MORTAL KOMBAT I STRATEGY GUIDE Complete Arcade Strategy Guide Revision 5.0 Only Last Update: May 31, 2007 ded_@abv.bg ______________________________ The Original Guide can be view here: http://www.ultimatemk.com/cguide.php?game=mk1arcade This is the original Strategy FAQ i posted at http://UltimateMK.com few months ago. Its covering every single character and various strategies and juggles TESTED in real vs matches. Since its a really old game its amazing that new stuff have been found even today that effects in the actual gameplay. This FAQ is the most informative MK1 Strategy Guide on the net right now and i duobt someone will release something better. I wish to thanks to Soultaker who helped a lot while i still writing it - he is also well known in Europe as one of the best MK1 players there. Another important thing is this is FAQ for Revision 5.0, older revisions are like different MK game. Lower gravity, changed juggles and etc, this is only for Revision 5.0 - a lot of those strats will not work on older revisions or home versions. Current Tier List: 1. Sonya 2. Cage 3. Liu Kang 4. Kano 5. Raiden 6. Sub-Zero 7. Scorpion ******************************************************************************* ******************************* Legend ******************************** ******************************************************************************* F...................Forward B...................Back D...................Down U...................Up LP..................Low Punch LK..................Low Kick HP..................High Punch HK..................High Kick BL..................Block JK..................Jump Kick JP..................Jump Punch SHK.................Standing HK SLK.................Standing LK RH..................Roundhouse aa..................Anti Air TP..................Teleport Punch Inf.................Infinite otg.................Off/on the Ground gc..................Glitch cancel ******************************************************************************* ******************************* Blocking ******************************** ******************************************************************************* Blocking in MK is different from virtually every fighting game. Obviously there is a button for block, rather than holding back, which eliminates the need for proximity blocking entirely, and you can buffer moves easily while blocking. A not so obvious concept about blocking in MK is frame update. Character sprites are behind by one tick in MK, so you can block things upon the frame they connect. There is a similar concept in SFA3 called "Blue Blocking" which your character turns blue and it takes away less guard stun meter. You can essentially Blue Block sweeps and low hitting attacks in MK by tapping D+BL on or just before the frame the sweep will connect, and your character will not have to duck, enabling them to counter faster, or sometimes duck half way, and stand back up instantly. It is a good idea to learn how to block only when absolutely needed, so you aren't stuck in standing back up frames after releasing block, rather, releasing block at the end of the contact and standing up while unblocking. ******************************************************************************* ****************************** Jabs/Kara Jabs ******************************* ******************************************************************************* You can cancel a LP or HP by tapping any other attack button, canceling forward direction with LP or HP and then immidiately blocking will not allow the opponent to hit you. Still there are some moves that could be faster and could hit you like crouch kicks mostly. Kara Jabs is basicaly the same thing in MK1, Canceling a LP or HP with block. ******************************************************************************* ******************************* Corner Jabs ******************************** ******************************************************************************* Once you have someone backed into the corner and blocking, tap LP, because there is no pushback for this scenario in MK1, UNLESS the opponent's character is stand up, if they are ducked you will not be pushed away. They will be in the corner, and they will eat pixel after pixel of block damage. The only thing that the victim can really do is escape with a special move (fly kick, square punch, etc), uppercut, or crouching LK. If you can sniff out when they are going to try to do any of those, do a knee or special move, preferably a containment. If they block a knee you will not be pushed back like it was in umk3, so do it wisely to keep them trapped in the corner. Try to throw out 4-6 jabs then knee, because thats usually when people realize that they are losing a lot of energy to chip damage. If the knee hits, continue to jab and keep them locked down. Also, don't forget to hold back while you do the corner jabs so that they can't counter throw. If you are under corner jab pressure, after the first 1 or 2, try and spam on crouch kick, and you have a good chance of sneaking out. ******************************************************************************* ****************************** Throw Defense ******************************* ******************************************************************************* Hold "Back" and you will not be thrown. Up+Back, Down+Back, Down+Back+Bl also works. Many people complain about throws, but throw prevention is pretty easy in MK, and it's been this way from MK1 through MK4. In MK1 there is a way for throws to not be escapable ifsomeone did it to you after you got some move (whiff backwards shadow kick, crouch kick, etc). ******************************************************************************* ***************************** Crossup Throws ******************************* ******************************************************************************* This tactic is best used while an opponent is being defensive. The best way to describe this is when you are at jump distance, do an early JKs so you land directly on top of the victim, without hitting them. You will land overlapping the victim's sprite. If you hit LP