Link doesn’t work spoony :S

Stand by. Not sure why the video isn’t working. It seemed to upload fine.

Stand by. Not sure why the video isn’t working. It seemed to upload fine.

YES! VLOGS! F YEAH!

Can’t wait! Hope you get it working soon.

Although i agree with the teleport moves those are bastard moves ermac and noob saibot to me are the biggest offenders

Go Spoons! *hums the theme to Mortal Kombat*

I’ve been checking every day to see when a new Spoony vid would be up and now it finally is, I can’t watch the damn thing! Curse you, Cthulu!!!

Hope you’ll be feeling fit and well as soon as possible Spoony. Take it easy x

I’m 10 minutes in, and I had to stop my viewing right now to agree with Spoony about the teleport moves, especially the vertical ones.

Now I love Mortal Kombat, always been a fan, and I HEAVILY love this new game (and I am not going to give spoony ANY shit for not liking something I love, not when I’ve defended him, and others, so often when others do just that), but those goddamn teleport moves irritate me SO badly. Noob Saibot’s tele-slam, and Quan Chi’s tele-stomp especially. In fact, I’m gonna hit play and see if Spoony mentions Quan Chi (or even Mileena, she’s bad too with that damn kick) as well…

Yup, he mentioned Mileena 2 seconds after I hit play! And holy crap, I forgot about Sektor’s uppercut…but anyway, yeah, the tele-moves need to be toned down *as they’re starting*. If you block them, almost all the time, they are set up to be HEAVILY punished…IF you block them. Sektor’s is REALLY bad, because he has no real penalty vulnerability if you block his uppercut unless you’re inhumanly fast.

The only one I think that should be this tel-annoying is Smoke, and I realized this as I got my ass HANDED to me by the AI opponent playing as Smoke, but his bit in this game is, as his name implies, to disorient and confuse the opponent. That’s why his tele-punch flips him ULTRA-FAST one direction, and then another, and that’s why he has that quick-evade smoke-shift, he has the projectile that moves *you*, he’s being all ninja-sneaky smokey, it makes sense. But Quan Chi, Noob Saibot, Sektor and Mileena REALLY need to be toned down (Scorpion’s not so bad I noticed, he has a kind of “hint” where he leans a bit before he teleports, same with Ermac flashing green for a moment, which really has that punch-out feel).

So that’s my teleport rant, coming from a HUGE, lifetime fan of the series. Been crazy over MK ever since it first came out when I was in the 3rd grade…and probably had no business playing something that violent, but yeah, you need super-human reflexes to dodge or even block a lot of those moves. I’m sure I’ll have more to say later…god, it’s times like this I wish I could just get in front of a camera and do what these guys are doing, because I can seriously talk about Mortal Kombat all day, the good and the bad.

I’m 10 minutes in, and I had to stop my viewing right now to agree with Spoony about the teleport moves, especially the vertical ones.

Now I love Mortal Kombat, always been a fan, and I HEAVILY love this new game (and I am not going to give spoony ANY shit for not liking something I love, not when I’ve defended him, and others, so often when others do just that), but those goddamn teleport moves irritate me SO badly. Noob Saibot’s tele-slam, and Quan Chi’s tele-stomp especially. In fact, I’m gonna hit play and see if Spoony mentions Quan Chi (or even Mileena, she’s bad too with that damn kick) as well…

Yup, he mentioned Mileena 2 seconds after I hit play! And holy crap, I forgot about Sektor’s uppercut…but anyway, yeah, the tele-moves need to be toned down *as they’re starting*. If you block them, almost all the time, they are set up to be HEAVILY punished…IF you block them. Sektor’s is REALLY bad, because he has no real penalty vulnerability if you block his uppercut unless you’re inhumanly fast.

The only one I think that should be this tel-annoying is Smoke, and I realized this as I got my ass HANDED to me by the AI opponent playing as Smoke, but his bit in this game is, as his name implies, to disorient and confuse the opponent. That’s why his tele-punch flips him ULTRA-FAST one direction, and then another, and that’s why he has that quick-evade smoke-shift, he has the projectile that moves *you*, he’s being all ninja-sneaky smokey, it makes sense. But Quan Chi, Noob Saibot, Sektor and Mileena REALLY need to be toned down (Scorpion’s not so bad I noticed, he has a kind of “hint” where he leans a bit before he teleports, same with Ermac flashing green for a moment, which really has that punch-out feel).

So that’s my teleport rant, coming from a HUGE, lifetime fan of the series. Been crazy over MK ever since it first came out when I was in the 3rd grade…and probably had no business playing something that violent, but yeah, you need super-human reflexes to dodge or even block a lot of those moves. I’m sure I’ll have more to say later…god, it’s times like this I wish I could just get in front of a camera and do what these guys are doing, because I can seriously talk about Mortal Kombat all day, the good and the bad.

Dude, I mean really? It’s obvious that the xbox controller is not suited for fighting games. It wasn’t suited for street fighter 4, nor for blazblue, nor for MvC3. It’s not the game’s fault if the digital pad of the xbox is crap…

How people treat Smash Bros is really weird. I tried the demo of MK and I just didn’t like the shiny 3d art style…

Just throwing this out there, since you do like the strategy sort of games, where you really have to think things through and since we all know are a fan of the X-com games, I’d suggest Silent Storm. I’m sure you’ve maybe heard about it, but just throwing that out there.

Everyone has their opinions and little gripes. I am still very much interested in MK, but the problem for me is, I’d rather buy than rent. So I might save my money for June, when Infamous 2, Duke Nukem Forever and FEAR 3 comes out.

PIKAAAAA-CHUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU!!!!!!

:DDDD

u really shudnta fucken said enifen

:P

As much I love Super Smash Bros., you’re kinda right in the vein that it’s kinda silly for massive tournaments (or those taken dead seriously anyway) to be based around it.

But to your statement “Fox does the Falcon Punch”. I must say shame on you.

Spoony you are absolutely right about super smash bros. ive never played brawl, but from what i hear its broken, but i have played the first two. and they are awesome party games, i used to love playing them. but my friend has completely ruined it for me cus he actually goes to smash tournaments and he takes the game so seriously. i used to love to go party with my friends and play smash, but its gotten to the point that i’d rather play call of duty or halo, and i hate those with a passion.

i dont even bother with fighting games anymore since all my nerd friends either take them so serious, or absolutely hate them, but i might actually invest some time in mortal kombat now, especially since you emphasized the move memorization bull. i used to love playing fighting games without learning the moves, and i used to wipe the stage with ppl using basic moves in strategic ways. it used to be, with a bit of experimentation, i could whoop a “better” player with just a bit of strategy. but that was yrs ago (the last fighting game i played was soul caliber 2)

Okay, finally saw the rest.

Growing up with MK, being familiar with it throughout my life, I naturally slipped by a lot of the problems Spoony points out, and they are VALID issues, especially with picking up the game for the first time. One of the reasons I loved MK so much as a child was *because* it broke away from the common Street Fighter cliche movements. Yeah, they’re convenient, but MK gave me new things. Trying new things has always been a MK strength.

I will never forget that day in the early 90′s when I first played Mortal Kombat 1. I was Scorpion, I knew NONE of the moves because I was too programmed into Street Fighter Mentality, and by stroke of luck, or perhaps fate, I hit “Back, Back, Low Punch”, and my gaming life was changed forever. “GET OVER HERE!” The level of attitude and aggression alone, which I honestly believe cannot be found in street fighter *today*, immortalized my loyalty as a MK fan, and that’s why I have always stuck by them and why I have the patience and commitment to learn and familiarize myself with MK’s style of play (but I still love oldschool SF, and that includes 4!)

That being said, if you aren’t like that, then you are FUCKED when it comes to playing this game early on, and I *applaud* Spoony for pointing out something like that, because it is so damn true. And it’s funny, Spoony even brought up things that I’ve been thinking to myself ever since Deadly Alliance, like having to look up the pause-menu list of moves & combos. And you know what, I still do that TODAY! I am a naturally patient person, so it doesn’t bother me, but if I had someone sitting next to me playing, I would hate myself if I had to make them wait (but I sure as Hell wouldn’t fuck up the Fatality!)

