So what, Ryu, Ken Masters, Akuma, Sakura and Dan Hibiki suddenly ceased to exist?

ALL fighters should have sweeps, uppercuts and roundhouse kicks. They needn't perform them in the same way but they should be mapped to the same button for every character the way the were in the original MKs. Nothing more annoying than the same button combo that did a devastating uppercut on one character does a meager low kick on another. And before anyone complains about everyone having the same moves, go play Tekken. It has a consistent control scheme, much like MKs of old.

I agree.

It's only logical that all of the characters (fighters!) can do a sweep move, I mean what's so special about it. They should only do it in their own style, that's it.

Special moves are the ones that should be unique for each character. So therefore, take away the rolling move from Kitana 'cause it's Mileena's special, take away Li Mei's carnival spin move 'cause it's Reiko's and so on...

BTW, Rain should have his super roundhouse kick back, that was cool.

Tekken has a consistent control scheme as far as LP, RP, LK and RK coded to the four face buttons, true, but pressing those buttons in conjunction with directions yields very different results for different characters. Sure, pressing a punch button and nothing else will make every character (except for maybe one or two) punch.

But I would hardly call those "universal" moves. It's not like every character in Tekken has "back + LK = Roundhouse." So I'm not entirely sure if that's the best example, but maybe I misunderstood what you meant.

Now if you want to talk about how the old MKs had a system of HP, LP, HK and RK and how THAT system needs to come back, then sign me up for agreeing with that argument. I couldn't stand in MK:DA how pressing 1 might be a punch for some characters and a kick for others. That's not even a system, that's just "give everything a random button combination" with zero logic behind it.

As for the universal moves, I'm not sure that I need sweeps that much, but it would be nice to hold on to a few things from MK's past like uppercuts and roundhouses. It's not like MK owns the sweep move, it's not signature, at least not to me at least.

Keep universal moves, almost all games have them regardless, there just hidden in varying animations. Besides, It's a fucking uppercut.

I'd rather not see the return of the HP, LP, LK, HK system. The LP and LK buttons weren't even low punches and low kicks. I'd rather they have a lead strike, rear strike, lead kick, and rear kick system similar to how Tekken has the left and right punches and kicks.

That way, when the characters switch sides, the moves will still be the same. Of course, that might be a bit problematic for characters like Drahmin, but I'm just generally speaking about this.

Also, with a lead/rear strike/kick system, you have more possibilities for moves as the buttons themselves don't have to be restricted to "high" or "low". For example, in the Tekken games, some characters have a mid kick with the left kick button (X), such as Bruce Irvin's push kick from Muay Thai.

I don't see any problem with each character have their own sweep move(s). For uppercuts, it can be argued that it's a staple move in Mortal Kombat, and I'm not really opposed to having an uppercut for each character. Perhaps for some characters, they could have a palm or an elbow uppercut instead of one with a fist.

As for roundhouse kicks, it depends. Obviously, not all martial arts styles use roundhouse kicks. With Scorpion, if they were to have his fighting style be influenced by some of the Takamatsu-den (e.g. Togakure-Ryu Ninpo Taijutsu), he wouldn't be using roundhouse kicks since the historical ninja did not use such moves. My understanding is that their approach to kicking techniques was very simple and usually involved knocking back or knocking down opponents.

Of course, like I said before, just because characters use moves from certain martial arts doesn't mean they have to be restricted to them. I did also suggest that Scorpion could have influences from a style like Shotokan, a martial art that does use roundhouse kicks.

Now when it comes to roundhouse kicks, the idea that probably comes to mind for MK fans is the spinning roundhouse kick in the older games. There are of course other kinds. Jax used Muay Thai in the more recent MK games, so his roundhouse kick would be different from Sonya's if she were to have influences from Tae Kwon Do or Karate.

I'd like to have parrying a universal move, but they need to do them differently. The animation and feel of the parries in MK: Armageddon was horrendous. Even if you're someone that doesn't care about realism in fighting games, it doesn't excuse the parries from looking and feeling the way they did in that game. If you look at how they're done in the Virtua Fighter games, they are much more fluid and accurate. The MK team could learn from them.

Anyone who wishes the HP-H-LP-LK-BL system back will be drawn and quartered by me.

Forget it. Same with universal moves.

Agree with SubZero 7th.

