1.Know all special moves without looking.
2.Beats Moloch on any mode without losing a round

beating the game on max shows youve mastered your character.
Ive beaten it many times with Scorpion, subzero, shangtsung, kung lao, raiden and johnny cage.
played as frost, i can pull off her style brancher but havent beaten arcade mode with her on max cos i dont how to use her properly.

I'd say I've mastered all that wirh
Scorpion, Sub-zero, Reptile, Kitana, Kung Lao, Nitara, Drahmin, Shang Tsung, frost, kano, and Hsu Hao, and Kenshi.

Well, if that's the criteria for mastering a charcter, it looks like I still have to put in a lot of practice!

To truly master a character, you must:

1. Be able to do any and every move you need on a moments notice without thinking...like driving, or riding a bike, or breathing...you just do it.

2. Know your setups and be able to use them effectively.

3. Know your weaknesses.

4. Know your opponent. How will you be able to defend if you don't know what your opponent is capable of.

There is more, I'm sure. What do you think?

Beating the computer means little to nothing when it comes to mastering a character, real competition is where you learn how to play.

Konqrr Wrote: To truly master a character, you must: 1. Be able to do any and every move you need on a moments notice without thinking...like driving, or riding a bike, or breathing...you just do it. 2. Know your setups and be able to use them effectively. 3. Know your weaknesses. 4. Know your opponent. How will you be able to defend if you don't know what your opponent is capable of. There is more, I'm sure. What do you think? Beating the computer means little to nothing when it comes to mastering a character, real competition is where you learn how to play.

you're absolutely right, but playing on MAX helps immensly as you learn the weaknesses and strentghs of the character you control.
Ultimately you can never be a master, cos there mite one person out there, that may beat you even if you've beaten everyone else there is. and that person may even be a novice.
But to have a good understanding of 1 character, playing on MAX enables you to learn quickly.

Konqrr, good points, however since i have no access to regular human competition my criteria can't really include that.
also, my thinking in setting up those criteria was that if you can do a character's triple style branch combo 5 times in a row with out a mistake then surely you can do any of their moves.
but that's just me.

theres a difference there raidenwins....

i can pull off frost's style brancher but it doesnt mean ive mastered. she may have other attacks, like pop-ups, distancing moves, sweeps etc....until i know all these moves im not a master of Frost solely cos i know her 3style brancher combo.

Raidenwins Wrote: Konqrr, good points, however since i have no access to regular human competition my criteria can't really include that.

The only comp I've ever had was my brother and 2 short sessions with my friend who plays Tekken and DOA, not MK. So you and I can never truly master any character...but that doesn't mean that we can't be a really good challenge to people who have comp.

"Mastering" is such a subjective word. Take for instance a certain situation I had a while ago. At my arcade there was this dude who boasted that he beat T4 in 2 min with Christie, holding 1st on the time attack. We played, and I swept him with my Lee for however many matches we played, like three or something. Just becuase he beat the game in 2, does that mean he has mastered christie....lol, hardly.

Well, becuase I swept this dude of 2 minutes, does that mean I've mastered Lee? Heeeeellllllllll no. If i put my lee up against the Koreans lee I'd get owned so hardcore.

So, with that, we "could" conclude that mastering is relevant to location...which is somewhat true, but not totally. Mastering is relevant to competition, quality competition, and lots of it.

For the record, if i where to boast about something, it wouldn't be beatig the game at a good time. No, no, I'd rather have the 60 wins that one of my tekken buddies, DJ, accumulated with Nina. Anywho, just my rant. Peace and love ya'l..

You guys have come up with some good points on mastering characters, but don't forget... You're always gonna make a mistake no matter who you are!

Another thing to think about, I think before you can really "master" a character you need to master the physics and rules of MK:DA. What I mean is everyone is, obviously, controlled the same way they just have different button combinations and slight variations (speed, specials, etc).

I think it's more important to know where and exactly when to start your attacks and blocks. Once that comes naturally to you all you need to do is remember a character's buttons.

Play a lot of random select, that's how you get good with everyone cause you are forced to use someone even if you don't like them. My mentor told me this once...

Playing against friends everyday will make you extremely good.