If you watched wrestling you'd understand. Basically kung lao puts his arms around the opponents waist and hurls them back on their head.

*Sonya*

~Energy Ring~

-Advantages-

- Track both ways
- On counter hit it causes crumple stun and gives you guaranteed damage.
- Can be charged by holding down on the button. Once fully charged it causes guard crush and hits mid.

-Disadvantages-

- Comes out slow.
- Regular version hits high, meaning it can be ducked.

~Square Wave Punch~

-Advantages-

-Takes you behind the opponent unless they jump, at which point the punch has invincible frames and cannot be interrupted.

- Goes over everything.
- Comes out super fast.
- On counter hit(the move happens the same time that your opponent does a move), you have no frame advantage or frame disadvantage.

-Disadvantages-

- Horrible recovery time.
- The opponent can uppercut you out of it before you land as long as it's not on couner hit.

~Leg Grab~

-Advantages-

- Hits mid
- Comes out fairly quick.
- On counter hit when sonya slams you, she doesnt let go, but rather pins you down, from which point you pres 1 or 2 to alternate between a left punch or right punch. You can do this up to 4 times, but if your opponent press the button that corresponds to your punch they escape.

-Disadvnatages-

- Can be sie stepped both ways.
- Not very safe.

~Bycycle Kick~

-Advantages-

- Goes over low attacks.
- Hit mid
- Comes out fairly fast.
- On counter hit they land on their head for a guaranteed leg grab.

-Disadvantages-

- Can be sidestepped.
- Has horrible range.

~Cartwheel~

- Advantages-

- Hits mid
- Covers great distance
- Tracks both sides well.
- On counter hit you get a guaranteed throw attempt.
- Fairly safe.

-Disadvnatages-

- Comes out fairly slow

~Flying Kick~

-Advantages-

- Comes out very fast.
- Goes over low attacks.
- On counter hit it causes a crumple stun, giving you guaranteed damage.

-Disadvantages-

- Can be sidestepped.
- Unsafe if blocked.

~Kiss Of Death~

-Advantage-

- Like in MKDA, if the kiss of death hits, the opponent is stunned for guaranteed damage.
- Has great range
- Tracks both ways

-Disadvantages-

- Bad recovery time.

*Jax*

~Energy Wave~

-Advantages-

- Comes out very quick
- Can be followed up with a second and third energy wave by inputting the command quickly after the first time and quickly again after the second.

- Tracks well to jax's right
- First hit safe if blocked.
- If the first wave hits, the second and third are guaranteed.

- Disadvantages-

- Hits high.
- Does not track well to the left.
- Second and third waves are not safe if blocked.

~Gotcha Grab~

-Advantages-

- Comes out fairly quickly
- When Jax grabs onto the opponent, you must mash the 1 to make Jax repeatedly punch the opponent. This does a total of 35 damage.

- If the initial grab hit on counter hit, after the punches Jax will do his signature back breaker for a total of 48 damage

-Disadvantages-

- Hits high
- Can be sidestepped.
- Not safe if blocked.

~Ground Pound~

-Advantages-

- Hits low
- You can charge the ground pound for extra damage. If fuilly charged, the ground pound becomes unblockable.

- Tracks both ways
- On counter hit it causes crumple stun, giving you a guaranteed follow up.
- Part of the animation goes under high attacks.

-Disadvantages-

- Comes out slow
- Can be jumped over.

~Dashing Punch~

-Advantages-

- Comes out very quickly.
- Has invincible frames.

-Disadvantages-

- Hits high, meaning it can be ducked.
- Can be sidestepped.

~Piston Punch~

-Advantages-

- Hits mid
- Tracks both ways
- On counter hit it causes a crumple stu, giving you guaranteed damage.

-Disadvantages-

- Very unsafe on block

~Machine Gun~

-Advantages-

- The machine gun is unblockable.
- Comes out fairly fast

~Disadvantages-

- The machine gun is sidesteppable.
- Hits high
- Recovery time is horrible.

Oh yeah, and for anyone who actually gives a shit, im covering Kitana and Mileena next.

Hey, don't worry. It's not like this stuff is going unread. It's just that there doesn't seem to be much to respond to since you seem to have it in control.

If you don't mind I'd like to take on Shang Tsung since I've been playing around with him in my head. ... Ok that sounded wrong but you get the idea.

Shang Tsung:

Flaming Skulls

Advantages:
Safe on block
On CH up to two more can be fired by repeating the final button in the command (timed properly of course) for a total of three skulls.
If all three hit, the third causes stagger.
Just frame version causes the fire surrounding the skull to be a blue flame, does 10% more damage, and tracks both ways.

Disadvantages:
Hits high
The subsequent skulls after the CH can be blocked, ducked, or sidestepped.
The just frame version only allows one shot even on CH.
Isn't very strong.

Ground Eruption

Advantages:
Each of the three eruptions does decent damage.
Each eruption is a launcher.
Hits low.
The first eruption tracks.

Disadvantages:
Horribly unsafe.

3D Fireballs (Near & Far)

Advantages:
Safe on block.
Cannot be sidestepped.
On CH it staggers.
Just frame version causes blue flame and knocks down on hit.

Disadvantages:
Hits High.
Does little damage.

Soul Steal

Advantages:
Steals life from opponent.
Hits mid.
Staggers on hit.
Unblockable.
Can be cancelled by tapping block in the first five frames.

Disadvantages:
Short range.
Very slow startup.
Very unsafe if sidestepped.
Doesn't track at all.

