Your Very First Mortal Kombat Experience? (Nostalgia Time!)

[RYX]

I was a stupid ass 3 yr old babby toddler when I saw my uncle playing UMK3 on the genesis, I think. They let me play it myself and I'd get as far as Shao Kahn before losing

Now I'm a stupid ass 18 yr old babby manchild and I still play it

 

[Second Saint]

I think there should be some shoutouts to all the pissed off Moms in this thread. I can see I wasn't alone in that regard.

 

[Apologia X]

I've been around since the Mk1 days so I just remember going to my local arcade and playing with friends and family. Later I got it on my computer. I got back into it when Mk9 dropped and got hooked all over again.

 

[EdFig81]

First experience with mk was playing mk on genesis after using abacabb blood code and the dullard code. But i wasnt hooked. Then i went to an arcade in green acres (long island new york) mall which had mk2 mad loud. I lost my mind at that point. I picked shang and some dick told me u can morph by pressing start like in the street fighter II hacks. He lied lol. I played in arcades until the game came out on console and still went to play land , broad way arcade (in Manhattan) and even fun time usa (in Brooklyn). Then xband came out which for those that dont know let u play mk2,ssf2 and other games online via a phone line. I then became an online warrior lol up until they went out of bussiness. My old gamer tag is in tips and tricks magazines for the rankings etc... The xband device was a modem that let you play mk2,mk3 , ki and other games via phone lines for snes and genesis. Since then i loved mk outside of the 3d ones (mkda -mka) and came back with mk9, injustice (which i didnt like much), mkx and ki

Edit: i was a big fgc dude back in those days. From sf2 - alpha 3 and even ex. Man i miss these games heh.

 

[NaCl man]

Mine was mk1 arcade in west sydney at timezone when it 1st came out.
I was 10. Man i feel old now

 

[scarsunseen]

A B A C A B B

 

[Blade4693]

You know how you have like really vivid memories of when you were little but like only chunks of it? I have a ton of those regarding MK, I just don't know which one happened first lol

So one of the first memories I have was when me and my parents were playing MK2 on their Sega, my dad was Liu Kang and I was also Liu Kang, and I beat him (He probably let me win since I was like 4) and I pressed some random buttons and I uppercutted him into the deadpool lol

Then I remember playing MK1 a lot and always getting beat against the CPU, then my dad would come in and pick Raiden (That was his main lol) and come and clear the ladder like it was nothing. I was always so pumped when he would get to Goro, he was my favorite back then. I remember Goro's lair music would kind of creep me out, especially with the eyes in the background lol

Then I remember my parents and some friends were playing MK3 together, and I remember asking my mom about Sindel's eyes and how they were all white, and how Sheeva had four arms, and I remember her saying something, I can picture it like it happened yesterday, but I just cant remember what it was she said lol

Those 3 are the most distinct, and one was likely my first experience to the series, I just cant remember which one it was lol

Now this clearly wasn't my first experience, but its one is worth noting because of how stupid it is. So me and my parents were at like walmart or something and I remember my dad showing me MK Trilogy, there was like a little stand there showing the whole roster, and they bought it for me. (Probably like 6/7) and when we went home and played it something happened...somebody picked Sheeva...and I lost it lol lI was absolutely terrified of her for some reason, from that point on if I ever came across Sheeva in the ladder I would reset the PS1 and hope the next ladder didn't have her in it, and nobody who came over was allowed to pick Sheeva, not even my parents lol it was so dumb. I just remember seeing her VS screen one time and that was it, she freaked me the hell out lol

 

[Scott The Scot]

