Mortal Kombat Gold follows Mortal Kombat Trilogy and precedes Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance. It follows the same storyline as Mortal Kombat 4 and is identical in many ways. It was the first Mortal Kombat game to appear on a sixth-generation platform. It appeared exclusively on the Sega Dreamcast and not on the arcade or any other game system. All the fighters were the same from Mortal Kombat 4, with a few additional characters returning. The entire Mortal Kombat Gold game was created in less than one year, which may have added to the lack of detail and poor performance.

This game also includes new levels not seen in Mortal Kombat 4 and a new weapon select mechanism, but it remains largely unchanged from its predecessor. In some ways, due to loading times (even during battles, particularly in the case of Shinnok's impersonations) and glitch-laden effects, its quality was actually poorer. As for gameplay, aside from the more characters, Mortal Kombat Gold plays identically to Mortal Kombat 4. Notable features it shares with Mortal Kombat 4 include running (it was the last game in the series to do so), identical combos for all characters, the ability to draw, throw, and pick up weapons, and sidestepping (making minor use of the 3D graphics).

Despite appearing on a 128-bit system, Mortal Kombat Gold did not utilize the increased technology. Its graphics and gameplay were identical, if not inferior, to Mortal Kombat 4 on the Nintendo 64, a system of half the power. Game Revolution described the game as terrible. "The graphics are inexcusably horrible," and "it's quite a depressing let-down on Sega's 128-bit masterpiece," especially when compared to Soul Calibur. The weapons that characters can use during the game are generic and uninteresting and have nothing to do with the character. Every weapon is either an sword, axe, or club. IGN had similar bad reviews about Mortal Kombat Gold. In response to the poor weaponry, "readying your weapon is a slow process in which you can be hit any number of times during the attempt." Although they commented on the improvements from previous Mortal Kombat games, the lack of depth was somewhat inexcusable.