Well too me every single character has potential. I don’t believe there is a true “shit tier” in this game. Even the supposedly low tier characters feel tourney viable. Which is good. NRS clearly did a good job in balancing this game.
Only thing I’m worried about is those unblockable reset set ups and glitches that might end up breaking the game if they don’t/can’t fix it.
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IMO stuff like this breaks these games. It’s not fun to play against and just promtoes a stale metagame.
Cyrax is so mediocre in other areas that his command throw BS makes him competitive. Think that other characters are S tier without that kind of BS, and that’s because they have their own different BS as well. So if you complain about Cyrax you also need to complain about Cage, Raiden, Nightwolf, Cyber etc. etc.
I dunno. If you take that away from Cyrax he is shit, but with it can be too broken in the right hands. I’m sure they’ll nerf it lol.
Maybe you do, but this is a daft way to design a game. Surely make Cyrax competitive all round, not just crap with a crazy command throw or whatever. I can’t understand that at all.
My current top 6:
Sub-Zero
Kung Lao
Raiden
Johnny Cage
Reptile
Cyber Sub-Zero
I didn’t realize Cyber Sub was so good until PowerUp. Good lord how I hate him LOL!
there was stuff like those cyrax combos in previous mk games, and they didn’t have breaker 
the combos are rediculous, but it’s a hell of a lot of work for 50-60%… most top tier characters can roll face on controller and get a 38%.
save meter against cyrax.
Yeup. It’s reeeallly funny when you read all the commentors/reviewers talk about Street Fighter being a superior fighter based solely on their brand preference. MK is really balanced for a first try at a fighting game it’s ridiculous. Tekken 6, SF4, BlazBlue… none of them were as balanced, and that’s ignoring the fact that Tekken 6 and SF4 are basically the same move lists that’s been recycled for years. Sure, MK has the same special moves, but all the normal moves are different.
And don’t get me wrong, I really enjoyed SF4 and Tekken… they both just got boring after awhile.
The game it actually reminds me a lot of is Virtua Fighter (imo the most balanced fighter all around), but like… a fun version (but imo also hella boring to play).
That said, I think Barraka is sort of the Dan (SF4 version that is playable) of Mortal Kombat.
So, you’re saying that you can’t design a character around a crazy command throw? Zangief? Or you are saying a character has to be “all around”? Like everyone is Ryu?
If you don’t understand, maybe you should try to…
Shang is also S but I don’t know if Reptile is S. People relied heavily on the elbow dash, and it’s punishable by full combos when blocked, so once people will get used to reacting to it, they’ll have to play much more careful with him.
The “first try” had 2 infinites on it on day 1.
Reptile is low S I would agree, but I don’t think shang is S class material.
Sheeva, Baraka, Stryker, and Shang Tsung are like the only bad characters.
^Shang isn’t bad, unless Im missing something.
I feel like Baraka is the only “bad” character. I feel like you can be somewhat competitive with the other 3. Although I agree they are a bit weaker.
As a Stryker player he is somewhat interesting. His B3-2 chain hits low then hits medium. So it can be very confusing to block if you dont know how to do it, even then you still might get surprised by it. I kind of like to think of it as Guiles sweep. You know that the 2nd leg is going to come around, but sometimes you still just forget to block and get hit by it. The chain leads to about 25% damage and you can end it in his F4 which creates that standing stun state (dunno what to call it exactly) where you can cancel it into gun then dash and continue more mix ups.
Stryker is definitely lacking though don’t get me wrong, he just isn’t as bad as he might seem. He would be a lot better if most of the cast didn’t have some sort of move to get them across the screen so quick so his zoning could actually work. He has a lot in terms of lows… that chain I stated before, very quick sweep, and his baton special which can set up his B3-2 chain if it connects. His roll is also pretty useful if you can correctly guess a projectile. His roundhouse is very quick and a good anti air to knock them back and bust out the gun.
Combo wise he needs meter to do any significant damage midscreen. It is nice though he can end all of his BnB’s with his 4 for that standing stun state for more follow up mixups. In the corner he can do 40% with 0 meter which isnt anything special, and the odds of putting your opponent in the corner with Stryker rarely come.
Sheeva IMO is like Thor. You take her into training mode and test out what she has without going into too much depth and she comes off as shit. However, if you dig a little deeper she has some nice tricks. Still isn’t a great character (or even good), but not that bad.
