Best way for me to get into Mortal Kombat?

[SplashChick]

BLAR I CAN'T BELIEVE I MISSED THIS TOPIC BLAR

Alright, I'm pretty certain I've played MK more than anyone here. I've logged over 30,000 online matches alone, and I'm not saying that to say how much better I am than everyone else, I just have a lot more experience with the series and can tell you all the ins and outs of it. I'll break down each game for you, and then tell you what the best games would be for what you want them for.

MK1: It's honestly kind of a shitty game. It's cheesy retro fun, but that's all there is to it. Everything is super basic, and controls are very slow and cumbersome. The game has practically no combo potential at all, but there are some combos you can do that look pretty sweet anyways. If you want to get it, grab the Sega CD version, if for no other reason than the fact that it has 5 different versions of one of the best songs to come out of the 90's, the Mortal Kombat Theme Song.

MKII: Okay, a lot of you are gonna hate me for saying this, but I'm going to say it anyways because it's just true: Most of the love for this game comes from pure nostalgic bias. Am I saying it's bad? No, it's still pretty good. The gameplay mechanics are fairly solid, there's a small amount of combo potential, and the controls are considerably better. However, the hard fact is that it just hasn't aged well, and honestly wasn't an amazing fighter to begin with. The combo potential, while present, is still small, especially compared to anything newer, the balance is rather poor, and the gameplay is still fairly slow. Projectile spams are even worse in MKII than they are in SFII or SFIV, which slows the game down even more. All in all, MKII is a pretty good game still, but it's by no means the model of MK that people want to make it out to be. The Genesis and SNES version are decent ports. The 32X version is better. The PS3 version is arcade accurate, and has online play, making it the best version.

MK3: MK3 is basically just a demo version of UMK3. Skip it.

UMK3: THIS is what you need to be playing. Hardcore MK fans agree almost unanimously that UMK3 is far and away the best MK game ever created. So why do so many people respond poorly to it in comparison to MKII? It's harder. That's really all there is to it. The addition of the Run button added a new layer of depth and complexity to the game, and all the casual gamers who were able to simply pick up and play MKII found the new addition unwieldy and simply abandoned it. So why is this run button a blessing instead of a curse? First of all, it changes the pace of the game drastically. UMK3 is far faster paced than it's predecessors, and it's a RUSH to play it. The run button is a significant addition to the offensive aspect of the game, eliminating the projectile spam wars of MKII completely. The run button even created a couple advanced techniques, even allowing some combos that couldn't be done without it. The addition of this button changed MK from a slow, defense oriented game to a fast paced, combo-centric fighter that still stands up in quality against the newest fighters.

Speaking of combos, I'm going to need an entire extra paragraph to get into the combo system of the game. UMK3 has one of the most dynamic combo systems of all time; it is absolutely RIDICULOUS the kinds of things you can pull off in this game should the situation show up. For every combo video you can find of MK 1 or 2, I can show you TEN for UMK3 and its variants. Well a game with this much combo potential HAS to be broken, right? Wrong. To go along with this massive combo potential, UMK3 also has one of the biggest risk/reward curves of any fighting game in existence. That means that sure, you CAN go for that longer combo to get an extra 10% damage, but it's going to be significantly more difficult to pull off, and you might flub it and only do half the damage you could have or less. The game rewards effort and punishes cheese, as a GOOD fighting game should, which is precisely why I don't consider MvC3 and SFIV to be good fighting games. On top of that, it manages to do this without broken cop out mechanics like combo breakers or x-factors. The game's mechanics naturally make longer combos more difficult and situational, without needing to make them impossible, and that's something fighting games rarely get right. Take a peek at the high end of the curve to see what I'm talking about.

For everyone reading this, if you don't watch ANY other videos, watch THIS one, you'll see what I'm talking about: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tinitviQ7iM

So yes, you need this game. The Genesis version is poor. The SNES version is okay, but still fairly dumbed down. The Saturn version is one of the best, as the Saturn handles the sprites very well and plays the closest to the arcade version. The XBLA version is the best version, as it's completely arcade accurate, but it's no longer available on the marketplace. The DS version is also very good, but suffers some slight graphical issues, as well as limiting you to the controls of your DS. I'll just be honest with you, standard fight pads are NOT meant for this game. 6 face button layouts are very poor for trying to play it, on controllers AND arcade sticks. The best control options for UMK3 are controllers with 4 face buttons for the punches and kicks, with run and block set to shoulders, and custom arcade sticks with the special star pattern used on UMK3 arcade cabinets.

MKT: MK Trilogy is pretty well received by everyone. It's characters from all 3 of the first MK games, brought together and remade in the UMK3 engine. It's just not as good, though. The newly added Rain and Noob Saibot were sickeningly broken, and the new Aggressor system was incredibly dumb(though thankfully you can turn it off). If you simply agree with your friends to work around the few kinks it has, it's still generally a very good game. It still doesn't have the balance UMK3 had, but it's not terrible either. The N64 and Saturn versions are the best. The PSX version is kinda buggy. The PC is just a weird platform to try to play this on. Don't even look at the Game.Com version. Between the N64 and Saturn versions, it's mostly preference. They both run great and are generally bug free. The Saturn version has more characters, but they're all bosses and "classic" modes of characters in the game already. I personally prefer the N64 version because it loads faster and the controller is excellent for it.

