There is hype for MK9, but UMK3 was the last one that was even remotely decent, and most recent stuff has been among the worst garbage yet (MK vs. DC Universe, anyone?) so I wouldn't get my hopes up. I played the demo, and it was a pretty generic 3D MK. Speaking of borderline good fighting games though, how many people here play MvC3, and are looking forward to Street Fighter AE? I'm a bit too slow and clumsy with my execution to play the former on a high level, but it's a lot of fun, moreso even than MvC2. (The latter is a better balanced, deeper game yes, but not as fun for a scrub like myself)
Game Informer ran a lengthy article a few months back about MK9 addressing your very concerns. There was emphasis placed in development on going back to the games roots with regards to the characters (all of whom, as I understand it, are from UMK3 or earlier) toning down the quantity and complexity of finishing moves, returning to the 2D plane, and making the game bloodier than ever (Ed Boon was adamant about pushing for an M rating). The series has been hurting for nearly a decade now, but everything I've seen and read about the game has me very optimistic. Unfortunately, I've yet to play the demo.
I know, I know. Even Shoryuken, which is notoriously down on the MK franchise, has been putting up articles, character spoilers, guides, and generally hyping the release. Problem is, this "going back to the games roots" is the same bullshit marketing pitch I have been hearing for the last 14 years, ever since Mortal Kombat 4's disastrous release in 1997. And based on what you wrote above, is just flat-out false. The game was "bloodier than ever" with mediocre offerings like Deadly Alliance, Deception, and Armageddon, all of which were rated M, too. As for the characters, the entire list (minus DLCs) was leaked over a week ago; (yes, Cyber Sub-Zero is repeated twice) <a class="postlink" href="http://shoryuken.com/content/full-mortal-kombat-9-character-select-screen-leaked-4029/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://shoryuken.com/content/full-morta ... aked-4029/</a> Again, nothing new there, either. Pretty much the same roster as the last three iterations. So what makes this different, again? "Easier" fatalities? Who cares?! Supposedly, the mechanics are tweaked for the better, but again, I have doubts, considering how broken the last 5 titles were. And nowadays, releasing a good fighting game is harder than ever, with so many big name titles being released (MvC3, AE, Super, Blazblue, etc. all within the last year), and people finding insane infinite combos, option selects, and glitches within the first few days of release, thanks to a ravenous community and Youtube.
Not at all. They haven't gotten the rosters right since UMK3. Ever since then, they've been trying to introduce all sorts of obscure characters that leave no impressions on anyone, because they fucking suck, and thus are easily forgettable. In MK9, all but two characters (Ermac and Quan Chi) had multiple appearances in the franchise to their names up through UMK3. Sonya, Jax, Scorpion, Sub-Zero...all of the usual suspects. "Going back to the game's roots" was largely in reference to this quote off the Wikipedia page: It's also worth noting that some of the criticisms of the recent installments had to do with the cookie-cutter element of the character design. Literally, some characters would be designed exactly the same, with the exception of their palette. They got away with it the first time (Scorpion and Sub-Zero), and sort of pulled it off a bit later (Cyrax and Sektor), but for the most part, that tactic is boring and very limiting. Meanwhile, MK9's development put an emphasis on unique movement, speed, power, animations, etc. of every single character. From a design standpoint, that's tremendous progress. Part of what made the franchise stale (in my eyes, anyway) was it's apparent laziness in regard to what the characters could do and what they looked like. Boon talked a bit about the change in character design in this interview last month: Semi-related: how awesome are Mileena's tits? It's like they devoted a special chapter of the development schedule on them.
They loved them some similar spirit characters in Mortal Kombat. Id have to agree with Rob4Broncos, past MK3 they haven't been able to come up with cool memorable characters at all. Four armed Goro and shape shifting Tsang Sung set the bar pretty fucking high in the first game as far as bosses. I never thought Shao Kahn was that fucking great. By three they had a cop that would pull out a gun and shoot you as a move. They just need a good combination of special moves and that great feeling you had when you caught someone with a mad upper cut.
All of those characters appeared in Mortal Kombat 4 in 1997, Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance in 2002 and Mortal Kombat: Armageddon in 2007 and Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe in 2008. You're claiming there is something "new" about this game going "back to its roots", but you're mentioning a character roster that is the exact same as 4 of the last 5 MK titles, ones that you all consider second-rate! Honest question: did you play any of those Mortal Kombat titles? If I had a nickel for every ridiculous, irrelevant thing Boon has said to hype up his game franchise during the last 15+ years, I could buy a gold watch. In this case, it's especially bad, because 4 of the last 5 MK titles (the lone exception was MKeception in 2004) had the exact same thing that supposedly makes MK9 "unique". A lot of what you describe is merely graphics, something that doesn't have much to do with fighting game quality. As for things like speed, power, animations being different, I have to ask again...have you played any of the the last 5 Mortal Kombats? Movesets and stats between characters were different in all those iterations, too. Even when the sprites were very similar. Of all the faults of the MK franchise, copying characters was not one of them.