I love this game like crazy, but I will not deny that it’s not for everyone. Kind of like how I HATE Marvel Vs. Capcom games; they’re not “bad” at all, I just personally HATE them. And I used to love them, but one day while playing MvC2, it hit me. The whole damn game is about who can throw the biggest, flashiest, most over-the-top, seizure-inducing lightshow at your opponent the most often. With those heavy-memorized MK combos, *I’M* at least the one doing the work, and they’re not these huge moves taking up the entire screen (literally!). And when I saw that MVC3 was the same, which I dreaded, I didn’t give a fuck about it. But that’s just *me*. It’s MY loss. And Mortal Kombat is my gain.

I will also say that I LOATHE Smash Brothers. To me, it is a sissy baby game where sissy baby characters peckerslap each other and pretend play-fight. When Solid Snake breaks Pikachu’s neck and shoots Princess Peach in the fucking head, then maybe I’ll take it seriously, but until then, I have my Mortal Kombat and even old school Street Fighters. At least Stryker has the balls to shoot someone in the head (and for the record, Stryker’s X-Ray is one I will NEVER get bored with! I look forward the sound of the night stick cracking their jaw every time! And props to Angry Joe for showing it in his review!)

So there’s the rest of my obscenely long MK rant, and THIS is me cutting it off short. I really can go on and on about this game, but I’m just a schmuck at a keyboard. Spoony’s the star here, and I do NOT disagree with his points against the game. I just find ways to work around the problems. This review is a beautiful contrast to Joe’s, and it’s good to get those honest differences in perspectives.

Quick observation, Spoony:

While I agree to an extent about the diversity of the characters requiring a level of expertise, that can be intimidating to casual players, (Hell, I’m a huge fan of this game, and I’m only proficient in, like, 6 characters) I can’t help but remember that you’re a massive Tekken fan, and I honestly cannot think of a more awkward, game requiring the player to memorise move-sets than that series! (Also: Tekken fan here, too!)

You can throw the ‘Who has memorised the combos’ argument at MVC3 too. I’ve lost count of the number of matches I’ve had on that when I have literally been unable to perform a single move due to the opponent quite clearly repeating a set series of attacks. It’s like the 2D fighter verson of a Starcraft 2 Tournament game!

You’re right, it’s not entertaining, it’s frustrating, but when you do meet a fighter who is on your level, it is a much more satisfying experience. Which is why MVC3 throws in the rankings system, which, I’ve found, works really well!

I think what I’m saying is, I’m not sure if I totally agree with the character move-sets being so individualised being a negative point. It’s just for a different audience.

[Mind you, I havn't played the online games yet... I'm one of those lucky PS3 players!]

Just thought I’d throw in my 2 cents there!

ugh, the Smash Bros assholes. When I used to go to college, that game would always be up on the big screen at the student lounge and it’s always NO ITEMS, FINAL DESTINATION. In a game designed to have random crap to pick up and dick around with designed with all these game themed worlds with multiple layers and pitfalls, the only acceptable way to play it for these people is to strip it down of anything unique and play that shit forever.

Well, Xbox360 controller is just not built for fighting games. Seriously. These games are actually meant to be played on a d-pad and a ps3 controller (sixaxis or DS3) has one (which works). I played only the demo on a ps3, but I had none of the issues you had, Spoony. I succesfully performed a fatality whenever I tried to. Thumb stick is just not made for this and I can’t even imagine playing fighting games with it.

So far I find the gameplay to be quite shallow. Every character share the same strategy, try to land a combo starter and maximize damage from there. There’s no zoning, no footsies, no keepaways, no grapplers. There is very little real difference between characters. Once I memorized the moves I can play them exactly the same way I play any other characters. The move list is a mess. You have a huge list of useless/redundant combos. I can probably complain more about other technical aspects of the game but meh. Still, it’s a pretty fun casual game. At least play through the story mode and screw around a bit in challenge tower for a laugh.

Yeah, the 360 controller ain’t the best controller for fighters, as I’ve experienced. Hard to do a combo with just your thumb, that you’d have to resort to tapping them with your fingers like an arcade cabinet for better result. But even then, you’ll still need to use the shoulder buttons, and that’s just frustrating. And of course what may seem like a half-second delay button input, which’ll get you screwed more often against much better players online. (I may not suck too much on games like SFIV or MvC3, but neither am I in the top 10,000 players list, of course!)

As for Mortal Kombat, I’ll admit to liking the game despite never being a big fan of the series when growing up. So I guess the creators did something right there. Story mode is one of the better made modes in a fighter, but I wouldn’t complain if a game has one in it or not. And as said, the extras are good for longetivity, but even then I may not feel too bothered with most of these extras, like the challenge tower. I’ll probably end up skipping most of the challenges than waste 10 minutes on one or two each. Even combos I don’t really bother with, due to the controllers. Air punch followed by upper cuts seem to work fine against the AI. Hah! Like you, I may stick with the Capcom fighters more so, even if I did enjoy this game. At least it’s a game I could play with my brothers more often, I suppose.

Good game series Smash Bros is, it essentially is a party game for fun. Sure, there may be some technical things you can find in the game like most fighters, but it isn’t really a fighter if it’s more chaotic on the battlefield, y’know? But I am aware of the Serious Business it attracts. Heck, even I had to look them up when playing it.

Hmm, I usually agree with spoony on most games, but here I find that we disagree. I got Mortal Kombat on its release day and I’ve been loving it. I don’t have the controller complaint as I got the PS3 version and only use the D-pad for movement and moves (though, of course, I haven’t been online yet, can’t comment there). I don’t play many fighting games, so I can’t really compare, but I just had loads of fun playing this. I also haven’t come across the grab problem. I can actually remember a few grabs that I landed from behind and I specifically remember Sub-zero pulling the opponent around to face him.
But hey, I suppose its all just personal opinion in the end.
But… Shao Khan is very cheap. In arcade mode I’ve only beaten him twice, with Scorpion ad Johnny Cage. With Scorpion I spammed the teleoprt. With Johnny Cage I spammed the energy ball and the shadow kick to keep him at a distance. It was the only way to win. I also have a nasty habit of spamming Liu Kang’s bicycle kick for tough boses. Hey, it works.

Hey Spoon, aren’t you a Tekken guy?
Cus those games had really long, boring, anoying movelists.
Still like ‘em tho ;P

Shao Kahn has ALWAYS required bitch tactics. There has not been one time in the whole series that he could be fought fairly.

I’ve only watched LPs–several of them–and the only way I’ve seen people avoid the Kintaro/Sheeva stomp thing is by jumping in one direction and throwing a punch in the opposite.

In MK3, they had a cheat called “Quick Fatalities” I think, and they did exactly what you described about assigning a fatality to each button. X was the animality, Y was friendship, A & B were the individual 2 fatalities each character had, R was the babality, and L was stage fatalities.

It worked, but…? It completely devalued the fatalities. Yeah. That was the worst part. You want the fatality to MEAN something.

I feel like I have to agree with you about the controls. Now, keep in mind that I’ve never played the Xbox 360 version, and I only played the demo for the PS3, but I was able to pull off a Fatality (for the first time (shocking!)) easily with the PS3 controller.

And I will say this about Smash Bros.: It use to be fun to me until a good friend of mine decided to pull some cheap shit by using Kirby to suck my character in and walk off the stage. I won’t badmouth the game as a whole because of it, but that’s just a personal thing.

Spoony I can’t see your videos on your site. Everything else you post works but since beast master 2 nothing shows up. Did you change something? Coke black and that stuff works though.

SPOONY!!!
i actually play gannon(lowest teir) =) and i still whoop everyones asses! =)and metaknight sucks…no finishing moves!…maybe you just need to play it more -_- and find a char u love and stick with it

LET ANY WHO CHALLANGE STEP FORWARD!(A_ninja on forums msg me friend code if u wish to have ur face beat in by gannon -_- =)

Dude! Spoony! You’re sick and you’re drinking soda? Get some more water into you.

For your health.

I put Mortal Kombat (the franchise) into the same category I place early Sonic games: Games that are exceptionally popular despite questionable design. Except while I find Sonic’s design philosophy just not very engaging, I find Mortal Kombat’s game design both uninspired (in its fighting system) and sloppy (in its actual gameplay).

The moment I learned this new Mortal Kombat would include dial-a-combos, what little desire I had to play the game vanished. I like the idea of this game more than the idea of playing it.

Damn it DAMN IT, why am I so impatient ?
I would have bought BlazBlue if I would have known about that D-pad special move crap.
I should have bought f*cking blazblue…
P.S. be waiting to see you sneaking a camera to the screening of breaking dawn just to record the reactions of the audience. PLEASE TRY THAT.
what would they possibly do if they catch you, break your legs?
Not that I want you to risk yourself, man…

Heh as for x-ray. Liu kang’s x-ray is fatality from MK1 :D
For my part I play on PS3 so Right now I have to wait to play on-line.

