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

Tim Static

Adminerator
MK2 has always been better than MK3. I honestly feel like its almost the "Super Turbo" of the MK series... its the most pure version of the game. No meters, no run button, just a great cast and absolute pure footsies, spacing and mindgames.

Admittedly, I don't know who the OG high-level players are who were there, but I was standing behind them playing casuals at one point and my mind was blown by the solid play. At one point it was Raiden VS Reptile, and Reptile was down to danger, with Raiden sitting on 3/4 life. The guy playing Reptile (curly black hair, dark skin) proceeded to make a series of absolutely mindblowing moves and reads and came back to win. I literally let out a yell that I think startled both of the players, then we all laughed. I looked around and couldn't believe I was the only person who had witnessed that spectacular display of gaming.
Slips made this exact point on one of the podcasts when mentioning how boring the game is. Whats the best strategy? At all levels of the game, for all characters, its those damn jabs. MK2 is infinitely more interesting.
I couldnt disagree more. Only things MK2 had going on over UMK3 were nothing gameplay related.

FTR i love MK2, but i love the gameplay in UMK3 lots more.
 

9.95

Noob
Slips made this exact point on one of the podcasts when mentioning how boring the game is. Whats the best strategy? At all levels of the game, for all characters, its those damn jabs. MK2 is infinitely more interesting.

I have to agree with Tim here... there is HUGE difference between run jabs and kara jabs.

Run jabs are a method of applying pressure while still retaining risk/reward and has the ability to be countered and punished.

Kara jabs are a method of applying pressure while defending at the same time, and the worst that will happen to you is you bl0ck a "counter" and wait for your chance to do it again.

Run jabs thoroughly improved UMK3 over MK2, and without the kara jabs, UMK3 becomes an infinitely better and more exciting game.... however that is not, and never will be the case.
 

GNG Iniquity

#bufftaquito #punchwalk #whiffycage
Yeah, the kara jabs is why I never got into UMK3. It wouldn't be that bad, if the entire cast wasn't capable of it.
 

9.95

Noob
Maybe we should just ban top 3 in both games and make them worth playing.
I love how you guys would rather drop a game than ban characters.

Zaq, it wouldn't matter... then the next 3 characters would be the best kara jabbers in the game. The problem isn't the characters anymore, it's the core gameplay system of UMK3 that allows you to attack and defend at the same time.

I also never said I was dropping UMK3 from tournaments. I haven't played in a UMK3 tournament since ECT3, and I've made it clear to others that I have no time to play tournament games anymore for many reasons...

1. Too busy with stream and can't get away.

2. When I do play in tournament, people can't help themselves and they come up to me and pull at me, ask me questions, etc... all while IGNORING the fact that I'm PLAYING A TOURNAMENT MATCH.
 

MKB

Forum General Emeritus
I have to agree with Tim here... there is HUGE difference between run jabs and kara jabs.

Run jabs are a method of applying pressure while still retaining risk/reward and has the ability to be countered and punished.

Kara jabs are a method of applying pressure while defending at the same time, and the worst that will happen to you is you bl0ck a "counter" and wait for your chance to do it again.

Run jabs thoroughly improved UMK3 over MK2, and without the kara jabs, UMK3 becomes an infinitely better and more exciting game.... however that is not, and never will be the case.
The kara jabbing is the main reason I never took MK3 as seriously as I do MK2. I'm not saying it doesn't take any skill to be able to pull that off, but clearly it was not the way the game was intended to be played.

On a sidenote, Winter Brawl REALLY made headwaves across the MK2 online community. I continue to get messages from players who had since retired from the game; saying they were inspired by what they saw and actually fired up MK2 once again. I imagine btbb99 is getting the same type of feedback.
 

9.95

Noob
gamemk I must disagree with you. Air starters are NOT the problem.

1. You can aaSweep people's air starters with good timing.
2. You can aaUppercut air starters.
3. You can run under an air starter.
4. Standing HK's counter air starters.
4. DUCKING LK's counter runjabs/karajabs, NOT standing LK's.
5. Nightwolf is far from broken. ONLINE he goes up the tier list significantly though.

I know you're an old school MK player like me, and I'm not trying to be disrespectful, but it sounds like you haven't put enough time into UMK3 to know how the game was played up until about a year and a half ago...

A year and a half ago, the game changed forever...and for the worse.

I'll be playing much more MK2 than UMK3 now.
 

9.95

Noob
Oh, and I may also be doing some MK4/Gold on stream soon enough as well during some house streams.
 

Skkra

PSN: Skkra
Now I wish I hadn't sold my N64 that had MK4. =\ I thought that game was fun as hell.

Whatever the case, whatever the reasons why, I've always loved MK2 more than MK3. I just find it more entertaining to watch. I'll get bodied, but I'll be sure to enter MK2 at the next tournaments to get the entrants up. Probably using Reptile, my favorite.
 

9.95

Noob
I'd be all for MK4. N64 version would probably be the easiest to set up.

It sucks to see kara jabbing bring down UMK3 so hard. The good times with that game... :/
You can't blame the players for playing to win. It's obviously the strongest tactic in the game... by far.

Unfortunately, what it does is negate the need to know ANYTHING beyond just that tactic and some basic spacing.
 

