There is a pattern that work pretty well even on very hard.

1. make sure you are player 1 because it didnt work with player 2.

2. The pattern doesnt work with: Kitana, Millena, Raiden, Kunglao and Liu Kang.

3. The pattern sometimes doesnt work against the very first opponent. (on very hard)

Now the pattern:

Keep ducking until your enemy is in attack range, now jump backward without doing anything.
Just jump backward right before the enemy would hit you.
Now the CPU will wait a second and jump after you.
now uppercut, roundhouse, HP- Spear, HP, Shadow Kick ect. whatever you want.

This pattern work 100% every time on very hard.
I beaten the game around 50 times on a real Arcade machine with this pattern.

You just have to do the timing right, jump backward at the second when the CPU try to punch or throw you.
If you do it to late you get hit and if you do it to soon the cpu will probably shot at you.

Sometimes the cpu dont jump after you, then was the timing wrong.

MK2 Revision 3.1

Yea Killermiller i found out that pattern too it works good especially with Tsung.Im suprised i never notice this when it was at the arcades.The AI is so easy after doing that its pretty fun especially with scorpion and doing a little combo like when they jump back at you do some juggle punches and then right before they land get them with a spear its pretty cool.

Yeh but is it easy to do that pattern using a keyboard?

Yes it is i suggest you use shang Tsung first use a roundhouse kick it seems to work real good with him.Then you should get the hang of it.

I use this control scheme on my keyboard for it:

High Punch - Num 7
Low Punch - Num 1
High Kick - Num 9
Low Kick - Num 3
Block - Space

Though, I can't say if you would like that one but I love it.

I bought a cheap gamepad and it works great it cost like 10 bucks or less i believe. I couldnt take the keyboard anymore so if your still having trouble using the keyboard get a gamepad.

I love my arcade stick for MK games, but I also have a Thrustmaster Firestorm Analog 3 gamepad which is nice. I use it mainly for playing Unreal Tournament though so I can't really vouch for how well it works with MK games. This pad basically rips off the PlayStation Dual Shock setup, with two extra "middle finger" triggers in the grips. Those cost $20 at Comp USA.

If you have PlayStation controllers you may also want to look into a PSX adapter for PC (e-bay_.

In my opinion, though, you will actually do better using a keyboard than you will with a gamepad. Since MK games only use a four-way directional input, keyboard input works very well (since there are no true "diagonals" to worry about, unlike most Capcom fighters). The only real advantage of a pad is that some keyboards freak out when you press three or more keys at once (Sonya's leg grab, Kitana's fan, etc.). I know MK2Kung prefers a keyboard, and if you've seen those combo videos that's just a testament to how precise keyboard control can be. However, if you grew up on the console versions of the game, I can understand how a pad would just feel more natural. Try both and see what you like best!