Here’s the thing about Memory Vs Skill:

It’s all got to do with memory…

Let’s be real here. Tekken and MK are notorious for memory of actual combos. (Input these commands in this order to perform a predetermined attack combo for damage) The skill is actually inputing the sequence of commands to make the combo happen, they’re long and you have to be quick and know the right timing to pull it off. With the wrong controller it makes it difficult and annoying to be so precise in pulling it off. DOA4 to a lesser extent has predetermined combos but has more “freedom” which small combos to perform (like doing a combo into a high attacks or low attack)

Then there’s SSF4, KOF, BlazBlue where the memory are when to use the special moves. (Input of these special moves are simple and span across multiple characters) There are no real “combos” except for ones you can string with the set of special moves (plus punches, kicks and throws). The skill? Knowing when to use a move at the right time, AND -more importantly- performing the special moves back to back. So the difficulty is actually performing the special move with another move which requires placement, timing and execution. So you could come up with a neat combo of say for Ryu: punch, punch, low punch, dragon punch (special) and THEN cancel into the same special again. Well that’s all good and all it’s just a different mechanic of the game right?

Once you find a combo you will stick with that combo cause of difficulty and reward. So as for skill goes it’s all just memory it’s just a different way of practice. It’s either practice the predetermined combo or the combo you came up with. I’ve gotten rocked in MvC3 by guys doing crazy ass combos with characters I would never thought of but then agan that’s ALL they do cause it’s the most effective move they found and I don’t blame them I bet that was a pain in the ass to find out…or they just saw it online against someone else and copied it or looked online for a good team to cheese with. :/

Another thing with unbalanced difficulty is that irregardless of what fighter it is, if you haven’t played it enough you’re not gonna win, period. You make get that lucky streak of button mashing but it ain’t gonna net you a 5:1 ratio of wins and losses. So it’s a moot point to say if someone knows a combo (whether they found it out their own or not) and you don’t that you just can’t win and you HAVE to memorize a combo to win. Get what I’m saying? You have to memorize SOMETHING right?

I get what you mean not to memorize every damn move of a character. Shit I started playing Tekken 6 and I always liked King so I’m all like “Okay let’s see his moveset” and the fucking pussy (pun) has 129 moves. 129MOVES!? Shit I wasn’t gonna remember every one of those. So I didn’t just the ones I knew I could perform the easiest and were best used practically (I would bold that word a lot).

I agree though it’s easier to have a input system the same across characters and they all do different things so it comes down to stringing those moves together to be supa-badass. I love MK and SS (I really love BB and DOA4 a lot). But then again I’m meh on MvC3 for different reasons (mostly that playing my favorites just doesn’t cut it cause they don’t fit well together in a fight).

It’s nothing against you liking a certain fighter. Shit I wish they brought DOA5 to the table but oh well. Just saying some points seem mer on validness cause they can be easily applied to other fighters (unbalance, glitches, skill v memory) Otherwise I understand and can agree with your points completely.

While I agree that Super Smash Bros is a strange game to take seriously, it IS taken seriously. There’s a whole slew of characters you can’t use in MVC2 tournaments, errata of abilities you can’t use, infinite combos that are axe’d.. same with SSFIV, there are characters that are “top tier” and “god tier” and etc., while with others you are considered to be shooting yourself in the foot for using them.

I like the new Mortal Kombat, but I can see where you’re coming from, Spoony. What I want to know is what you think of that new Mortal Kombat: Legacy webseries they have coming out? It’s up to episode four, now.

I like the new Mortal Kombat, but I can see where you’re coming from, Spoony. What I want to know is what you think of that new Mortal Kombat: Legacy webseries they have coming out? It’s up to episode four, now.

I like your reviews for your movies but when it comes to fighting games you have no clue what you’re talking about. You’re a casual gamer I get that. But you’re complaining about the move motion and skill gap? Then whats the point in learning the game? In any fighting game it’s not about doing combo’s but it’s about “hit confirming” “pokes” and “punish”. When you were bitching about teleports moves like scorpion or emac there’s a thing called blocking. When you block it and they’re spinning they can get punished by anything you dish out. I like the game, I’d prefer other fighters like Guilty Gear Accent core or Street Fighter 3 Third Strike( When fighting game were at their prime). I like to play fighters competitively and I learn at least I learn the game at a intermediate level before I’d make a review or a rant so I won’t sound like a complete scrub.

In my opinion if you’re gonna review a fighter you can’t view it as a casual but at least in a competitive point of view.

Guile will shit on any MK char. He only needs 2 special moves.

Guile will shit on any MK char. He only needs 2 special moves.

I totally agree with everything you said about Super Smash brothers. I had a blast with the original when I was 11. But come on people, upgrade your hardware and play a real fucking game for once!

As for MK, I haven’t played since the first one, and even then I was never really into them. I’ll take your word for the story aspects; I might try it out sometime just on that merit alone.

I’m not really certain if you’ll even read this, but I figured I’d at least throw my opinion into the Super Smash Bro’s hat. The main reason why my group of friends love to play this game competitively is because of the random knockdowns/events as it makes the game much more akin to a real sport. The fact is, one of the amazing things about watching a game of soccer or football are those moments when the completely unexpected happen, those random happenstances that change up the tide of the game. To us, random is nothing more than an enemy we must adapt to and overcome.

Also, I never understood the complaints about Metanight. As long as you knew what you were doing, it is very possible to counter his attacks.

One thing you didn’t make clear. Can you diferenciate skill from memorization?

Spoony,I love you and all,but these are some of the pettiest complaints I think I’ve ever seen you sling at a game.

>>A GUY WHO ACTUALLY KNOWS WHAT HE’S DOING WILL DOMINATE THE GUY WHO WAS TOO LAZY TO EVEN LOOK UP THE BASIC MOVELIST OF A CHARACTER HE’S TRYING TO PLAY WITH

No fucking shit,really? Yeah,a guy who knows how to drive will probably win the race if the other guy doesn’t know the gas pedal from the brake. That’s how it should be. If you randomly dive into a fight without knowing your head from your ass,you deserve to get beaten.

This just makes no sense to me. You’re entering a match with the intention of winning,right? So you’re going to pick a random character you’ve never played before,never even bother to try him out in practice mode beforehand to have even a slight idea of what that character is capable of and expect to kick ass right away by mashing random buttons?

Protip: If a seasoned pro can be reasonably beaten by a newbie who just picked up the controller – you’re playing a bad fighting game. That’s why I was never a fan of the Soul Calibur games – the idea that you can mash the buttons with your face,and any random combination of buttons that you press will somehow result in a sweet-looking combo never sat right with me.

>>YOU HAVE TO MEMORIZE MOVES

The special move inputs in MK aren’t rocket science. It’s two directions and a button. At its absolute worst,it’s 3 directions and a button (<, + B). Is it unreasonable for a game to expect for you to remember this impossibly arcane combination?

Hell,if anything,the fact that the special inputs are so different between the characters is a good thing. In my experience with Japanese 2D fighters,every single input has some variation of a QCF or QCB or HCB in it,and you can only memorize so many of those before it all starts to mesh together and you get confused.

>>WHERE ARE MAH HADOUKENZ

So you’re basically saying that every character in MvsC3 has variations of the same hadoukens and shouryukens that every other character has?

…And you’re saying that’s a GOOD thing?

When every character plays exactly the same and encourages mashers to keep mashing the one hadouken input they remember?

Because it’s not.

>>I SHOULD BE ABLE TO PULL THE FATALITIES OFF WITH ONE BUTTON

This just floored me with how ridiculous that demand was. That’s like,I dunno – playing Ultima or something and demanding that the Armageddon spell or whatever be available to you from the start.

“It’s the best spell in the game,of course I’m going to spam once I get it,so why do the developers make me jump through all of these hoops to learn it? They might as well just cut the bullshit and give it to me from the very beginning! I bought the game and,goddammit,I’m entitled to it!”

The fatalities were always hard to do,but that’s why it was immensely satisfying when actually you pulled one off. It was always about skill. And it’s not like this randomly blindsided you out of nowhere – in that aspect,nothing changed from the days of MK2.