I have no intentions of turning this into a flamefest so I'm just going to ask you to compare the feel of these two games. Which one of those feels the most like the first clip I showed? I think I've made myself clear. That's the reason why I, of all people, am looking forward to this game. And now I'm jonesing for some MKTrilogy. Fucking hell. I totally forgot about the AGGRESSOR bar, that was an awesome addition. BRUTALITY!
Sorry about the double post but I downloaded the demo and holy shit, it's fantastic. Teleporting with Scorpion is AWESOME. I even got some fatalities down, sliced a guy in 3 and then his head in half. This post doesn't do it justice, download it. Now.
Super Meat Boy is on sale on Steam (among other great Indie titles) and I picked it up today. God damn I hate this game, but I can't stop playing it. The levels get harder very fast and if after 30 minutes with this game your neighbours don't think you have Tourette's, you're a better man than I am. I almost broke my chair while playing the second chapter and I'm apparently nowhere near the hard levels yet.
Yeah, if you're only in the second or third chapter, you have no idea. The final chapter and then the dark levels of chapters 3-4+ are fucking ridiculous. Every once in a while I'll go back to this game to try to get through a few more levels in the interest in completing all of them, but I'm not if I'll ever get there.
There are 4 characters in the demo and no exaggerating I blew about 2 hours on the demo alone. You have the level fatalities, you have the regular fatalities. AND LET'S NOT FORGET THE MOTHER FUCKING X-RAY MOVES! I love that shit, every single goddamn time I did it. Anyone that hasn't played the demo really shouldn't be talking to much about the game. Nothing else matters until you play the demo. You play, you love, you wait...impatiently. Oh and Pato... Spoiler I cannot wait to saw you in half James Bond style with Kung Lao and his buzzsaw hat. It's coming motherfucker. Shit is about to get real.
Sigh. It is NOT the exact same. Yes, of course those characters were in all of the recent titles. Leaving Scorpion out of an MK game is like taking Yoshimitsu or Paul Phoenix out of Tekken. But there were also nearly 3 dozen obscure characters introduced in recent MK titles that nobody remembers, because they weren't fun to play. To wit: I had to look up the rosters so I didn't leave anyone out, and with the exception of Kintaro (who is awesome, by the way) I have zero recollection of any of those guys. Maybe I just didn't play those games enough to remember, but that's because I didn't have as much fun playing them as I did the earlier games. UMK3 was the last one I thoroughly enjoyed. After that, the games weren't fun enough for me to play more than sporadically, or at friends' houses, because they didn't excite me that much. The exception is MK vs. DC, which I have yet to touch and have no inclination to, since I'm not a big DC fan. I also have yet to play a fighting game on a 3D plane that I enjoy, outside of the Tekken series. What I'm driving at, is that the roster has been pared down to the best characters of the series, and they've finally learned to leave their B squad at home. It doesn't make a game complete on its own, but proper character selection is a step in the right direction. Call me a purist, but I prefer only the characters that were introduced up to MK3 according to this list. Also, as Kubla already mentioned, they set the bar high with the earlier characters. Again, it's not "the" thing that makes MK9 unique; it's just one of several improvement they're making to the franchise. However, character selection is a core component of the game. Put in a roster composed of mostly new or unpopular characters, and you might as well have an entirely different franchise. Like I said, what's an MK game without Scorpion? What I'm mostly looking forward to is the allegedly improved mechanics and smoother gameplay, the x-ray moves, and jaw-dropping fatalities that produce posts like this: Even if you're skeptical due to how underwhelming the recent titles have been (which I totally understand), can you honestly say that this game doesn't at least show the potential of knocking all of them out of the park? The effects and combos look much more polished, and I still remember the first time I saw Kung Lao's fatality on Sub-Zero last summer in this trailer. If that alone doesn't make you think, "Holy shit, MK means business this time," I don't know what can. Parker's right, though: nothing else matters until you play the demo. I'm off to finally see what this new-look MK is all about. Also, because it bears repeating: Mileena's tits look wonderful.
