Discuss any and all MK9 strategy here.
Meter:
I've noticed that most combos don't build much, if any, meter. This is because when you're comboing your opponent, they're losing life, and in most cases, at least 30%. If you also got meter from these combos, the meter system would be too rewarding and a losing player would be at a terrible disadvantage despite the difference in health bar.
The best way to actually build meter is to put pressure on a blocked opponent. This builds tons of meter, and it discourages players from turtling. If you sit there and block the whole match, I will have full meter to do what I want with it. This adds a pretty interesting dynamic to the game. You can also get meter by being hit or combo'd. This is good because you are losing the health but gaining some meter in the process. So on one hand it rewards the offensive pressure, and on the other it lends a helping hand if you're getting combo'd like crazy.
Special moves also build meter, but it's very insufficient. This prevents safe fireball spamming from building tons of meter. You can't just throw projectiles full screen and expect to build meter this way.
The meter plays a big role in this game and I personally think it's pretty well done.
Avoiding pressure - UMK3 style:
In UMK3, a great way to avoid being pressured is the crouching LK. It stops the rushdown and there's enough time to do something while your opponent is recovering. This can be done in MK9 with crouching
and 
. Now some characters crouching and may not be so great at stopping the rushdown, just keep that in mind. Generally, the crouching is a shorter poke, but it's faster. While the is a longer poke, but slower. So if they are on top of you, do crouching once or twice, then go to crouching .
Another way to prevent pressure is random uppercuts. Now this is pretty risky, and also character dependent. Some uppercuts just aren't worth it, because the recovery is too long. The uppercut gets the opponent off of you and you get a decent amount of space in between you and the opponent. I wouldn't abuse this though, uppercuts are generally easily punished on block.
Sweeps are also a decent way of stopping pressure. These are also character dependent too. Some sweeps such as Nightwolf's are just way too slow. But characters such as Smoke will get away with it more often.
Anti-Airing Cross-Ups:
Another good example would be UMK3. In UMK3, a very good cross-up anti-air is an Uppercut. Players like myself and Shock do this very frequently in UMK3. The thing about it is that you can't really come out of a block into an uppercut against a cross-up. So you would have to let go of block while still crouching, then uppercut. This mechanic is the same in MK9, just more difficult. Again, some characters uppercut just aren't reliable enough for this, but I'd say the majority will be able to do this.
Meter:
I've noticed that most combos don't build much, if any, meter. This is because when you're comboing your opponent, they're losing life, and in most cases, at least 30%. If you also got meter from these combos, the meter system would be too rewarding and a losing player would be at a terrible disadvantage despite the difference in health bar.
The best way to actually build meter is to put pressure on a blocked opponent. This builds tons of meter, and it discourages players from turtling. If you sit there and block the whole match, I will have full meter to do what I want with it. This adds a pretty interesting dynamic to the game. You can also get meter by being hit or combo'd. This is good because you are losing the health but gaining some meter in the process. So on one hand it rewards the offensive pressure, and on the other it lends a helping hand if you're getting combo'd like crazy.
Special moves also build meter, but it's very insufficient. This prevents safe fireball spamming from building tons of meter. You can't just throw projectiles full screen and expect to build meter this way.
The meter plays a big role in this game and I personally think it's pretty well done.
Avoiding pressure - UMK3 style:
In UMK3, a great way to avoid being pressured is the crouching LK. It stops the rushdown and there's enough time to do something while your opponent is recovering. This can be done in MK9 with crouching
and . Now some characters crouching and may not be so great at stopping the rushdown, just keep that in mind. Generally, the crouching is a shorter poke, but it's faster. While the is a longer poke, but slower. So if they are on top of you, do crouching once or twice, then go to crouching .Another way to prevent pressure is random uppercuts. Now this is pretty risky, and also character dependent. Some uppercuts just aren't worth it, because the recovery is too long. The uppercut gets the opponent off of you and you get a decent amount of space in between you and the opponent. I wouldn't abuse this though, uppercuts are generally easily punished on block.
Sweeps are also a decent way of stopping pressure. These are also character dependent too. Some sweeps such as Nightwolf's are just way too slow. But characters such as Smoke will get away with it more often.
Anti-Airing Cross-Ups:
Another good example would be UMK3. In UMK3, a very good cross-up anti-air is an Uppercut. Players like myself and Shock do this very frequently in UMK3. The thing about it is that you can't really come out of a block into an uppercut against a cross-up. So you would have to let go of block while still crouching, then uppercut. This mechanic is the same in MK9, just more difficult. Again, some characters uppercut just aren't reliable enough for this, but I'd say the majority will be able to do this.
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