In fact,this game actually gives you the courtesy of letting you pause the game and looking up the fatality input if you forgot it. No to mention that it’s the first MK game ever to have a Fatality Trainer mode,which is specifically designed so that even your grandma can learn how to do the fatalities.

And as others before me have said,you don’t have to actually unlock any of the fatalities in order to be able to do them. You just have to know the button combination. Gamefaqs is one mouseclick away.

>>FUCKING MOVES DON’T WORK

Okay,this is the one thing I’ll actually agree with you on. And the reason for that is the 360 controller. I swear to god,it’s like this abomination was scientifically designed to be nearly unusable in fighting games. Personally,I’m always using the d-pad,so I have a pretty consistent success rate when I’m trying to pull something off,but it’s still a notorious piece of shit.

If you’re actually serious about fighting games,consider investing into an arcade stick. Personally,I’ve been trying to use the one that came with my Tournament Edition,and as far as sticks go,I hear that one is really good,but it feels so completely alien compared to a controller that I have to completely rewire my muscle memory and relearn how to do even the most basic fucking things.

Does anybody have that new 360 controller that supposedly addresses the d-pad issue? How is that thing?

Why did you choose footage from the second to last cutscene of story mode to show?

Good grief… looking through these comments I’ve come to realize fighting game snobs are almost as unbearable as Final Fantasy fanboys and anime fanatics.

Disagree completely, but I understand were your coming from.

Yes Mr. Spoony, you are indeed going to draw a shit storm over Smash Bros, namely from me. HOW DARE YOU IGNORANT SIR.

1.

What are you on about with the randomness?

You can turn off every element of randomness from the game if you wish, to the point where it’s as straight laced and fair as any other fighter (hence the talk of ‘no items’ and such).

The tripping in Smash Bros Brawl is the equivalent of getting dizzy in Street Fighter, so they are practically the same in terms of fairness.

(I would also argue it’s deeper, but that’s a different argument)

The game gives you the CHOICE.

The fact of the matter is that Smash Bros GREATEST strength, is that it can basically be anything to anyone, explosively silly party game one second and brutally serious tourney fighter the next. That’s why the people that actually play it hold it in such high regard, it’s a game that lasts and lasts.

I mean hell, if you want to just chill… just listen to the 300-something kickass music tracks the game has to offer.

2.

Metaknight is not broken, AT ALL. The dudes special moves leave him stunned until he hits the ground for christ’s sake (so you can’t recover when off the side), he has no projectiles, he’s not very fast when it comes to general movement, and he’s one of the lightest characters.

Compared to Fox from Melee, he’s a complete pussy. Metaknight is simply an accessible character, and I have never had a problem taking him.

Everybody has their own preferences and rule lists, Marvel Vs. Capcom 2 was limited to the point where only 6 characters were playable in tournaments for instance. Next time you see those gamers when you go to the store, tell them to stop being so scared of someone else’s list.

3.

Smash Bros is a tournament game because it takes incredible skill and patience to get good at even a few characters, and it’s impossible to master all of the characters simply because of the vastness of the task. Watch a match on Youtube and just see what they’re capable of.

The fact that they get paid for it has nothing to do with the game, that’s just how these tournaments work.

4.

Smash Bros is EXACTLY what you just explained you wanted in a fighter, a game that isn’t about memorization of silly gestures, all you need to know is the basic controls and mechanics and you can have fun. This simplicity allows the games roster to have a ridiculous amount of variety and depth, to the point where just casually moving around feels completely different. Most fighting games just change the characters moveset, Smash Bros changes the whole character.

Smash Bros is known for it’s ridiculous amount of unlockable content, and unlike with Mortal Kombat it doesn’t hide it in plain sight with ambiguous tombstones that waste your time (I hated that in Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance…). Smash Bros rewards you as you play, offering a constant feedback loop.

5.

YOU HAVE NO SOUL :P .

6.

What the hell is with the hate man :( .

It just sounds like you’re angry you aren’t good at the game, OR you’re being superficial and judging it based on it’s Nintendo charms… which is what is TRULY childish.

Simple question….

If it’s a game for children, why is it that you won’t ever be as good as the best players?

* Is proud to play and enjoy a crap ton of fighting games regardless of what they are and where they come from.

I do have to chime in a little bit on the Smash Bros bit. Don’t take it as a fight or anything it’s just a different point of view. But hopefully one that will at least make you think a little differently about it even though it probably won’t change your mind. Yes it IS indeed a party minded game moreso than a traditional fighter, and yes I do agree some people take it (And other games) a bit too seriously. That said, while the button combinations are the same for every character (Direction with a button, or at the same time as a button) They all do different things. Some characters are indeed a lot more powerful than others, and this is why you do see the snobs coming up with tier lists, and frame data. These are the same people doing this with Street Fighter, Tekken, Virtua Fighter, Soul Calibur, Vs series, and yes even Mortal Kombat. For some real fun enter a thread about SSBM vs SSBB. If an 8 hour marathon gave you a headache, this will be a migrane after three posts.
That said, the simplicity does not mean there is no strategy involved. A lot of the strategy, and subsequent fun of all of the smash games, is keeping people off of the play field, and the challenge of trying to make it back. Especially when you pick a weak character. When I go back to Brawl every so often, I predominantly use Mr. Game & Watch simply because he’s a light character who can easily be KOed, yet somehow holds his own if you’re doing well.
I will also say that Smash is not a quote unquote KIDS game. There is a world of difference between a game intended for all ages, and a game exclusively made for children. Smash is the all ages camp, and has a ton of fan service in it between characters, stages, music, unlockable trophies, etc. etc. for anyone who is a fan of any of Nintendo’s franchises.
But I will again admit that while it is a fun, and challenging game it is not of the competitive seriousness of other mainline fighting games.
In fact I would almost submit to you that what you seem to want out of MK in some respects is to be MORE like Smash. (One button fatalities, less exploitable moves, etc.)
I haven’t played the new MK yet, so I can’t comment on that, but most people I know who have played it say it really hearkens back to MKII where there were no Dial-a-Combos, and the few combos you do have are usually 10 hits or less. That alone would make me a happy camper as MKII has arguably until now been the apex of the series. And I’ve played every MK mainline game. They’ve all been fun, but MKII was really the last one to hang with other big name fighters when it came to gameplay (Not that MK is as deep a series, that’s always been one of it’s criticisms)
I know you’re not much of a Wii gamer Spoony, but you may want to check out the Wii Version of MK Armageddon. It’s honestly what you seem you would like out of MK. The moves can all be done with easy to do gestures. It has a lot of fun characters that are easy to pick up. There is a Krypt system but you can bypass the shopping experience with a few cheat codes that give you all the hidden characters, and costumes.
In any event my favorite line of fighters has always been, and probably will always be the Street Fighter games. They just seem to get the “Minute to learn, lifetime to master” vibe better than any other fighter.
Anyway I enjoy the shows, and Vlogs even if I don’t always agree with you, they are generally entertaining. I will say when I don’t agree with you, you still manage to give pretty good reasons why you like or don’t like something.
Keep up the good work man.

Y’know, I kind of actually agree with you when it comes to Smash. I LOVE the Super Smash Bros series, and I’ve been playing for years, but you definitely can’t take it seriously. I mean, when I play I try to win, which makes me slightly hypocritical, but you’re right. The randomness definitely makes it hard to take seriously.
I also agree with you on Mortal Kombat in general. For some reason, I enjoy playing the older games even though the gameplay sucks and I don’t like the gore. I don’t understand why, because the games are (IMO) not very good. I haven’t played the new Mortal Kombat, I just feel that way about the series as a whole.

DISCLAIMER: I suck at fighting games, so I’m really not trying to come off as a condescending dick. After proof-reading my wall of text, I realized it kind of seems that way xD I’m also apologizing for the length of this comment. I doubt you’ll read all of it, but I’m a huge fan of this game and it’s been fun agreeing to or arguing your points.

100% agree with you on the teleporting moves. I have 2 friends I play this with; one plays Smoke and Noob Saibot and the other plays Kung-Lao. I play Sub-Zero and Barakka. It’s SO annoying how desperate people get when they’re about to lose and have a teleporting move at their disposal. It’s relatively easy to counter, but when your perspective and direction buttons are constantly getting reversed, it’s just fucking obnoxious.

As for the controller, I’d have to say this game is definitely a D-pad game. Sure it’s blister inducing, but it’s so much easier to play as such. Even so, I can’t stand the Xbox controller’s D-pad. I’ll admit, I don’t play Xbox much, but it really feels more like an extra stiff joystick and less like buttons. When I’m trying to do swoop moves, I find my finger constantly slipping off the damn thing. Just saying, PS3 controller feels a helluva lot easier…but our network is down, so jokes on us!!!

