Popular characters like Scorpion, Reptile, and Raiden were not in the original release of Mortal Kombat 3. Scorpion and Reptile did appear in the updated Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3, but Raiden did not.

In 1997, a young man stabbed someone to death and the family sued the makers of Mortal Kombat as the boy claimed he thought he was Cyrax from Mortal Kombat 3. The lawsuit was dismissed in 2002.

Cyrax and Sektor were nicknamed mustard and ketchup by the team during the development of Mortal Kombat 3.

The only two characters cut from Mortal Kombat 2, Kano and Sonya Blade were the first confirmed characters for Mortal Kombat 3.