AREZ God of War

The Crazy BeastMaster
Dude, so we get NRS to do something about it

...UMK3HDR

We all need to remember these guys are all lazy, and don't quality test shit properly, so we need to be like a stressed-out Mother w/ a kid that has A-D-H-D to them and stay on their ASS about fixing-up our pride-and-joy and making it playable again. Accepting it at this point in time would screw both parties......and hopefully the amountof entrants UMK3 got at WB showed NRS that they still stand to make alot of money off an HDR since people still play and want to play. The HDR would draw in 50 entrants instead of 25 for the next tourney.
 

9.95

Noob
Dude, so we get NRS to do something about it

...UMK3HDR

We all need to remember these guys are all lazy, and don't quality test shit properly, so we need to be like a stressed-out Mother w/ a kid that has A-D-H-D to them and stay on their ASS about fixing-up our pride-and-joy and making it playable again. Accepting it at this point in time would screw both parties......and hopefully the amountof entrants UMK3 got at WB showed NRS that they still stand to make alot of money off an HDR since people still play and want to play. The HDR would draw in 50 entrants instead of 25 for the next tourney.
Eric, they tried that and scrapped it. It's not going to happen, and even if it does, especially after MKAK, I doubt their ability to properly test the game and check it's nuances to make sure it's arcade perfect. Beyond that, I sincerely doubt they'd remove that mechanic... no matter how much we ask and beg for it.
 

AREZ God of War

The Crazy BeastMaster
Eric, they tried that and scrapped it. It's not going to happen, and even if it does, especially after MKAK, I doubt their ability to properly test the game and check it's nuances to make sure it's arcade perfect. Beyond that, I sincerely doubt they'd remove that mechanic... no matter how much we ask and beg for it.
Then why again, do we support those people? They just do so much stuff that tells us w/out speaking that they don't deserve our support. Wasn't going bankrupt once enough to wake them up? If it's all about the money, ........why turn down easy-money?
 

9.95

Noob
Then why again, do we support those people? They just do so much stuff that tells us w/out speaking that they don't deserve our support. Wasn't going bankrupt once enough to wake them up? If it's all about the money, ........why turn down easy-money?
Eric, UMK3 is a 17 year old game bro. They got what they could from MKAK, and they're focused on making new games, and you can't blame them for that. UMK3 is a "cult classic" and they're not worried about 25 extra entrants into a UMK3 tournament when they can make a that will sell MILLIONS of copies and bring 100+ players to a tournament.
 

miloPKL

soundcloud.com/pukelization
hey i would love to see mk4 definitely. fun to watch kinda hard to play.

about umk3 thats a real shame, its my fav MK. is there some kinda of way to remove or ban KJs? would the game be good without them? SHOULD we remove/ban them? umk is definitely the most fun to play at my casual level and its amazing to watch pros play. its a shame its been exposed so bad.
 

9.95

Noob
People can't compete in UMK3, so now it's boring. Makes sense.
I had a feeling you'd reply with something along these lines. If there was a dislike button the size of Georgia, I'd hit it about 4 zillion times.

It's got NOTHING to do with not being able to compete.

UMK3 was fun when it wasn't about some STUPID tactic. If ANY OTHER FIGHTING GAME had one single tactic that essentially overshadowed the ENTIRE GAME then that game would be boring. SFA2 even with it's Valle Custom Combos... you had to WORK to get your meter so you had to PLAY SFA2 in order to do it.

The fact is, I'm a good enough player that if I WANTED to learn those braindead kara jabs... if I had any desire to put any of my precious time into it(nice being a college kid and having the time to just play video games all day, right?) I would be able to "compete". Not only that, but I won't even entertain the idea of, "if you can do it, prove it"... because spending my time learning to do something that bores me isn't worth my time.

There's a reason I don't play 99% of any side scrolling beat em up games like Final Fight... because they're all the same mashfest that I played years ago and even if the graphics changed, the gameplay didn't. They're boring to me and I don't play them.

The simple fact is, LOW PUNCH CANCELLED WITH BLOCK WHILE TAPPING DOWN BACK, THEN FORWARD PLUS RUN, FOLLOWED BY LOW PUNCH CANCELLED WITH BLOCK WHILE TAPPING DOWN BACK... RINSE AND REPEAT OVER AND OVER AGAIN is BORING!!!
 

9.95

Noob
OJuggernautO

Continuing on:

My stream numbers proved as much as REO did. He picked Noob to prove that you only need 3 buttons and a basic knowledge of spacing to play UMK3 at it's "full potential".

My stream maintained a fairly steady connection during UMK3. The numbers never went over 60 for UMK3.

When MK2 came on, I never went UNDER 70, and I stayed at 80 for quite some time.

MK2 proved to be the highlight of 2D MK games this year, and UMK3 proved to be nothing more than a sidenote that nobody will talk about except for the fact that REO proved what the game was all about.
 

Juggs

Lose without excuses
Lead Moderator
I had a feeling you'd reply with something along these lines. If there was a dislike button the size of Georgia, I'd hit it about 4 zillion times.
Not gonna lie, this made me literally lol and I'm in class right now. I'll respond when I get the time.