Was interviewing a few game programmer applicants and I asked, "It was long considered that MK is a ‘dead franchise’; nobody took it seriously, fighting game enthusiasts considered it “shallow” and “all about who gets to hit first…often” and people wondered why they managed to come up with 3 games in the PS2 era (DA, deception and Armageddon). Then comes MK9; for the first time it was considered an event in fighting game tourneys such as EVO and more and more top players from other fighting games (ie: Justin Wong, TOkido maybe?..) are flocking over.
What made THIS MK different from the past MK’s?"
I think my co-workers also thought about it; even our bus. manager believed that “MK was dead” until MK9 showed up.
Personally, I agreed that in the first 3 MK’s, everybody seemed to have teh same normals and it all boiled down to “who gets to land a hit…first”. The combo system from 3 until Deception were a bit too “diallish”. Armageddon’s funny in the sense that it’s trying so hard to copy Capcom’s Marvel crossover games. Trying out MK9…wow. Even my sister’s partner (who was NEVER into fighting games since SF2: World Warrior) couldn’t put down the controller when she started playing the game.What did NRS do to make this a fighting game to remember? 
Thoughts? Ideas?
thanks