right as you land, you will have a very good chance of connecting a throw because they have to hold back to prevent the throw, and the direction is pretty hard to determine in such a close situation in a small amount of time. Also there are no crossover JKs/JPs in MK1! ******************************************************************************* ************************** Retalation/Punishers **************************** ******************************************************************************* When certain moves are blocked, they will roll up into a ball and float right next to a player setting up a punisher juggle, sometimes they float away from you but still can be punished. Other punishment scenarios to look for are against Liu Kang's Dragon Kick, Sonya'sleg grab, Sub-Zero's Slide and etc. All of these, when blocked, make them stay locked in place, generally very close to you, free to be countered, but only within a very brief time. This is not much longer than the amount of time it takes you get out of blocked so you must react quickly. ******************************************************************************* ****************************** Anti Air ******************************** ******************************************************************************* Commonly referred to as "aa" directly in place of the attack which would be used as anti-air. These are attacks which are used to take someone out of the air. It is very important to understand every character's best aa opportunities. A standing HK is a very simple and effective way to anti air someone. Some characters can aaHP others out of the airvery easily, setting up decent, to super high damage combos. Some characters should go for RHs on their aa's because it will set up combos, traps, or other tactics and set ups. The best simple form of aa is the uppercut. Try and scout early JKs. ******************************************************************************* ****************************** Pushback ******************************** ******************************************************************************* Some attacks/special moves if are blocked or hit opp in corner, the attacker gets pushed back to just under jump distance. If you juggle someone in the corner with LP/HP jab, or a jab after just about any other hit, you will be pushed back, but you can cancel this with any special move. The same thing applies to when you throw out 3 jabs in succession and they are blocked, the third punch frame will freeze and you will be pushed back. At any time during the "iceskate", you can cancel out with a special move. ******************************************************************************* ****************************** Wake Ups ******************************** ******************************************************************************* In MK and many other games, there are times when a move that is usually unsafe to do when the person has the ability to block can be used to generally make you character get up morequickly and reward you for doing so with a potential juggle, or counter after blocking when in close range. What you must understand is that of course, even though this is inherently unsafe in all fighting games due to baiting, errors, etc, it has become a huge part of fighting game psychology, so it is always a factor. "Will they bait" "Will they wake up" etc. These are sometimes referred to as 50/50s. Some characters have excellent wake up moves that are actually safe in certain situations. Moves that will mostly be used as a "Wake Up" are Shadow Kick, Slide, Teleport Punch, etc. Check the Character Guides for some wake up scenarios. ******************************************************************************* ************************ Throw/Uppercut Brokeness ************************** ******************************************************************************* This will be hard to explain but i will give a try. In a two player game (and only two player) game if you interupt a move/special move or any attack of your opponent with a throw and you do a special move/fireball (the special move should not be anti air) immidiately after the throw without loosing any frames, it will be unblockable. There is no100% sure way to always get this but you will figure it out by yourself when you can do it and when not. That can often lead you into a victory or into a trouble - for example Raiden- Throw, Torpedo is punishable, because if the Torpedo is not aa the opp can punish you even if it hits. And if you do that vs Scorpion you risk more than half of your energy in this scenario. Still its a very useless stuff in corner and mid-screen in some scenarios. You can get even uppercut after the throw and it wont be unblockable. Another "Broken" move which can lead into unblockable attacks is the uppercut. So far only Raiden has real advantage of this because of his pseudo infinite. Canceling attack with uppercut, then teleport with no frame lost and uppercut again. I know in some very very rare cases Cage can get uppercut unblockable SK or Sweep after it but thats it. Some other moves that can lead into unblockable stuff are the freeze and leg grab. Dont forget that if your opponent just ducks the unblockable uppercut/move will whiff (if its not the torpedo because it hits opps ducked). --Glitch Canceling--- Explained in Sub-Zero's Guide since he is the only one that has real glitch cancel in MK1. ****************************************************************************** **************************** Moves & Fatalities **************************** ****************************************************************************** SONYA: Energy Rings: LP, B, LP Leg Grab: D+LP+LK+BL Wave Punch: F, B, HP Fatality: F, F, B, B, BL (anywhere) JOHNNY CAGE: Forceball: B, F, LP Shadow Kick: B, F, LK NutPunch: LP+BL Fatality: F, F, F, HP (close) LIU KANG: Dragon Fire: F, F, HP Dragon Kick: F, F, HK Fatality: rotate d-pad counterclockwise (anywhere) KANO: Knife Throw: Hold Block, B, F, Release CannonBall: rotate d-pad clockwise Fatality: B, D, F, LP (close) RAIDEN: Lightning Bolt: D, F, LP SuperMan: B, B, F Teleport: D, U