Mortal Kombat 1 has just released. The latest title in the long-standing series has promised to be a different experience for longstanding fans of the series, and beginners alike. A new era forged by Fire God Liu Kang also features a new era of gameplay for the Mortal Kombat franchise.
Mortal Kombat 1 makes some huge changes to how the core gameplay operates. With the addition of Kameos, players have so many more options in terms of conversions, combos, and protecting themselves. Alongside Kameos, combos feel longer. There are also changes to defensive and wake-up options and how poke operates. All together, these system changes make this a harder game than the previous two. With this in mind, here are some common rookie traps players should avoid.
5 Keeping Release Check On
Release Check, or Negative Edge, is fighting game lingo and a common concept in fighting games. Release Check essentially counts releasing the button as an additional input. This can, in theory, make some special moves easier to use. But in practice, it just messes up inputs. While players who use joysticks might find it useful most of the fighting game community would suggest that newer players turn this off.
Generally, and especially for newer players, release check makes inputs more difficult. If players keep release check off, especially when learning the controls in Mortal Kombat 1, they will be surprised to find how much easier it will be to enter inputs and pull off combos.
4 Spamming Aerial Moves
Mortal Kombat 1 has a lot more aerial combat than previous titles. Jump ins are strong, and most characters have aerial special moves and high damaging air combos. A very common thing for newer players in online matches is to spam jump moves – jump kicks or jump special moves. This may be a useful crutch when players are unfamiliar with the game. However, it’s a bad habit that will be punished by even the most casual of players.
Anti-air moves in Mortal Kombat 1 are very strong, and most characters can use them to do combos dealing up to 40% damage. Moreover, players adapt to their opponents’ spamming jump-ins very quickly, and it makes the game plan a lot easier to deal with.
3 Picking Characters Through Tier Lists
Obviously, everyone wants to play a strong character with whom they can get easy wins with. Players have to compensate for weaker characters with their own mastery of the game, so it makes sense using a tier list before jumping in and picking a main.
However, there are a few problems with this. First, most tier lists are geared towards more competitive and high-levels of play. Some of the aspects that competitive players use to judge characters won’t matter for most players anyway. Second, most of the best characters in MK1, such as Kenshi and Geras, are very difficult to learn. While these characters are fun, they have a very high skill ceiling. Players are better off learning more simple characters like Raiden when they are starting out. The most important thing is to find a character that a player enjoys, and play intuitively. Everything else follows later.
2 Trying To Master Too Many Characters At Once
Mortal Kombat 1 has an incredible roster, with the potential to have the best roster in the franchise depending on how the expansions and DLCs go. Obviously, with so many fun and enticing characters, players would want to learn them all. This would be a mistake, especially for newer players.
The problem with learning too many characters at once if a player is new is that it's easy confuse the moves and inputs. Lots of different characters have different strings, special moves, different launchers, etc. It is very easy to confuse these, especially before players gain adequate muscle memory. This is not to say that players should stick to one character, but if they’re new to fighting games and Mortal Kombat in particular, it might be best to focus on one or two characters until they get used to it.
1 Kameos
The Kameo system is completely new to Mortal Kombat and might be difficult for most players to get used to, regardless of skill level and experience. While it's a great new feature, there is an adjustment required for it. It's very easy to start spamming Kameo moves, not realizing the opponent can punish them. Moreover, using a Kameo at the wrong time might deprive players of a future combo extension.
There are tons of Kameos to choose from. It would be wise to look at what a player’s main, or their own playstyle needs from a Kameo. For example, Scorpion doesn’t have any mix-ups, so pairing him with the Scorpion Kameo for an overhead could be good. Pairing a character with weak zoning with the Sub Zero Kameo can offer some protection from projectiles, and so on. Instead of flocking to the most popular Kameo, choosing a Kameo based on a character’s synergy can improve results dramatically.
Mortal Kombat 1 has now released on PS5, Xbox X, PC and Nintendo Switch.