The sad state of UMK3, and the re-emergence of MK2

At Winter Brawl I was so busy watching everything because of running the stream that I learned a few things.

1. MK2 is WAY MORE EXCITING TO WATCH at high level than UMK3 is.

2. UMK3 is stupid boring now. Kara jabs and a dream.

3. PS2/Xbox 1 3D MK's are officially dead.

4. People want to play MK4 in tournament.



1a. Though the stream kept crashing, MK2 had some of the sickest matches I've ever seen. I am STILL in awe of Summ0ning's come from behind win by doing aaRH's on a teleport kicking Mileena to win his set and advance to the loser's final... WOW!

1b. The stream numbers prove a point. We had a cleaner stream during UMK3(less stream drops overall) and we only had 50-60 viewers. MK2 had 75-80 through a choppy, consistently dropping stream.

1c. Watching MK2 was like watching a tense baseball game. It's slower, yes, but movement matters. Each move, each mistake led to something HUGE, not just more kara-jabs. Overall, MK2 was WAY MORE FUN to watch than UMK3 this year.




2. UMK3 was a snorefest compared to MK2 this year. UMK3 has devolved into who can kara jab the best and the person who STOPS kara jabbing is the one destined to lose. UMK3 at the highest level = KARA JABS AND A DREAM... boring.




3. Nobody mentioned 3dMK aside from me. Nobody brought a PS2, nobody brought a CRT and nobody brought an unlocked memory card. PS2/Xbox 1 3DMK is officially dead. If players want MKDC, I will run that simply because it's easier to run.



4a. I can't begin to tell you how many requests I'm getting for MK4. The problem is that there is no true way to emulate it. The N64 version is actually the best "true" version of MK4, in that it is based on revision 3.0 which is the latest arcade version. It is faster than the arcade version, it does not look anywhere near as good as the arcade version, and, to be able to play it with sticks and pads the way people want to, we would have to emulate it similarly to MAME.

4b. The next option would be to use the "HOT NEW!" version of MK Gold on Dreamcast. The DC will let us use converters to use PS2 pads and sticks on it. We would have to choose though, let all the characters rock or ban the Gold version characters?

1. MK2 was more hype this WB than UMK3. fact.

2. Summoning's comeback was THE most hype match all weekend imo

3. We need to put pressure on NRS to get MK4 Rv3.0 emulated, but not sure if i have faith.

4. MKG? i'd still rather play N64 lol

5. Great job this weekend, Phil. YOU ARE DA MAN, MAN!!

You can watch all the archives at: http://twitch.tv/kombatnetwork

I'm all for more MK4.

Its a very flawed but interesting game. I wish midway would have continued along that path instead of w/e the fuck those ps2 games were.

I would kill for an arcade perfect port of it, or even better a straight up new revision, would be so easy to fix that game, wouldn't even have to add anything, just removed silly things like side stepping, max damage, and weapons.

NO lol

No, MKT is just the UMK3 engine sped up with Noob, Rain and the bosses added for good measure. The game ultimately would play the same as UMK3 at the highest levels.

I actually enjoy MK4. I think it would be fun to see the game in tournament once.

Thinking about it, ive never actually seen or played Gold. I know they added some new characters. Kitana, mileena, Kung lao, cyrax, sektor, and baraka.

In fact way back when I thought my friend was bullshitting me when he said he played a copy of Mk4 with cyrax in it. The weird and wonderful days before I had regular access to the internet.

Gold is very broken... at least the new characters exclusive to Gold are.

MKG is to MK4 what MKT is to UMK3.

Fun, but cant really be taken seriously, but even then, it plays weird compared to MK4 Rv3.0

True, but the problem is that because emulation is overall limited for MK4, either we go with N64(plays the same speed as Gold) or with Gold... and then either let all the characters rock or we ban the Gold characters and play MK4 style.

In the end, the fact remains that we need to find another alternative to both the 3DMK games and while I won't stop running UMK3, we need something that you can't just abuse a game ruining glitch constantly to win with.

UMK3 was boring this year because of the kara-fest.

Shaolin monks versus mode.

MK2 blew it up at WB this year. Btbb,Summoning and DCIguy put on a clinic and a great show.
UMK3...well yea. This is something I've talked about with REO for while now. REO wasn't trolling, he was proving a point. All you need is to be the better jabber, have better footsies and %150 health doesn't hurt either lol. He used a character with no special moves to show how useless specials are in this game.
I know Juggernaut would say Kara/glitch jabs actually add a further layer of depth to the game once you understand how to use them and fight against them and im sure he's right, he's knows alot more about the game than I do. But its still painfully boring and stupid to watch and even dumber to play against when you don't play that way
At ECT2 and Road to EVO UMK3 brought the hype because LI Joes Ac1984s and Shocks matches were exciting to watch.
At NECXI no one really cared about watching Marvirrasta bulldoze Crazy dominican in the corner with jabs all day, because it was stupid,boring and overall a broken dominant tactic that takes over and otherwise exciting game.

That tactic single-handedly ruined UMK3 for a lot of players, including you and myself.

The argument that the kara-jabs add depth, is illogical. Both kara-jabbing players use the same tactic...steamroll the other with kara-jabs till they get countered, then look for your opening to start kara-jabbing again.

AC1984, had the chance to win WB, but his brain reverted back to UMK3 instead of UMKJ3 and he gave into temptation to actually PLAY the game... and it cost him.

REO did us all a service, so nobody should be mad at him. He proved a HUGE point... he followed what I said about Smoke in MK9... he came to prove a point with Noob... that KJ's rule the game... and he proved his point BIG TIME.

Yea all REO did was prove his point. Here's your game, here's what its all about, here's what rules this game. Now decide if this is what you want to play.

MK 4 on PC is eh... not much different than the N64 version... better off getting an emulator and that, actually.

When people were crying about Smoke in MK9 I told them, come to a tournament, dominate & win to prove your point, then we can talk about a ban.

REO did exactly this with Noob Saibot in UMK3 at Winter Brawl. He showed what UMK3 comes down to, no matter who you use, what their special are, what their dials are..etc. None of that meant anything... KARA JABS AND A DREAM.