Why MK is the Superior Fighter
2D Kombat Klassics
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Why MK is the Superior Fighter
0
posted03/03/2010 02:39 PM (UTC)by
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This post is a response to the fighting game community in general, and their tendency to snub their nose at Mortal Kombat (even the classic ones!) including their nonspecific claims that “the game hasn’t aged well”. What I will attempt to do in this post is articulate why the classic, two-dimensional Mortal Kombat games – MKII and UMK3 in particular – are the superior fighter, in comparison to other fighting games at the time, the Street Fighter series in particular.
Before reading further, please do not attempt to debunk anything in this post with “Well, that’s just your opinion”. Such a response is suitable for initial claims that Mortal Kombat is just “not as good”, but contained in this essay will be a list of cold, hard, indisputable facts. Additionally, when considering the purchase of any game, your purchase includes not just the engine, but the graphics, story, backgrounds, violence, and any additional bonus content or other items that are tacked-on. Such items do go into one’s consideration of whether to purchase said game or not. Of course, more memorable stories and interesting characters, as well as (then) over-the-top violence had a lot to do with attracting and retaining players initially. Having said that, this article will tackle why MK’s engine is superior to the SF engine – even if the blood and Fatalities were to be removed, and the story nonexistent, playing MK would provide a better experience than Street Fighter for a variety of reasons, outlined below.
1. The Block Button.
The block button has been described by many fighting game elitists as a drawback. Let me point out, however, that having a unique button designated solely for the purpose of blocking provides the player better and more accurate control. Supposing you don’t want to stand in the line of fire and get by an attack, but you’d rather back away from the attack and not get hit altogether. Isn’t that your right as a player? This goes beyond simply a matter of preference; being able to choose between whether I back away from my opponent or whether I block his attacks allows the player more precision and ultimately a higher quality gameplay experience.
2. Cross-ups.
The introduction of cross-up kicks (and punches) started in Mortal Kombat II, as what you might call a glitch! But let’s face it - jumping over your opponent and then kicking them (despite not facing them originally) feels glorious. Many other great real life inventions started out purely by accident, as well. Thomas Edison discovered the principles that made the first sound recorder possible, the phonograph, while pricking his finger “by the merest accident” (his words).
3. Conformity amongst speeds and basic moves.
When you walk towards a player, how fast can you expect to get there? It shouldn’t depend on whether I picked Zangief or Chun Li. It should be uniform across the board. Similarly, there is a lot of security in knowing that back + low kick will always result in a sweep kick, or down + high punch will always perform an uppercut. (Mortal Kombat seems to have stumbled away from this, beginning with Deadly Alliance, although making a step back with the very next sequel, Deception.) SF characters, by contrast, have characters like Balrog who does nothing but punches. Where’s the fun in that?
4. Unique special moves.
What round of a fighting game feels complete without the use of special moves? Projectiles that freeze the player or rope them in over to you, or that go underground and pop up on the other side of the screen, and morphing into other players, these are the types of innovations that make great use of supernatural abilities. Sorry, but Hadokens and Dragon Punches just can’t hold a candle to Jax’s Ground Pound or Nightwof’s fireball deflector.
5. Hidden characters.
Double flawless on the Pit, without blocking, and a Fatality? The additional challenge provided to players of a 1-player game started with the very first Mortal Kombat and was programmed by Ed Boon in a single weekend, unbeknownst to the other designers. It took Street Fighter a while to catch up with the introduction of Akuma. Hidden characters such as these are now considered a staple of the fighting game genre.
6. No dizzies.
In this world where so many of us complain about “the rich getting richer, and the poor getting poorer” – why would we want our fighting games to reinforce this message? Indeed, in Street Fighter, the player who begins to get the upper hand gets an additional free hit on his opponent for being dizzy. Thank you, Mortal Kombat, for fixing this! Ironically, the SF dizzies led to the MK team’s inspiration for Fatalities (by moving the dizzy to the end of the match, where it doesn’t really provide any advantage or disadvantage to either player).