I went to my friends house two years ago one summer when he had an empty. Since he's a close friend, I showed up early to have some beers and chill before it got wild. He had a 360 with MK9 and my two friends just beat the shit out of each other. One was Scorpion, one was Sonya. Then they played again and it was Scorpion vs Sub Zero. Then I got given the controller, told how to do the special moves (I was advised that the analogue stick was much better because you can just flick it lololo) of Sub Zero and then got bodied. Then next week the same thing happened. Then I bought the game because I wanted to be beat them, so I practiced and practiced. I remember my friend saying he doesn't play online because "all the pros just do 90% combos" so I decided to look up some combos on YouTube. They were too scary, so I looked up beginner combos (B12~Ice Ball, B12~Slide hahaha) and I practiced the shit out of it. A month passed and I went back to another party, or I should say pre-party hangout or whatever but y'know who cares, and I got bodied again. And about a year passed since School was back in session but I still played and practiced and became an online warrior.

Oh. My. God.

No mercy. No mercy was given when we played. I immediately chose Smoke and just touch of death combo'd them. Then I'd random select and body them. Then I'd flawless them with Johnny Cage's pressure or Kabals pressure. I'd baby them every match. And everybody was in shock. I was unbeatable. I achieved my goal... But then nobody wanted to play with me. So they stopped playing the game and hey ho. That's my first MK experience. MKX might be my last, it's not as fun as MK9 but we'll see. Sometimes I wish I never looked at high level fighting games and stuck to mashing, I was a lot happier.

 

[GamerBlake90]

I went to my friends house two years ago one summer when he had an empty. Since he's a close friend, I showed up early to have some beers and chill before it got wild. He had a 360 with MK9 and my two friends just beat the shit out of each other. One was Scorpion, one was Sonya. Then they played again and it was Scorpion vs Sub Zero. Then I got given the controller, told how to do the special moves (I was advised that the analogue stick was much better because you can just flick it lololo) of Sub Zero and then got bodied. Then next week the same thing happened. Then I bought the game because I wanted to be beat them, so I practiced and practiced. I remember my friend saying he doesn't play online because "all the pros just do 90% combos" so I decided to look up some combos on YouTube. They were too scary, so I looked up beginner combos (B12~Ice Ball, B12~Slide hahaha) and I practiced the shit out of it. A month passed and I went back to another party, or I should say pre-party hangout or whatever but y'know who cares, and I got bodied again. And about a year passed since School was back in session but I still played and practiced and became an online warrior.

Oh. My. God.

No mercy. No mercy was given when we played. I immediately chose Smoke and just touch of death combo'd them. Then I'd random select and body them. Then I'd flawless them with Johnny Cage's pressure or Kabals pressure. I'd baby them every match. And everybody was in shock. I was unbeatable. I achieved my goal... But then nobody wanted to play with me. So they stopped playing the game and hey ho. That's my first MK experience. MKX might be my last, it's not as fun as MK9 but we'll see. Sometimes I wish I never looked at high level fighting games and stuck to mashing, I was a lot happier.

Would you really have been content with not leveling up and just losing to the same players repeatedly? I certainly wouldn't have been satisfied.

You had the drive to get better, and apparently your "training partners" didn't. They may as well have done you a favor when they stopped playing. Such is the nature of the divide between casual players and competitors - obviously excluding the casuals who wish to reach a high level.

As for my story, well...I don't want to go into detail because then the atmosphere would get too depressing. Let's just say that my first MK game was meant to be a release from hard times and it led me to something greater. I've stuck with it since and am now a consistent Top 8 placer for KI. DAT JAGO LIFE.

 

[Scott The Scot]

Would you really have been content with not leveling up and just losing to the same players repeatedly? I certainly wouldn't have been satisfied.

You had the drive to get better, and apparently your "training partners" didn't. They may as well have done you a favor when they stopped playing. Such is the nature of the divide between casual players and competitors - obviously excluding the casuals who wish to reach a high level.

That's actually a pretty hard question. I mean I did choose to get better and I'm unhappy now, what if I just kept mashing? Would I be happier? I suppose it depends what your goal is. I'm satisfied that I can beat them blindfolded (yes, this was put to the test lol) but I'm not happy when playing games now.

