a character can’t block a certain attack when on the ground.

Being on the ground and blocking frames are two different things

In 2on2 mode throwing the first character of the team as soon as they're defeated can take damage off the second character.

Looks like the game cant separate characters better

In 2on2 mode you can catch your opponent's second character with a spear if you do it as soon as you finish the first, although it can be avoidable.

The same than above

If you counterattack with a special move the next hit can be unblockable.

-

You can land the Jump Punch or Straight-Up Jump Kick as you’re ascending into an autocombo.

Thats not intended to do in that way normally but CPU does it

In some scenarios autocombos stick before completion and can be easily punished.

They wouldnt notice it at the moment of development

During jab pressure, Stryker can't take or give chip damage against certain characters due to his hitboxes.

The same than above i think

Some of the autocombos that start on the ground can whiff in certain scenarios.

-

Some characters can’t link their jump starters with a punch, a kick or both against female ninjas (although some can in the corners).

Thats a more important glitch imo

Some moves don’t hit when performed by both players at the same time while using specific characters.

-

Jade’s Dash Kick, Classic/Unmasked Sub-zero's freeze (only at close range) and Kabal’s fireball are unduckable with certain characters

-

Reptile’s Forceball can hit Robots and Sheeva when flat on the floor.

-

Sometimes, although it looks like a character is frozen/spun in the air, they’re in fact grounded

I bet they would change it if they realized it

Some characters can duck underneath some of the characters’ uppercuts.

-

Normally, if close to a corner, you get pushed back after 2 juggled hits. The push-back doesn't occur if the juggle starts after the opponent does a Straight-Up Jump Punch due to the collision box's change

-

In certain situations against some characters, the slide only pushes them and causes no damage.

-

Something similar happens with Kano’s Horizontal Cannonball.

-

Some characters can avoid Sektor’s Homing Missiles by simply crouching.

Glitchy programming

You can hold block before the round starts and still perform a Babality/Friendship.

They might like to change it

Shang Tsung can’t morph into Robot Smoke.

Something related with his secret character issue in MK3

When crouch-blocking attacks, sheeva won't stand back up if you release the down button while continuing to hold block.

-

Being hit while crouch-blocking with Sheeva makes her blocking animation switch between standing and crouching

-


In certain cases, some moves take longer to recover.

-

Although starting a ground combo with low/high kick is the same, you can't chain an autocombo off the low kick from the air.

-

Some stages appear multiple times before other stages appear even once.

-

In 2on2 if your first character dies after doing a Mercy you will lose the match, even though you still had another character left.

they might programmed it thinking on 1vs1

Sometimes when you appear to be right next to your opponent, they can't be thrown.

-

Ermac turns invisible when hit by some moves like Liu Kang’s Bicycle Kick or air throws if he does a teleport at the same time.

I think some other characters can be invisible with explosive mode + some move

Reptile doesn’t reappear after repeating the Invisibility input once he is invisible, Robot Smoke on the other hand does.

Not sure if it was intentional

Invisible characters don’t become visible when you air throw/bike kick them, even during Fatalities.

They treated air throws different like on counting damage

Shang Tsung can’t auto-morph in the Randper Kombat mode, but the names still change in the lifebar.

-

There are three autocombos that are incomplete.

-

The game slows down for a short time when a Mercy is performed on The Subway or The Street stage (after ascending to it).

Perhaps some about the memory in these stages

Starting a 2 player match after performing a Mercy against the cpu (but before finishing them) will cause the Mercy to be buffered, allowing you to perform an animality during the next Finish Him/Her sequence regardless of criteria.

Mercy stuck in the memory :p

In a 2on2 team if the second character is a male ninja they will have Reptile's stance at the round start. In the case of robots, Cyrax's stance can be seen and female ninjas have Jade’s stance.

-

Unmasked Sub-Zero remains in a weird stance after doing his crouching High Kick move.

Some buggy sprite

If you finish Kabal with a sweep, the animation of him falling down doesn't complete.

Same than above

Occasionally Ermac’s 2-hit pop-up misses and you can see his axe.

Perhaps they added an axe from him that dont use?

You can run over/pass through the opponent with some special moves in certain cases

I bet that wasnt intended

Sometimes you can see a spear going past the opponent's sprite when it hits.