Fatality: F, B, B, B, HP (close) SUB-ZERO: Freeze: D, F, LP Slide: B+LP+LK-BL Fatality: F, D, F, HP (close) SCORPION: Spear: B, B, LP Teleport Punch: D, B, HP Fatality: Hold BL U, U (sweep) ****************************************************************************** ***************************** Character Guides ***************************** ****************************************************************************** ===== Sonya ===== Sonya is the god tier of Mortal Kombat 1. She can be played defensively and offensively. All you need to win the round with her is just one Leg Grab. This is probably the most broken move in 2d mk game history after the noob saibot's fireball in MKTrilogy. Another advantage that Sonya has is her duck block pose. She can duck jab pressure and that makes her almost impossible to hit from close distance. Her uppercut is nice too. Still you may have troubles for using it as aa against some Jump Kicks like Kano's and Ninja's but using the block cancel into uppercut trick will help you then. It can be useful for escaping jab pressure too from some characters. Because its big hitting area you can use it as a punisher after blocked Shadow Kick, Slide and etc when there is no time for leg grab. Like Cage Because of her falling animation some characters can get aaKnee, unblockable Sweep or JK, unblockable Sweep on her. Her duck LK is awesome. Its better than Liu Kang's but not as good as Kano's. You can use it as an anti air but sometimes its better just to uppercut. Sonya has very bad HK and LK. They are slow and easy punishable. In actual competetive game they will just never be used, except if you have troubles with the Leg Grab and use them for punishing blocked sweeps, fireballs and etc. Her RH is bad too. Can be used as an anti air but its not 100% safe. You can try to get some risky juggle using it like aaRH, aaLP, Leg Grab if you feel cocky. Her HP is good overall. Use it for retalations or cancel it with block for eventually aa leg grab after it. Her LP is also not bad but it can whiff some characters like Kano and Ninjas. Her JK is short and easy punishable, better go for JP since it has longer hitting area. Sonya's JK is good for "on top" hitting opponents especialy when they will try to counter. Her Sweep is another awesome basic move. Its very hard to be punished against most characters. Moves like Slide, Roll, some LKs can still give you a trouble but you can spam as much as you can it especially the whiff sweeps. The Wave Punch can be used of course against jumpers, but sometimes at the start up you can often get hit by JK for some reason. You can delay this move which is very useful sometimes.If you see a fireball start up animation you can use it as a transport move but its kinda risky, in most of the cases the opponent will try to aaHP or special move you but there is a very huge chance they will miss. Still it can be used safely sometimes. Two wave punches one after another if the first one miss can work too, especially if you play against jumpers. Another situation where the wave punch could be useful is after blocked torpedo. Even because this move cheat the gravity in revision 5.0 you cant add any hits after it. The Leg Grab is what makes Sonya such a beast. The Leg Grab effects like a Throw, and that for some reason disable the block for the opponent. That means that you can get leg grab - unblockable sweep/c. lk or another Leg Grab. I will go into more details about this infinite after few. The Leg Grab is the ultimate punisher mashine - you can punish with it fireballs, special moves, whiff attacks and even c. lks. Even Jump Kicks using aaHP, Leg Grab. Once you got someone with this move all you have to do is trick the opponent using her infinite and the round is yours. The Fireball/Rings is a useless move. The combination for it is LP, B, LP (thanks to ChaiN for the correct combination since i though its B+LP, B+LP lol), its not that hard but even from full screen distance the opponent will see what you will try to do. I will not advice to use it even in juggles because the better option is to replace it with the leg grab. In proto revision she could get leg grab after the fireball near the corner because the pushback but this bug is removed in later revisions. Sonya has one UNESCAPABLE infinite in Revision 5.0. What you have to do is Leg Grab, move forward and while the animation is still runing cancel with another Leg Grab. If you not cancel this move the second leg grab will be blockable. It has to be done with perfect timing because if you late it still will be unblockable but the opponent can counter the second leg grab with crouch kick and sometimes even with Uppercut. If you late anyway somehow with the leg grab you can trick the opp with sweep but that will end the unblockable part. Against Raiden you can get it mid-screen without moving forward. Just Leg Grab, repeat lol. This can happen also against any character near the corner, in those cases its always unblockable and unescapable. Basic Juggles: 1. aaHPx2, Wave Punch 2. aaHPx2, Leg Grab 3. (corner) JK, aaHP, Leg Grab Advanced Juggles: There is really not much to write here since all you have to do is leg grab someone. Moves that can lead to leg grab are: 1. aaHP/aaLP (x2), Leg Grab 2. JK, Leg Grab 3. RH, (Forward is requied) Leg Grab ============================================ =========== Johnny Cage =========== Cage is ranked as #2 character in MK1. He has good wakeup setups, rushes and decent punishers. His uppercut is probably the fastest uppercut in the game but with weird collision boxes. For example after blocked Freeze you cant uppercut Sub-Zero even if you are close to him. Its still very usefull for a Jump Kicks/Punches and if you got an uppercut in corner vs someone you can add massive combo damage even in revision 5.0. His uppercut is very usefull also if someone jabs you, when the biggest chance to connect the uppercut through the jabs is against ninjas or Raiden. Cage is somehow vulnerable to aa grounded unblockable sweeps. Because of his falling animation some characters can get aaKnee, unblockable Sweep or JK, unblockable Sweep on him. His duck LK is a standart, you can use