How to Kick Ass at Mortal Kombat

[Nyukki]

Always been a big Capcom fighter fan but played a fair bit of MK2 and UMK3 on SNES at a friends house as a kid and have recently started playing some MK again, notably 1-3 on MAME, UMK3 on SNES and MK Trilogy on PS1.

Thing is, I always get my ass kicked. I usually pick Liu Kang or Scorpion and have all the moves down, but can't make it past the second or third fight without wasting a load of credits and getting really frustrated in the process. Basically, can someone please teach me how to get good at MK?

I find the main difficulties I can't get past are the following:
- The computer being way too fast
- The computer using a grab attack which I am unable to block
- Everytime I jump at an enemy or do a flying kick type attack, I get blocked and immediately uppercutted. Infact, the computer always blocking (usually followed with an uppercut) is a big problem.

Can anyone share their tried and tested MK tactics? Trying to not treat this as a Capcom fighter and learn an approach that's right for MK.

Thanks

[prfsnl_gmr]

Sweep the leg, Nyukki.

(Seriously...the computer hates that in all MK games.)

[AppleQueso]

MK AI are cheating bastards.

[prfsnl_gmr]

MK AI are cheating bastards.

True...but the AI is not very smart. Once you figure out some patterns and few "cheap" moves, you can take it down without too much difficulty.

I have also read that the computer is easier to defeat if you play as "Player 2", but I have not confirmed this independently.

[Luke]

Sweep the leg, Nyukki.

Jump kick, sweep the leg, uppercut.

Usually works until the final boss or unless the AI finally decides to block. If they block, throw your enemy.

[Ivo]

Kintaro is pretty hard on MK2, and if you play on higher difficulty settings in MK2 the AI is *extremely* cheap (I'm almost sure it "cheats" by reading your inputs). What you can do in those situations is "cheat" by exploiting the patterns - i.e. position yourself carefully and "bait" with some move, the AI will use its usual counter to that move but due to your position the AI opponent misses you by only a little bit, and then you can counter the counter.

In general, as others said, sweeping is quite effective as it connects even if the opponent is blocking while standing. If the opponent is crouch blocking you can only throw, or do a sliver of damage for each strike (which does pile-up). There are also some character specific moves that are better (e.g. have higher priority so override the opponent attack, or trade favourably in damage). One example is sometimes you can get hit but still freeze the opponent with Sub Zero and still get in time to land an uppercut, which is usually worth the trade-off.

[TheRev]

This makes me want to do a Klassic Mortal Kombat training Montage set to "You're the best"

[prfsnl_gmr]

This makes me want to do a Klassic Mortal Kombat training Montage set to "You're the best"

If you do, please link it here!

[Luke]

This makes me want to do a Klassic Mortal Kombat training Montage set to "You're the best"

That's borderline blasphemy.

[Zing]

This thread reminds me of why I depise companies re-using the same name for games.