Since Mortal Kombat: Armageddon has such a variety of characters to choose from, I thought I would ask the members of this forum who they thought was the cheapest individual character available in MK:A.

My Opinion:

In MK:A, I think that no matter what character you use, there is always a way of being cheap. Whether it be with Onaga, by just pounding the opponent to a bloody pulp because he can't hit you due to your enormous size, or just being a normal character like Scorpion, whose moves are set up so you can't get a hit in. No matter who you choose, there is always a way of being cheap. But, there is always those characters who are the cheapest.

What characters do I think are the cheapest?

Raiden
I know a lot of your might be surprised that I'm going to pick on the beloved Thunder God. I think that due to Raiden's special moves, combined with his Nan Chuan fighting style, he can be a very cheap character. How, you ask? All you have to do is keep teleporting. The opponent will keep jumping or running at you from the opposite direction, and you can just teleport behind him and give him a good pounding with the [Forward + X buttons] for PS2. I do not own MK:A for XBOX, so I would not have a clue what that move is for it. But keep doing that, and you will be the king of cheap. Your opponent won't know what to do, and you will just keep pounding him/her. Get them up against a wall, keep pounding them, and victory is assured.

Jarek
As many of you know, Jarek has a move called "Rhino Stomp", in which Jarek slams his body to ground, creating a small tremor and damaging the opponent. This move also allows for a combo after it. This move is very annoying. It can be launched in a quick amount of time, so you do not have time to jump to avoid it, as it is very hard to know when the move is coming. It can also be used when the opponent is blocking, as they are affected from underneath, rather than from the front, which, obviously means they can't block, which means they will be basically screwed unless they jump, which is very hard to time correctly. Obviously, you can just keep jumping this move. But then you're not blocking, are you? So funnily enough, Jarek just used his "Flying Legs" move, in which anchoring himself to the ground with his rope, Jarek impulses himself feet-first towards his opponent. Because you're jumping, and not blocking, you get taken down. Which leaves you open for yet another one of Jarek's Rhino Stomps.

Ermac
Ah, my beloved Ermac. Despite being one of my two favourite characters, Ermac is about as cheap as they come. When he has his axe drawn, Ermac has some very cheap moves. He has one specific move of which I'm going to focus on, of which you perform a mild series of punches to the opponent's face very quickly. This move is accessed by pressing the [Forward + Circle] button three times. Sure, this move seems harmless, but if Ermac does not stop doing this move, it can prove to be very annoying and very cheap. It continues to take off health, and since it is so fast, it's hard to block them once they're started. If you're out of breakers, you are sincerely screwed. Now, onward to Ermac's special moves. One move that I use a lot when playing with Ermac, is his "Mystic Float" move, in which Ermac uses his telekinesis to propel himself into the air for a few seconds.

This is a great move when playing someone like Taven or Jarek, because when they perform their cheap ground pound moves, you can simply levitate in the air to avoid it. But wait, there's more! Once in the air, and have maybe even avoided a ground pound, you can have one of two options: "Mystic Bomb", or "Dive Kick". Mystic Bomb, of course, is when Ermac slams his body on the ground, creating a small shock wave. This takes damage off the opponent, and while they stumble, you can shoot a "Hado-Energy" or something, which takes more health off, and they are too busy stumbling to block. "Dive Kick", obviously, is where Ermac dives forward with an aerial kick, smashing his opponent to the ground (if they are not blocking), which leaves the opponent open for an uppercut as they get up. So really, upon doing a Mystic Float, you are covered for whether the opponent blocks to avoid Dive Kick, or jumps, to avoid Mystic Bomb. This in tern, makes Ermac very cheap.

Sub-Zero
Ah, yes. Sub-Zero. Who could forget the ice warrior? All you have to do with this one is freeze your opponent and you have a free combo or uppercut. There is not really much I can rant about with this one, as all of you already know how cheap he is.

Taven
Taven, the new hero. The Edenian half-God sent to save the realms from Armageddon. His game-play is very cheap. You are really covered for every possible circumstance of what your opponent could do. His sword is probably the longest/largest sword in the whole game, which makes it perfect for avoiding opponent uppercuts, but still landing an uppercut of your own. One of my favourite things to do with Taven is to perform the "Godly Charge" move with your opponent straight away when the announcer says "Fight!". Godly Charge, of course, is when Taven charges forward, ramming his opponent with his shoulder in a show of fire. This always catches them off guard, and gives you a good start to the fight. Then there's the "Speed of Light and uppercut" move, in which Taven dashes instantly toward his opponent, connecting with three hits. This leaves them open for an uppercut afterwards. This move is good because even if the opponent sees "Speed of Light" move coming and blocks, they rarely see the Uppercut coming straight after. This means they will get screwed over. Whenever you're opponent's blocking, there's options too! There's the classic "Ground Pound" move, where Taven rises into the air and smashes his fist into the ground, causing a shock wave of fire. This, like Jarek's "Rhino Stomp" works even when they are blocking, which is a great convenience.

These are just a few descriptions on how cheap characters can be. I will not go on forever listing every character, but I hope this gives you an idea of the point I was trying to make in my first paragraph.

Now to the descision: Who's the cheapest?

And the winner is: TAVEN! Based on the reasons listed above, I do indeed think Taven is the cheapest character in MK:A. And if you got up to reading to here, thank you for your time.