Zero Punctuation: Mortal Kombat

[Vidi Kitty]

Not sure if this has been brought up yet, and I do hope Yahtzee sees or knows about this. There is a game like the one he brought up 4:50 in. It's called Jump Ultimate Stars, and it has basically every Shonen Jump character ever. Also due to copyright laws, it will never ever have an official release in America.

 

[Grond Strong]

People still love those 2D fighters. The button layout and controls of this game have a striking resemblance to the old arcade system where one has a couple buttons to kick, punch, and a multi-directional thumb-stick to move one's character. But instead of making the buttons the size one's palm to repeatedly beat on, they are "finger-sized" and on a controller. As far as controls go, I believe it stays very close to its roots.

I've never really played Mortal Kombat until now. Mostly because whenever I went to the arcade as a smaller lad I was never allowed to play it and had to stick with racing games and ball tosses. And I always thought it somewhat pointless to purchase a Mortal Kombat game on a console as that is not its native ground, but I finally caved in twenty years after its original release. And let me tell you, I have never gotten so frustrated at a game in all of my life. For some reason, I can lose on any other type of shooters, puzzle game, RPG, and you name it. But on Mortal Kombat, it's personal. I don't know what it is about these 2D fighting games that make them so outrageously rage evoking when one is getting repeatedly combo'ed by an opponent who's taken the past twenty years to master it for THIS fight but it works.

When one buys Mortal Kombat, in my opinion, they know know they will be receiving these few things. Blood (lots of it), an outrageously foolish plot, hardcore fan smackdowns on live (you WILL lose and you WILL lose badly), and multiple controller shaped holes in one's wall.

 

[WolfmanNougat]

Would that be the new Doctor Who where Russel T. Davies was the head writer and the Doctor was Jesus and they siezed every single fucking opportunity as possible to remind the audience of Russel's homosexuality,
OR
The new Doctor Who where Stephen Moffat is the head writer and... well, Stephen Moffat is actually a brilliant writer, what more do I say?

If it's the former then yeah, your colleague's opinion is totally void because people's credibility is completely dependent on whether or not they like the same shows as you, harr harr.

Oh look, I'm talking about Doctor Who instead of Mortal Kombat. Though really, what do you need to say about it other than two to four dudes or dudettes beat eachother to bloody pulps just like they have been for the last nigh-twenty years; wash, rinse, raise from death, repeat. NEXT!

 

[warprincenataku]

Marty Mcfly would win. Just sayin

Dude, the other guy... erm, the Quantum Leap guy is uh, way better? Yeah, what's McFly going to do, shake him to death?

 

[tahrey]

Marty would only win if his opponent's taunt happened to be one that called him "chicken".

As for that fight, I'm now morbidly curious as to whether anyone actually HAS come up with sprites & moves for MCFLYYYYYY and for ... uh ... whatsis name... Sam? from Quantum Leap for Mugen...

 

[AusGamer44]

He had me until he dissed Dr Who.Geez,first he slags Portal 2,now the Timelord gets a serve?As I live in Brisbane as well,I've a good mind to go around to his house & gurn furiously through a window at him.Or make insults about his mum.
Mortal Kombat does sound like tripe though.Geez, game developers,how many games can you write that involves men built like sh** brickhouses turning each other into mincemeat? And they wonder why we chicks are the minority in gaming.Our money buys the same amount of booze that the fellas' cash does..Maybe they think if they tone down the more cartoony machissmo to reach a wider audience we dainty little dames will insist on kittens & ballerinas in every game.Which is silly.Although I WOULD pay good money to see the Goodies' Kitten Kong stomp on Natalie Portman's loonie hoofer character.Now THAT would be a game.

 

[Syntax Error]

Yahtzee you Ninja, right as I was gonna go comment on that's basically Mugen, the credits screen rolled in.

 

[0986875533423]

I actually fund last weeks episode brilliant (doctor who that is)

Of course you did, the world found that episode to be the best thing since sliced bread. (But then could Neil Gaiman create anything less? Really?)

 

[Silent Biohazard Solid]

I guess since all of BlazBlue games sold less than a million, by far. It's irrelevant as a fighter.

I love fighting games, I've played Melty Blood, Arcana Hearts, Marvel vs x, SF, Soul Calibur, Guilty Gear, and BlazBlue to hell.

I really don't like the new Mortal Kombat, it feels much slower, the character movesets are more generic than games like BB. (Which is already very slow compared to MvC2 and GG)

Granted, it's good for a NA fighting game. But best fighting game of this generation is ignorant. Have you even played every fighting game of this generation?

Sample Match of BlazBlue
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5LcxnUT6sww

I'm not saying that BlazBlue is irrelevant as a fighter, I'm just saying that neither is Mortal Kombat. That clearly people still want this game, and based largely on people's feedback, they thoroughly enjoy it.

I may not have played as many fighting games as you this generation, but I still played all the major ones. SF4, Tekken 6, Soul Calibur 4, King of Fighters... Umm, whatever the number. Apart from Street Fighter, all the other ones feel just like their prequels. They're just visually updated, perhaps slightly tweeked versions of their prequels, that's it.
Mortal Kombat feels different, and this time around, it feels awesome. And to say that it's the best this generation isn't ignorant. It's just my opinion. It's also based on more than just core gameplay mechanics. Does BlazBlue have a kick ass narrative story mode? Or battle damage? Or alternate costumes for all the characters? These are all factors that make a game complete. Right along with gameplay, graphics, music, design, etc. So it takes a lot more than core gameplay mechanics to define how good a game is. So when I say the best fighting game, I mean the best overall game of its genre. I'm not saying that it's the most balanced, or whatever. I'm just saying that it's go the most to offer overall.

