Don't take any of the fights that happen in cut scenes seriously.

I always just assume power levels in MK are relatively even aside from a few guys like Kang, Kahn, Shinnok, Raiden are are slightly above the rest, but it's anyone's game.

This makes it more interesting for a fighting game series.

This is also why comic books tend to not use power levels because if they always went by stuff like that it'd get predictable real fast (even though the insistence that Batman could take Superman in a well written way is laughable)

I doubt he has been sitting on his ass all of this time. I'm sure after MK9 he realized this kind of crap can pop off at any moment and he needs to be ready for it, so im sure he has trained plenty to increase his skills.

Why not? They are part of Story Mode, they are CANON.

Sometimes I wish they weren't. Stryker beating Reptile, Mileena, Kintaro, and Ermac...

WTF!?

They fought the law.

The law won.

If every MK character was NOT evenly matched, then the entire game wouldn't stand up... because since it's inception, every character has fought every character as soon as you start the game.

Johnny and Sonya are Earthrealm warriors without flashy powers like Scorpion or Ermac.... but they make up for it in their own skills. As another poster said, excluding 'big bads' and the 'one true champion', they're all on the same playing field.

Like it or not, it is the canon now, and the canon shows he is stronger than both. But i rather ignore that, in the last game Kung Lao defeated the Deadly Aliance, ALONE.

I don't get why it upsets people. I liked seeing Stryker whoop on the asses of some of the more built-up villains, and it's not like he's my favorite character. It was just done in a really fun way. Speaking of that, even despite my earlier posts about the playing field being level, it makes me wonder how they didn't get slept in the first timeline by them if that was the case. I know the real, non-story answer is it was a retelling of MK2 and they needed him to win for the time being though.

Take into consideration that Johnny IS a superpowered human, it was revealed he descended from a mediterranean cult and that his raw powers are really powerful to the point that in his MK9 non-canon ending Raiden had to send him to Sento so he could learn to control them fearing he could destroy stuff without control.

Johnny, Sonya and Kenshi right now are basically the only defense left for Earthrealm so I think they've been training REALLY HARD latelly.

And last, this Sub-Zero is a zombie controlled by someone else at that point, so I think his skills aren't at the same level than a fully conscious Kuai Liang, plus Kenshi helped keeping Scorpion away during the part Cage fights Sub-Zero.


About Kabal, I think it was his respirator and implants that gave him his powers as they were unnatural. not Shao Kahn invasion powering up people so they could beat stronger foes. Stryker mostly was lucky on his fights, but in his defense, MK9 fights had less sense than MKX QTE choreographies that so far look absolutely amazing.

If we're gonna start calling Stryker lucky then we have to call everyone lucky. Bi-Han was lucky to beat several gods. A rookie Liu Kang was lucky to beat the shit out of everyone. Cage was lucky to beat ninjas, etc.

For me, its mainly personal bias. I don't like Stryker, I never have, so of course I don't like seeing him beat characters I do like in canon lol

I usually don't care if a character I like loses, hell I just saw one of my favorites get his ass kicked in the first part of MKX's story mode and didn't care a single bit, its just a Stryker thing lol

Kabal's powers are stated to be from Shang Tsung's sorcery actually. Nightwolf should be treated as a magic user. Jax pre-metal arms irks me though as he doesn't seem like a chi user while Sonya is shown using technology for her attacks. JC already has an explanation for his powers. Kai is definitely a chi user too. The remainder of Earthrealm fighters and Seido/Orderrealm are unpopular while besides Li Mei, most of the Outworld characters use natural abilities. Otherwise, it's mostly sorcerery.

Just for clarification, I LOVE how Johnny is much stronger and more useful than the punching bag of Mk9, but without a proper explanation it doesn't make sense for him beating Scorpion and Sub-Zero in an handicap match.

LMAO! You're fucking awesome man.

On topic:

Why can't Stryker beat all those characters? I really think he is an underrated character.

Sure he can't beat Kintaro, But seriously. Kung Lao can't beat the Deadly alliance either and Cyber-Sub Can't beat Both Kintaro And Goro. Sure the damn fights are Ridiculous, And I wish they would make the fights a bit even. Instead of just having fights for the sake of fights and filler. But I do think Stryker stands a chance against characters like Mileena,Reptile And Ermac. Just not Kintaro.

But yet again, Kintaro was a fucking pussy in MK9. I mean I know that he is basically a big pussy. But he was at least intimidating in MK2. In MK9 both Goro and Kintaro are just sad characters. I hate what they did with them. They are just dumb characters at this point, that get beat up every time they show up.

Pray they never get the Motaro treatment.

The law can beat whatever evil it needs to.

Punks like Kintaro, Mileena, and Ermac are not the law. Kahn is not the law. Shinnok is not the law.

STRYKER is the law.

Well, there is something I ended up not writting but in adition to luck he had... bullets. None of his opponents had bullets. Or grenades. I'm sure that helps beating a lizard man or a princess with sharp teeth and if you're skilled enough, a telekinetic entity.

Some of them just had super strength, acid breath (that negated an entire barrage of bullets from Stryker and Kabal), the ability to teleport, breath fire, use telekinesis, etc.

I look at it less as luck and more a good man standing up to unimaginable evils in people's time of need. Same for the other heroes like Kang, Cage, Sonya, Jax, etc.

Kabal most likely got powered up by Shang Tsung's magic when he healed him. Stryker's bio describes him as having always been a "one man SWAT team" doing Bruce Willis shit. It's perfectly believable that a tough-as-nails action movie stereotype who can carry an infinite supply of military-grade incendiaries and pump about 20 Schwarzeneggers worth of ammunition without reloading is perfectly capable of taking down one lonely Shokan.



But if you miss the QTE prompts, Johnny gets his ass handed to him. QTEs not only give you some control of the fights, they also balance the fights out better than MK9. You only saw Johnny not get hit once because they hit all the QTEs.

And, he didn't fight Scorpion and Sub-Zero at the same time. Kenshi's "minimal" backup was instrumental to keeping them separated.

And why wouldn't Johnny be able to do what Liu can? Johnny was a born champion of the gods and is obviously a trained fighter. If they had to stick with only certain characters like Liu or Raiden being able to win any fight, then there is really no point to there being a story, or a game for that matter.

Because they make absolutely no sense. Sub-Zero can beat Goro and Kintaro at the same time one minute, but loses to Kabal the next? Kung Lao beating Quan Chi, Shang Tsung and Kintaro back to back to back? Stryker beating Ermac?

The fights are there to give the player something to do.

I took as NRS trying to make a shitty character look good by having him beat characters that are actually cool

Exactly why they had Sub-Zero get two chapters.

Couldn't agree more look at MK9 nighwolf beat quan chi, Noob and a powered up sindel who no other earthrealm warrior could even lay a glove on! You can't really judge a characters worth by their story foghts