I also agree that the Kombos take some getting used to. The positioning, remembering which direction to push for which Kombo, and reacting fast enough to do them in a practical situation, it’s all a pain to get used to. In my opinion though, it adds depth to each character, which I don’t think is a bad thing. It also gives off a real sense of accomplishment when mastering each of the characters you like.

Fatalities, kind of a petty point =/ I personally wish they were as hard as they used to be because you’re right, it was a badge of honor. The fact that you can still fail them is good enough for me. Sure it’s disheartening for the player, but it’s quite hilarious watching your opponent try to be a cool-guy and failing miserably. All I can say is memorize the ones you like the most with the characters you like the most. Once you do that, you can land them 99% of the time. You don’t have to be a cool-guy with EVERY character. Sometimes a limp-wristed slap in the face is good enough mockery, especially when it’s intentional.

High damaging Kombos are way too readily available online, I’ll give ya that. In the days when internet was rare, it was impressive to see people pulling off insane Kombos. Now you just watch a damn video on youtube. Counter-point!!! It still requires skill, timing and positioning to pull off said Kombo. I basically have every move on Sub-Zero’s move list memorized, but being a sub-par fighting gamer, I still get my ass handed to me by a guy who doesn’t even own the game, but is really good at fighters. Have you done the challenges in MVC3? If not, let me sum them up: “memorize this insane fucking combo-chain.” They’re meant to teach you unblockable, insanely high-damaging combos, clearly making it the superior way to play, if mastered.

Grabs in this game seem designed for ant-block/anti-air measures, not as the primary damage output (except for characters like Jax, whose specials are a variety of grabs.) I much prefer it this way, intentionally or not. Characters like Sheeba can actually grab oncoming foes out of the air, while characters like Smoke can jump into the air and grab people while they themself are airborne. If your character possesses them, air grabs are a a great counter to heavily-aerial players/characters. As for regular grabs, they’re a great counter to people who are heavily reliant on blocking. Not much more to say there. My point is, grabs have their uses, and when used properly, they work great. When you’re trying to spam-grab people for easy damage, they’re not gonna work as well as you’d like. Even if this was an unintentional gameplay “flaw”, it’s a welcome one in my opinion.

I’ll admit, they Krypt was a kind of annoying until I learned that if you know how to do the fatality, you can do it without unlocking it. Unlocking it merely makes it more easily accessible in the move list. Also, you can unlock alternate costumes by beating the Arcade Ladder with characters. If you like the character enough to want the alternate costume, beating Arcade Ladder with said character is not that much of a chore. After that, it’s all about taste and you can’t blame the game for not appealing to everyone. I personally don’t care much for concept art, but some of it is pretty cool. I’d rather have the Krypt than not have it.

People use X-ray moves too much…that is for certain. Especially when the super meter’s other functions are far superior. When you play against people that actually know what they’re doing, you don’t have to endure the X-ray moves as often. You’ll find that using the super meter to juice up a special move, or to escape from a super long combo is far superior than one hit of 35% damage. It gets annoying when you’re destroying someone, and they use an X-ray move for the sole purpose of wasting your time. They still lose. They may have had a shot if they used a bar of that special meter to freeze you really fast and kick off a huge combo, or to escape from my 45% damaging combo that only used 1 bar of the special meter. It’s really the fault of inexperienced players, and not the game itself that X-rays are overused. As I said before though, play with people that know what they’re doing and you’ll only ever see an X-ray used as a last ditch effort to finish off your small remainder of a health bar after an intense battle.

They should’ve assigned face buttons to finishers. X – Fatality 1, Y – Fatality 2, A – X-ray 1, B – X-ray 2 – or something like that. If you had to choose finishing moves, they wouldn’t get boring quickly, and you wouldn’t get annoyed by having to do those sick combinations to perform them.

But well, that’s MK I guess.

I still play Blazblue; it’s probably my favorite 2D fighter ever (my main three being hero Ragna, squirrel-girl Makoto, and werewolf-butler Valkenhayn). I also really like its plot since I find the characters and story to be interesting (even if it has to be presented via static talking heads). I can’t wait for the Continuum Shift 2 update later this month (as well as Platinum, the final DLC character).

I also really like MvC3 (even if I get my ass kicked by people who probably take it way, WAY too seriously) despite not having a proper single-player campaign and I find Smash Bros to be fun (even if, again, the experience is somewhat marred by boring people doing nothing but the Final Destination stage with NO items) since its randomness makes it hilarious to play.

MK I never really found to be that interesting. I’ll probably rent it to gauge it but I’m positive that its peers will just leave it in the dust

The 1 thing I don’t understand, Spoony says MK is only about remembering moves. What fighting game isn’t? Also you say MK is all about hitting that 1 combo actually that’s not true at all. Marvel vs Capcom is guilty of the 1 huge combo=instant death mechanic. In MK you’ll be lucky to hit a long enough combo without being punished. Marvel vs Capcom you can easily hit 100+ hit combos and not get punished.

MK isn’t all that newb friendly, so I guess that’s where most folks get frustrated. However, for people who have played the series for years it is easy to pick up and play. For me it was easy to get back into, the game plays just like classic MK. Even a lot of the moves are the same like Scorpion’s spear is still back, back low punch.

By the way their are MK tornys right now with well known top players. MK will be at EVO this year, high level play is out there.

I know what you mean with Super Smash brothers, I cannot see that game as anything more then a party game.

I think anybody can agree here with a lot of Spoony’s issues but still love the game. Also he said, if I remember right, MK is not a bad game at all. It is just made for those who like more hardcore type of game or what ever.

You see, the real problem here is that you can’t jump kick to win every battle anymore. Its a shame really.

Baww, no worries Spoony, I will play BlazBlue with you :< if it's the PC version that is. (I know he won't read this)

My god. I thought I was the only one who feels Smash Bros is terrible. This is like finding out there are other survivors in a zombie apocalypse. I’m so happy.

My god. I thought I was the only one who feels Smash Bros is terrible. This is like finding out there are other survivors in a zombie apocalypse. I’m so happy.

I like your vids/opinions in general Spoony, but I don’t agree with your views on this game. Mainly cause my experience has been very different and I think your simplyfing a few things a bit too much.

Anyone who is competent in BB will wipe the floor with their opponent. And it’s largely thanks to memorizing 22-30+ hit combos and knowing obscure mechanics/timings (JC, RC, instant block, barrier). These are not apparent unless you have gone trough training mode or looked them up on the net.

I’ve been a heavy GG player before BB and hosted evenings with various fighting games for years, and I’ve found MK9 to be a successful party game so far. The problem you mention with people checking command list ingame, has happened here with every new fighting game release. Solution? Hook up a laptop and find a site with move lists, so people can check it when they are not playing.

Here is a better complaint, where the hell is the manual with the move lists? =)

I will give you that the move list can be improved a little. Reduce the mix of inputs, a good example; Cyber sub-zero’s icebomb.

Instead of this:
66FK (middle)
44FK (close)
466FK (far)

It could be:
66FK (Middle)
66BK (Close)
66FP (far)

Btw, now that I think about inputs, you might want to check up on “Negative edge”.

Teleports is not that big of a problem, you can block them or duck if it’s a throw. We were about 7-8 people playing MK9 and everyone learned to deal with teleport cheese. All it took was one guy spamming scorpion/Noob/shiva port, forcing his opponents to block/duck/bait/dash. The gimmick was short lived and lead to more defeat than wins.

Saying MK9 is a worse party game than BB or MVC3 is something I’ve seen not to be the case. I got BB and BBCS at launch and hosted many evenings with it. The mood was good but not many seemed interested enough to keep playing, mostly cause the skill divide got too big, too fast. Me and another would own everyone just based on the fact we knew the more subtle mechanics, timings, priorities and had memorized combo strings.

MVC3 was fun too, but the aesthetic novelty of having wacky characters pummel the shit out eachother would wear off quickly. After that, it felt rather empty and quickly boiled down to cheese tactics that toppled clever play.

With MK9 everyone felt the skill divide got less. It wasn’t because the system was shallow, but because it is very transparent and easier to grasp the mechanics by just playing. No one felt the inputs were a problem either, not with fatalities or special moves. I find MK9 a lot less hardcore then BB, GG and MVC3 and since it doesn’t daunt players with alot of subtle mechanics.