it for jab escapes or countering jks if you have not enough energy to block - uppercut. Slow HK, better use his LK, it can counter even Sonya's sweep. Cage has also good jabs pressure, you can connect low jab and make ducked opponent standup through crouch kick if its vs Liu Kang and Raiden. Use his HP only for retalation and you can try to mix low jabs with shadow kick or nut punch (not against sonya obviosly lol). Bad RH, not useful overall. Short sweep, use it only when its safe. His JK has a long range but it can be easy countered by everone, so you should use it for full screen fireballs or long distance jumps only. His JP is one of the best, you can use it as a wakeup close early JP followed by SHadow Kick, or countered JK followed with combo. Its also the best setup after uppercut in corner. Cage had infinite in revision 3.0 with JP in corner but it is removed in 5.0. The Shadow Kick is his best move. It is the perfect weapon for retalation, close or far blocked stuff, wakeups, countering crossover jumps (there is no crossover jump kicks in mk1). Depends on how the Shadow Kick hits you can add another just to be funky after a crossup jump. You should never use it vs Sonya since she can always punish it. You can add Shadow Kick after blocked JK too against some characters but better use his uppercut. It is also good wakeup after you being thrower from ninjas. The Shadow Kick has also weird properties and sometimes if you do it against ducked opponent they wouldnt be able to uppercut, crouch kick you or whatever for some reason. There is no way to predict when this will happen so dont count on it. Its possible sometimes for Shadow Kick to go and hit through a fireball, freeze and etc. It is also the best punisher for a short recovery time specials like slide, nut punch and etc. The Nut Punch is not so bad move also. You can use it when you jab pressure someone instead of Knee or against crossover jumps and jabs after it. Sometimes its hard to punish it when it miss but moves like Slide, Harpoon, Leg Grab and etc can always punish it so watch out when you use it as a surprise. You can use it as a punisher also if you feel cocky against slide or counting scorpion's and Raiden's teleports. Against aggressive dumb jab pressure players you can try two nut punches one after another. Say they crossover jump you and try to throw or jab you, do a nut punch then immidiately another if they hold forward and try to continue jab pressure, that sounds really dumb but it works ;] The Fireball is not very useful move. It can be used somehow for full screen zoning, but most of the characters can jump kick over it. You can try to get unblockabe fireball after throw (i will explain that broken part later) but still it depends because the opponent can easy punish it. In corner if the fireball hits higher enough you can add Shadow Kick or JP, Shadow Kick for a decent juggle. Basic Juggles: 1. JK, Shadow Kick 2. aaHPx2, Shadow Kick 3. (in corner) Uppercut, JP/JK, Shadow Kick or RH Advanced Juggles: 1. aaHP, JK, Shadow Kick 2. JK, JP, Shadow Kick 3. JK, Shadow Kick/JK, Shadow Kick (near the corner but works mid-screen too) 4. Uppercut, JK/JP, aaLP, Shadow Kick 5. JK, Uppercut, JP, JP, Shadow Kick (about 95%) ============================================ ======== Liu Kang ======== Liu Kang is #3 in the Tier List, but if played right he could EASY destroy Cage. This is my favorite MK1 Character because of his endless juggle options. His rushes and strats mostly contains "whiff" flying kicks which i will explain later. He has very very good Uppercut, with close to Kano's hitting area but a lot faster. I've seen punishing Kano's sweep with Uppercut from about 3 steps distance. His Uppercut is also oe of the best to escape Jab Pressure. Its perfect for anti air because you can punish everything with it, but you can use it with the Block cancel trick too. The only bad thing about it is the recovery time, if its blocked you can easy be punished with another uppercut, mostly from cage and raiden. His and Sonya's c.lks are the best in the game after Kano's. It could give you troubles sometimes because some characters can hit you through c.lk with LP and make you stand up, but if its timed right there is a very little chance to happen. You can use it as an anti air too but better go for uppercut because his fast startup animation. Very good HK, can be used for punishers or anti air, his LK is very fast and good too, and can punish even Sonya's sweep if its timed right. Use HP for retalations or cancel it with block for eventually aa flying kick after it. Good and long LPs. His RH is very fast but with a short hitting area, you can use it for a close punisher if there is no time for uppercut or the flying kick will miss. Good and long JP but this basic move is not used much, you can counter easy flying kick/roll will it if you just jump back and you are on danger and add aa flying kick for a neat combo but thats it. His JK is awesome! You can literaly not touch the ground if you mix jks and flying kick right, it also has a very long hitting area and you can almost always add flying kick after it. His sweep is not so bad too but easy punishable, use it only on safe. The Flying Kick is amazing move. It is perfect for wake ups for such a slow game. Think of it like Kabal's Spin in UMK3, of course there is no run here but if you learn your opponent strats you can even get it when you see opponent's fireball starting animation. Against some characters if the flying kick hits them in the air in corner you can get so much fun juggles for revision 5.0 - LP, LK then Fireball or Flying Kick and etc. The "No Landing" trick in corner in UMk3 works here too and its very good choice sometimes in corner pressure because it can open the opponent for a Knee, Throw and etc. Because his weird Jump Kick, Liu Kang can do neat stuff mixing it with the Flying Kick. Jump from not so far distance with an early aa JK, they usualy will try to uppercut or counter your JK because Liu's JK overall is easy punishable but cancel it with the Flying Kick when you land and the opponent will miss, the early aa JK can open the opponent also for a free throw using