UMK3 Networked arcade version

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sevendead

New member
I've been searching for any info on a version of UMK3 that was seen in some promo video I beleive was a free rental at Blockbuster when MK3 was released on SNES/Geneses/etc.

All I can remember is it was pretty rare, if released at all. Featured a green uper logo plate on the cabinent and I beleive it added even more characters like Noob and Rain and was able to be networked to either other cabinets in the area or to other arcades as a whole.
 
Are you sure that wasn't just the standard promo footage from UMK3? If you let an arcade version of UMK3 go into attract mode and all that stuff, you'll see footage that includes Noob getting finished by Smoke and Rain comboing Shao Kahn.
 
UMK3 Wavenet Edition. It was released in Chicago as a test of networked MK. The machine was connected via highspeed line to Midway's headquarters and it allowed you to play people in UMK3 at other arcades over the network.

It had tweaked gameplay, and they made Noob Saibot playable. The tweaks I have heard but cannot confirm since I don't have access to one of these (actually no one does because the network is no longer active) are things like greater limits on Kung Lao's spin.

I believe it is the black ninja version of Noob saibot. I think I heard he has a grab or teleport slam type move, plus he probably has all of Kano's combos like Noob had in regular UMK3 if you access him with a Mame cheat.

The machine itself was interesting. They maxed out the hardware that UMK3 ran on so they had to add a separate computer inside the cabinet. It was an embedded 386 system which connected to the arcade board and to the network and provided the translation of information between arcade machine nad network.

When the machine was not connected to the network, from what I have heard, it played like standard UMK3.
 
There are literally a handful of wavenet machines in existence, and probably one person has most of them. Apparently it's impossible to play the wavenet enabled version without the actual hardware at this time since it has not been emulated yet, nor does anyone seem to care enough to try. I know one person who claims to have a wavenet machine but also says he can play with the Wavenet enabled properties (ie: Noob Saibot with teleport via selection of Kano and a special button press command, Ermac's lift counting as a hit in a combo, Kung Lao's spin locked at 3 hits, Stryker's gun locked at 5 hits, Kabal's spin being modified etc) however this is disputed by Wavenet tester Alex Gilleam (Lex) from Chicago who says there's no way he can access that without all the inbetween necessities, so he's most like lying and doesn't really have a Wavenet enabled machine. Someone else supposedly has one over in Europe who bought it from Midway in the 90s. I have this information through someone who lives in Europe, again, unsubstaniated.
 
Thank you. I knew I had seen a smidget of info in a magazine (either EGM2 or EGM back in the day) or on a website but all my searches came back empty until you informed me of the Wavenet name.
 
sevendead said:
Thank you. I knew I had seen a smidget of info in a magazine (either EGM2 or EGM back in the day) or on a website but all my searches came back empty until you informed me of the Wavenet name.
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slashdot.org is a site that posts tons of tech related news stories (in case you haven't heard about it). If you search discussions for wavenet on there, you might find some discussion posts about it. One of the dudes that was actually building the wavenet technology posted some details about it. I don't remember all of them but the gist was, embedded 386 system connected to ethernet and hooked up to the arcade board.

That's where the true difficulty in emulation comes from. Emulating a custom embedded 386 system on the side as a full arcade game (that happens to be difficult to emulate in itself compared to many other arcade games) is also being emulated is a tall order. That, plus nobody has any copies of the game so nobody can go in and try to figure out what the system is actually doing, like what its software behaves like.

But damn I wish I could play it just for the more balanced gameplay. UMK3 is like a couple of updates away from being an amazingly balanced game.
 
Mike I'm trying so hard on the mugen guild, I'm kind of getting somewhere, eventually you'll be able to play the combined vision of MKT+ through the eyes of me Lex Moe and Ryan.
 
ID cards would b cool. So that u can put saved fighter data or no of fatalities. somethin like tekken 5. if its an arcade mix with networking.
 
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