raccoonusdoodus

It certainly seems like the game was built with controllers in mind and not fight sticks, since there's only four attack buttons as opposed to SF's six, the fact that block is a button, and to do an xray you need to hit block and stance switch (essentially a useless button) at the same time, etc. I play MK with a dualshock 3 and I find it to be easier than a fight stick, but that's mostly personal preference. It's hard to recommend using a 360 controller though, the dpad is...well we all know what the 360 dpad is. If you're really really not digging MK on a fight stick, I guess try the 360 controller. If that doesn't work out either and you're reeeally looking for another alternative, a lot of people at the fighting game club on my campus use these usb converter things to play with dualshocks on 360s. In my opinion it is a great controller for fighting games but that option is a bit expensive especially if you don't already own a dualshock 3. Otherwise you'll just have to try adapting.

I'd only use fight sticks for six-button fighters like SF or Killer Instinct and use controllers for four-button games like MK Injustice and MvC, but some people just find them more comfortable for all fighting games. It's really a preference thing. Anyway, good luck with the game! Oh and Scorpion's spear move is back back 1. I don't remember what the name on the move list is

It's definitely different than Street Fighter, but it just takes some time to get used to.

I remember the tutorial being kind of all over the place, and I don't think anyone really uses tag assists in this game anyway.

I have played a very small amount of Street Fighter in my life, so I'm not sure which characters might be easier for you, but I have played an absurd amount of Mortal Kombat 9, and I can say the easiest character to pick up is Liu Kang in my opinion. He has easy combo strings and good specials. He has a normal fireball, a low fireball, an air fireball, a fast flying kick, the slower bicycle kick, and a counter, a lot of useful stuff for someone still learning the ropes of the game. A combo as simple as B3, 1, 2, dash, B3, 1, 2, dash, B3, 1, 2, dash B3, 1, 2 does somewhere between 33% and 38% damage, I can't quite remember. My rule of thumb is a good bread and butter combo in MK is 33% or more, and a great on is 38% or more. Anyway the combo has to be pretty fast still, especially the dashing. Hopefully that isn't too difficult for you, but with a little practice it can be done.

But ultimately it depends on what kind of character you like in a fighting game. Kung Lao is another easy character to pick up but he's crazy fast and his bread n butter combos don't do a whole lot of damage anymore. Kung Lao is actually who I first learned with back when the game came out, and now two and a half years later it's still 90% of what I play. Anyway try 1, 1, 2, spin (DF1), jump, jump kick (either one), divekick (D4), (*land*), F3, spin. Again, do it fast. If you can the combo up to the divekick then don't stress yourself on the last part. Also note the difference in your attacks if your jumping in a direction as apposed to jumping straight up, which is called neutral jumping. Neutral jump punches (NJP) and neutral jump kicks (NJK) are different than just jump punches and kicks. Another thing to note, you can start any combo in the game with a jump in punch (JIP) for a little extra damage. Jump in on them and press either punch button while close to them in the air and immediately start your combo. It usually adds around 3-5% or more to any combo.

If neither of those characters do it for you I guess try out Sub-Zero. He's a lot slower so maybe that'll be an easier transition from SF. He doesn't do that much damage but that doesn't matter very much since you're just learning. His ice slide is an amazing wake-up attack and ice clone is a good tool for controlling the movement of your opponent and hey, he can freeze people. Try 2, 2, ice ball (DF3), JIP (while they're frozen), 2, 1, 4, slide (BF4).

Whew got a little carried away there, haha. Just trying to help. Again, it really depends on what kind of characters you like in fighting games, but I think these three are fairly easy to pick up. What kind of characters do you like in SF? Scorpion is another popular choice for new players, partially because he's the poster boy, but he's also just really easy to dick around with. I've never seriously played him though so I can't give you any pointers or combos off the top of my head. Anyway like I said before testyourmight is a good place to go to learn MK9. Go to a character's forum and you'll find that the stickied topics are all pretty helpful. Combo threads, match-up discussions, general character guides, even frame data. It's Mortal Kombat's and Injustice's (and I guess now Killer Instinct's as well) own shoryken.com; a website for people that spend way, way to much time playing fighting games.

But I'm here to help as best as I can, too :) We need more MK players in the world!

The on-screen button inputs in training mode do not show simultaneous inputs, so if you did X, X, forward X correctly, the on-screen inputs would just look like X, X, forward, X, with the forward arrow and X above and below each other rather than next to each other.

If you're using a fight stick make sure the buttons are properly configured, X on the 360 is front punch, so if you should just double check to make sure the buttons are what you think they are. X (1) is front punch, Y (2) is back punch, A (3) is front kick, and B (4) is back kick. The numbers are important to know if you wanted to go to a website like testyourmight.com (the best place to go to learn about how to play Netherrealm games) to learn combos because they're all in the format :1, 1, 2, DF2, J, D3" (X, X, Y, down forward Y, jump, down A on 360)

Now, timing in MK (and Injustice, too) is a little different than other fighting games. When I try to teach friends how to play they always have this exact timing problem. Don't wait for the character on screen to preform the first action to input the second or third or so on. What I mean is, if the input is 1, 1, F1 like you said, then don't press 1, 1 and then wait for the second hit to land before doing forward 1. Input it all at once, kind of quickly. The game looks slower than it really is, so just try doing the input faster and without pause and you should get it. If you still have trouble try pressing forward a little earlier in the combo and holding it there until you finish the combo. What character are you playing as?

2012 is just the dark middle chapter between 2011 and 2013. Don't worry, it'll all get better soon.

Just out of curiosity, how many of you getting 20mil+ on the trick it are using standard controls? I absolutely cannot play with standard.

But anyway, about 20 million on trick it for me and I can not, for the life of me, get under 2:10 on the race. But I'm determined!

Really hope no one suffers too bad from this and really hoping that Sony will recover and this can be resolved quickly. I'm starting to get worried, you hackers fucking suck.

'Because it's too long" has to be THE most pathetic reason to not play a game.

Fuck you, hackers.

KH music has never been that great, let's be honest here.

OH NO ORIGINAL WAS BAD SEQUEL MUST BE BAD AMIRITE?