Raiden is the easiest, but learning Raiden doesn't really teach you the game, just how to be a douchebag,

Scorpion is the go too for me, because his execution is easy and satisfying, but he also doesn't get away with too much nonsense as his moves are punishable.

Sindel is FTW though.

http://www.mortalkombatonline.com/content/forum/showmessage.cds?id=142152

that will help too. its how i taught my gf.

Not a bad guide. It pretty much is how I've been going about things with her. Funny thing is that she started playing g online from the get go. She messed around with some characters til she fell in love with Sheevas tele stomp lol. And she specifically likes tag so I recommended her to try out Noob (amongst a couple others) and she seems to like him too.

Anyways I've been mainly working with her with Sheeva and her special moves. My fiance is still trying to get the hang if all the specials. Trying to memorize them, learn when to use them, and still practicing just the execution of them. After she does then I plan to work with her with some basic combos and teach her more about the mechanics of the game.

I recommend Johnny Cage. He has a great yet simple moveset.

I agree with Raiden. Baraka and Mileena are also easy to learn.

Johnny Cage

Scorpion

Raiden

Liu Kang

Smoke

Noob Saibot

Scorpion
Noob Saibot
Smoke

I'd say Johnny cage

Wasn't Liu Kang created specifically so that "even your grandmother can play?"

I'd say he's the easiest in terms of combos but with Johnny Cage you can mash 1s and throw in the occasional special and still win. Although, that's not playing them to their full potential.

To the people saying Johnny Cage, while i agree if two people are just button mashing the one using Cage has a good chance of winning, I feel like 'button mashing' is below a basic level. When i first started playing the game, it being my first REAL attempt at getting into a fighting game, Cage's combo's were incredibly difficult to pull off. The whole dashing up to lightly tap a button was hard to time perfectly imo. Even a dash in 21 was difficult to do without doing a F2 and fucking everything up.

I'd say if you wanted to learn a character at a "basic level" pick someone with relatively easy, straight forward combo's that don't involve to much dashing until you get a feel for the game. I'd say Mileena is a good bet, and i believe reptile has a few bnb's that are pretty simple to do and involve no dashing or super fast execution. I'm pretty sure Scorpion and Kitana were designed to help people get into the game, but i cant really elaborate too much on that as I've never really used either of them.

The only combos with Johnny that require much difficulty are setting up his resets.

Johnny Cage is not hard to use, he has an easy 1,1,1 combo like Scorpion a 2,2 combo an forward 3 back 3 combo that hits overhead, with pushback, these are combos with lax timing that I learned when the demo came out.

Whether it's a pro player or a noob player, Johnny is not someone you have to work excessivley hard to do well with just like Scorpion in my view.

Johnny has to dash up and lightly tap buttons as do several other characters.



Johnny Cage is probably easier than Scorpion because he's quicker, he has more safe attacks( the only special move he has that is majorly unsafe on block is his shadow kick. He has a lot of safe preset combos as well that keep the opponent from punishing it on block.

Johnny Cage and Scorpion were both made for beginners.

I love how Johnny plays. He's very accesible to beginners. Johnny is a beast in the right hands. Another thing I love about JC is he is the only character to have a counter X-ray.

My gameplan for Johnny is to be aggressive. To get inside and land a combo or two. If they try to spam I do Johnny's enhanced shadow kick and break the distance. I usually do a really quick combo that ends with the nut punch. I always try to mix it up and use high low combos. When I want to use the X-ray I bait the opponent by dashing up to them. Getting real close and just waiting for them to throw any kind of move.

If the X-ray lands I pop them up after and continue the combo. Which if I do correctly it will land 50%.

Not sure I agree with you about Cage, Espio. I'll explain why and try my best to make it not TOO subjective, but a lot of this (mainly the parts about combo execution) really applies to me personally and i admit my experience isnt universal, everyone picks up characters differently. I'm also avoiding my homework like the plague, so this will be long as fuck fyi.



Those are strings, not combo's. A Cage bnb is like b3, dash 2, dash 2, dash 2, dash 44, back down 1. B3 is not safe on block, dash 2 is incredibly hard to pull off without accidentally doing F2 which doesn't combo. dash canceling into 44 nut punch is also difficult to do without hitting F4 and screwing up the combo and it can be tricky to dash kick and then immediately roll ur thumb back and down for the nutpunch. Of course an easier version is to use dash 11 dash 11 after the B3 instead of 2, but the dash into 44 nutpunch still remains a bit tricky. At least this is all in comparison to Reptiles 122, back back 1, 32 back back 3, 321, slide which is all dialed in exactly as shown above with a good amount of time between inputs and you don't have to touch the directional buttons aside from his special moves.



