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Why you don't want MK9 Skarlet in MK11 (side by side comparition)

Eddy Wang

Skarlet scientist
I've seen some Skarlet loyalist and people who supposedly mained Skarlet through MK9 voicing their opinions on how different she plays from her MK9 design, some even went far enough saying the only think she kept from MK9 its her ability to control blood and some are already looking to wait for other options or characters to come.

Which led me to think that not many people who mained actually understood Skarlet at all, but i'm not here to judge, i'm just here to put up a side by side comparition so i can put this though to rest and so that people who like me are actually looking forward to this game, can look further forward to this game.


First of all, when you Talk About MK9 Skarlet, you have to talk about 3 persons.

1 KH Skar
2. Eddy Wang
3. Xarakamaka.

I'm telling you this, its not because we had the most popular Skarlet, there were a lot of people that played Skarlet before, but this 3 players do have a peculiarity which you can put on a straight line and define how much of a utility character she was.

To further break this i will place in the following form:

Eddy Wang played a far more defensive and reserved Skarlet, so i'm on the far left of the spectrum




KH Skar played a more offensive Skarlet and he was mix heavy, so he is on the far right of the spectrum



Xarakamaka is right in the middle (Sorry couldn't find footage).

This is relevant because you can pretty much put any other skarlet in between these 3 spectrums.


Now that we know this what did MK9 Skarlet was or had that was so big that some old Skarlet zealots are actually disappointed?

The goods.
Mobility, top 2 walkspeeds, Ability to zone or poke from distance, Overhead launchers, a command dash, insane defense with super amor, looppable blockstrings, OTGs and restands which led to more pressure post combos, good damage and above all else, Skarlet had good buttons either to poke, anti-air, punish or whiff punish So her Neutral was the core of her Utility.

Her F4 could crush highs, and her Standing 3 would anti-air pushing her hurtbox away so she could anti-air almost everything, if you can't picture this just know that in MKX Scorpion's has a standing 3 which almost the same animation has hers (or look at my first footage).

She was basically able to do all this but the reason why she was really was strong was:
a) Super Armor was broken, so you could over extend or don't do nothing after and you would still have 2 frames of armor to apply a normal (armored normals).
b) She could disable other peoples specials on knockdown with insta air low kunai which hit as OTG and usually before the wakeup window.
c) Though she was a meter hungry she built meter faster than any character in the game with her loopable pressure once she forces you to stand so she could do a lot of chip damage unlike never seen before in any MK game.
d) 13f overhead with meter, which forced you to stand so she could mix with loopable pressure.
e) Game system would put your character stuck in standing or crouching if jailed with a blockstring (no gap pressure) so if she catches you standing she could loop until she runs out of meter doing 50% chip (that is why point C had the broke down in 3 points lol).


The Bads
Not all was good with Skarlet either, her projectile hitbox was of a size of Mosquito, did almost none to damage, and to perfect control space her Execution was extremely demanding, instant air straight kunais had to be frame perfect from 1 to 3 frames post jump and that was extremely hard to do due the input bug which also affected jumping up.

Her teleport was ass even the metered version
From a character who could aborb blood to become stronger, she didn't had any of those and her blood ball move while it dealt a lot of damage on hit and probably the most damaging chip move in the game it also dealt her damage and she couldn't absorb to regain health.

Without meter she was extremely terrible and became one of the weakest characters in the game, she couldn't even wakeup, because she only had one move with armor which was fast enough and her pokes and strings are all negative on block so she couldn't salvage and countering using armor.



You look at this and you see why mostly every Skarlet main was so attached to her, she had a lot of things but there isin't denying that she was broke at some point.

Now lets look at MK11 Skarlet, what is it that she makes her different? Is it really true that she retains nothing from her previous MK9 incarnation? I disagree.


MK11 Skarlet has her core neutral intact, don't believe me here is some proofs.

a) She still has good buttons, considered as one of the characters with more range in the game by 16bit himself, and her Spacing seemed excellent to me.
b) She can still restand after combos and according to Forever King she is +3 on regular and +7 on amplification while wait for it... draining health.
c) Her Armor has been replaced with a Parry, so you can still bait buttons and instead of armoring out of it, you parry, and for the better, amplifying her parry on hit gives you 10% of health (Current Build)
d) Her Blockstring is still there though its not loopable, but you can still apply a 4 hits blockstring with a huge push back and its safe.
e) She has a special which disables 2 in 1 cancels, meaning you won't be canceling normals strings or pokes into specials when under such effect (remember her dagger OTGS?)
f) She actually drains blood to regain Health
g) No longer meter dependent except you want amplify to regenerate or to get a different effect
h) She has a much better teleport
i) She has much better zoning tools which can hit at all parts of the screen with 3 different types of special moves, one forces jumps, other forces duck an there is one that spawns anywhere on screen, one can be amplified to slowdown neutral or to do a lot more than just zone.


I wouldn't sleep on this Skarlet at all, the MK9 Skarlet worked but its a formula that will only work specifically for MK9, the ability to jail people standing or crouching, loopable pressure and insane plus frames, extended chip loops mixups post restands, are all things she had but worked only for MK9, if Skarlet was to return it was mostly certain that she wouldn't have all this considering most of those were bugs, and was all fixed back in MKX, how come some of you expect her to play exactly the same? The formula simply doesn't work for MK11 where its a much slowed paced game.