Before reading further, please do not attempt to debunk anything in this post with “Well, that’s just your opinion”. Such a response is suitable for initial claims that Mortal Kombat is just “not as good”, but contained in this essay will be a list of cold, hard, indisputable facts. Additionally, when considering the purchase of any game, your purchase includes not just the engine, but the graphics, story, backgrounds, violence, and any additional bonus content or other items that are tacked-on. Such items do go into one’s consideration of whether to purchase said game or not. Of course, more memorable stories and interesting characters, as well as (then) over-the-top violence had a lot to do with attracting and retaining players initially. Having said that, this article will tackle why MK’s engine is superior to the SF engine – even if the blood and Fatalities were to be removed, and the story nonexistent, playing MK would provide a better experience than Street Fighter for a variety of reasons, outlined below.
1. The Block Button.
The block button has been described by many fighting game elitists as a drawback. Let me point out, however, that having a unique button designated solely for the purpose of blocking provides the player better and more accurate control. Supposing you don’t want to stand in the line of fire and get by an attack, but you’d rather back away from the attack and not get hit altogether. Isn’t that your right as a player? This goes beyond simply a matter of preference; being able to choose between whether I back away from my opponent or whether I block his attacks allows the player more precision and ultimately a higher quality gameplay experience.
2. Cross-ups.
The introduction of cross-up kicks (and punches) started in Mortal Kombat II, as what you might call a glitch! But let’s face it - jumping over your opponent and then kicking them (despite not facing them originally) feels glorious. Many other great real life inventions started out purely by accident, as well. Thomas Edison discovered the principles that made the first sound recorder possible, the phonograph, while pricking his finger “by the merest accident” (his words).
3. Conformity amongst speeds and basic moves.
When you walk towards a player, how fast can you expect to get there? It shouldn’t depend on whether I picked Zangief or Chun Li. It should be uniform across the board. Similarly, there is a lot of security in knowing that back + low kick will always result in a sweep kick, or down + high punch will always perform an uppercut. (Mortal Kombat seems to have stumbled away from this, beginning with Deadly Alliance, although making a step back with the very next sequel, Deception.) SF characters, by contrast, have characters like Balrog who does nothing but punches. Where’s the fun in that?
4. Unique special moves.
What round of a fighting game feels complete without the use of special moves? Projectiles that freeze the player or rope them in over to you, or that go underground and pop up on the other side of the screen, and morphing into other players, these are the types of innovations that make great use of supernatural abilities. Sorry, but Hadokens and Dragon Punches just can’t hold a candle to Jax’s Ground Pound or Nightwof’s fireball deflector.
5. Hidden characters.
Double flawless on the Pit, without blocking, and a Fatality? The additional challenge provided to players of a 1-player game started with the very first Mortal Kombat and was programmed by Ed Boon in a single weekend, unbeknownst to the other designers. It took Street Fighter a while to catch up with the introduction of Akuma. Hidden characters such as these are now considered a staple of the fighting game genre.
6. No dizzies.
In this world where so many of us complain about “the rich getting richer, and the poor getting poorer” – why would we want our fighting games to reinforce this message? Indeed, in Street Fighter, the player who begins to get the upper hand gets an additional free hit on his opponent for being dizzy. Thank you, Mortal Kombat, for fixing this! Ironically, the SF dizzies led to the MK team’s inspiration for Fatalities (by moving the dizzy to the end of the match, where it doesn’t really provide any advantage or disadvantage to either player).
0
You left out how MK freed the slaves.
About Me
0
]{0MBAT Wrote:
This post is a response to the fighting game community in general, and their tendency to snub their nose at Mortal Kombat (even the classic ones!) including their nonspecific claims that “the game hasn’t aged well”. What I will attempt to do in this post is articulate why the classic, two-dimensional Mortal Kombat games – MKII and UMK3 in particular – are the superior fighter, in comparison to other fighting games at the time, the Street Fighter series in particular.