Morphs

I don't think it's possible to make a polygon based model "morph" into another without it looking really bad. Plus loading times are teh suk. Assuming it can be done, however...

Advantages:
Access to the entire cast.
Cancellable.

Disadvantages:
Vulnerable during transformation.
Transformation only lasts 10 seconds.

I omitted the straight fireball from MK:DA because it's essentially the same as the flaming skulls.

actually, I think it would be a good idea if you could only morph into people that you did the soul sucker fatality on. it would really help limit controls if the cast is huge

Great work Verse, hmmm... Morphing is an interesting topic. Morphing should be limited, I mean it's great that Shang could morph to anyone in the past, but I simply liked playing a character that didn't feel like filler form in MKDA. I mean he was pretty decent in the past in MK2 and MK3, but seriously, Shang was still mostly a filler character in his normal form (so that you'd morph into other forms) before MKDA. Load times are also a big problem like Tony said, so probably morphing only into your enemy or better yet, specialized morphs.

While it's neat that Shang was able to morph into other chars, I think what would be more amazing would be morphing in between different aspects/creatures. For example, Shang could morph into different mannerisms of demons, warriors not playable or now dead (these would be a good way to bring back some of the moves of the now deceased characters without another corny ressurection story), etc. Whether these give him new stances or part of the stance change system or simply just change up his appearance and special moves, who knows, both are good.

That sounds really nice. Predetermined morphs of long dead warriors from the generations past. That brings back the coolness of that one scene in the MK movie where Liu fought around ten fighters from all over the spectrum. They looked really ancient and...well...dead. You could have some of those guys and maybe even the original Kung Lao. That's something you could wrap a story around. There's still the problem with the actual morphing though. It will look bad. Maybe if they added a burst of light to block out the change or something.

*Kitana*

~Fan Throw~

-Advantages-

- Does the most damage of all the projectiles in the game.
- Tracks both ways.
- Comes out fairly quickly.
- On counter hit the Fan Throw causes the opponent to crumple, giving you guaranteed damage.

-Disadvantages-

- Can be ducked.
- Fan can only be used once per match.

~Fan Lift~

-Advantages-

- Like in previous Mortal Kombat, the fan wave entraps you in a wave that gives you guaranteed damage.
- Hits mid
- Comes out fairly quickly.

-Disadvantages-

- Very unsafe if blocked.
- Can be sidestepped.

~Square Wave Punch~

- Advantages-

- Comes out very quickly.
- Takes you to the back of your opponent.
- Has invincible frames so it beats out all jumping attacks.

-Disadvantages-

- You can be punished upon landing.

~Pretty Kick~

-Advantages-

- Goes over low attacks.
- Tracks both ways
- Very good frame advantage if blocked, making it safe.

-Disadvantages-

- Doesn't do a lot of damage.
- Hits high, meaning it can be ducked and punished.

*Mileena*

~Sai Blast~

-Advantages-

- Comes out very quickly.
- Penetrates through incoming projectiles.
- On counter hit another Sai blast is guaranteed.

-Disadvantages-

- Hits high, meaning it can be ducked.
- Can be sidestepped.

~Teleport Kick~

-Advantages-

- Goes over high,mid and low attacks.
- On counter hit it causea crumple stun, giving you guaranteed damage.

-Disadvantages-

- If blocked, you are at a major frame disadvantage(meaning you are very unsafe).

~Rolling Thunder~

-Advantages-

- Goes under high and mid attacks.
- Comes out very quickly
- On counter hit it counts as a launcher, allowing you to juggle them.
- Track both ways.

-Disadvantages-

-If blocked, it's very unsafe.

Up next I cover Shang Tsung(most of it is going to be from TTT's excellent special move property suggestions) and Baraka.

That's pretty good stuff right there. Keep 'em coming.

They can...you just have to know when to use them....bottom line!!!
I have had great success using Ermacs special moves in heated battles online!!!!!!!!!

This is true, but most specials DO suck. There is way to really escape that. This topic is for Midway to refer to and for those who don't believe Specials are useful in a 3D world(like satygraph for example).

Awesome thread Vers. I like the way you analize the fighting gameplay of the game, and its good to see you are doing the same with special moves.

Good job.

Lol bro I try. I hope you like what I did with Sonya..I had you in mind.

I'd just like to announce that this project has been canceled..sort of. I just won't be posting anymore in this topic, but all the specials in this topic plus tons of others will be covered in a much larger, more elaborate project. Thanks for all the support guys.

- Verse

3D teleports....

Raiden teleports to your left side instead of behind you....

PLZ, we all have to demand for Kitana's classic fan throws special move to return back in MK7 and this time the fan throws should look even better!!!!! Kitana should have in MK7 an INFINITE number of fan throws during the whole match like in MK2...This should return back or she'll look plain again and unexciting to play with. Forget about only a 1 fan throw during the match, this should be eliminated cus we don't have the weapon stab possibility anymore like in MK:DA.

Exactly like Baraka does. We can see him throwing a blade from his own blades. Kitana can do the same with her fans, she can throw a spinning fan toward her opponent from her own steal fans. So, this does not affect anymore if she has her steal weapon style on or not.

Its amazing how people find the smallest things to hate on. Anyway, as you can see I gave the fan throw really good properties so I figured to not make it broken that it can only be used once per match/round, but whatever. I didn't even do Baraka yet so why don't you wait to see whether or not he gets the same treatment. Besides, for all we know Baraka's blades could regenerate.