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[twistedsymphony]

Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 Achievement Guide:

UMK3 can be completed 100% either very easily or very hard depending on the player. If you're familiar with 2D era the Mortal Kombat games, know the basic movies and maybe remember a handful of special moves, you can probably get your full 200 with a little effort. If you're a fan of the MK series and know a bit more then that, you can get the full 200 no sweat. If you've never played one of these games before then chances are you'll have a tough time ahead of you, as you'll have to learn how to play the game, and play it well to get some of these achievements (particularly Ultimate, and Century).

As a veteran MK player this didn't take me very long I could have finished it in under a day easy, as of right now I'm one of only 15 people with the full 200/200 but I think a lot more would have it if they know what I'm about to tell you in this guide.

ARCADE MODE ACHIEVEMENTS:
These achievements can only be completed in arcade mode against the CPU. The difficulty doesn't matter so I'd recommend picking the Novice difficulty buy selecting the pillar all the way to the left after selecting your character. For beginners I'd recommend selecting Sub-Zero as your character. Also you can loose a match and continue as many times as you like, there is no limit. Also when continuing you'll have the option to select a new character if you'd like to try someone else.

Double Time - Complete a 2 hit combo against the CPU.
The easiest achievement in the game. Start an arcade mode game, after picking your character just get in close to your opponent and push High Punch twice (X Button). Don't push it more then that or you might get a higher combo and it wont count. Nearly every character in the game can get a 2 hit combo this way.

Combo Number 5 - Complete a 5 hit combo against the CPU.
This one can be tricky if you're not familiar with the game. Veterans will do this without even thinking about it but if you're a first timer I'd recommend doing this with Sub-Zero. With Sub-Zero you'll be able to freeze your opponent leaving you time to walk up to your opponent and execute the combo without pressure. To freeze push Down, Forward, LP (Down Forward A Button) it's similar to the hadoken for those street fighter players. Then his combo is HP, HP, LK, HK, Back+HK (X, X, B, Y, Back+Y). As long as you push this sequence quickly and at a constant rate it should only take one or two tries for beginners to get it down.

Flawless - Complete a Flawless victory against the CPU (1 round).
A "Flawless Victory" is when you finish a round without taking any damage. This can be difficult for those who are unfamiliar with the game. I found the easiest method was to just choose Sub-Zero and in the first match simply freeze, combo, freeze, combo, etc. etc. The CPU is not likely to block your freezes and if you can get the combo down without screwing up you'll only have to do this 4 times in a round without getting hit (the combo takes 26% damage off your opponent) for the achievement. If you're having trouble with this achievement, you might be able to get it at the same time as the "Beat the Noob!" Achievement described below.

Soother - Complete a Babality against the CPU.
A "Babality" is a type of "finishing move" That is to say that it must be executed after winning a match when the game instructs you to "FINISH HIM". You only have a small window of opportunity to execute a finishing move so you're best bet is familiarize yourself with the move before you even start the match, so when the time comes you can do it from memory. Thankfully this port of the game allows you to pause it during this time so you can reference a moves list if you happen to forget. I find the window is just barely long enough to attempt the move twice, or position yourself and attempt the move once. if you accidentally hit your opponent with a stray attack while attempting the finisher it will knock them over and you will have missed your shot.

Babalities don't require you to be in any specific location to execute them (which is good), however you will not be allowed to do one unless you did NOT use the block button (RT or RB) at all during the last round of fighting. I find the best method is to simply remove your index finger off of the shoulder area of the controller to keep yourself from hitting accidentally or in the heat of the moment.

Sub-Zero's Babality is Down, Back, Back, HK (Down, Back, Back, Y).

If you're having trouble you might want to try doing a Babality with KABAL: Run, Run, LK (LB, LB, B ) As his is the easiest to perform in the game.

Match Three - Reach the third MATCH in any single player tournament.
This one is fairly straight forward, simply defeat the first 2 CPU controlled opponents in Arcade mode, you'll receive the achievement at the start of the 3rd match.

Match Five - Reach the fifth MATCH in any single player tournament.
Same as Match Three but you must defeat the first 4 CPU controlled opponents in Arcade mode.