The game might think the spear didnt catch the opponent for an instance

You can confuse a Mercy by doing some special moves before it.

Other cancellings

You can do infinites against Shang Tsung by taking advantage of his morph-back state.

They added a jump when it happens, different to MK2. I bet they tried to avoid infinites without thinking much but couldnt

During the Cyrax/Kung Lao endurance you can disappear off the screen in the middle of the fight.

-

Infinites with crouching low kick/punch are possible in the right corner.

Extremely hard to get

When you hover over Shang Tsung on the select screen with Player 2, all the characters on the Player 1 cursor will have the alternate costume. When the same character is selected on both sides the costume is the same.

-

Some characters don’t have the alternate costume on the vs screen.

The new characters for UMK?

Player 2 Human Smoke has the same color palette as Player 1.

As I said above being a exclusive character they forgot to treat it like a normal one.

Sometimes the screen shakes when a character is frozen/spun in the air.

Depending on the height

The smoke that rises from Human Smoke disappears when you ascend to a contiguous stage.

Exclusive character: Looks like the transition effect make they lose their smoke, not in Robot Smoke case

With some special moves character palettes can be switched mid-match in 2on2 mode.

-

In some cases arrows appear around the characters.

They use these as reference but forgot to quit

You can see the sprites for certain projectiles appear on the top sides of the screen in some scenarios

-

In some cases parts of the HUD disappear when a large number of sprites are present.

Memory issue

The majority of stages have graphical flaws.

They did these to quick to fix these

A Mercy can cause fluorescent colors on robots.

The whole Mercy effect is too "big" imo to cause glitches


When you do a Mercy on Jade's Desert or The River stage, part of the sky turns dark.


Same than above

Robot Smoke has the wrong colors when a Babality is performed on him.

Some about his secret character issue from MK3?

There are many instances when sprites aren't displayed properly

All stuff they did quick

Scorpion and Human Smoke's "GET OVER HERE”/”COME HERE" gets cut out by the sound of blood splatter.

They didnt contemplate some audios overlap others that might be more important

When Nightwolf reflects Reptile’s Acid Spit with his Glow Shield and it hits Reptile, you can hear Sindel’s Scream.

-

When fighting Motaro some out of place sounds can be heard.

-

If you select your character just before the time runs out, you will hear the name twice.

Game couldnt be more precisse

There is no announcer audio when Human Smoke or Classic Sub-Zero perform a Mercy.

both audios are present so they forgot it

There are many ways to end a match with your opponent off the screen.

Something camera related

You can finish your opponent with some normal hits followed by well timed special moves or with a Jump Kick into a Fatality combination

Game couldnt be more precisse

The losing player can throw some normal moves after defeat.

Game couldnt be more precisse

On Finish Him/Her, you have faster uppercut recovery enabling you to do some unique combos.

I dont know if that was on purpose or not. But was a very nice decision IMO. As you re not really fighting at that point, you have broken rules to be more fun.

After defeating your opponent you can crouch-block indefinitely if you press the down button at the right times. The losing player can do it too.

Another cancel

Scorpion’s Pack Fatality resets the game when done on The Subway stage

Perhaps something memory saturation related?

And can cause a glitch when performed against robots as well.

-

In some instances you get a free game if you beat the CPU in a match that has one of the rounds won by a timeout

-

When receiving Sindel and Kabal's “Scream” Fatalities, male ninjas all re-use Scorpion's sprite, female ninjas re-use Kitana's and Sektor re-uses Robot Smoke's

They forgot to create the rest i think

Some Fatalities can glitch some characters’ costume palettes.

-

Shang Tsung appears in the darkness after morphing into Classic Sub-Zero and performing his Spine Rip Fatality.

They didnt contemplate it

Half of the ice disappears from Unmasked Sub-Zero’s Overhead Ice Smash Fatality after morphing back into Shang Tsung.

-

Nightwolf’s abduction Fatality leaves some sparks in the air when performed against Cyrax or Sektor.

-

It's possible to walk/run while buffering block. By doing so you automatically defend from most attacks

Very difficult to notice at development time

The jump height is not always fixed.

-

The character's movement sometimes gets altered after a stage transition.

-

The floor is higher on blue portal and the pit III allowing you to do specific combos.

Dunno if was on purpose or not that some stages have different height on their floors

(would edit all that later)
 
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