this trick, then you can try to throw a fireball or jk/flying kick again. Another whiff strat with this move is in jab pressure. Perform some jab pressure then do a whiff Flying Kick, sometimes another Flying Kick right after the whiff one will work too but you can try a lot more variations like fireball, jk/jp, block and turtleing for a wake up flying kick and etc. The Flying Kick is easy punishable move if its blocked. You will always get an uppercut but sometimes even blocked the opponent can juggle you with aaLP as a punisher, then combo you, so dont spam too much with it. Often you can escape jab pressure with it too. I will not advice to use this move as a transport move especially against jump backers. Its very easy to counter it in this situation, sometimes even with combo. The Fireball is another great move. You can try to zonning with it from full screen distance because Liu has weird collision boxes while performing and recovering from the fireball and its hard (but not impossible of course) to JK over it and hit. Aa Fireballs will open another neat situations for good combos. You can get even from full screen sometimes two aa Fireballs then Flying Kick, and if you get one near the corner you can get against some characters about 85% aa combo! Putting some in jab pressure is not a good idea except if its done at the same time when the opponent try to c.lk you, in this situation they often will miss with the crouch kick but still will try to punish you, liu will recover faster from his fireball animation and almost always you could block cancel and retalation them. Some characters can be hited in ducked block pose from the fireball so i will suggest to always perform some after throw, you can get unblockable fireball if the throw is one of the unblockable ones and if its not you will recover quick enough for not being punished, dont throw fireballs only when its vs another liu because he can punish you with the flying kick. In revision 3.0 Liu Kang had an infinite in corner using fireballs but it is removed in Revision 5.0. Basic Juggles: 1. JK, Flying Kick 2. aaHPx2, Flying Kick 3. aaHP, Fireball, Flying Kick Advanced Juggles. 1. JK, JK, (aaLP if its near the corner) Flying Kick 2. aaFirball, aaFireball, Flying Kick 3. aaHP, JK, Flying Kick 4. aaHP, RH, Flying Kick 5. (corner) JK, aaHP, Fireball, aaLP, Flying Kick 6. (near corner) aaHP, Fireball, JK, Flying Kick 7. (opponent in corner and Liu is about outside sweep) aaFireball, Flying Kick, aaLP, Fireball, aaLP, FLying Kick (!) ============================================ ==== Kano ==== Kano is #4 in the tier list, he is not and never will be better than Liu Kang, as many people think. His position could be challenged by a pro Raiden player but because not many players use Raiden, its all a matter of own opinion and experience. Kano has the longest uppercut as a hitting area. His and Liu Kang's uppercuts can hit from about a sweep distance after retalation. Somehow no matter how good his uppercut is, its not very useful for anti air. Anyway its the perfect punisher for almost everything. Like Cage, after uppercut in corner you can get massive combo damage even bigger than Cage's in revision 5.0. Its though to uppercut through jabs but you can try to connect it as the other player moves forward. If you manage to get one of the broken throws near the corner and the opponent holds block after it you can get unblockable uppercut and combo that will be more than 100% in revision 5.0! His duck LK is the best in the game. It does about 2 aaHPs damage and if you spam it right it can help you to won a round/match, use it as many times as possible against jabers. It is also an excellent counter for jump kick/punches that are not on top of your character. His HK is not so bad but still slow enough for good anti airs, same LK as Cage's. Kano has very neat jab tactics using his "Whiff" roll, otherwise his LP are good but you can be uppercuted through them. Use HP for retalation or cancel it with block for eventually aa roll after it. His RH is also bad but not as bad as Cage's, you can try to get it in a step away after jab pressure. His sweep is good but easy punished if blocked. Kano has one of the best Jump Kikcs in the game. It can hit easy ducked grounded opponents, easy can hit otg, easy can win aa jump kicks duel but, after the block, uppercut retalation was discovered he loose his potential vs liu, raiden, cage and sonya. Kano has an awesome Jump Punch too. You can use it as a wakeup close early JP but not followed with Roll because if its blocked you risk too much energy, or countered JK followed with combo. Its also the best setup after uppercut in corner. Kano had infinite in revision 3.0 with JP in corner but it is removed in 5.0. The Roll is his most powerfull arsenal. You have two variations of this move. The first is performed by holding Block and then circle counter clockwise. There is a way to actually use it, like just when your opponent decide to throw a fireball to release a block but you will not be able to do that as a surprise more than 1 times in a match (or opponent LOL). The second variation is without block. It has so small startup time that you can actually punish everything in the game with it. From Sonya's Sweep to Scorpion's Teleport Punch. It can be used as a transport move also, if you are from full screen distance than your opponent and lets say he is a turtle scorpion teleporter, perform the roll and you will land right infront of him or at least close enough to start a good jab pressure. You can try to put it in a jab pressure too. If they decide to release the block and you do the roll you can whiff so you will land behind them and often after that the opponent tryes to jump or fireball, but you will recover faster so try another roll or knife throw after it. Another option is if they try to crouch lk you, do the roll and sometimes you will hit them through their crouch kick. The ninjas sometimes can be hard to get with a roll in combo because of their falling animation (it will just push them or whiff). The roll is also good unblockable addon after throw. It has weird collision boxes and sometimes you can do it