As for my story, well...I don't want to go into detail because then the atmosphere would get too depressing. Let's just say that my first MK game was meant to be a release from hard times and it led me to something greater. I've stuck with it since and am now a consistent Top 8 placer for KI. DAT JAGO LIFE.

I don't always watch KI, but when I do it's normally when you're in Top 8. Very entertaining, that's for sure!

 

[GamerBlake90]

That's actually a pretty hard question. I mean I did choose to get better and I'm unhappy now, what if I just kept mashing? Would I be happier? I suppose it depends what your goal is. I'm satisfied that I can beat them blindfolded (yes, this was put to the test lol) but I'm not happy when playing games now.

At the risk of derailing the thread (sorry to the OP), I'm going to take a stab at the true source of your displeasure.

It's not the fact you've gotten better that depresses you. You seem to have been seeking approval for the amount of effort you put into understanding the game more, for the sake of the guys who introduced you to the game in the first place. When the guys who used to play with you regularly stopped playing because they could no longer get wins off you, you felt punished for your effort, so you don't find it as fun because you fear that your training will be rewarded with something similar.

If the above is correct, read on. If not, ignore me.

Take it from someone who has been in your position: playing to seek approval from others never works. It just doesn't. I mean, my motive for playing has always been to win the funds necessary to sponsor other players for tournaments, but I first have to become capable enough as a player to win the biggest majors known to us. That means focusing on oneself first, before focusing on others, so during that time you can't let what others say or do cause you to be concerned. Growth isn't something that happens overnight.

I should know...I've really been tested for my character development when enduring the grind and not all of it was benevolent on my part. I would give up quickly against better players (not rage-quitting mid-match, of course) and never accept compliments from anyone saying that I do have the ability to compete, all because I "didn't want to waste anyone's time" or "I didn't want to make myself look bad." Latter statement's funny considering that's what I had already been doing. -_- I've gradually improved at changing that mindset and pushing myself to keep training, but there remains a long way to go.

My situation has its differences from yours, though, so I digress. From reading your posts, I believe that you wouldn't have been better off if you'd remained a button-masher. Some groups of people mesh well together, and others just don't. You simply fell in with the wrong crowd, at no fault of your own. Players not willing to continue practicing with you are not worth fretting about. Those willing to put in the effort to learn, like yourself, deserve better, but it will only come to you if you work for it.

The only thing you can do is move on to players willing to continue training with you, even if such partners are online. And most importantly, play for yourself, not for others. Otherwise you'll just be fighting a battle that can never be won.

 

[Scott The Scot]

At the risk of derailing the thread (sorry to the OP), I'm going to take a stab at the true source of your displeasure.

It's not the fact you've gotten better that depresses you. You seem to have been seeking approval for the amount of effort you put into understanding the game more, for the sake of the guys who introduced you to the game in the first place. When the guys who used to play with you regularly stopped playing because they could no longer get wins off you, you felt punished for your effort, so you don't find it as fun because you fear that your training will be rewarded with something similar.

If the above is correct, read on. If not, ignore me.

Take it from someone who has been in your position: playing to seek approval from others never works. It just doesn't. I mean, my motive for playing has always been to win the funds necessary to sponsor other players for tournaments, but I first have to become capable enough as a player to win the biggest majors known to us. That means focusing on oneself first, before focusing on others, so during that time you can't let what others say or do cause you to be concerned. Growth isn't something that happens overnight.

I should know...I've really been tested for my character development when enduring the grind and not all of it was benevolent on my part. I would give up quickly against better players (not rage-quitting mid-match, of course) and never accept compliments from anyone saying that I do have the ability to compete, all because I "didn't want to waste anyone's time" or "I didn't want to make myself look bad." Latter statement's funny considering that's what I had already been doing. -_- I've gradually improved at changing that mindset and pushing myself to keep training, but there remains a long way to go.

