Why do jump attacks sometimes hit Mid instead of Overhead?

[Wallach]

I'll be the first to admit I'm not the most learned guy on Mortal Kombat as a franchise; I didn't play MK9 at all and little of MKX.

Having played MK11 quite a bit since launch, I've noticed that some jumping attacks hit as Mid instead of Overhead, usually when they are hitting on later active frames. In doing some Google-fu it looks like this was also a thing in MKX, so I assume it is intentional?

It seems like very strange behavior to me coming from other fighting games. Especially when it doesn't feel very consistent in this game; I can never block jump attacks crouching when they're done from a neutral jump or as a cross-up, but can sometimes when they are done from a forward jump. But even then, if the jump attack is hit later it will hit overhead (despite it obviously hitting lower to the ground than the one that counts as a Mid).

 

[Baconlord]

Jump attacks hit mid if you do them while raising. It's to prevent characters from getting instant overheads

 

[Crusty]

They’re mid going up and overhead coming down.

 

[Wallach]

Interesting, thanks.

Shouldn't that really only apply to like the initial jump frames, though? You can hit attacks at the top of the jump arc and they'll still hit Mid. With how high the jump arcs are in this game is seems kind of bizarre, no?