through fireballs/freeze and etc. The Knife throw is a weird move. It has good hitting area but because his slow start up and annoying combination its not the best choice for spaming. I will advice to use it mostly from full screen and be careful when you do that vs Liu Kang or Cage (and good Raiden player) because they can easy jump over it and hit you. You can add aa Roll if you get aa Knife Throw near the corner. Basic Juggles: 1. JK, Roll 2. aaHPx2, Roll 3. (in corner) Uppercut, JP/JK, Roll or RH Advanced Juggles: 1. aaHP, JK, Roll 2. JK, JP or JK, Roll 3. Uppercut, JK/JP, aaLP, Roll 4. JK, Uppercut, JP, JP, Roll (about 95%) Broken Throw Setup: 1. (near the corner) Throw, unblockable Uppercut, JK, JP, Roll (100%+) ============================================ ====== Raiden ====== I'm falling a sleep now so its possible i miss some stuff lol. Officialy #5 in the tier list. The ninjas can be very annoying against Raiden, but less challengable against the other characters, thats why Raiden is higher. People often mistake because this fact. Even because Raiden have troubles and is very vulnerable to jab pressure he could be very dangerious if played right. Cage and Kano will have very hard time vs pro Raiden player. Anyway, he has very good tactics using his lightening and teleport (yep!). Raiden has long but bad JK, its easy punishable and hard to get in close distance. His uppercut is one of the best. Using the Block cancel trick allows you to cound every JK in the game where Sonya's, Liu's and Raiden's JKs will even dont need the block to be counted. Like Cage and Kano, after uppercut in corner you can get massive combo damage even in revision 5.0. His uppercut can be useful for escaping jab pressure against everyone but it will be very difficult to get it vs ninjas. If you manage to get one of the broken throws near the corner and the opponent holds block after it you can get unblockable uppercut against some characters followed by a combo for resulting huge damage. His duck LK is the worst in the game. You can still use it for an aa or escaping jab pressure after whiff jab but dont count on it. His HK is ok but try not using it much because it can lie you sometimes and you will think that it will count jump kick for example but it wont, for punishers after blocked grounded stuff better use his LK. Something interesting about Raiden's HK is that in PC DOS version of the game it had ridicilious damage - about 20%. Raiden can from other hand do good jab pressure because of his teleport if used right which will lead the opponent into throw or counter or his torpedo which will hit ducked opponents, but use it as a last hit of the round only because its punishable even if it hits. Use HP for retalation or cancel it with block for eventually aa torpedo after it. His RH is very fast but with short hitting area, can be used as a aa sometimes. His sweep is slow and easy punishable, i will advice to not use it much. Raiden has an awesome Jump Punch, its like Kano's and Cage's but with bigger hitting area. You can use it as a wakeup close early JP followed with Lightening, or countered JK followed with combo. Its also the best setup after uppercut in corner. Raiden had infinite in revision 3.0 with JP in corner but it is removed in 5.0. The Torpedo is a very dangerious move for the opponent but for you too. Even if you hit someone with it its punishable by canceling the animation fall with a special move. Its punishable even after broken throw setup, the only way it cannot be punished if its an aa Torpedo. Often you will be able to get it in a jab pressure but you will risk so much if its not a last hit of the round because scorp can tp, spear; sub can freeze combo you and etc. I personaly dont use this special move much but if you want to use it do it i will say again only if its aa or as a last hit lol. The Lightening is a very usefull move. Its the perfect move for zonning because the lightening itself is a long fireball and often can hit people who just try to straight jump it and its very fast. Use it as more as possible from full screen, watching for jumps also and count them with it. After aa Lightening you can get teleport and some jab pressure, then again lightening often the opponent will jump after this mix up and you will be able to count it or teleport. There is not much to say about this special move too but you can try to get the lightening after broken throws because it can hit some characters in his duck pose. If you get near the corner aa Lightening that hits enough you can get JP or aaLP, combo after it if you are close enough. The Teleport can be deadly if used right. Most people dont know how or when to use it and thats where Raiden is the most vulnerable. The most famious strat was with Jab Pressure mixed with Teleport but most people do it so haotic that it opens them for a free hit. Here are few just an example tactis for using teleport in jab pressure, they are not 100% safe but hard to predictable: 1. Jab, Jab x2, Teleport; 2. Jab, Teleport, Jab x 2, Torpedo and etc, just mix with it. After the teleport in jab pressure you have few options: tap the knee if your opponent late with the d+lk or whatever counter he will use, holding block or canceling LP with block. Its a very usefull move for escaping from jks, fireballs and etc, it can be used as a transport move too and can help a lot if used with the lightening as a zoning for escaping and placements. This special move opens many variations in early revisions for big combo possibilities and infinite variations but they arent too much in Revision 5.0. Raiden has two infinites in revision 5.0 which works on some characters. The first Is almost impossible to get it in a vs match because its very difficult to get it unblockable. What you have to do is Uppercut, JP, Repeat in corner. So far i tested it on ninjas and Raiden and managed to get it unblockable only vs him ;] The second infinite is more like "pseudo" infinite and have to be done by frames and its very difficult but i got it few times vs ninjas and cage. What you have to do is do uppercut (mid-screen) then cancel it with teleport and cancel the teleport animation with another