New Features:
-Dynamic Light Sourcing (projectiles eluminate their paths and the characters)
-All-new Snow Stage added to the rotation
-Alternate Costumes (such as Cage in a Tuxedo) with alternate weapons

Game Modes:
-Arcade: 1on1 Kombat or 2on2 Kombat (both of which can now be played by 1 or 2 players)
-Team: Two teams of five strive to survive (1 or 2 players)
-Tournament: Standard elimination tournament bracket with either 4 or 8 participants (each participant can be 1P, 2P, or CPU)
-Endurance: Three variations of the classic survival concept from MK1 (all rounds have "Finish Him/Her", performing a Fatality restores a small amount of your energy)
-Practice: Practice your moves and combos against the CPU or a friend, with a display of buttons pressed, percentage of damage, and an on-screen move list that you can bring up for your character (1P Vs static CPU, 1P vs fighting CPU, or 2 players Vs each other)

Nintendo⁶⁴-Specific Features:
-Since it's stored on a 16MB (128megabit) cartridge, it includes all the speech from the arcade game.
-Supports Rumble Pak for moves, Fatalities, and even endings!
-Supports Memory Pak for saving controller configurations, unlocked hidden characters, etc.
-Uses the hardware's anti-aliasing to prevent any "blockiness"

Sony PlayStation-Specific Features:
-Uses all-new pre-rendered Full-Motion Video (FMV) in place of the arcade's real-time introduction and endings
-Supports Memory Cards for saving controller configurations, unlocked hidden characters, etc.

Windows 95 PC-Specific Features:
-Supports Microsoft DirectX, including Direct3D (it uses the features on your 3D graphics accellerator if you have one installed)
-Much more to come...

Hidden Characters:
-Meat: Everyone's favorite skinned warrior is back in all the home versions, unmodified
-Goro: The classic subboss from the game that started it all, makes his return in the realm of 3D as a hidden subboss (he appears under Shinnok on the tower when unlocked, you can play as him using a code)
-Noob Saibot: The dark warrior makes his return to MK4... with an all-new weapon!