A character that seems to be slept on right now is Kabal. IMO he has some of the nastiest pressure and high/low mixups in the game. His corner combo is an incredibly easy 0 meter 35%-er that you can end with that stand up stun state with his F4 and you have another 50-50 lined up for you. His chain that ends in low is always a 50-50 mix up because you can choose between ending it with his low-dash or his overhead command grab. His instant air fireball is very good and his low hitting projectile is great as well. Too many players I see try and use his dash full screen which will get you punished hard… but Kabal is definately a character that you can be comfortable with anywhere on the screen. His sweep and roundhouse are also great as well.
they weren’t strictly day one. they were found during the demo and patched on day one.
and there is more to reptile than elbow dash, he has very good chip strings and the elbow hitting mid is still great for mixup as well as being a good zoning technique if you follow a forceball.
i feel like baraka suffers from having no mixup at all… you’d expect his EX specials to be better to compensate for this.
Baraka has the best specials and mindfucks though.
High level Barakas will make you shit your pants and always be scared of even blocking or jumping in. He has the best anti-air hands down next to Kung Lao maybe. And his Blade Charge + Blade Spin is just guaranteed control of space and mid range. His unblockable Chop Chop makes people jump up their asses. Nobody wants to get near a good Baraka, trust me.
Honestly Stryker isn’t bad, but after playing him against Michelangelo and others at Powerup he’s not good. His midscreen damage is better than you think, (I know of meterless 41%, and 35% then reset) and he has a solid reset in standing 3, but his zoning tools are completely nullified by the top tier all having teleports. He does have fake gunshot which is good, and gunshot hold, and I still think he can be good against the middle of the cast, but I do feel like getting in to get a hit against any of the top 5-6 is just too risky. Plus he’s kind of free to pressure, no parry, no fast special, nothing with invulnerability outside wakeup, no anti-crossup, his anti-air is situational. Worse he has nothing to really scare an opponent aside from crossup jump ins. I mean his dash up option is standing 4 or standing 3, and standing 3 takes AGES to come out. That back 3,2 is fine if your opponent is asleep, but I learned from Tom Brady that they can mash X-ray on reaction and you just lost 35-40% for an attempt at 21% midscreen.
That standing 4 followed by dash isn’t safe at all. They can block before you do anything, they can anti-air a dash jump, all you can really do is follow it with a gunshot, which is 6% damage. Anything else and you risk them beating you to it. Maybe once TYM has the guide up there’ll be some technology Tom Brady found that Vulcan and I have missed, but atm while I don’t think he’s bad perse playing him against the top tier is pretty bad.
To be honest though I feel like this game is going to end up like a lot of fighters (Barring constant tweaking by NRS) with a top tier that goes even-ish to itself and a mid tier that gets obliterated by that top tier. At least it looks like the top is maybe 10 characters deep, so a good 1/4 of the cast.
I don’t think Stryker is the only character in this position, nor am I dropping him, but I feel like my tournament main is going to have to be somebody else.
Compare the characters I listed to Sub, Reptile, Raiden, Cage, Kung Lao, Kitana, Liu Kang, Nightwolf, Ermac, and a few others.
I main Smoke and I don’t even think he’s that good. He has consistent high damage but only has four good combo starters (j.1/2, j.3/4, 3d12/32, Smoke Bomb) and they’re all really unsafe.
Cyrax and Ermac weren’t in the demo…
If you think Smoke isn’t that good you’re suffering from E.Honda syndrome.
From Tom’s guide:
Smoke Bomb(+)HIT LEVEL:Special L - hits special low meaning it can be blocked standing or crouching. on hit the opponent disappears in a cloud of smoke then appears in front of you dropping from the air to be juggled. on block is +1 advantage. this move also tracks the opponent.
Teleport Punch(+)HIT LEVEL:M - the fastest teleport punch in the game goes to Smoke. on hit it knocks back. on block is punished by combo of choice.
Also all Jumping punches give frame advantage.
Also Smoke Bomb is the ultimate long range whiff punisher. You get 41% for just landing a projectile. Stryker gets 6-11% and anything above 9 costs meter.
Teleport and Ex-Shake let you get out of pressure basically free. Regular shake shuts down any zoning game.
Can’t you block chop chop?