I started playing MK at the arcades. I continued with MK2 at the arcades, and then, as I didn't had as much time as before, MK3 and MK4 on the PC. When the action changed to the consoles, I stopped playing.
The action, the thematic, the sound of the impact of the punches and kicks when connecting, the fatalities, the cool characters, the graphics, etc. are some of the things that made me like the game.
However, one of the greatest things about it was the matches against other people. In the arcades was special, because your opponent was there, just beside you. Pushes from some opponents, others that went into rage fits when they lose and turned off the machine with the switch under the cabinet, anticipation to the moves by looking and hearing the opponent movements on the stick and buttons, etc. Even though the first title was limited, people learned the ins and outs of each and every movement and where able to use them at the exact proper moments. I had and saw great matches.
When advancing through the series, it become apparent that some characters had a clear advantage over others, or some movements that could be abused. A great example was Mileena in MK2, who could spam her sai non stop.
So after a lot of years, I started playing MK again now that it became available for PC. It became apparent very fast that some characters had some disadvantages and some advantages. I also saw a lot of the matches at this year EVO. I was surprised to see that some things that a lot of players considered unfair or broken 2 decades ago, here was almost the norm, like spamming projectiles non stop. 90% kombos. I kind of understand why it doesn't have as big as a player scene as others like SF.
Do not misunderstand me, the level of the players was phenomenal, and top players played with the top characters, so any unfairness between them becomes kind of balanced (congratulations to the winner DJT by the way, great playing)
But something that really irks and that saddens me at the same time, is that at high level play, you only have less than half the characters to choose from, else you put yourself at a disadvantage. I would love to see a MK game where people can use their favorite character and have a fair match and be competitive. I would love to see someone winning a final with Sub-Zero, or Scorpion.
So, is it possible to make MK a balanced game? Or does it nature, with a lot of very particular and special characters makes that very difficult or almost impossible?
What does it take?
The action, the thematic, the sound of the impact of the punches and kicks when connecting, the fatalities, the cool characters, the graphics, etc. are some of the things that made me like the game.
However, one of the greatest things about it was the matches against other people. In the arcades was special, because your opponent was there, just beside you. Pushes from some opponents, others that went into rage fits when they lose and turned off the machine with the switch under the cabinet, anticipation to the moves by looking and hearing the opponent movements on the stick and buttons, etc. Even though the first title was limited, people learned the ins and outs of each and every movement and where able to use them at the exact proper moments. I had and saw great matches.
When advancing through the series, it become apparent that some characters had a clear advantage over others, or some movements that could be abused. A great example was Mileena in MK2, who could spam her sai non stop.
So after a lot of years, I started playing MK again now that it became available for PC. It became apparent very fast that some characters had some disadvantages and some advantages. I also saw a lot of the matches at this year EVO. I was surprised to see that some things that a lot of players considered unfair or broken 2 decades ago, here was almost the norm, like spamming projectiles non stop. 90% kombos. I kind of understand why it doesn't have as big as a player scene as others like SF.
Do not misunderstand me, the level of the players was phenomenal, and top players played with the top characters, so any unfairness between them becomes kind of balanced (congratulations to the winner DJT by the way, great playing)
But something that really irks and that saddens me at the same time, is that at high level play, you only have less than half the characters to choose from, else you put yourself at a disadvantage. I would love to see a MK game where people can use their favorite character and have a fair match and be competitive. I would love to see someone winning a final with Sub-Zero, or Scorpion.
So, is it possible to make MK a balanced game? Or does it nature, with a lot of very particular and special characters makes that very difficult or almost impossible?
What does it take?
