Multi tier design is an aspect that has been utilised to only a small extent in Mortal Kombat. There have been arenas that could have been expanded into excellent multi tier playing fields and those which have had nothing but an adjacent room or two that you get knocked into. In the case of the latter, this is boring, repetitive and restrictive play. In the case of both, you have potential to expand the fighting arena and experience into something much more enjoyable. To do this, Kombat must evolve!

An introduction to a tier arena

Imagine an arena where you can move freely back and forth between different rooms. Or perhaps there’s an n arena where you can go up to a new level, only to come back down at a later time if you wish. Perhaps the arena might have a staircase or a slope and perhaps you could perform special acrobatic techniques in order to evade, defend, access new places or even assist in your attack. What if the arena had all of these things? Such is how a tier level should be and here I explore some of the things that could be done to remove the linear experience we have had in the MK series.

Adjoining chambers

Some arenas in MK have allowed you to be knocked through barriers or gaps into an adjoining room or even above or below to hidden areas. These rooms were only accessible via power hits in specific parts of the arena but this is not how it must always be.

Accessing adjoining chambers

Free movement:

Players need to be able to manually move between multiple rooms on their own. If you’re back dashing to flee from your opponent, you shouldn’t be trapped against a wall or even worse a gaping doorway. You should be able to continue on through.

Arena damage:

Special moves such as energy projectiles, slams and ground pounds should all do surface damage. Such damage would pile up and eventually break a hole through the ceiling, floor or walls allowing access to other areas without the need for power hits. Thus, you could then walk through or jump to a new area.

Stairs and slopes

Why are arenas always flat? Why can we not fight on staircases or a hill slope? I think it’s about time we could do these things as some levels are designed with both these things in the background or as knockdown points. But again, why always down? Why can we not walk or run up them? Or even fight our way up or down them?

The property change – When lows become mids and so on....

When fighting on a slope, the advantage usually goes to the person on the higher ground. What would be interesting to see is how fighting in such a scenario would work in a fighting game. The major difference would be that of move properties. These would change dependent on who was on the high ground and who was the low ground and also dependent on the property of the attack being used.

High ground properties

If on the high ground, attacks would hit as follows:

High – Ineffective
Mid – Become high hits (Vertical strikes being the exception)
Low – Become mid

Low ground properties

High – Become mid hits
Mid – Become low hits (Vertical strikes being the exception)
Low – Ineffective

In accordance to these changes, pop up moves, pokes etc would all be in new places and strategy would have to change accordingly. Combos would also dramatically change and players would find themselves having to adapt to extreme changes. Even blocking and ducking would change. A new set of commands would be put in place for fighting on a slope and would add that little bit of extra depth

Multi tiered arenas

Imagine fighting on a construction site. You start on the ground but decide to buy yourself a few seconds by jumping to one of the beams above and swing up onto a new platform. Your opponent follows and knocks you onto a rising beam held aloft by a crane. Your opponent jumps on after you but you intercept his jump with a kick that knocks him back to a swinging platform below where the fight continues in mid air. You eventually gain the upper hand and decide to retreat and the only way to go is to swing across to a platform opposite, only you find it’s not safe and fall through it and hit the ground. Your opponent is Sub-Zero. Then suddenly, in true IceMan style, he slides to the ground on a trail of ice... You are Scorpion and you suddenly use your Spear to pull yourself upwards into a swing jump in order to knock Sub-Zero off his ice track...

Features

Knockdowns

These would be more damaging dependant on the height you fall from. For the higher locations, you could possibly have a chance to recover from the fall by mashing a few buttons or inputting a command to trigger a recovery move.

Slopes and staircase.

These would allow you to go back and forth between different levels and the changes mentioned earlier would apply if kombat took place on them.

Elevators

Some stages might have an elevator that you could fight on top of or use to go up or down in the arena or even crush your opponent underneath it to finish them.

Swinging and fixed platforms

Some platforms in the arena would be suspended in mid air allowing for a fight above ground level. Some may be fixed in place and you can move between them at will. Others may move as you fight on them, possibly swinging into walls causing you to fall or the platform itself to crash to the ground. Again you can move freely between them.

Risk / reward

If your only plan is to run, you may want to look before you leap. Hazards such as collapsing platforms (whch can lead to instant deaths such as impalement, acid, lava pits etc), spiked staircases, mined surfaces etc can add to the fun and danger of the arenas. You’ll have to be careful where you go and how you choose to access a different level or room.

Special abilities

Since you will be moving around arenas at will, you’ll probably want some useful abilities to aid you in all you do.

Ascension and Descension – Jumps, wall runs and special moves

Jumping can be used to reach ledges or beams and the character can move upwards that way. Or, to reach a platform near a wall, you could run at the wall and do a flip off it to land on the place you wish to be. Some characters can even use their powers to move around.

Character specific moves

Sub-Zero can use a jet of ice to propel himself upwards for a boost to a platform. Raiden for example could use a bolt of lightning to lift him upwards or teleport. Scorpion has his Spear to help him up. Sindel and Fujin have flight. Sektor could use the mechanical arms he used in past games for his throw to lift himself upwards or Sub-Zero could use a blast of ice to propel himself upward. Sonya could utilise a special ability where she stuns you with the Kiss of Death and uses the opponents’ body to boost her upwards by doing a running jump off their shoulders perhaps. Or she and Kitana could simply use the Square Wave Punch special move.

To descend, you can jump down, use a stairway or slope or an elevator or just move from platform to platform. Again, powers can come into play with flight and teleportation being obvious examples. Sub-Zero can use an ice trail to slide downwards. Noob could jump into one of his Shadow Holes and teleport safely downwards. Rain could jump down and then use a jet of water to push him upwards to counteract gravity and then land on his feet.

Other abilities

Characters will also be able to hang from the edges of platforms to prevent falls. Some characters may be able to swing between platforms. Jax and Stryker could use their tonfas to swing from a beam above and Scorpion, as ever, has his Spear.

With these kind of abilities, designs and changes, the fighting arena could prove to be more fun if utilised correctly. Let me know what you think.