Ultimate - Become the champion in any single player tournament.
Complete Single player Arcade mode. This is much much easier said then done. The last 3 matches are ridiculously hard. 3rd to last is an endurance match where each round you must defeat two opponents without regaining any health. Followed by a sub-boss named "Motaro" and finally the last boss "Shao Kahn"

There's no real strategy for the Endurance mode, the two fighter you go up against are randomly chosen, you pretty much just need to do play well enough to beat them, if you're having trouble try different fighters, I've found that the computer's difficulty changes depending on the storyline relationship between the two fighters. For instance Subzero and Scorpion are enemies and if you're in this match up against the CPU expect the difficulty to be extremely hard. Similarly Cyrax is a cyborg controlled by Scorpion, so when those two are matched up the computer hardly even fights back. While who you fight is random the pairings are not.  you will always fight one of the following pairs:

1. Cyrax and Kung Lao
2. Ermac and Jade
3. Jade and Reptile
4. Jax and Nightwolf
5. Kano and Sonya
6. Liu Kang and Smoke
7. Mileena and Ermac
8. Sektor and Sindel
9. Sheeva and Shang Tsung
10. Sub-Zero and Classic Sub-Zero
11. Sub-Zero and Stryker

The best strategy for Motaro is to keep jumping forward and backward and using LK (B Button). If you're playing as Sub-Zero you can typically take him out after two or three matches using this strategy, Don't stop moving and don't ever throw a projectile at him (they will reflect off and hit you).

Shao Kahn is easily the most difficult fight in the game, even a veteran of the game like myself can spend a good half hour trying over and over again to take him out. There are a few tricks though. First of all if he gets close to you or gets you in a corner, it's all over you might as well just give up so keep your distance. He's got several moves and the best defense against all of them is simply to duck and block... the only exception is his fireball which you'll want to release block while ducking so it goes over your head without hitting you. Basically you'll want to wait for an opportunity to uppercut him. Uppercutting takes off the most damage against him and helps you keep your distance. defend an wait for him to do the upward dash attack he'll charge shoulder first at a diagonally up into the air above you, once he's above you uppercut him: Down+HP (Down+X). Once you do that run in by pushing Forward+Run (Forward + LB) and uppercut him again before he can get up, keep repeating this for as long as you can and if he blocks or you miss time it start defending again. If you're playing as subzero instead of running in you can freeze him then walk up and uppercut him.

Another Strategy is specific to Smoke. defend and as soon as you see him attempt an attack do the teleport uppercut: Forward, Forward, LK (Forward, Forward, B ) to knock him into the air then do the spear: Back, Back, LP (Back, Back, A) to catch him as he's falling back down, and once you pull him in do an uppercut.

I find the Smoke method to work exceptionally well, as the timing is a whole lot easier to get down, even still it's a very difficult fight.

Beat the Noob! - Beat the hidden character, Noob Saibot while playing the CPU.
Noob Saibot is a hidden character that can be fought in arcade mode, while he doesn't have any special moves, his sprite is completely black making him hard to see and the difficulty is always cranked to the max. Couple that with the fact that it takes a while to get to him and if you loose you have to start all over again makes this seem like one of the hardest achievements in the game. In actuality this achievement is probably one of the easiest in the game so long as you know the trick.

There are several different ways you can get to fight Noob Saibot however only one method will count toward getting this achievement. After completing arcade mode and defeating Shao Kahn you will be shown a screen with your characters icon followed by a row of 12 icons similar to those in the VS screen. It will ask you to pick your prize. These different icons do different things which I wont get into here, all you need to know is that the 4th icon in this row (which is an icon of the Mortal Kombat "3") will take you to fight Noob Saibot. Starting the fight through this screen is the only way the fight will count.