I don't really agree here either. Anybody can jump out or uppercut out of Johnny Cage's block strings. A Cage player has to constantly predict what his opponent will do in order to stay in which isnt really possible with a basic understanding of the game, you need to know which characters have invincibility frames on enhanced moves, which characters have the fastest/longest reaching pokes and know exactly which normals of Cages hit high, medium, low, or overhead and when to use them (I don't believe any of Cage's normals jail on block either, u must guess how to end each string). Furthermore your block strings depend mostly on the choices your opponent tends to make, so in order for them to be effective you have to constantly evolve them to adapt to your opponent's playstyle, which can change opponent to opponent, character to character, hell even round to round. There's no real set in stone way to pressure with Cage apart from the enhance force ball, which btw wastes meter and can be ducked and interrupted.

Also, this is all assuming your opponent is even TRYING to stand tow to tow with Cage, and lets face it, most beginning players are more inclined to spam and most intermediate and up players know to zone Cage. So the importance of picking the correct block strings when you get in is made all the more important. Even the best Cage players can have trouble getting passed zoning/spamming and his enhanced slide kick doesn't have armor full screen and is punishable on block.



He also has a next to useless projectile, and Scorpion has his spear which, although unsafe on whiff, grants a free combo and for a basic player, at least in my case, they might have trouble executing a combo during the high stress of a match. A second to think and remember the combo input is always helpful imo. Also Scorpion has a variety of ways to get passed zoning (teleport/EX teleport, hellfire, enhanced spear with armor for full combo punish) whereas Cage has dash blocks. lots and lots of dash blocks. And like Scorpion, Cage's highest damaging combo starters are not safe. B3 is punishable on block and F4 is extremely easy to interrupt. At least Scorpion has a low, and his most basic string (111) hits medium and therefore cannot be crouched like JC's 111.



This may be more or less merely my opinion here, but I'd honestly say zoning is easier for a beginner to pick up rather than rushing down. Rushing down someone makes use of many different strings which are only effective in the right circumstance. you have to know which ones give advantage on block and which ones can be crouched or crossed up easily. Zoning (at least on a more basic level) is more about repeating the same projectile input over and over and guessing when to block and having a bnb ready to punish or maybe charge in with. Also, in the case of rushing down one cannot simply button smash in this game. Predicting how your opponent reacts becomes ten times more frequent, can be just as unsafe as say a whiffed spear, and really only gets better with ample experience. I'd say its much easier for a beginner to just hang back with mileena, reptile, kitana, or kano even and pressure with safe projectiles and just wait for that opening to strike with a bnb. Even Scorpion can be used to zone with his hellfire, spear and occasional teleport.

First and foremost, I didn't say back 3 was safe, I said the forward 3 back 3 combo was safe on block, so that doesn't apply to what I said.

How are they not combos? All a combo means is a group of attacks in succession that cannot be blocked once the first hit connects.

http://wiki.shoryuken.com/Mortal_Kombat_9/Universal_Abilities/Kombo_Attacks


You're talking about higher level stuff (which the topic in question is whom is the easiest to use).

I don't personally struggle with Johnny Cage's combos and I don't use him often, I use him maybe once or twice a week at most. Pulling combos off is all about doing so at a relaxed pace. The combos mentioned are his more advanced stuff and surely that is fairly challenging, but the point of discussion is who is the easiest character to learn and play with at a BASIC 1v1 and nothing more, these combos are not basic level stuff.

If you know a couple combos and some specials moves, the person has successfully used a character at the basic level and the vast majority of people can do that.


I can say that I've used everyone on the roster(with the exception of Kratos) I have a much harder time performing and finding openings with Stryker and Jade than with JC and I use Stryker and Jade 500 times more than him.

I fee like when I use Cage that I haven't taken a break from him, even when I didn't play with him for a full month it stll felt the same.


Johnny Cage is better than Scorpion and Johnny Cage's pressure is not cake to get out of, especially online, the pressure he applies is devastating, get caught by him and you're going to be a in deep trouble trying to get him off of you. Johnny Cage is quick, people can't just always jump or uppercut him, lest we forget that Johhny Cage is quicker than the majority of the roster, many people have slow uppercuts and Johnny Cage's pressure can put you on lockdown to where you're not moving unless he lets up or you spend a bar on an enhanced attack.

Every player's character has to predict what their opponent is going to do, this is not unique to Johnny Cage, play Jade, play Kabal, play Noob Saibot, play Kano, you will have to try to read your opponent, so I don't see what you're getting at.

His projectile is not useless, it has a trajectory that allows it to hit not only standing, but crouching opponents forcing them to block to avoid full damage, it's not the BEST projectile but it's decent and why would he have a great projectile anyway? He has top notch rushdown. Scorpion's spear is not that great, it's 100% full combo punishable even at jump in distance, not really true of Johnny Cage's projectile if you're at jump distance.