 

[Scarlet Mongoose]

I enjoyed the story up until all those characters got killed off by one person, really lame.

She was given the powers of all thoses souls and had her power jacked up by Shao Kahn.
Made sense to me that she was ridiculously overpowered.
The games storytelling and plot actually make perfect sense if you THINK about it.

 

[Scarlet Mongoose]

I loved the new MK game.
It was a fantastic prequel/sequel. The plot-line for this game starting up immediately after MK: Armageddon and going back to the first MK, creating a new timeline which spans up to the end of MK3, worked amazingly well.

Now, while the gameplay elements of MK: Deception though Armageddon are debatable/questionable as to whether they're good (I say the gameplay/mechanics were pretty weak), the storyline has always been top-notch. And this game doesn't disappoint.

And even better, the gameplay this time around actually kicks serious ass.
It's great.
The ONLY complaint I have about this game is that Shao Kahn is even more broken than he used to be.
And that makes the challenge tower even harder than it should be (I'm on 275/300) and facing 3 Shao Kahns back-to-back was ridiculous.

 

[Scarlet Mongoose]

I haven't actually lol'd in a ZP for a little while... More like some good light entertainment and some chuckles. But this one was proper funny. It was Sub saying 'shit' to the idea of a Harrier that did it...

Sub-Zero vs Harrier Jet! Epic! Freakin' epic!
And at long range, the jet wins. Air strike baby!
But if the jet pilot got cocky and and came in close, Sub-Zero would totally own him.

 

[SageRuffin]

I don't know what version of BBCS you where playing but Hakumen was a beast in that game. Bigger combos, tk tsubaki off a dash, 4c, j. 5c, j. 5d, stabbing projectiles = void of doom, etc. And Ragna is fucking stupid broken in that game. 40% Berial edge combos that end in oki while building 50 heat, fatal counter on 2c which is +6 on block, 80% blood kain combos and etc. It was Rachel that got hit so hard wit the nerf bat it was renamed the "Rachel stick".

I mean with the v1.03 update. Negating projectiles still work the same way as do, as do doing moves like Tsubaki or that kick from a dash.

But then comes the fact that Tsubaki causes a slide, f/b+C don't cause a crumple stun anymore... although not having the super flash before his counter-Distortion does help somewhat.

I say if they had to nerf Ragna, make him play more like he did in CT. I can agree with the Berial Edge changes and the fact that Hell's Fang (Punch) doesn't have anymore frame advantage. The 80% Blood Kain combos were in CT, so I dunno what the complaint is there outside of the fact that they still existed in CS.

But I don't feel like arguing, so let's move on.

With marvels otgs, you need specific moves that can hit otg to work. Some characters do not have otgs. And if you have bounce moves, they can be used only once in a combo for either ground or wall bounce. There are really dumb mechanics (dhc glitch, xfactor, air throw hitboxes, etc)
but its still fun.

I know how most of the mechanics work, thank you. Liek I said before, I've been playing fighters for a while, and I do plenty of research; you don't have to explain them to me, especially basic stuff like that.

And last, SSF4 is defiantly a defensive game. The laxed reversal windows, low damage combos, emphasis on option selects make it hard to get in and stay in. SSF4 becomes more about footies and baiting reversals and jumps then smothering someone in attacks. And just a bit of advice, crossups where even easier back in the day and there was no auto correct. Learn to block.

Okay... everything was cool until that last sentence. I'll admit I don't know a great deal about many things even with all my research, but don't assume I can't do something just from a few bad run-ins. That's like saying a star baseball player ain't shit because he happened to strike out a few times. It's jumping to conclusions and borderline ignorant.

Everything I say is based off personal experience and observation. I'm bad at SSF4 - I'm not even gonna try and sugarcoat that. But it's that stuff I already listed that makes me not want to keep playing the game. You may not agree with it, and that's perfectly fine, but don't dare assume that I outright can't play.

 

[The Urban Moose]

Marty Mcfly would win. Just sayin

Depends if he had his hoverboard.

 

[heamrh]

we all know scott bakula would kick marty's ass

 

[Mydnyght]

BAH! That opener was HILARIOUS! XD

Had me roped for a moment. When the video was starting, I was wondering, "Is Yahtzee actually gonna talk about the ORIGINAL Mortal Kombat?" I couldn't believe he actually did... JUST to point out the issue with having the exact same name.

You know what? What IS with some franchises using nearly the exact same name as the original for a later edition? I mean, Yahtzee's mention of today's Mortal Kombat vs the original Mortal Kombat reminded me of this:

 

[robincb]

marty mcfly would win, i mean he travelled through time while wearing a bodywarmer, A BODYWARMER!!!

 

[infin8]

'Fibulas" is just a really funny word... I dont know whats wrong with me haha

 

[Allan Foe]

A zp that barely mentions the gameplay and actualy conetentp of the game... what a shock

Oh no, what's really shocking is the complete lack of spell check in your browser!

How many Zero Puncuation videos have you actually watched if you still make comments like that? Two? Going off on random tangent during a review is the whole shtick of this show. And seriously, you expect this [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/zero-punctuation/189-Soul-Calibur-IV] guy [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/zero-punctuation/35-Super-Smash-Bros-Brawl] to review a fighting game seriously?

Sheesh, some people...

 

[shaurz]

ZP writes his reviews in Notepad?