Brand new MK player...where to start?

[uhfutzafooken]

Hey guys, I just picked up MK9 a couple days ago (only 2 years late I know w/e), but I havent been able to play it yet, and I just signed up to the forums. I havent played a mortal kombat game since MK3 on the sega genesis, and even back then just casually so I'm basically brand new to the series. I'm certainly not a noob when it comes to fighting games in general however; I come primarily from Capcom games, mostly street fighter and the MvC series. I've been playing Injustice since release and figured it was about time I broke into MK.
I really have no idea as to which characters to start playing with and was wondering if you guys could make some recommendations. I guess overall I'm looking for a basic, easy-to-learn character to help me get a feel for the engine, but not necessarily the "shoto" of the series if you know what I mean. I dont tend to favor a certain playstyle in other fighting games, but I usually avoid grapplers (except for Grundy in Injustice but thats because he's a hulking zombie man with a meat cleaver) and hardcore zoners/keepaway characters. In terms of execution, I play on a pad and definitely don't have the fastest fingers, so relatively simple combos and move inputs are preferrable. I've seen a bunch of videos on Scorpion and he seems simple enough I like the look of the vortex; I also think Ermac looks pretty sweet. I main Harley in Injustice and Ive noticed many people compare her to Sonya and Skarlet, so I guess they could be easier to relate to, but I really have no idea. I just need 1 or 2 straightforward characters to help me get my MK chops and then I can figure out where to go from there. If you all have any input on what I should be focusing on training-wise before I start playing online, feel free to contribute some of that as well. I'd really appreciate any help, and I look forward to being part of the discussions on here.

 

[Spinky]

Liu Kang and Johnny Cage are really good and simple to use.

 

[Killphil]

I main Harley in Injustice and Ermac in mk9. No correlation between them...at all. Raven is Ermac 2.0 in Injustice. Do you know the combo notation for mk9/injustice? If not, I'd say start there.

 

[187x]

whats your play style what do you like? Rushdown, Zoner?

 

[Rokinlobster]

Liu Kang. He will teach you how to move well, and his combos are very easy to execute, but at the same time will teach you how to dash in combos. He also has a very good mix up game which will help you to be more.unpredictable. lastly he has good zoning, which will help you with that aspect if the game. pretty much he is a very well rounded character and will be great to facilitate learning the game.

Now if you are more interested in zoning, pick up Freddy or Kenshi, both are great zoners.

If you are more interested in rush down then Johnny Cage is your best bet. Very easy execution, and a very good character in general.

So Liu Kang is your hybrid character that I personally feel will help you learn the game the best. Freddy or Kenshi for zoning, and Johnny Cage for rush down.

Feel free to PM me or post here http://www.testyourmight.com/index.php?threads/30656/ if you have any questions.

 

[zaf]

I'm always down for mk. I play on xbl if you want to play some time.

As for characters try out liu kang, cage, kenshi is easy.

 

[DJ L Toro]

I'm always down for mk. I play on xbl if you want to play some time.

As for characters try out liu kang, cage, kenshi is easy.

Kenshi is not easy....

uhfutzafooken liu kang is probably the character that can teach you the basics the best. He's got a fireball, an air fireball, a low fireball, good movement, basic combos that do decent damage, some good matchups, some bad, and his execution factor is low for this game. So he's probably the best to get the feel for the engine.
Skarlet has some of the highest execution in the game, sonya's pretty basic: she has amazingly good rushdown with a great projectile that's good for checking the opponent.
But yeah, if you're used to capcom games the first things you'll want to do are:
1) get used to the movement and learn how the block button influences it.
2) react to people in the air faster, since your AA normals are going to be a lot slower than capcom's almost immediate moves (6f is the fastest in the game, some AAs are as slow as 18f meaning you have to react pretty much immediately)
3) get used to a block button to block and learn the importance of chip damage in this game
4) meterbuilding. you gain meter from using specials, any type of attack getting blocked, and taking damage. that's it. no whiffed normals, no doing damage, no... whatever else you do in capcom games. Meter management is life and death in mk9 more than any other fighting game.

otherwise, there's full frame data for every character on this site, there's meterbuilding data, and some basic BnBs (people are pretty lazy, so i'm pretty sure most of the more complicated stuff has not been found yet). There's info on AAs, footsies, matchups, etc.

all in all:

 

[uhfutzafooken]

Thanks for the help guys y'all are awesome. I finally got to play yesterday and started with liu kang. I like him so far definitely what I was looking for in an entry character. Well rounded with real simple combos. I just looked up the first page of His combo thread and tried those out. I know there's better ones but I'm comfortable with them for now. I think ermac will become my secondary and I eventually want to try out sub-zero scorpion sonya and maybe sektor. I'm not into zoning so I'm gonna stay away from kenshi and cage is a dickface so screw him as well. Forgetting I have to press a button to block has been the most frustrating thing for me so far.

 

[Saboteur-6]

Why not have a run through story mode? You'll get exposure to a good bit of the roster as well as the backstory of the series.

 

[Jelan]

First of all condition yourself to not hold down AND back while blocking low because it will result in a lot of unwanted stuff.

 

[uhfutzafooken]

Ya I've played a little bit of story mode I'll probably finish it in the next couple days and see who else looks cool. The down back thing still messes me up in injustice I'll have to get used to that. Who are some of the better mixup characters in this game?

 

[CrimsonShadow]

I think the best thing you can do at this point, rather than taking random advice, is to start watching good-player footage so you can see how characters are played at their full potential (relatively). I'd go to Youtube and look up SCR Mortal Kombat, MLG Mortal Kombat, Final Round Mortal Kombar, Winter Brawl Mortal Kombat etc.

Take a look at how people are playing characters and how everything looks when all the tools are used. It'll give you a much better idea of who you want to play.