Beating the game just for a single Noob Saibot fight that you'll probably lose is a bit tough though, luckily there is an easier way to get to that screen. After choosing Arcade mode from the main menu you'll be given 3 game options, single player mode a 4 way 2 on 2 match and an 8 way tournament. You'll want to select the 8 way tournament. Selecting this mode you'll be asked to sign in a 2nd controller because there is no CPU fighters in this mode (which is good for you). On the first player controller select the fighter you want to use against Noob Saibot, I personally used Sub Zero but I don't think it will matter. for the rest of the fighters choose whoever else, it doesn't matter. With the first player controller proceed to beat-up the 2nd player for 7 rounds until the tournament is over. It will take a few minutes but it doesn't matter because there is no skill involved. Once you're done you'll be shown the same screen that you'd get after beating Shao Kahn! once again pick the 4th icon to fight Noob Saibot (wasn't that much easier).

Now you don't actually get the achievement unless you beat him, Noob Saibot has no special moves so a good strategy is to use that against him. There is somewhat of a glitch in his AI though... all you have to do is pound on LP (the A Button) through 2 rounds and you'll get 2 flawless victories in a row against him, it's that easy. When you do a standing punch he'll run in and try to sweep you, but a Low Punch is low enough that you'll hit him before he can finish the sweep. If you keep pounding LP he'll keep trying to sweep until he's completely dead. There's an off chance that he'll try to jump in to attack you, but chances are he wont. The hardest part is just making sure your hand doesn't get tired. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)


XBOX LIVE ACHIEVEMENTS:

Fatality - Complete a Fatality during an Xbox Live Versus game.
This can be done in either ranked mode or unranked mode, however if it is a private game it will not count. A fatality is another type of finishing move as described in the Soother achievement above. Since this is online it means you wont have the luxury of pausing the game to recheck the maneuver. Memorize the move before you even search for a game and practice moving your fingers through the motions a few times before attempting it. Again Sub-Zero has one of the easiest finishing moves. Standing directly next to the opponent push: Block, Block, Run, Block, Run (RB, RB, LB, RB, LB). I suppose it would be easier doing this with an achievement buddy but it shouldn't really matter. Pay attention to your opponents health and when it starts to get low keep your ears open for the "FINISH HIM" voice and make sure you're in a position where you wont have to move very far to perform the move.

My Friend - Complete a Friendship during an Xbox Live Versus game.
Friendships are yet another type of finishing move. Similar to Babalities to perform a friendship you can't use the block button at all during the last round of the match. Also similar to babalities most characters don't have any location requirements (there are a couple of exceptions) so for the most part you don't have to worry about where you're standing. Sub Zero's Friendship is LK, Run, Run, Up (B, LB, LB, Up) but a much easier Friendship to perform is SMOKE's: Run, Run, Run, HK (LB, LB, LB, Y). Same tips apply as with the Fatality achievement, memorize the combination before you even search for a game, go through the movements a few times and be prepared when you're near the end of the match.

Competitor - Win a total of 10 Xbox Live Ranked Versus matches.
This one was a breeze for me, but it would probably be difficult for someone who is inexperienced with Mortal Kombat. Basically just played on Xbox Live in Ranked mode and win 10 times. After 10 games you'll need to start an 11th game and once you're in the character select screen the achievement will unlock. It would be extremely difficult to find an achievement buddy for this one because there are no search options, in ranked mode you either host a game or do a quick match. I would personally recommend hosting all of your games simply because searching for a match can get annoying, and you can go from fight to fight much quicker if you host. Also make use of the feedback system, negative feedback based on "player skill" does not effect their reference rating. So if someone is way above your head and totally destroys you, go right a head and mark them as "avoid this player" because the player is "too good". Similarly if they fight dirty or cheap I'll typically mark them as "lacking skill". These scores will not effect their reference rating but they'll help you avoid these players in the future so you don't waste time fighting them again. Similarly if you want to be cheap once you beat someone of a lower skill then you, you can mark them as a preferred player and boost your chances of playing them again.

Century - Win a total of 100 Xbox Live Ranked Versus matches
This is the same as Competitor except you must win 100 times. Similarly the achievement will not unlock until you start your 101st match and enter the Character selection screen. This one will take a few hours even for skilled players, unskilled players will have to chip away at this over a long period of time.

This post has been edited by twistedsymphony: Oct 23 2006, 08:38 PM