uppercut (because you can cancel the moves earlier while you are in teleport recovery animation). So what you basicaly have to do is Uppercut X Teleport X Uppercut, Repeat lol. If the opponent just duck the uppercut will whiff but if they try to block and you done it right its unblockable. Basic Juggles: 1. JK, Torpedo 2. aaHPx2, Torpedo 3. (in corner) Uppercut, JP, aaHP, Torpedo Advanced Juggles: 1. JK, JP, Torpedo 2. aaHPx2, Teleport, aaHP, Torpedo/Lightening 3. Uppercut, RH/HK/LK, JP (that oppens the opp for a corner jab pressure) 4. JK, Uppercut, JP, aaHP, Torpedo ============================================ ======== Sub-Zero ======== Sub-Zero is ranked officialy as #6 BUT if used right he can be considered as top 3 (!). His uppercut has nice hitting area but the recovery and start up time is terrible. Forget to use it as an anti air. You can still use it as a punisher after blocked stuff but better use his freeze except for blocked jump kicks. There is a trick to use ninjas uppercut against aaJump Kicks. In revision 3.0 you simply have to do Down + Block and cancel with Uppercut to hit your opponent after JK, but in revision 5.0 the gravity was lowered. What you have to do now is block the jump kick from your standup pose, then duck and cancel it with uppercut. Its hard but once you got it and practice it enough you can use if often. You cant add hits after his uppercut or use it against jabers due his slow startup animation. Ninjas throws are dangerious against Cage and Liu Kang sometimes because you can get wakeup Shadow Kick or Flying Kick (mid-screen) after it, so be careful against those characters. Ninjas Duck Kicks are good enough for jab escapes and anti air, however its very difficult to get aa D+LK against Kano's JK and on top JKs. Often two Duck Kicks one after another works vs jabers. Ninjas sweeps are easy punishable if blocked, but you can use them as a whiff strat against some characters. If you get Cage in about jump distance you can try to get few sweeps without touching him, usualy they will try to Fireball or Shadow Kick you but they will miss, if they shoot fireball they will be sweeped if they do shadow kick you will recover excactly before the shadow kick animation ends and can punish it. However its not a 100% sure tactic just a strat example. Scorpion and Sub-Zero have the best HK and LK. HK can be used as anti air, not against Kano's JK but against everything else, the LK is very fast and useful too, you can punish Sonya's Sweep with it. Their RHs are good too. You can use it in a jab pressure strat mixed with sweep or duck block cancel, for example: Jab, Jab, Jab, Step away RH, Whiff Sweep/Block to Punish and etc. You can use it as an Anti Air agains some jump kicks too. The HPs and LPs are good too. You can try to get the UMK3 aa trick against jumpers when they jump at you with JK or JP try aaHP and cancel it with block, then if aaHP hits do Slide immidiately (which will push you back and you will have more time than the opponent for the next move) if not you will just block the JK and you can try to get aaD+LK because there will be not enough time for Uppercut. The Freeze is probably the most interesting special move (for me) in MK1. It has so weird properties. First its the only special move in the game that has hit limit and it is 0. That means that you cant get freeze after any hit. Anyway because of UMK3 Combo Videos everyone should know already about the glitch canceling, so i will not go into deep details about it like Shock did in UMK3 General Gameplay Guide and will just paste the most important. You can cancel a LP and HP on the frame of contact, into a special move with a hit limit, one hit beyond that limit. In other games this technique is referred to as "Just Frames" meaning essentially you have just one frame in 60 to get this to work. That means that you can get aaHP/aaLP, Freeze - glitch canceled. I actually never got glitch cancel freeze after jp/jk in MK1 and i doubt its possible there but still i will not say that its not possible yet. The Freeze is the only special move that has real glitch cancel in MK1. Although there is the backfire in the game you cant get aaFreeze, Freeze for some reason. You can use the Freeze also in a jab pressure because some characters can be freezed while they crouch kick. For example if you jab someone and you know that they will d+lk try to freeze them at the moment where they will try to do the crouch kick. Staying from full screen distance and wait for freeze against jumpers works too, still remember that there is a time difference between jump with jk, jp and just jump and its mostly noticable in MK1. Often if they are not far enough and JK at you, they will be aafreezed but you still will get the JK hit. This special move can be used against crossover jump too if you have enough time to react, for some reason only the CPU can get aaFreeze against Scorpion's TP, even if you know when Scorpion will teleport you will not be able to get him freezed. The Freeze is unique move for another reason - his inf which i will explain. There was a glitch in Revision 3.0 with Sub-Zero's Freeze where if you get double freeze in some scenarios the game resets (not the danger - double freeze glitch in r5.0 btw), however even in revision 3.0 it has nothing to do with the competetive stuff because it was mostly used from players that see they will loose the match and perform it to escape the shame lol. The Slide is a very useful special move too. It can punish literaly everything because of its short startup time. Its also hard for retalation. Its easy punishable from moves like Slide, Shadow Kick, Leg Grab and Roll, but if the other player have experience you can take uppercut from Liu and Raiden, Spear from Scorpion and sometimes even Freeze if your slide is blocked. Putting slide in a jab pressure is also a not bad idea, sometimes even two slides one after another will work (for example if they try to fireball). Another neat trick is to perform slide after throw. Often the slide will not be blockabel because of the broken Throws in MK1 and ALWAYS unblockable after Freeze - Throw. If the Slide is a second aa hit you will be pushed away