Another common thing to point out about fighting games is that people usually only mains with 1-2 characters.

We played on the PS3 which has better pad for fighting games, eventhough I prefer arcade stick, don’t feel that it lends itself that well to mk as ASW games.

The X-rays I can agree on, they do last long and become tedious. But that got better when players used enhanced specials and breaker more often, since X-ray is not really convenient.

The netcode I can’t say anything about.

I’m not saying MK is better than BB or MVC3, but I will say that it isn’t much more hardcore and it is a good party game based on the experience me and my friends had with it.

Well first I’d like to address Spoony in saying something that a lot of people before already might have said, but Brawl sucks for competitive play. And I mean, REALLY sucks. You keep citing Brawl when most people that play Smash Bros. competitively still play Melee. The combat system for Brawl had been scaled down and restricted all to hell in comparison to Melee. Not to mention that Melee is far more balanced rosterwise then Brawl is. Melee is still imbalanced, but not to the point that low tiers like Bowser and Mewtwo can’t make a good showing. And the house rules for Melee are simple. No items and only stages that have no hazards. That’s it. That way, the KO condition is far less random, as you would put it.

Now as for games that beginners can pick up and little to no memorization, I can name two very special games to the people here.

The first is Gundam Wing: Endless Duel for the SNES. Many people here have probably have emulated this game at one time or another if you are any kind of fighting game fan. I used to play this game online through zbattle a lot back when I was in High School (back when the show was on Toonami no less). But this is the kind of game that Spoony described when he described Marvel vs. Capcom 3. The roster of characters all have similar movesets. But also, the combo system is so intuitive and forgiving that you can pick this game up and start improvising combos after about 20 minutes of gameplay. But you can play this game just about however you want for the most part. If you like playing mid-long range, go for it. If you like playing combo heavy, go for that. You can have a few different styles of play and it will work for you.

Video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yKL2FfTFKgc&amp;

The second is Breaker’s Revenge for the Neo Geo. I’ve always liked to call this the MUGEN of fighting games mainly because this game is so good in making you look like you know what the hell you’re doing. The fluid controls of this game are almost orgasmic to handle. And like GWED, you can pull combos out of your ass after awhile but it takes much less time to get used to. You can link almost anything into anything with this game and to top it off, the damage scaling is fairly strict to compensate. So you can get about a 30 hit combo slammed into you and it only take about 1/4 of your health instead of 1/2 so you have more opportunities to comeback. This is probably the king of the “party” fighting games that you’ve never heard of and you need to download MAME and check this game out.

Video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=13m6XVWHxoI&amp;

Those two games are prime examples that fighting games don’t need to control like shit or be overly gimmicky to be fucking awesome. And I really wish the people at Midway would learn this lesson. And even those trying to get into MK9 competitively are finding that these characters don’t have too many options in terms of comboing. Like the Super (X-Ray) moves, each character only has one real practical combo. So if you do play against someone who knows what he/she is doing and isn’t fucking around, you’re going to see your opponent basically finding openings to do the same shit over and over.

There are still several people playing Calamity Trigger. Atleast on the PC and 360, myself included. I have to give this one a shot before knowing if the balance issues are that big.

I can understand some of your frustration, Spoony, but a lot of what you’re complaining about are just issues endemic to the fighting game genre as a whole. Combo memorization, complicated command inputs and busywork unlockables are part of the genre and have been for decades now. Now, to be fair, you can eliminate some of these issues; command input complexity can be smoothed out by having characters with basic but effective movesets, and characters with movesets that are much harder to learn, but often more rewarding. Unlockables are being made more accessible, either by eliminating them altogether, or allowing them to be unlocked multiple ways. And while I’ve always been annoyed by the difficulty of the Fatalities in MK, the idea of simplifying it to such an extent is pretty annoying. In my experience, you either end up with a crippled beginner mode, or with a game that’s overly simplistic, like the Dragonball or Naruto fighters.

I can understand your annoyance with SSB, too. I hate people who play the game “competitively.” I always play the game with a bunch of friends, on crazy stages, no character restrictions, item spawns on high. When you have to implement house rules to make the game work on a competitive level, it’s not a good game choice.

Anyway, always good to hear your opinion on things. Looking forward to your next video!

What I demand to know about the storyline mode is why the fuck do I have to fight Reptile so many goddamn times? It kinda makes the character look less cool and more like Shang Tsung’s little bitch when he’s forced to have his ass handed to him over and over again.

spoony, honest question: you complain about needing to learn each character and figure out moves and yadda yadda yadda, but i recall you once saying you love tekken, where most characters are really unique with their own fighting styles. so y give the same flak to mk? and you also complain about the xbox controller…. not being a fanboy, but i have no problem doing moves on my ps3 controller :D and one last question: final fantasy x-2?

I think alot of people forget that fighting games are going to be liked or hated depending on your personal preference, style, and tolerance. Everyones experience is going to vary because of that. Also what we expect from a game will affect how we like/hate it. No one is right or wrong when it comes to their opinion of Mortal kombat or MvC 3.

1) I think your criticisms of the mortal Kombat game were pretty legit and fair. Even from someone who enjoys the games.

2)I VERY much agree about Super Smash Brothers. Competitive tournaments for that game is ridicules.

=/

It’s like I’ve always said; The X-box controller was not designed for fighting games. I always, ALWAYS, play fighting games on the PlayStation systems. The D-pad works so much better for when you’re trying to pull of combos, especially when it comes to the Mortal Kombat series. I tried playing Mortal Kombat vs DC Universe and didn’t like it because of the fucking controls. I don’t blame you for hating the game on X Box, in fact I agree with you. As for the whole thing about memory vs skill, one could argue that memorizing a characters move list is skill but that’s just my opinion.

Guy who takes Smash Bros. Brawl too serious (or used to) here.

I love playing Smash Bros. in a competitive environment–Which is not to say I take it all too seriously. I main an intentionally low tier character just because I love the game he’s from. (Ness from Earthbound) To a certain extent I like the challenge on playing the game against people who really know what they’re doing. This is sort of the reason I feel anyone plays any fighting game–They know the game and they like playing other people who know it.

However, the big competitive circuit for the game is absolutely saturated in BS. The game, if played by design would be a lot more fun, in my opinion. Which is not to say playing with items off is BS (Final Smashes are broken and unbalanced between all common reason) but that the metagame is largely predicated on the abuse of glitches and infinite combos.

But hey, I’m a grown ass man who’s two favorite games to play against people are Pokemon and Smash Bros. I’m clearly not in the same demographic as you, Spoony, and I more than understand your opinion.

Basically this is all boiling down to you not being good and of course (like most people) NOT READING THE MANUAL.

If you like Mortal Kombat in the past, why are you complaining about memorization and fatality combos, when that was what the older games was about? So is that a bald faced lie? Are you sure you ever played MK back then?

Not to mention your research is horrible which is one of the reasons you’re not a very good reviewer (E.G. to use your 2nd Fatality moves, you must unlock them first. This is not true, you can discover them first experimenting in practice mode)

Mortal Kombat is all about trying out a combination of buttons to see just what happens and when you get good, you whip out your favorite characters (which is almost like an avatar) and duke it out.

I played Mortal Kombat against people who owned the game and I didn’t. They played it way more than I did. I opened the move list once, check what was the most common pattern for that character (for instance Lu Kang is commonly a back forward kind of fighter), then tried out combos focusing on those movements and then started a strategy with them. I was actually winning a lot of fights.

Basically, the game just isn’t for you. All the “flaws” you mentioned are all based around your personal preference and your bias to other fighting games. Most fighting games are all about picking your favorite characters and learning how to play them by just playing the game. Experiment with moves and try out neat attacks. Fighting games really aren’t all about winning, it’s about putting up a really good fight. In the end, that’s all that matters.

A player spamming a move or projectile is just another obstacle to get past, which I have done before.

Mortal Kombat is a wonderfully balanced and fun fighting game that is a nice little throwback to the old trilogy with a wide variety of modes such as story, ladder, challenge tower, tag team, ect ect.

All the characters have good basic moves (which I can actually win a match against an expert with good use of basic moves and blocking at the right moment).

Like Marval vs Capcom, Street Fight 4, Blaze Blue, MK9, ect ect we all got some great fighting games that are just too good to complain about.

If there’s one thing Spoony will never be good at, it’s reviewing. He just likes to hate things a little too much and most of the time (like this one), it’s an excuse.

