Here is what I want.

Depth = have moves that are useful for certain situations. ( Frame advantage disadvantage type stuff)

Variety = Have lots of moves so you don't have to use the same stuff as much.

Give the fighters a ton of options during combat. Not only have a lot of moves, but the ability to use them as custom combos, making the player feel a sense of freedom during a fight. Not broken, but still free.

Different players can start to develop unique styles of play when you have a lot of options for a character.

Flash = Eye candy is always good. Complicated animations, flip kicks, lots of special effects for specials....

Complexity = Make some moves easy, and others harder depending on what you get from them.

Good animation = Have realistic and over the top animations, maybe some signs of exhaustion. When you are far from the opponent, your fighter would put their arms down and walk around more relaxed. Have different animations for normal hits and counter hits..... Get rid of the Timberrrrr fall down animation from MK.

Don't do fast forward on animations unless it makes sense.

Don't have stupid looking generic animations = Block stance
The fighter should just do a different animation like they are expecting an attack instead of putting one arm up and not being able to move while doing so. It looks so fake.

Have specific block animations for every attack and have them be different for every style. Just to add to the realism. The special block animations and sways, flips whatever.... could be used as set ups for counter attacks or reversals....

If you have your back to the wall, you would block like a boxer instead of doing flashy kung fu blocks.

Maybe have different normal fight stance variations so they don’t always end up the same way, have little taunts after attacks or whatever like Jan Lee from DOA3.

Maybe some more stage interaction would be good too, like destroy the stage, use objects as weapons, move to different parts of the stage.


This stuff and more could be put together to make game play really look like something from a movie, instead of the typical robotic fighter.


To help with designing this stuff, the developers could just watch a movie fight, then figure out how that fight would play if it were in a game.

Pretend the movie is a game, and set up how every move would be done.

Like this Scenario for example.

Guy 1 throws 2 punches and a step hop knee to chest.
Guy 2 blocks the 2 punches and counters the hop knee with an Power Shove. Making the opponent fall hard on their back.

Set it up for a game.
Guy 1 = 1, 2, uf+3
Guy 2= BLK___, f+Blk

That right there makes a new idea for the game.
f+Blk would be a special counter attack against aerial attacks.

Button combos don't throw the balance of the game out - they make it weird to play in MKD's case (because of the effect the combos have in MKD) but they don't throw the balance out. What a 3D fighter should use is strings, but what MKD uses is chains. The difference is that in a string you can duck under/jump over/parry/sidestep/etc moves at times within the combo - even if you got hit by the first blow. In a chain, if the first hit connects then all of the hits connect and thats that.

Now, if everything was as it should be, then chains probably wouldn't be too much of an issue and being hit by a combo would mean you'd lose a third of your lifebar, but that'd just be how the game goes. It's fair as long as each character can do it. You may not like having to remember a 9 button long combo, but you still can if you try, so it's still fair.

I don't really understand what you're saying though, you're not being very specific here. You want moves to look better? You want a better engine? How would you improve on the current engine? What do you mean by "moves and combos that truely interact"?

It is dificult to explain, Of course a better engine, it woul dhave to be different and in turn what I want would make moves look better.

There needs to be more depth in the Intereaction of the models/Kharacters. We know that the fighting is based on simple conditions of punch, kick, throw, block. That really has not changed since MK1/

What needs to be created is a system where the kharacters do more than that. I am not exactly sure how it would be done and I am sure there are many ways to do it. I think the controls would have to be different.

But do you understand how I would want to see fighting where it mimics the movies?

All I want is it to look more fluid, but you guys expanded my idea. I like all both of your ideas, but you have to look at it like this:

Is that possible at this point in time? Can we really put all your expectations into a game with the limited technology we have? That's why I've just learned to accept it until it CAN be improved. Currently, most of what you're asking for is ALMOST impossible(it's not though, it'd just be damn hard and too complicated, ya know). In another five or so years though, I bet that'll be the standard for fighting games, not just a wishlist.

All those things are both possible and doable.

It's just a matter of time. They need more time to make a better more detailed game. maybe 3 instead of 2 years.

Or just don't waste so much time on extras and focus more on the combat part of Mortal Kombat.

Still not really clear. Do you mean more control of what the characters can do with their environments (jumping off a car, deflcting a punch into a wall, etc)? Or more control over the moves themselves (being able to throw a punch or kick in the way that you want, to the part of your opponents body that you want)?

Or something else entirely?

Those are the only things I can think of that you see in movies but not videogames.

I was not thinking about the environment, but that would also be a good addition to the better fighting interaction.

I definitly mean the moves themslves on each other. The fighting is still very simple. I think they might have to slow the game down a bit in order to allow for good anticipation of moves. Not too slow though. I do not think the Hit meter in MKD is very good because you have to take you eyes off the fighters.

The technology is there to do it. The physics are there. Boon and team should have spent more time on the fighting engine and expanding the physics and real figting instead of all the side games.

Granted it still needs to feel like MK.

It looks like Shaolin Monks has part of that Intereaction that I am talking about. (Reading the latest press release)

Well, I like bleed's ideas.

Let me say this...

Since they are using martial arts styles in MK, I feel that they need to have a lot more moves for them as well as make them more accurate and balanced.

I would like to have a ground game like in a lot of the other 3D fighting games. I personally like Tekken 5's ground game the best and would like MK to have the concept of a ground game but have its own unique flavor.

Aerial properties were actually something that I felt MK did a great job at. However, I would like to see the aerial stuff be unique for each character like in Killer Instinct. For example, Kitana could be a character that has higher jumps and uses various acrobatic moves while someone like Kano who uses relatively short jumps and isn't acrobatic.

It would be great to see a lot of interaction with the stage. For example, in a forest area, you could pick up branches and use them as a weapon or as a projectile.

I hope the stages will be bigger. I'm glad they showed signs of that in MKD, but I would like to see even more. I'm sure they could do it in places like the Portal and the Living Forest.

I think 3 years would be better and they should work on the fighting engine first before working on anything else.

Man, I wanna see a good living forest so bad.

something like in the DOA games and Tekken 4 but more like in a horror movie.

The trees might attack you like with the people in the Jail in MKD.

I'd be cool if you could destroy the tees also. Like if you hit a tree hard, you would crack it or knock some of the bark off, if you hit it hard again it would fall over.

Maybe you could make the opposite side of the tree explode like the part in the Tekken 5 Intro movie where Feng Wei kills his master.


You might make the trees burn for a little while if you hit them with a fireball.

Leaves would be fluttering all over the place too like in Kung fu movies.

Especially if they put Fujin in the game.

The living forest would look awesome in a storm too.


Have it so round 1 it gets windy, then in round 2 it starts to drizzle and thunder, in round 3 it's a full thunderstorm with howling winds.

Make it so it sounds awesome even without background music.

Yes, a better living forest is needed