My situation has its differences from yours, though, so I digress. From reading your posts, I believe that you wouldn't have been better off if you'd remained a button-masher. Some groups of people mesh well together, and others just don't. You simply fell in with the wrong crowd, at no fault of your own. Players not willing to continue practicing with you are not worth fretting about. Those willing to put in the effort to learn, like yourself, deserve better, but it will only come to you if you work for it.

The only thing you can do is move on to players willing to continue training with you, even if such partners are online. And most importantly, play for yourself, not for others. Otherwise you'll just be fighting a battle that can never be won.

Excellent advice and words of wisdom, Blake - thank you. I would write something more in depth to really describe how much I appreciate the effort you put into that post but like you said up the top, I don't want to derail the thread. But thank you, it does mean something to me. You're a top notch guy


Sorry OP lol

 

[GamerBlake90]

Excellent advice and words of wisdom, Blake - thank you. I would write something more in depth to really describe how much I appreciate the effort you put into that post but like you said up the top, I don't want to derail the thread. But thank you, it does mean something to me. You're a top notch guy


Sorry OP lol

Nah, I'm an asshole by nature. I just do what needs to be done.

 

[NaCl man]

A B A C A B B

Blood code hahaha

 

[VenomX-90]

The SNES version didn't have blood. It was replaced with what looked like sweat.

Yeah you're right, the parents bitched about the violence. And that was the birth of ESRB.

 

[Odyessus]

It's weird and awesome at the same time that people's first time playing the game was mk9.

MK9 made me jealous because it covered so many details that I grinded for years to know and that game covered so much in a little time. I use to buy the mk guides just to see artwork and read the stories. Oh and the struggle of doing my first animality! MERCY needed!!!

I played mk, mk2 but my most vivid memory was playing my uncle who was 26 in Mk3. I was cyber smoke (mind blown when I found out there was a human. ... or that sub and smoke were good buds) vs Sektor. He was kicking my ass even though I played all day and I got pissed and threw the controller at him and ran upstairs crying only to be grounded and told I couldn't play mk anymore.

 

[GAV]

1993. Wildwood, NJ. Shipwreck Island Minigolf (now long gone) had an arcade in the back that me and my cousins would frequent.

I mean... as soon as you saw that game, how could you NOT want to go over and play it? I loved Johnny Cage and Kano immediately.

Not far from you, I first saw it at the Deptford Mall in South Jersey.

 

[GAV]

Mortal Kombat is older than me? And if you guys are older than mortal kombat..then...

Yep.

 

[STORMS]

Great post, @Braindead ! MKX news is slow so this makes for a perfect promotion.

 

[Sage Leviathan]

I first played Mortal Kombat I at age five. Sega Genesis.
This is also the first video game I'd ever played.

 

[Crossbreed]

My first experience with Mortal Kombat was when i was about or 6 years old.
I went to a Toys R Us with my parents, looking for some christmas presents to choose from.

At the end of one hall stood a setup with screen and an encased Super Nintendo with Mortal Kombat in it + 2 controllers. It kinda was like in the arcades, kids standing around it, waiting for their turns to play.
The first character i picked up was Scorpion and i was blown away by how cool it was looking, it kinda had the Bruce Lee Martial Arts tournament flair from the movies my dad was watching (and there even was a Bruce Lee look-alike character). So i was instantly hooked and in love with the game.

It wasnt that big of a deal playing that game because the Snes version was bloodless. So my parents did not think about it that much.

Few years later my dad brought home Mortal Kombat 2 from some kind of pawnshop or "an- und verkauf" how it it called here in germany.
My parents watched me play the game and the first fight was at the Deadpool arena against Baraka.
And damn that game was awesome and brutal. My parents were kinda shocked but they let me keep it because i was so amazed by the game.

Whenever older family members came over my twin brother and i beat their asses and showed them the fatalites you could do. All moves self tought and found out by experimenting because we did not have a pc or internet back then, but i was kinda familiar with the imputs because i also had Street Fighter 2 and practised what i´ve known from that game in MK2.

