"Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks is a standalone game in the Mortal Kombat series. Shaolin Monks was developed by Midway LA (formerly Paradox Development) and published by Midway for the PlayStation 2 and Xbox and was released September 16, 2005 in the United States.
In October 2004, the president of Midway, David F. Zucker, called the release of Shaolin Monks the "first step toward delivering something that Mortal Kombat fans have been calling for: a new game set in the Mortal Kombat universe every year.""
Source: Wikipedia, "Mortal_Kombat:_Shaolin_Monks," available under the CC-BY-SA License.