Yes, you probably remember Cyrax’s unblockable bomb set ups or Kung-Lao’s insane dive kicks from the earliest days of Mortal Kombat 9, and while abilities and designs like these were truly bonkers by today’s standards, there was a lot more that made vanilla MK9 absolutely wild.
In their latest video Mortal Kombat fanatics PNDK&M take us back to the very, very beginning of MK9 before any patches or updates to relive the wild ride that it was.
I remember organically figuring out how incredibly strong jumping over and opponent and crossing them up with a jumping punch was, and recall spamming it as much as I possibly could with most any character I was using… often to favorable results.
It was one thing if the move hit and thus you could proceed into a full combo, but even when blocked jumping punches carried an insane amount of positive frames and thus the opponent would then have to deal with ensuing throw/strike mix ups that could also lead to big time pain.
Developers would eventually attend to this (just as most of the things Ketchup discusses in the video) but it goes to show just how unaware NetherRealm initially was when it came to designing what now seem like obvious aspects of game balance.
It’s not only overpowered parts of MK9 that we investigate here, however, as Ketchup also examines the opposite side of the coin in looking at characters who were jaw-droppingly under-powered.
Baraka, for instance, had hilariously bad qualities and moves that served virtually no positive purpose. Especially when juxtaposed against characters who could safely apply ridiculous pressure on repeat that would lead into unbelievable damage on hit, the discrepancy between the low and high tier characters made them feel like they were in entirely different games.
Check out the full video below to see all the wild things that eventually were patched out or somewhat rectified in MK9, and let us know your fondest or most frustrated memories of this iconic entry in the Mortal Kombat franchise.
Kung-Lao banner art credit: Arak-8.