From these Events onward i persued everything MK, tried to get all the games (which wasnt easy at all because they were banned here in germany), was totally hyped when the movie came out, watched the animated movie when it came out on vhs, MK Conquest when it aired on tv.

Also one of the coolest things i remember was the following:
My dad is a huge gamer too, so he bought the original Playstation and we rented games at a local videostore.
We played tekken 3, the tomb raider games and everything.

One of my best friends called me and told me "dude, i just bought MK4 for N64, get your ass over here and lets play"....i was awestruck...i did not know there was another game... i jumped on my bicicle and whe played the shit out of that game for days. Every time we left school, we went to his place and played.

So the other day i went to the video store with my dad, entered the 18+ section of the store and then we saw MK4 for playstation. I bought it right away and played anytime i could on my dads Playstation.

Even after 23 years now, i still love MK as much as i did back then and i´m always super exicted when a new game is announced.

 

[Tony at Home]

Street Fighter IV: "hey! Are you ready to have fun????"

Me: "Fuck yeah!!!!"

Street Fighter IV: "Cool, now focus cancel into this one frame link jab into a medium and then a 7 button input super!"

Me: "uhhhh...that's a bit..."

Street Fighter IV: "Hey man, you're just lazy. Practice 2 hours a day doing this single thing over and over again, and then you can have fun! Check out our 7$ anime cutscenes!"

Me: "I think I'd rather...-"

MK9: *Grabs SFIV with a chain, iceball freezes it, then uppercuts it into The Pit*

MK9: "fuck that noise... Let me show you something awesome..."

That instantly shifted my favorite genre to fighting games, and I've never gone back.

 

[psycho4rent]

My first experience with mk's was about 15 years ago with mk2 in my local arcade games saloon. the rest is a history.

 

[xZoro]

UMK3 Was mine, as a kid, all i remember was a Skelton guy, and some chick with 4 arms.
Scorpion and sheeva haha.

 

[Tony at Home]

I was unbeatable. I achieved my goal... But then nobody wanted to play with me. So they stopped playing the game and hey ho. That's my first MK experience. MKX might be my last, it's not as fun as MK9 but we'll see. Sometimes I wish I never looked at high level fighting games and stuck to mashing, I was a lot happier.

I think 90% of people here can relate to this. How many of us have sandbagged on purpose against roommates/friends etc just to get them to play a few extra games with us till they realized we don't fuck around and get turned off to the game completely.

The weird thing is this seems to be unique to fighting games, at least with some exceptions. I can body friends in a game like Halo all day and they won't care, same with Smash Bros.

but put in MK or SF and they'll want to stop playing with you after a few games.

Your friends mentioned "the pros online who do liek 90% combos" and this seems to be it. In a shooter, no matter how much you dominate your opponent, everyone can pull the trigger, and chuck a grenade. You can be much better at pulling said trigger or chucking said grenade- but at the end of the day everyone's tools are even.

In a fighting game, not everyone has the same tools depending on skill. You have something they don't. It doesn't even feel to them like they are playing the same game as you. As far as they are concerned, they are just a minion and you are the hero in a MOBA, and hence the game is played for your entertainment, not theirs.

The only thing you can do is move on to players willing to continue training with you, even if such partners are online. And most importantly, play for yourself, not for others. Otherwise you'll just be fighting a battle that can never be won.

So honestly, given the above, the attitude of his friends was kind of fair. Most games don't make it so being better than your opponent makes them feel so damn turned off to it. It really isn't fair that for this genre we have to choose between being good and having fun with our masher friends. It's just something fighting games does. It makes people who are at a lower skill level feel like they are playing a different and lesser game.

This is why I'm so defensive about how games like MK and KI are working to be more inviting to new players, why I'm so excited about games like Rising Thunder, and why I'm so disappointed that the Street Fighter community feels like there is some massive loss because the new game will have 3-frame link minimums for easier execution.