Great clips, but unlike you, I have actually played both Deadly Alliance and UMK3, not just seen videos of them. The reason it "feels more like the first clip" is simply because Deadly Alliance was a 3D fighter, while UMK3 and the upcoming MK9 are 2D. By itself, it doesn't make it "better", merely different genres. In fact, I might even argue that a 2D fighter is harder to balance. One reason I posted is because I always wondered how MK games like Deadly Alliance, Deception, and Armageddon still moved a good 2-3 million units despite being complete ass, and way worse than 3D fighters like Virtua Fighter or Tekken. I guess it's people who have fond childhood nostalgia of the blood and fatalities in the early MK games (nevermind the actual gameplay) and still get insanely hyped over it 15 years later. Maybe MK9 will buck that trend and maybe it won't, but most people's hype and expectations don't match the knowledge we presently have. How dare you! I loved Shinnok, Quan Chi, Frost, Moloch, Kintaro, and Dairou. Did you really just post sprites from UMK3 (which you claim to love) to make fun of MK4, Deadly Alliance, Deception, and Armageddon, 3D games which didn't even have sprites to begin with?! Right, and my question was "what did you not like about the recent MK iterations, and what is going to be better about MK9, aside from a 2D environment?" I know what my reasons are for not liking recent MK iterations. I know what the reasons for serious fighting game tournament players are. But I'm interested in the specific reasons of a more casual player. Why do you think they will be better? I don't know about you, but I thought the fatalities, by themselves, were plenty jaw-dropping in otherwise shit MK games; I've played it, dude. Again, seemed like another generic MK title, no different than the last 10 years of iterations. Sleeker graphics of course, but that's about it.
For me, it's not that it's bringing anything new to the series, but instead it's a return to form. The last few games were either clunky or nurfed down versions of themselves. This is not an eye-opening game with drastic improvements, but an improvement on the qualities that worked well in the past.
Wait until you play Mileena, after every win she rubs her body down. Here are the two things they are introducing to the series they needed to introduce. 1. Mileena's tits. 2. Costume deterioration throughout the fight. 3. X-Ray Combos. The first one doesn't count. Oh and they have a meter where you can double up the damage of your moves if you do it right. They basically brought back all the important things and added a tactical layer. I can't wait. And I haven't read specifics but MK vs. DC was a solid game. Yeah, the fatalities weren't bloody or anything, but the game was fun as fuck. Beating the shit out of someone with the Batman, The Flash or Green Lantern was fun as hell.
Oh, I'm not saying they all sucked, but I was disappointed in most of them. I'll take back what I said about Shinnok; he actually was cool. As was Kintaro, as I noted above. Awesome characers. But a female Sub-Zero? Child, please. And I seriously cannot place the appearance of the others. I'm drawing a complete blank on them. Of course, but I was alluding to the ever-increasing numbers within each species of MK, not just their physical appearance. Let's go back to day 1: Scorpion and Sub-Zero. Looked exactly alike, except for a palette swap to make one yellow and the other one blue. But their skillsets and signature moves were vastly different from one another. It's what made them so likable to begin with. Then came Reptile, who had the cool "half-man, half-lizard" niche going for him. But beyond that, it started to lose its value with guys like Rain. Same thing with the girls: Kitana, Mileena, Jade, et al. I guess it was less upsetting in that case because the girls were hot or whatever. In my opinion, they were watering-down the franchise by implementing more and more characters like they were fucking Pokemon or something. It drove me nuts, and ultimately turned me off of the series. The return to a simpler cast is but a minor reason among many that I'm so optimistic for MK9. Honestly, the 2.5D environment is what I'm most looking forward to in MK9. My primary reason for not liking the recent MK games was their 3D nature. But that's out of a personal distaste for 3D fighting games. Tekken is the only 3D fighter I've ever enjoyed playing. I've yet to try any of the recent UFC games though, so that may change whenever I get around to doing so. Ordinarily, I don't like the 3D plane because it feels awkward to control my character. WCW and WWF games in the late '90s, the 3D MK games, or anything similar. I simply don't like that form of interaction. I enjoy most genres - however, that's one particular genre that I have never enjoyed, with the exception of Tekken (fun fact: Tekken is Ed Boon's favorite non-MK fighting game). Particularly in an arcade: there's something cathartic about popping the joystick and buttons with vigor when pulling some kickass move with Marshall Law. But I digress... Because of everything written here: Spoiler The normal blows have changed a lot, instead of having a few punches and kicks divided between high and low, now there's a button for each limb: front arm, front leg, back arm, and back leg. This combines with most martial arts techniques. The player also can make many special moves and execute them without much effort. Also added with new gameplay is the intro and outro animations. Each character will have a different intro and outro, depending if they decided to do a fatality or not. MK9 Scorpion combo exhibition 720p HD - Mortal Kombat 2011 MK 