Before reading further, please do not attempt to debunk anything in this post with “Well, that’s just your opinion”. Such a response is suitable for initial claims that Mortal Kombat is just “not as good”, but contained in this essay will be a list of cold, hard, indisputable facts. Additionally, when considering the purchase of any game, your purchase includes not just the engine, but the graphics, story, backgrounds, violence, and any additional bonus content or other items that are tacked-on. Such items do go into one’s consideration of whether to purchase said game or not. Of course, more memorable stories and interesting characters, as well as (then) over-the-top violence had a lot to do with attracting and retaining players initially. Having said that, this article will tackle why MK’s engine is superior to the SF engine – even if the blood and Fatalities were to be removed, and the story nonexistent, playing MK would provide a better experience than Street Fighter for a variety of reasons, outlined below.
1. The Block Button.
The block button has been described by many fighting game elitists as a drawback. Let me point out, however, that having a unique button designated solely for the purpose of blocking provides the player better and more accurate control. Supposing you don’t want to stand in the line of fire and get by an attack, but you’d rather back away from the attack and not get hit altogether. Isn’t that your right as a player? This goes beyond simply a matter of preference; being able to choose between whether I back away from my opponent or whether I block his attacks allows the player more precision and ultimately a higher quality gameplay experience.
2. Cross-ups.
The introduction of cross-up kicks (and punches) started in Mortal Kombat II, as what you might call a glitch! But let’s face it - jumping over your opponent and then kicking them (despite not facing them originally) feels glorious. Many other great real life inventions started out purely by accident, as well. Thomas Edison discovered the principles that made the first sound recorder possible, the phonograph, while pricking his finger “by the merest accident” (his words).
3. Conformity amongst speeds and basic moves.
When you walk towards a player, how fast can you expect to get there? It shouldn’t depend on whether I picked Zangief or Chun Li. It should be uniform across the board. Similarly, there is a lot of security in knowing that back + low kick will always result in a sweep kick, or down + high punch will always perform an uppercut. (Mortal Kombat seems to have stumbled away from this, beginning with Deadly Alliance, although making a step back with the very next sequel, Deception.) SF characters, by contrast, have characters like Balrog who does nothing but punches. Where’s the fun in that?
4. Unique special moves.
What round of a fighting game feels complete without the use of special moves? Projectiles that freeze the player or rope them in over to you, or that go underground and pop up on the other side of the screen, and morphing into other players, these are the types of innovations that make great use of supernatural abilities. Sorry, but Hadokens and Dragon Punches just can’t hold a candle to Jax’s Ground Pound or Nightwof’s fireball deflector.
5. Hidden characters.
Double flawless on the Pit, without blocking, and a Fatality? The additional challenge provided to players of a 1-player game started with the very first Mortal Kombat and was programmed by Ed Boon in a single weekend, unbeknownst to the other designers. It took Street Fighter a while to catch up with the introduction of Akuma. Hidden characters such as these are now considered a staple of the fighting game genre.
6. No dizzies.
In this world where so many of us complain about “the rich getting richer, and the poor getting poorer” – why would we want our fighting games to reinforce this message? Indeed, in Street Fighter, the player who begins to get the upper hand gets an additional free hit on his opponent for being dizzy. Thank you, Mortal Kombat, for fixing this! Ironically, the SF dizzies led to the MK team’s inspiration for Fatalities (by moving the dizzy to the end of the match, where it doesn’t really provide any advantage or disadvantage to either player).
This post is a response to the fighting game community in general, and their tendency to snub their nose at Mortal Kombat (even the classic ones!) including their nonspecific claims that “the game hasn’t aged well”. What I will attempt to do in this post is articulate why the classic, two-dimensional Mortal Kombat games – MKII and UMK3 in particular – are the superior fighter, in comparison to other fighting games at the time, the Street Fighter series in particular.