and will recover faster than your opponent. Because of this glitch (?) Sub had an infinite in Proto Revision but its removed later. Sub-Zero has one pseudo infinite. Its not blockable but its escapable. What you have to do is Freeze, Throw and repeat. If the other player try to hold the block he will be frozen. Of course its not usefull against everyone who knows how to escape the throws or if they duck after the first throw. If you anyway get someone freezed and managed to throw him do the slide or if its near the corner uppercut, both of them will be unblockable. Basic Juggles: 1. aaHP(x2), Slide 2. JK, Slide 3. aaFreeze, JK, RH 4. Freeze, Throw, Slide Advanced Juggles: 1. Mid-Screen Freeze, JK, JK/LK (against some characers instead just Uppercut) 2. (Corner) JK, RH, Slide 3. (near corner) JK, JK, (aaLP if possible) Slide 4. aaHP, Freeze, JK, RH ============================================ ======== Scorpion ======== Scorpion is ranked as #7 in the tier list. It doesnt matter he could be monster against Raiden, it doesnt matter he can turtle as hell with teleports and all his other tactics, because some people can play so good with him doesnt make him better in the tier list. His uppercut has nice hitting area but the recovery and start up time is terrible. Forget to use it as an anti air. You can still use it as a punisher after blocked stuff but better use his spear except for blocked jump kicks. There is a trick to use ninjas uppercut against aaJump Kicks. In revision 3.0 you simply have to do Down + Block and cancel with Uppercut to hit your opponent after JK, but in revision 5.0 the gravity was lowered. What you have to do now is block the jump kick from your standup pose, then duck and cancel it with uppercut. Its hard but once you got it and practice it enough you can use if often. You can try to get Spear with this same trick of course but you risk so much because of the recovery time from the spear. You cant add hits after his uppercut or use it against jabers due his slow startup animation. Ninjas throws are dangerious against Cage and Liu Kang sometimes because you can get wakeup Shadow Kick or Flying Kick (mid-screen) after it, so be careful against those characters. Ninjas Duck Kicks are good enough for jab escapes and anti air, however its very difficult to get aa D+LK against Kano's JK and on top JKs. Often two Duck Kicks one after another works vs jabers. Ninjas sweeps are easy punishable if blocked, but you can use them as a whiff strat against some characters. If you get Cage in about jump distance you can try to get few sweeps without touching him, usualy they will try to Fireball or Shadow Kick you but they will miss, if they shoot fireball they will be sweeped if they do shadow kick you will recover excactly before the shadow kick animation ends and can punish it. However its not a 100% sure tactic just a strat example. Scorpion and Sub-Zero have the best HK and LK. HK can be used as anti air, not against Kano's JK but against everything else, the LK is very fast and useful too, you can punish Sonya's Sweep with it. Their RHs are good too. You can use it in a jab pressure strat mixed with sweep or duck block cancel, for example: Jab, Jab, Jab, Step away RH, Whiff Sweep/Block to Punish and etc. You can use it as an Anti Air agains some jump kicks too. The HPs and LPs are good too. You can try to get the UMK3 aa trick against jumpers when they jump at you with JK or JP try aaHP and cancel it with block, then if aaHP hits do Spear immidiately if not you will just block the JK and you can try to get aaD+LK because there will be not enough time for Uppercut. The Spear is a horrible move. If you catch someone with it thats ok, but the recovery and startup time is so slow that if you miss you can be punished sometimes even from full screen. The Spear however can be used as punisher against sweeps, uppercuts, slide and etc. You can try to use the spear against jab pressure if the other player step away enough for whiff Jab, but still its not 100% safe. Something interesting about the Spear is that if you catch someone with Spear at the same time when they shoot fireball and both characters are hit (you will get the fireball and other player will be hit by spear) you can get UNBLOCKABLE Teleport Punch if you are fast enough. You can try to stay from full screen distance and catch jumpers with the spear but again its not a 100% safe strat. Because of "missing" crossover jump kicks in MK1 you can easy get Spear if someone crossovers you. In MK1 you can jump after you catch someone with the Spear but all you can get using this is OTG JK against some characters. The Teleport Punch is what make Scorpion a monster against some characters. You can use it as a Wakeup, even blocked its hard to punish. Also its the best move for turtleing. You can try to use it for jab escape too but difficult. The only bad thing is that you cant use the Teleport Punch in or near the corner. Because of gravity changes in Revision 5.0 all you can get after aa Teleport Punch is aaLP, Spear, still a good damage anyway. Sometimes aa Teleport Punch can hit backwards and it will be hard to get Spear in this situation, this often happens if you do the TP faster than you need against Raiden's Torpedo. Another interesting stuff is that in some cases if you get Teleport Punch in juggle (usually after Death Punch) you will be pushed away from the Teleport Punch, I'm not 100% sure but i think even Spear done as soon as possible in this situation is always blockable in Revision 5.0. Using the TP can often open the opponent for one of the "Broken" Throws, there is no 100% known way to get them with Scorpion but you can try to throw a Spear sometimes after them if you feel cocky, works best against Raiden. The Teleport Punch can be neat in jab strats too, get some jab pressure, then use the Teleport Punch to escape and you can try to throw a Spear or wait to see what your opponent will do and counter it. Sometimes if you got the Teleport Punch you will hide behind the screen and it will shake for a while, you can use this moment for safe spear in this situation but thats it overall lol. Scorpion had infinite in older revisions