MK does need to have depth in the fighting mechanics dept. One way to do this is for the MK Team to watch the movie "Bloodsport with Blades" starring David Bradley and Mark Dacascos. That film had gore and shit but the martial arts were beautifully executed. Each fighter also had their own style, moves and techniques. I guess the only identical styles were Bradley's and Dacascos since they both play swordsmen in the movie (though they do perform a rather shitty type of Japanese swordplay).

Universal moves like the uppercut are okay for characters like Scorpion and SubZero (inevitable for the spear move and ice blast) but for other fighters, this shouldn't be the case. And universal moves should have variations for each character, they shouldn't be done out of laziness (a perennial problem in MK games like Baraka407 just said) . In Street Fighter, Ryu and Sagat both have uppercut moves but there is a slight difference to each (and speaking of universal moves in SF, what about the boxer Balrog? He's the guy that defies the rule I guess)

I think there will definitely be uppercuts in MK9. :)

Of course MK needs uppercuts. Not necessarily universal moves, but things like sweeps and uppercuts. It makes the fight more realistic. Because who would get in a fight and NOT uppercut somewhere down the line? "Oh, I'm a highly trained fighter, but I don't uppercut. But fear me regardless!" All that needs to be done is changing the style and animations of uppercuts for the specific fighter. Also, uppercuts were a major part of the early MKs because they were used to knock people off the bridge of The Pit.
If MK9 is a remake of the early MKs, uppercuts should be definately be included. Uppercuts are needed in MK just about as much as they are in boxing and things of that sort.

hhmmm simple button mechanics like the hp-lp-hk-lk- block is and to me forever will be MK when they deviated from it in MKDA is when i stopped playing it. yes i tried the others after that but the feel isnt the same and what freakin button do you press for a punch or kick? you hit one button on one character and he punches you hit the same button on another character he taunts? WTF that is one of the main reasons gameplay died in the later games. there is no uniformity for classic players to learn from or even new players to learn from. everyone talks about the different "styles" being a good thing. well guess what its all fine if you dont change what the buttons were supposed to do. that is why mk4 bombed at the arcade. the whole 3D movement and jump wasnt good i hated it myself. in mk3 and trilogy people got used to the auto kombos and the run button. and that was cause they didnt change the button layout. that is why mk trilogy did so well on the 64 was it had the same type controls as the previous titles on snes. and now with games like SMBWII and the new upcoming DKCR for wii is showing that if you have a formula for buttons and the way you play the buttons dont change it. lets look at one more game coming out that is a remake of a classic... goldeneye they are making the game to be played using either a GC controller or a classic controller for wii. they are not deviating what made the game a classic and the is controls and gameplay.

As for styles i like the idea of giving everyone different styles but if you press down and a punch button he has to do an uppercut. or down and a kick button to do a sweep. i like the different animations and styles ideas but to change up the buttons to make them do something different like tekken? no no no no no tekken is tekken and mk doesnt need tekken as an example. they dont need soul caliber as an example either. the MKDA series seemed like that is what they did they wanted to be like tekken and soul caliber. and they are not they are MK and MK is like street fighter. the characters was developed with SF in mind not any other fighting game. that is why alot fo us is screaming for them to bring back the old style of play.

How I would love to see a sweep in a new fighter's repertoire when he uses boxing, or how about this? Have two-handed uppercuts for an aikido expert.

Styles are the way to go, differentiating between characters. it doesn't and shouldn't have to be the same system that was used in MKDA-MKA. But avoid the recirculation of the same old-boring stuff.

Sure, it looks different, does it make the game versatile? No. So therefore it has no true purpose. Useless things must be discarded.

I was thinking about something. Although I had mentioned the idea of having a lead/rear strike/kick system, how about different characters have different control schemes?

For example, you could have a character that has a high, medium, and low attack buttons like in Tobal or another character that has more of a Tekken-styled control scheme? I'm sure it'd be complicated, but then again, all they'd have to do is input the moves with those specific commands.



I agree. I don't see why martial arts styles can't or shouldn't be incorporated into Mortal Kombat. It doesn't mean every character has to have techniques derived from real martial arts styles, but the influences could be there for most of them.

When combining styles or having two characters use the same style(s) differently, it allows for many possibilities, especially if there are variants amongst control schemes.