Before reading further, please do not attempt to debunk anything in this post with “Well, that’s just your opinion”. Such a response is suitable for initial claims that Mortal Kombat is just “not as good”, but contained in this essay will be a list of cold, hard, indisputable facts. Additionally, when considering the purchase of any game, your purchase includes not just the engine, but the graphics, story, backgrounds, violence, and any additional bonus content or other items that are tacked-on. Such items do go into one’s consideration of whether to purchase said game or not. Of course, more memorable stories and interesting characters, as well as (then) over-the-top violence had a lot to do with attracting and retaining players initially. Having said that, this article will tackle why MK’s engine is superior to the SF engine – even if the blood and Fatalities were to be removed, and the story nonexistent, playing MK would provide a better experience than Street Fighter for a variety of reasons, outlined below.
1. The Block Button.
The block button has been described by many fighting game elitists as a drawback. Let me point out, however, that having a unique button designated solely for the purpose of blocking provides the player better and more accurate control. Supposing you don’t want to stand in the line of fire and get by an attack, but you’d rather back away from the attack and not get hit altogether. Isn’t that your right as a player? This goes beyond simply a matter of preference; being able to choose between whether I back away from my opponent or whether I block his attacks allows the player more precision and ultimately a higher quality gameplay experience.
2. Cross-ups.
The introduction of cross-up kicks (and punches) started in Mortal Kombat II, as what you might call a glitch! But let’s face it - jumping over your opponent and then kicking them (despite not facing them originally) feels glorious. Many other great real life inventions started out purely by accident, as well. Thomas Edison discovered the principles that made the first sound recorder possible, the phonograph, while pricking his finger “by the merest accident” (his words).
3. Conformity amongst speeds and basic moves.
When you walk towards a player, how fast can you expect to get there? It shouldn’t depend on whether I picked Zangief or Chun Li. It should be uniform across the board. Similarly, there is a lot of security in knowing that back + low kick will always result in a sweep kick, or down + high punch will always perform an uppercut. (Mortal Kombat seems to have stumbled away from this, beginning with Deadly Alliance, although making a step back with the very next sequel, Deception.) SF characters, by contrast, have characters like Balrog who does nothing but punches. Where’s the fun in that?
4. Unique special moves.
What round of a fighting game feels complete without the use of special moves? Projectiles that freeze the player or rope them in over to you, or that go underground and pop up on the other side of the screen, and morphing into other players, these are the types of innovations that make great use of supernatural abilities. Sorry, but Hadokens and Dragon Punches just can’t hold a candle to Jax’s Ground Pound or Nightwof’s fireball deflector.
5. Hidden characters.
Double flawless on the Pit, without blocking, and a Fatality? The additional challenge provided to players of a 1-player game started with the very first Mortal Kombat and was programmed by Ed Boon in a single weekend, unbeknownst to the other designers. It took Street Fighter a while to catch up with the introduction of Akuma. Hidden characters such as these are now considered a staple of the fighting game genre.
6. No dizzies.
In this world where so many of us complain about “the rich getting richer, and the poor getting poorer” – why would we want our fighting games to reinforce this message? Indeed, in Street Fighter, the player who begins to get the upper hand gets an additional free hit on his opponent for being dizzy. Thank you, Mortal Kombat, for fixing this! Ironically, the SF dizzies led to the MK team’s inspiration for Fatalities (by moving the dizzy to the end of the match, where it doesn’t really provide any advantage or disadvantage to either player).
1. agree. ive always hated holding back to block.
2. agree
3. i hated how in the old games there was a basic system for all chars. the only difference in them other then design, was the special moves. chars are supposed to be different if every char fights the same way, theres really no point in having a roster of 10+ chars. i dont have a problem with some basics being shared like in mkd/mka but in the classics everyone had the same shit. master 1 char, master all chars. it made it too easy.
4. agree. mk is top of the line when it comes to special moves.
