Super Nintendo Mortal Kombat 3 CIB

Mortal Kombat 3 on SNES, complete in box. Midway dropped this one in 1995, the third chapter in the fighting franchise that had already forced the ESRB into existence two years earlier and put "Mature 17+" on retail shelves before most parents knew what that label meant.

By 1995, Mortal Kombat was the argument. Not just between kids and their parents, but between platforms. The arcade version of MK3 introduced a run button, a combo breaker system, and a roster that swapped fan staples like Scorpion and Johnny Cage for new fighters: Kano, Stryker, Nightwolf, Sheeva, Cyrax, Sektor, and a Shang Tsung with full-roster morph capability. The SNES port, handled in-house at Nintendo's publishing operation, took fire from the community immediately because the gore was tuned down from the Sega Genesis build. No question. The blood code controversy that had defined the MK1 port cycle three years prior was still fresh, and Nintendo's call on MK3 kept that tension alive. This is the version where you argue with whoever is on the couch about what the "authentic" version is. That argument has not aged out.

This copy comes complete: box, cartridge, and manual all present. The box is a two-piece format standard to SNES releases of the mid-decade, and the manual carries the full move-list pages, which matter because half the fun of a CIB MK3 is flipping through the fatality inputs that everyone had memorized wrong anyway. Condition reads clean from the outside. Color holds well on the box panels. The cartridge label is the thing to look at up close: the SNES MK3 label used a dark gray ground with the dragon logo centered, and edge wear on that label is usually the first place a heavily-played copy shows its history. Check the label edge for lift or surface scuffing before you pull the trigger.

OWNER VERIFY: Confirm all three components present (box, cartridge, manual) and grade the cartridge label edge for lift or wear.