Part of the problem is the Genesis crappy D-pad which was a circle instead of the snes cross back in the day. But if you are talking about an emulator, use cheat codes to extend the fatality time and practice. In a 2 player mode: enter the versus code P1: (1,5,5) P2: (1,5,5) for extended fatality time. In a 1 player game, to get extended fatality time, At the screen which says Start and Options, enter: A, C, Up, B, Up, B, A, Down Enables Killer Kombo, Cheats and Secret Option. This is from http://www.gamefaqs.com/console/genesis/code/563352.html. But overall, after you practice, the secret to fast combos is your distance from the opponent, be it sweep, right next to, 1 step away, half screen, full screen. They are very precise. Maybe watch the cpu to see where they stand when they off you. Also, holding block during fatalities that require the 'up' button helps a lot, such as with Liu Kang's arcade drop and Jax's arm blade fatalities which are the hardest to me.

I'll disagree with you on the dpad. IMO, the only pad better was the Saturn's.

It's not really the pad itself, it's UMK3. Both MK3/UMK3 for SNES/Genesis required sped up input for moves compared to the arcade versions.

These were my problems: To do a Brutality, you had to push a bunch of buttons really fast, but like for example Scorpions started out with a button that made him hit the opponent with an axe (the close up hit), which always knocked them out, leaving me unable to complete the Brutality. Then you had to try and remember the entire button sequence, even if you actually pulled off a Brutality.

Animalities required you to do a Mercy, which was a bunch of garbage. Then, there is the fact of remembering the button combinations for the Fatalities, which I had a time with. I suppose it was the emphasis on using the Run and Block button a lot, compared to other games, which was mainly a series of directional moves, followed by an attack.

Keep Practicing lol. I never done the Mercy Part. Just not sure how to perform that... hmm?
Zell