MK4: MK4 is pretty notorious to MK fans, but that's almost entirely because the previous 2 games were so well received, and this was such a confusing step down. It's not a great game, no, but it's honestly not that bad either. The balance isn't that great, the mechanics are a little broken, and the 3D aspect is kinda dumb since it doesn't do a lot, but it still has some fun combo potential which you can see here. All in all, it's still pretty fun. Give it a shot with MK: Gold on the Dreamcast or MK4 on the N64.

MK: Deadly Alliance: MK:DA, aka MK5, drastically changed the MK formula for the next decade. They abandoned the MK formula completely, changing the game to a 3D fighter similar to the styles of Tekken and Soul Calibur. However, it's just not as good as SCII or any of the Tekken games. It's a decent fighting game with a good story, but it's so far away from what MK was that it's kind of depressing to play. All the versions are virtually the same.

MK: Deception: MK6 was the best of the 3D MK games. The systems were refined a little and there's a ton of goodies to find in the world. The story mode was actually pretty sweet, as it let you roam entire realms along your quest, filling in story arcs as you go. The fighting, however, still just doesn't hold up to the 2D games. It's worth a buy for how cheap it is now, though.

MK: Armageddon: MK7 was the biggest letdown of the MK universe ever to be released. They advertised it as the next MKT, bringing in EVERY character ever released in the MK universe into one game. So what was the problem? They put absolutely ZERO effort into it. This game sucks SO hard, it makes me angry just talking about it. Everyone in the game has tiny movelists, the game is buggy, the balance is god awful, the combo potential is stupidly bad, bringing in every character RUINED the story completely, and it controls like a shitty tech demo. Oh yeah, and they took out fatalities. How do you even excuse that? Nobody has personal fatalities in this game, they took them all out and shoved in a stupid "create your own fatality" minigame when you win, which is basically just 4 different ways of beating the shit out of your opponent looping over and over. This game is a lazy piece of shit. Never buy it.

MK vs. DC Universe: MK8 was what we've come to expect of 3D games. Mediocre. It's just MK5 with some new shitty throw in features that hurt the gameplay rather than helping it. It's boring. Don't play it.

MK9, the rundown: A post on the previous page said that this game's engine was based on MK vs. DC Universe. That is COMPLETELY FALSE, and THANK THE FRIGGIN STARS that it is. MK9 is an effort to COMPLETELY shed the shittiness that is MK4 and beyond, and it's the best decision that they've ever made. The STORY is even going out of its way to do this. The game is returning to the dynamic combo system featured in MK3-MKT, and the movelists are changing to match this. The specific goal of MK9 is to return to the formula that was mastered in UMK3 and build on it. It's the first time they've gone in the right direction since...well...UMK3, and it's very exciting indeed. If you want to play a game to get you ready for MK9, you need to play UMK3 or at least MKT. UMK3 is remarkably similar to MK9's playstyle, and hell, it's the best in the series by far anyways. In all honesty, none of the other games in the series are similar to MK9 at all. It's not a 3D fighter, so none of the 3D games are like it, and MKII is far slower and more defensive than this game will be. There's really no way around it, if you want to prepare for this game, the ONLY thing you can play is UMK3 or at least one of its variants.

Wow that was long.

[noiseredux]

wow... awesome post SplashChick.

[sevin0seven]

...I personally prefer the N64 version because it loads faster and the controller is excellent for it.

this comment makes me happy....especially coming from you . now i am curious to spar with you on UMK3 on the 360.

[Betamax001]

I think I really should give this series another shot. I played the first one on the Genesis, and didn't really care for it. I didn't grow up or have any nostalgia for the series, and thought the game was kinda boring and generic. It was one of those games I played once, and never again. I popped SFII': Champion Edition afterwards and had alot more fun

But I downloaded the MAME roms, and I will have to try the series again and see what I think.

[final fight cd]

BLAR I CAN'T BELIEVE I MISSED THIS TOPIC BLAR

Alright, I'm pretty certain I've played MK more than anyone here. I've logged over 30,000 online matches alone, and I'm not saying that to say how much better I am than everyone else, I just have a lot more experience with the series and can tell you all the ins and outs of it. I'll break down each game for you, and then tell you what the best games would be for what you want them for.

if there was a nobel prize for video games you would win it with this post.

my friends and i used to always play MKT on the 64. and yes, the controller was pretty good with it.

[Flake]

And Splashchick wins the award for answering every single question I had about the series. Thank'ya, kindly.

[noiseredux]

seriously, SplashChick... do you have a blog?

[AznKhmerBoi]

^
disagree wtih splashchick on MK2 i think it definitly holds up well today as much as street fighter 2 turbo

[noiseredux]

^
disagree wtih splashchick on MK2 i think it definitly holds up well today as much as street fighter 2 turbo

I dont'' think it's as good as SF2, but it's my favorite MK. But I just enjoy the amount of thought put into his post, no matter my level of agreement.

[SplashChick]

seriously, SplashChick... do you have a blog?

I don't, I've thought about making one, but I didn't think anyone would read it, lol. I'm surprised you asked.

^
disagree wtih splashchick on MK2 i think it definitly holds up well today as much as street fighter 2 turbo

I'd say it holds up to SFII, but that's as good as it gets. SFII recieved many new versions with lots of improvements, and MKII didn't. The original SFII had a lot of issues like MKII does, but they were fixed in later versions, whereas MKII simply got a much improved sequel. SFIIT and all the versions afterwards are definitely better than MKII.