On another note have you tryed the dissidia games i really enjoy those simple and easy.

Man, you are so wrong about Smash Brothers. How can you have a TRUE contest of skill unless you turn off items, ban certain characters, and limit stage choices to those that have no special features. And don’t you dare even /think/ about playing any of the special settings – that’s just there to distract you from true mastery of the game, which can only be achieved once you’ve removed everything that makes that game even remotely interesting, and forced it into the same mold as every other 2d fighter ever made.

Seriously, I /loved/ Smash Brothers, but eventually I couldn’t stand to play it any more because of exactly the same sort of people you mention – the ones who take it absolutely seriously, who demand that it be played at no less than competitive tournament level, including all the rules and restrictions – and consequently have to trash everybody else’s fun whenever you play the game.

There’s a few other genres with equivalent subcultures – strategy games and competitive shooters spring to mind – but the way people try make an ultra-serious tournament fighter out of a game whose primary draw is having Mario fight Sonic is so ridiculous that it stands out.

Ah I love SSBB :) I’d never play it seriously though for the reasons you mentioned, plus it always feels a little bit like fanfiction watching Zelda beat up Ganon. Good luck surviving the flak you’ll get over having that opinion though! :p

I’ve ben playing games for 17 years (noooo i got other things to distract me other than games and no i’m not ranting about your own game expierience and not even your mortal kombat game expierience as a hole either) but i’d never played greater story mode then motal kombat….For a fighting game i’m very surprised about that (no

te:
probably
the rest of the comment could be a lot swearing let me know if it’s too much ok).

Yes i agree what you’ve said entirely about the bad stuff that you said there is. 1. it’s very glitchy here and there but not enough to put anyone off, 2. the content in the kript is mostly fucking useless, 3. the people that programed these’s computers in Ladder or any other modes sould be very fucking
ashamed
of themselves how is anyone new and expierienced ones to this are going to like this if the computers just skull fuck you to no end (witch is mostly beating the shit out of the character i’ve selected) (i can play all the characters professionally what i mean is i button mash the move’s smart wise by blocking and button mashing like mad witch is mostly successful so far),

4. the control’s are the same with the ps3 version of the game you have to be 100% with the moves or otherwise you’ll fuck up and get defeated (i could use a fighting stick version of the game or any other fighting stick but the moves are so easy 85% of the time so i just use the ps3 controler) no matter if you had a xbox 360/ps3 version of the game, 5. the multiplayer is hard to get decsent people online that are the same as me by skill and expierience so if you get player that played mortal kombat for years chance’s are you’ll get defeated every time if you don’t learn how to defeat him next time (i don’t know if is random with the multiplayer modes on this game) and learning it is important, 6. And yes the final boss on story mode was a son of a bitch to beat he useing that hammer of his way to much so i could not bother doing 2 days of gameplay trying to defeat him on normal so i did it on beginner mode to find out the ending is and biside’s it the same ending on every mode of difficulty and only unlock Quan chi but i will try next time.

All an all i could handal it ok and it’s really worth playing if you like blood and gore fighting games as for me is worth it (who would not like blood and gore fighting games anyway). But i do want to see more X-Ray moves on the next one. As for the others that are still new to this (meaning they havent got it yet or just started to play it) will
probably think it’s a “Mindfucker” to them and stop playing so much of it or just sell it for something else.P.S: I was new to it as well but i managed to get to grips of it’s gameplay
alright
and getting use to it.IMPORTANT REQUEST NOTE: Have you done a game review of “Resonance of Fate” yet if you have please tell me where i can find it If you did that is becuase you mentioned it that your going to do a review of it not to long ago on your volg videos. I just like to know if your going to do it soon or next year givin the chance if it’s going to be reviewed.

Honestly, it just sounds like you’re bad at fighting games. That’s fine but you shouldn’t bash the game for it.

Spoony, you’re just salty and crying for a WAAAMBULANCE.

Yeah, I don’t understand how these are complaints from someone ALREADY playing MK games. If you were new to the series, sure. But its EASIER in MK 9 than in previous games.

I used to play MK games a lot, so I could immediately tell you that its more toned down here to appeal to broader audience.

Besides, if it really boiled down to SF vs MK, then you shouldn’t even be complaining about half of these “issues”, because SF does it worse. Yeah, fighters have same button executions, but there’s so much theory behind each move the only time you could really “half ass” it is if you got really lucky.

Smash Brothers is great because you can play it as a party game or a competitive game. But it isn’t a “No skill button masher” like some people describe it.

Play someone good and try to “button mash”. You’ll probably lose

lol complaining about the online… I wonder how its like playing this online thanks sony.
and most of those teleport moves are blockable.

The VLOGs are my favourite videos Spoony puts up, would be nice to see them more often especially as they dont take as long to produce once hes done reviewing something.

You gonna review the other games you previewed at PAX/E3? Would love to hear what you actually thought of Portal 2. I all ready own and beat it, but I just love to hear you talk :P

I think most of your arguments are solid, and I love this game to death. Only thing I want to point out is that the PS3 controller works relatively well compared to what you said about the 360 controller, which makes me think that it’s only a cosmetic problem on Xbox’s part rather than a fault of the game itself.

Smash brothers IS a very deep game that has IMO the biggest emphasis on timing your attacks and movements over any other fighting game. Also the thousand and one items and pokemon and stage effects add danger at every second of a match.
The craziness of the game just appeals to the hardcore competitive gamer in me; a spirit you obviously don’t possess Noah. That’s cool though, I can respect a noob for not wanting to learn every single game system just to be better then people. :D
I enjoy watching you partly because I disagree with you so much.

Watched the video again and thought of something else. The “glitchy” blocking is actually due to invincibility frames that have been a part of fighting games since before SFII: World Warrior. For instance in pretty much any fighting game I can think of you can’t throw someone while they’re in their “rising from the ground” or “block stun” animations because it would be cheap. Same thing with throwiing someone in MK9′s when they’re in their “turning around” animation.

MK’s a flawed game but its nowhere as bad as Spoony said it was. Seriously Noah, there’s a blocking button, just use it. Most teleport moves doesn’t even work if you block them except for a few like Sheeva’s stomp. Its not that hard to predict. As you play with someone, you get to learn their attacks and it simply allows you to anticipate it. Whether people likes it or not, SF4 is a lazy game except for a few things like its animations. Too many characters keeps the same moves completely without anything new. MK does have old moves but there’s a few new ones and some old ones got modified. MvC3 still has severe balance issues and unless it changed, the online mode is a abomination.

I agree about MK having a excellent story mode and that some fights almost forces you to be cheap but its still a neat experience but I personally think that ultimately, Blazblue has the best storyline and story setup although MK’s presentation is superior.

I agree bout the regular controller not being the best choice to play Fighting game, but to be perfectly honest, that’s not really Mortal Kombat’s fault, every fighting game ive ever played had the problem with more complex moves being pain in the ass on the regular controller…that’s why ive bought arcade-stick, it wasnt really all that expensive, and it made Mortal Kombat SO enjoyable, that since the game came-out, ive not even once took it out of my console (and because of that i still didnt played Portal 2, that i bought at the same day as MK).

And as for your “special movies rant” i dont know why you had that big of a problem with it, its true that every character has his/hers own set of specials, but they are always a variation of “down,back,Button” or “forward,backward,Button” so i don’t see HOW someone who mastered Tekken combos, has a hard time remembering 3 button combinations.

When the game came out, i wasnt expecting much, i hated the fact how new Mortal Kombat looks pretty much exactly like the previous 3D ones, and they didnt add that seriousness and grittiness that we’ve  seen on some early concept arts (just type  “scorpion concept art” in google pictures and you’ll  know which one im talking about) but to my suprise…ive really, really liked this game, it has its flaws (every female dressed like a stripper) but overall…its a damn good game, both single player and multiplayer and i like it 100x better than shitty Street Fighter IV and almost as good as Tekken 6.

Totaly agree.

You reminded me of  Battle Arena Toshinden.  They let you map moves to buttons.

The entire idea of putting in silly combinations of buttons assumed your character doesn’t know these moves, it makes no sense.  Allowing specials to be pulled off with buttons does lead to more skill.  Memory is for combo chains, not moves.  There is no skill in move memorization.