9 The controls also refer a lot to Mortal Kombat 3, with the clash limited to a single plane, the fastest pace of struggle, many movements that throw the opponent into the air, and several others that take advantage of aerial combat. The "run" button will not come back, but there will be a quick dash and paste to the player's opponent and inflict even more damage if they're quick in getting their combo. Also out is the infamous system "dial-a-Kombo", which was introduced in MK3 and used pre-defined sequences of buttons to execute "ready" combos. The combos are more akin to those found in MK1 and MKII, consisting largely of chaining regular attacks and special moves together. In the words of Ed Boon: "You're making your own combos. We aren't programming them in as much". This brings a lot of freedom to play and with the speed of return, as it is very easy to improvise a few effective beatings. Another welcome return are the "real" Fatalities. Mortal Kombat: Armageddon used the infamous Kreate-a-fatality and Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe used far less violent versions of the finishers. Now violence is back with great pride, this time the team began creating the game for fatalities, an element that was before the end of the development cycle. From this process emerged ideas how to combine fatalities, "before, Kung Lao had a fatality in which he cut a guy in half and another in which he beheaded a person, now he has one where he does both," claims Ed Boon in an interview with Giant Bomb. A glimpse of the Fatality Practice Mode One new feature that has drawn much attention and keeps very well the climate of brutality is the introduction of X-Ray Attacks. With them, the player can see the internal damage caused by the blows on the opponent. The player must wait until their special bar is full before they can use the X-ray moves for their fighter and this is not necessary to use combo breakers or versions of the special powers that cause more damage, since both use their special abilities bar. There is also distinct damage done to the characters during the matches. On December 7, 2010 a leak from the official website released several audio files from the game. Those leaked files included voice overs for some confirmed and unconfirmed characters, music for arenas, and announcer voice overs (fight, finish him, fatality, etc). Among the Announcer audio files were "Announcer Brutality" and "Announcer Test Your Might". Thus leaking the inclusions of the Brutality finisher, a form of Fatality, and Test Your Might side game. The game will feature three different one player modes: Story Mode, in which the player assumes the role of several different pre-designated characters and the main plot is told; a tournament ladder reminiscent of the earlier MK games which features a sub-boss, boss, and animated ending for each character; and a training mode which allows players to hone their skills with their chosen character. Mortal Kombat will also include several mini-games, like the classic Test Your Might, and Test Your Sight, as well as the new Test Your Strike and Test Your Luck. The game also includes a massive 300 mission challenge in a new mode called The Challenge Tower. Also the game have a Fatality Practice Mode, where it shows you the better way to perfom the fatalities even the distance (a green circle in the floor indicate the correct distance and a red one, the incorrect). Oh, they definitely were. But going back to what you wrote earlier: "[graphics] doesn't have much to do with fighting game quality." While I agree that they don't have much to do with the quality of the gameplay, the fatalities are a facet of the game where good, detailed graphics make a huge difference. Not only the graphics, but the imagination with the environment. Skip to 4:48 of that Ed Boon interview to see what I mean. Liu Kang, for the win. That's where the 2.5D plane wins in term of better gameplay than 3D, but better effects than 2D. I'll hold out on judgment until I've actually played the demo. Apparently it's out for only the PS3 and not Xbox at the moment.
Bingo. This is exactly it for me. Well said. You better not be fucking with me about that body rubbing shit. I will hunt you down for false advertising, sir! I wasn't aware of the costume deterioration. That's pretty fucking cool. Little things like that go a long way for me. And the implementation of a meter like that is part of what I think will add to the fun, with the added strategic depth that it brings.
Can we just get a fucking nude code please? Ive been trying to see Sonya Blades tits from day 1. I of the recent ones I only played Deadly Alliance. The 3D set up was clunky and sluggish in my mind and the game just didn't have the frenetic pace of the earlier ones. I thought Tekken Tag was ten times more fun to play than DA. I am intrigued by the "test your might" and "Brutality" finishing moves.
Are you fucking kidding me? It was total garbage; arguably the worst MK game ever. Seriously, have you even played it? Besides freaking minigames in the middle of a match to determine who does more damage, you also had craptastic hit detection, clumsy movement, and the simplest, most braindead infinite I have ever seen in a fighting game released in the last decade; Yeah, "solid" game alright. Solid shit. Anyways, on to people who presumably played MK titles; What did you think of Virtua Fighter? I think that and Tekken are really the only two worthwhile 3D fighting franchises out there. And do you like 3D arena fighters such as Power Stone or Castlevania: Judgment? Fair enough; that's the quote a lot of people are enamored with. Personally, I'm still skeptical.