While the MK11 Skarlet is different its like the same core design reinvented to adapt what was more familiar to her and apply under a new game, so MK11 Skarlet is almost everything she was in MK9, with better ability to regain some health if she hits you, her og footsies, her classic restands which are extremely consistent now and its a trance that can drain health with almost the same mixups, better zoning, better teleport, while still negative on pressure and poke like her MK9 counter part, you can still support the rest of the neutral with her parry just as you would do with super armor, and she doesn't even needs meter anymore other than confirm a hit and regain health if succeeded just in case you need it.

So lets stop this nonsense that MK9 Skarlet is superior or that the only thing she kept is her ability to control blood or that she looks extremely different, the game isn't even out, yet Skar who played, and from what i've seen we're on the exact same page and none of us are disappointed, still to hear Xarakamaka's though on this but i'm definitely sure he is loving it.


If there is anything i miss from old skarlet its only her !NYAAAH! scream on some moves, her red hair with ponytail and her twin swords, those are the only things i miss, other than that my main is fire and i'm overjoyed and to try it and april 23rd can't come soon enough.

 

xenogorgeous

.... they mostly come at night. Mostly.
yep, this MK 11 Skarlet is way better, much more interesting regarding gameplay wise options ..... only thing that NRS could do it plus to her in MK11 it's giving a retro Klassic skin to her , maybe on a future later Klassic Costumes DLC ? rsrsrs
 

Raider

Warrior
Gameplay wise she looks very, very interesting. And by far the best from the characters that they revealed few days ago.
I just don't like her overall look and appearance. Especially her default design. That Russia exclusive Cold War skin looks much more interesting for example.
 

xWildx

What a day. What a lovely day.
Actually, I think of CDsr, RedRaptor (so much Skarlet tech before he hit the big leagues), and Skar.

To be quite frank, this thread makes you sound like you have your head shoved pretty far up your own ass.
 

Eddy Wang

Skarlet scientist
Actually, I think of CDsr, RedRaptor (so much Skarlet tech before he hit the big leagues), and Skar.

To be quite frank, this thread makes you sound like you have your head shoved pretty far up your own ass.
I'm not talking about who shared more techs, though i left that pretty clear, the different in between Skar and me its not to show who shares techs and who deserve credits or what not, That line is just there to see how much of a utility character she was before and and these 3 players had a very different way to play which (as i said before) putting those 3 names on a straight line, you will get like a rule where Skar plays offense heavy, i play defense heavy and Xarakamaka plays in between, anyone who i haven't mentioned before playstyle wise can be put on each side according to how they played.

What i'm trying to say here is Skarlet from MK9 and Skarlet from MK11 playwise they differ but there is still a lot of things MK11 Skarlet can do that MK9 Skarlet did and there are things Skarlet from MK11 does a lot more better.
 

GLoRToR

Positive Poster!
MK11 Skarlet has her core neutral intact, don't believe me here is some proofs.
Great writeup as usual.
I feel like MK9 is what started the real learning process that has lead us through inj1, mkx and inj2 to the current game. Its flaws are what made inj2's game balance possible, which will hopefully be taken to a whole new level in m11k.

And to respond to the thread title: I don't want MK9 Skarlet but I do want MK9 outfit, UMK3 outfit and a bunch of other, better looks for her because her current outfit is boring.
 

Metin

Ermac & Smoke Main
Okay, i have a better question for you, why do you want the old same design for this new game? I don't mean the old design of her is shit but making of the same design over and over again looks meaningless effort to me and all the others.. I have no problem with her old design but her new design had mesmerized us all, what is your problem with her new design, everything looks perfect about her reveal. She is one of the best parts of the reveal event.
 

Eddy Wang

Skarlet scientist
Okay, i have a better question for you, why do you want the old same design for this new game? I don't mean the old design of her is shit but making of the same design over and over again looks meaningless effort to me and all the others.. I have no problem with her old design but her new design had mesmerized us all, what is your problem with her new design, everything looks perfect about her reveal. She is one of the best parts of the reveal event.
I couldn't agree more, i really don't miss anything cloth wise, only her Hair, Swords and her og scream.

If there is a costume i hope i finally get the chance to play is her Ninja one from vita.



Or they can even give her options so change the burka into Ninja Burka in customizing, this would also be a pretty good one imo.

Or Redesign this costume to and give her a body armor under the original clothing, but i really do want to try this costume out in MK11
 

Metin

Ermac & Smoke Main
I am sure you will be able to customize her to look that you want. Probably there gonna be a classic Skarlet design that can be unlocked through krypt or something like that.
 

Mind Flex

Mind Gamer. BOOSH
This was a great post. Kudos to Eddy Wang. I'm really glad that they redid so much of her. I think this new version is going to be really fun to play for a long time. I still can't get over my initial shock seeing her reveal. It looked like they replaced the actress that played Skarlet in MK9 and the comic and expected nobody to know. After seeing more it's clear that they wanted to give her character the full reboot she deserves. It seems like its for the best because her new kit looks amazing.

Also don't be surprised to see a "Skimpy Ninja Girls" skin pack for like 9.99 at some point so those that want skin will probably get it.
 

Elias6999

Mournful Master
YEEEEESSSSS. Skarlet was one of my fav characters to play in MK9 but was also annoying to play at the same time for the same reasons you stated, her inconsistency (broken at some moment and helpless in the other), and the fact that she was the hardest character to play in the game.

I just hope her learning curve isn’t too demanding in MK11, does anyone hve any info on that?
 

Eji1700

Kombatant
The one thing this has reminded me of is just how much more obvious it is what scarlet does in MK11.

If you just showed someone 10 second clips from the MK9 match footage, and asked them "what's her power" you'd never guess. So on that alone I like the new design better. It's super obvious she's beating you to death with your own blood.