I am not a fighter type of gamer either. I enjoyed things like Metal Gear Solid (not the NES version that one sucks) because of the strategy it involves. I also prefer puzzle games like the old school games (some) used to be. Super Smash Bros. Melee is fun to play, it is so stupid it is funny to play just for fun. Some people are nuts enough to play that seriously? For 8 hours? I have fun with it but not to play 8 hours with that. Never played Brawl (which is the Wii version I think), but if I have to play it it will be for pure fun at the random things that can happen (seriously, anything with Mario can’t be taken seriously). Anyway, I hate those kind of games where you need an insane memory and basically need a class to learn the moves. If it is 7 joystick movement (meaning semi-circle or things like that) only, than it is o.k. These fighter games are so complex to pull combos, they remove the basic fun of the old games. I understand they want to raise the bar of complexity of plots (even if some are ridiculously weak, I am looking Super Mario Galaxy right now), better graphics, longer games and a more involving universe but do they really have to alienate us with combo combination as complex as DNA coding?

 I dunno, Mortal Kombat as ALWAYS been like that. but I think that you could block any of those teleporting moves just by holding block, dunno if it’s true for the new one, haven’t played it, but Mortal Kombat as NEVER been new user friendly, it sucked if didn’t know any of the moves before-hand. Also I don’t understand your complaining on the X-ray moves, it’s the same thing as the super moves on Street Fighter 4, every character has 1 super move, yeah they added one more on the new one, but this is the first one anyways.

Also, I love BlazBlue, just ask me for my Gamertag and I’ll play with you Spoony =D but I kindah suck at it XD, but that’s because I have no one to play it like, hot seat style, just play it every night like I used to play Capcom VS. SNK 2 with a friend of mine, we got pretty good at it =P not champ good xD but good ^^

 Okay, you could potentially win a Mortal Kombat match with just, Block, Uppercut, Drop Kick.  I’m sorry if you can’t learn to string moves together, you don’t need to memorize.  Be creative jeeze.  Obviously you can learn how to pull off a 3 hit combo, and then do a special move.  Also most moves in MK9 are either, <-, (button), d, <- (button), or other variations.  Have you thought about SF4?   (button), semi-circle in some direction (button), down, up, (button), i mean really it’s the same thing.  It’s fun that they don’t just tell you that this is the combo in the menu so you have to be creative and figure something out yourself.  I saw a combo online, and I was like, yeah mine is better than that for me.  Learn how to block, learn how to grab escape, learn how to duck, learn how to jump, learn how to combo break.  If you did the tutorial, these were explained.  Spoony’s first achievement was: What does this button do? (didn’t block in Ladder).  Offense wins games, but defense whens championships, always true.

I loved SC2 on gamecube (Link fan-boy), but I learned seven characters, and knew what ever character was capable of.  That is to say, I memorized their moves, and not just memorized them, but learned how and when to use them against certain opponents.  In MK9 it’s the same thing, if I’m against someone who is better at close range, I keep my distance, if I’m against someone who wants to keep their distance, I get up in their face.  If they’re throwing me a lot, I escape.  That doesn’t just go for the character, it goes for the player too.  If you’re actually paying attention in line at King of the Hill mode, you can observe their strategies, find out what kind of player they are: are they the type to spam special attacks, DO THEY NOT BLOCK OFTEN, do they try to go in for combos?

I loved Super Smash Bros. Melee.  I did play it competitively and the only thing I remember was you could be in tournaments with items, and tournaments without items.  All levels were accessible.  SSB is a great game (haven’t played brawl really that much), because it can be picked up on, and then you can develop ideas on how to use characters.  Gannondorf was a heavyweight, and if you put him somewhere on the map, it’s harder to knock him off.  I played Link, learned how to bomb-tech, learned how to wave dash, became an expert at hookshot saves, and learned the usefulness of all his attacks.  At parties, people often challenge me just because they want to see themselves get torn apart while I casually carry on conversations not really paying attention, or they’ll do a 3 on 1 match and have fun either losing, or working together to beat me.  After a while we play Mario Kart.  Mario Kart 64, jeeze play that with my family and see how much fun it is when we’ve discovered every shortcut.  It’s not fun when people are too good at any game and other players aren’t.  FPS aren’t fun when people know the spawn points of every item, and of every place you might spawn so they camp.  ”NO CAMPING” how much more of a house rule can you get than that?  Halo tournaments be damned!

Some games are harder to learn and some aren’t.  Playing tennis against a pro is not fun at all: “OMG I ACTUALLY SERVED THE BALL RIGHT” pro hits it back hard “Holy crap where did the ball go”.  Skill level balancing is important, don’t go to major league baseball if you can’t hit a 95 mph fast ball.  Memorization is a skill of course, that’s why there’s competitions in it too, but ya there’s more to it than that to be good at MK9.

I completely agree though that online play sucks ass, it’s laggy as hell, and it ruins the experience.  That’s one of my two complaints, and they better fix it.   Why can I play BattleField Bad Company 2, with 24 players and the game doesn’t lag at all, but I play a 2D game, and my guy is blinking across the screen.

 The fatalities are actually ridiculously easy to pull off, as long as you’re at the correct distance, and can remember a four button input.  It gives you up to three chances to pull it off before the person falls over, and even if you don’t, your character gets to do an “I’m better than you” pose.

My major complaint is:  Why do game producers have to hate resale of video games?  I’m kind of pissed off (PS3 owner) that I had to input a redeemable code to prove that I bought the game.  And if I didn’t I would have to pay $10 to play online which is supposed to be a free feature for PS3 owners.  I bought my game, I expect to be able to sell it if I get tired of it, or let a friend borrow it. If I sell my radio to someone or my ipod, they don’t have to put in a code.  STOP BEING GREEDY GAMING COMPANIES!  

 For the record, although I’m not sure if anyone’s said it yet, in regards to the edit put on this video, the shortcuts mapped to the right thumbstick were completely removed with Blazblue:Continuum Shift. It’s still a beginner’s game, it’s just not quite as effortless.

Oh come on. I loved Ed Boon’s fatality stick figure sketches.

First the thing i agree with you
The story mode is indeed one of the most well made in the fighting game franchise

The things i dont agree with you
Teleports = Cheap and imbalanced block it and you will be set up for kombo of 30-40% depending on your character /the factor here is that this game has OKI just like tekken, you have different options from an grounded position, theres the backroll, theres rising right up, staying in the ground, attempting a cross up jump and theres the wake up attack. if a character has a teleport it most likely is an wakeup attack. why im saying this is because wakeup attacks make the corner stone of this fighters so called guessing game 

small example
Your choises: Wake up attack / Stay on the ground / Rise into a kombo string / cross up jump
foes choises: Block / Preassure / anti cross up / dash preasure / dash block
most of the sitsuations in MK are 30/30/30, three choises. guess right and you win

example, you get a kombo off and your foe hits the ground, if you try to preasure him with a new kombo and he wakeups you will get punished but if you anticipate the wake up you will block instead off pressuring and get a new free kombo

As for jumping, in this game jumps are not safe kapish? you cant block in the air if you could the game would be broken. the point is, do not jump if you arent doing it for a reason aka crossup/avoiding projectile

also regarding noob saibot, hes actually one of the lowest tier character in the game. the only thing he has going for him is his keepaway game and corner kombos. theres only few match ups where he is actually concidered the better character.

there is 1 great way to punish 80% of the teleport moves in the game if you dont like blocking crouch and let them wiff their hit and uppercut them relatively easy to do aswell. works even on scorpions “safe” powered teleport

As for kombos yes they are a big part of the game. but if you actually look at skillful play there are next to none kombos in the matches because when rarely a skillful player gets set up for a kombo he has super bar enough to break from it. the game is more about guessing your opponents reaction and playing it safe most of the kombos come from unsafe moves which are realy not used that much because they can insta fuck up your game if your foe blocks them.

Neutral comments
The netcode is bad at the moment, but ed boon has stated on his twitter account that the problem is adressed and the net gaming will see improvement on the 1.02 patch coming in about 2 or so weeks.

it is widely know fact that XBOX controller is inferior to Stick/playstation pad when it comes to fighting games. period

Do you have somekind of a problem with your short term memmory? the moves arent that hard to remember nor are the fatalities

MVC3 actualy is about memorizing insane unblockable setups. period

Blazblues “ezmode inputs” actually break the game. sometimes for example it is impossible to do irontaggers command throws in buffer time of a certaint move. but with ezmode its possible this is why that stuff is actually not accepted in any self respecting tournament.

some moves have TC properties which is why your grab fails you. working as intended.