Zoning isn't hard, true; however, Johnny Cage rushdown is not harder, if you were saying Sindel rushdown was harder than zoning I would agree, but Johnny Cage's rushdown is not daunting or difficult to pull off.


Teleporting is not zoning. His hellfire is more of an anti-turtle esque move as opposed to zoning.

I've spent so much time with the vast majority of those listed and Kitana


You mention his highest damging starter combos not being safe, I didn't argue they were. I mentioned those basic combos as examples because this is BASIC 1v1, not high level discussions, which are far beyond the scope of the current thread.

Only at full screen. The problem with it is how slow it is. It is very easy to punish on whiff or block. At least Scorpion's spear is safe on block.


I obviously wasn't saying his teleport is an example of zoning. I said Scorpion had better tools to deal with zoners which is true. Scorpions hellfire can be used to zone better than Cage's force ball. If they stay on the ground throwing projectiles they get burned, if they jump they get the spear or teleport punched. So Scorpion has way more tools than JC's dash blocking.


I guess this is where we agree to disagree. I think a basic level of the game should include some kind of bnb (however simple) to punish attacks that leave a character open and get a person into the game. In my original post i tried to give ideas of which characters are easiest to learn and get better with because thats what the OP asked. So JC wouldn't qualify here because I think his combo's are more difficult than other members of the cast.

HOWEVER, even if that were the case, and a basic level included only normals and specials, JC would STILL be at a disadvantage to much of the cast. He is simply not a well rounded character and has an incredibly hard time against spammers, which, like i said previously, is a very common strategy used at a basic level of the game. Scorpion has more tools to counter it. And i still think rushing down is more difficult than zoning, so the OP would be better suited (imho) to choose a character that has the ability to zone or an easier time dealing with it, and bnb's that are relatively easy to execute.

And this is where I drop the discussion, both Scorpion and Johnny Cage are well suited for beginners. You keep telling me that what I'm saying is subjective, I have not asserted otherwise, not to mention you've been voicing your opinion this whole time, I gave mine. I've used everyone and they're in the top four in terms of accesibility I'm not going to say in my opinion every time I say these things.

If I was asserting my opinion as fact, I could see you correcting me, but I haven't.

I think most would agree that Johnny Cage is extremely easy to use, obviously you don't seem to think so, I see no reason to continue to argue about it when I'm not going to change your mind .

Blah blah blah, you pick out one tiny piece of each of my posts and purposely misinterpret it to have something to say. At the very beginning I said it was all subject to opinion and that I'd do my best to explain myself without my argument completely focusing on said opinions. You have literally based everything you've said off the fact Cage came easy to you personally with no technical explanation and extremely vague detail as to why. He is easy for you because he's easy and fast, is what I'm getting from your end.

Furthermore since you continue to ignore my main points I'll assume you agree zoning is easier than rushing down and that Cage is not a good choice because he has enormous difficulty against spamming/zoning and terrible zoning of his own.

And that's the mature thing to do proclaim I'm ignoring your main points even though I made several lengthy posts on the subject, my last post was the only one I didn't and I made clear why and then you tell me what my opinion is on the subject. I'm glad I didn't post comparing and contrasting combos and special moves as well as safe attacks and unsafe ones between Scorpion and Johnny Cage, it's all there in clear and unambiguous language. I did espouse my opinions, but I backed them up with examples of combo strings, special moves etc. I didn't just say, "Johnny Cage is easy herp derp, I'm right" That was not the objective case.

Thank you for making it sound like I made it a goal to go, "lol let me deliberately misinterpret his stuff so I can troll" umm no....you've spent this thread about basic 1v1 and tried to turn it into higher level discussion, you honestly think any noobie player is going to do those dashing and lengthy combos you mentioned? Those combos aren't easy to pull off, but that's not at the basic level so the point is moot.

You said you disagreed with me saying that it was beyond to scope of basic 1v1, even though the thread author made clear what their thread was about so you can think I have some malicious intent all you want, I don't care my actions around the forums prove otherwise

I'm not going to make it personal, I'm not going to put words in your mouth or talk trash, I'm too old for that. I posted to answer your question, if I would have known you would have acted this way, I would have not said anything.

This thread has been derailed enough, maybe you can help out the OP and post who you think is the easiest character to learn and play at a basic level as that's what the thread is about, good day sir.

im surprised nobody said Kung lao... while he isn't the easiest to master but easy to get in with. very mobile speed dmon with good tools. spin as great anti-air

Personally I find Sub-Zero easy to use, or should I say, do basic stuff with. You hardly ever need those mid-combo dashes and the fact that he's slowish gives you more time to think.

I don't know, it all comes down to personal preference.

^^^u still play on-line? we should try some matches again. u still play under JaNeZoKu? than i add u

Yes I do still play online, and yes it is still "JaNeZoKu".