I have always been a huge huge MK fan and, I remember back in the arcade days, I thought I was a pretty decent MK player, on all the major versions, MK2, MK3, UMK3. I could sit at a machine for a while, usually with a winning record, but having to bump some quarters now and then. Then about a year and a half ago (or whenever I discovered this site) I started to hear about kaillera and playing MK online. I could not have heard better news. So I got it and I literally got the shit spanked out of me, in MK2 and UMK3. I won maybe 1 out of 20 matches on both. I was shocked, I thought I could at least hold my own. So I guess my question is, was the gameplay always this competitive even in the arcade days, or is it just that because the game has been out for almost a decade, people have finally had the time to super-analyze it?

BTW I do appreciate competitive gameplay, but I haven't been on kaillera in a long time, and apparently you have to have an ip now, you can't just join. So if someone wants to post one thats cool. Not to mention I've been itching to have the time to really study those awsome character guides that are being posted. Although it seems like I don't even have enough base to make use of them. Anyway, I've just been wondering if the arcade I played at didn't have any elite players or all the competitiveness (sp?) is relatively recent.