5. mk is the king when it comes to secrets. but they let it all go to their heads to the point that it affected the overall game. the fighting engine should be first and foremost the most important aspect of the game, but its taken a backseat a few times to secrets and extra features. look at mkd...all the crap in konquest that was done, when they should have focused on that glitch of a fighting engine. you ever tried playing online? its laughable.
6. there arent combo dizzies and such like sf and others did them, but what do you call scorpions spear? subs freeze? kabals spin? even basic attacks like jax f+hp in mk 2. mk actually made it easier to dizzy an opponent bc you can do it in single attacks.
mk has always been my fav even tho i know that it isnt technically the best. i never liked sf. there was just somethin about mk that made me love it. standing outside sweep distance staring at your opponent knowin that eventually sumone is gonna jump kick somebody was just a good feeling lol.
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scorpio Wrote:
6. there arent combo dizzies and such like sf and others did them, but what do you call scorpions spear? subs freeze? kabals spin? even basic attacks like jax f+hp in mk 2. mk actually made it easier to dizzy an opponent bc you can do it in single attacks.
6. there arent combo dizzies and such like sf and others did them, but what do you call scorpions spear? subs freeze? kabals spin? even basic attacks like jax f+hp in mk 2. mk actually made it easier to dizzy an opponent bc you can do it in single attacks.
You raise a good point, but that's specifically why I like them. When MK did dizzies, it was following a move that did 0 damage (Kabal's spin, Sub-Zero's freeze) or very little damage (Scorpion's spear). This is in stark contrast to Street Fighter, where the dizzies would happen to someone who has already taken major damage and struggling as it is. Realistic, perhaps, but broken.
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alright so you are saying if you did a better job,put in more time,always early then your co workers, you would not deserve to eventually get a pay raise and promotion. isnt that what everyone tells you,"if you work hard you will make it, you have to earn it, it wont just fall in your hands".
what im trying to say is street fighter rewards you for being the better player, which is fair. it wasnt like you were going to win anyways if your gettin dizzied, because you have to take a pretty good amount of hits to be dizzy.
what im trying to say is street fighter rewards you for being the better player, which is fair. it wasnt like you were going to win anyways if your gettin dizzied, because you have to take a pretty good amount of hits to be dizzy.
3. Conformity amongst speeds and basic moves.
I really like this, mainly for the fact that once you learn the basics you can play with any character and only have to learn the nuances of their special moves.
Although speed wise, it makes sense for a larger character to move slower than a smaller one, and adds a little variety plus the need to change your game to play against them.
On the other hand characters in SF have quite different styles which can add alot of gameplay time in learning each style.
4. Unique special moves.
MK definitely has some great specials, although of late the team seems to getting a little bored or something with just alot of straight out fireballs. They can at least make them look different.
Some of my favourites are by far the Fan throw, Sai shot and Acid spit.
5. Hidden characters.
Great back in the first few games where it was like a puzzle to solve. Now everything is about unlocking etc.
6. No dizzies.
Maybe they're on to something keeping it a little fairer, although I don't see why a player shouldn't be rewarded with a dizzy for pounding an opponent who couldn't find a way to block or counter a series of attacks.
I really like this, mainly for the fact that once you learn the basics you can play with any character and only have to learn the nuances of their special moves.
Although speed wise, it makes sense for a larger character to move slower than a smaller one, and adds a little variety plus the need to change your game to play against them.
On the other hand characters in SF have quite different styles which can add alot of gameplay time in learning each style.
4. Unique special moves.
MK definitely has some great specials, although of late the team seems to getting a little bored or something with just alot of straight out fireballs. They can at least make them look different.
Some of my favourites are by far the Fan throw, Sai shot and Acid spit.
5. Hidden characters.
Great back in the first few games where it was like a puzzle to solve. Now everything is about unlocking etc.
6. No dizzies.
Maybe they're on to something keeping it a little fairer, although I don't see why a player shouldn't be rewarded with a dizzy for pounding an opponent who couldn't find a way to block or counter a series of attacks.
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