What criteria did you base your main character choice on?

[Organelle]

Hey guys, I am new to the competitive fighting scene. And I am having a lot of trouble picking a character for mk9.

I really want to start getting extremely good at this game, but the most important piece of the puzzle is missing, a character.

So I was hoping you guys could help me pick one. I am pretty new to mortal kombat, haven't played much since deadly alliance, but I love mk9 and want to jump right into the meat of the game.

So, I was hoping some of you veterans could tell me who your favorite character is an why? (Even if your reasons for liking them are not gameplay related)

Also based on my other fighting game characters, I was hoping you could give me some more insight as to who you think would cater to my play style.

In MvC3, my team is Ryu, Wolverine, Akuma -or- Wolverine, Sentinel, Akuma

In MvC2, my team is Magneto, Cable, Sentinel

In SFIITHDR, I play as E. Honda -or- Zangief

In SFIV, I play as Blanka -or- Zangief (working on Hakan and Oni)

In VF5 Online, I play as Akira -or- Wolf

In Tekken: DR, I play as Kazuya

Soul Cal: Nightmare

I realized that it is also worth mentioning that my favorite games other then mk9 are mvc3 and sf4 right now and between those I enjoy playing as ryu, akuma, and wolverine the most, with the occasional attempt at learning zero. Maybe that will help give you guys a better idea of my current gaming state.

Final OP Edit: Well ... for those of you who may have been wondering who I would settle on ... it ended up being Reptile. I liked zoning with noob and ermac but they didnt have rushdown ability. I like nightwolf and jaxs ability to get in, but their zoning game is not good. And I realized reptile and kabal fuse rushdown and zoning quite well. My gf mains kabal though, and I don't want to steal her main, so Reptile it is =D. Kabal may be my alt one day after I master Reptile.

Thanks for all the meaningful contributions to this thread that slowly sent me down this path ...

 

[Porkchopexpress]

I have mained Subzero ever since I was 12yrs old. I started using Subzero during MK1's arcade era. The list quickly grew, to include all ninjas and Raiden. When I was 12ys old I witnessed Subzeros fatality,and I was sold. There was alot more shock and ahh back then,considering there wasnt a rating system. Raiden reminded me of those guys in wicker hats from the movie Big Trouble in Little China. Ha ha, goodtimes.

 

[Porkchopexpress]

Damn, I forgot to type this,lol. It depends, what do you like the best? Do you favor rushdown,zoning or a mix? I think you should try Reptile. He can rushdown and zone. Subzero is good, but he takes some practice. I think of him like a low geared truck. It takes him abit to get going,but once he is in motion hes a force to be reckoned with. You cant never go wrong using Radien. He has options,lol. You can go offense or turtle with him. Anyhoo, I hope my ramblings helped you. If you need any advice, this is the best place on the net for MK.

 

[smalltalk]

I guess the question is if you are a tier whore or not. Do your research if you want to play the character with the best match-ups, but otherwise just go with whoever has the most fun game-play. I chose Sektor because out of all the characters I played he was the most fun to do the combos with. Plus, he was always my favorite back in the day

 

[Porkchopexpress]

Yeah, smalltalk has a good point. In every fighter Ive played, its always been chracters who I had the most fun playing, win,lose or draw.

 

[TWZTID]

i used jax n kung lao in umk3 and since they were brought back, i decided to main them again.


but for some odd reason, im drawn to slow characters and my teams are a mix of both..

mvc2 guile, venom, hulk
mvc3 deadpool, akuma, hulk
mkdc jax, darkseid
mk jax, lao

 

[Pagan]

My methods of choosing a character is completely subjective. I typically play characters with a mask, long hair or dreadlocks and a blade of some kind. Kind of like the predator. I like playing Smoke and Kabal naturally.

Street Fighter Games: Ibuki & Vega
Mortal Kombat: Kabal, Scorpion and Smoke
Guilty Gear: Testament

I also tend to like agile grapplers for some reason like Alex and Jax

 

[Juggs]

I usually use a character that compliments my style of gameplay. I love to rtsd (rush that shit down), so I like to use a character that is strong in that area. So in MK9 one of the characters I main is Liu Kang. I also love characters that have good aa's (anti-airs). Liu Kang's uppercut is a great aa and one of the best uppercuts in the game. But there's another character that has a great one, Cyrax. Cyrax's aa is amazing, it's his airthrow. Also, I love characters that have "cheap" tactics. Cyrax can be cheap if you use his bomb trap correctly. Though, his bomb trap is apparently getting removed.

If you don't really have a preferred style of gameplay, just experiment with all the characters until you find one that you like. If I can't decide on a character, I just look at a few things: Does the character have a reliable aa? Is the character mainly offensive or defensive? What's the risk/reward for the character? Do I have to put a lot of effort in for little reward? Does the character have any safe moves/combo strings? etc.

 

[Organelle]

I guess the question is if you are a tier whore or not. Do your research if you want to play the character with the best match-ups, but otherwise just go with whoever has the most fun game-play. I chose Sektor because out of all the characters I played he was the most fun to do the combos with. Plus, he was always my favorite back in the day

No no, no tier whoring. I just am not sure who would suit my play style because mk is pretty unique as a fighter. I am not trying to figure out who is easy to learn, but who I well enjoy playing for a long period of time.

So far I like every character except for the women, liu kang, nightwolf, stryker, and kung lao.

So I am having a tough time picking one or two guys to focus on with the remaining roster. I was basically just hoping that if you guys saw who I played in other games, you could tell me who I would have fun with in mk if there is any relation whatsoever.

 

[Organelle]

i used jax n kung lao in umk3 and since they were brought back, i decided to main them again.


but for some odd reason, im drawn to slow characters and my teams are a mix of both..

mvc2 guile, venom, hulk
mvc3 deadpool, akuma, hulk
mkdc jax, darkseid
mk jax, lao

Haha, I hear you. My list is similar in that I like slow hard hitters or fast zoners.

And I forgot to mention my main in Soul Caliber was Nightmare if that helps at all.

Edit: And thanks Juggernaut, the list gave me a good idea as to what I should take into account outside of just subjective stuff. Although for the most part, most of my character choices are typically based on 1) does this character fit my play style? 2) are they fun to play? 3) are they cool-looking? And unfortunately a ton of characters fit the bill there. I will have to look them over and take your question string into account and see if I can narrow the list down that way.

 

[N2L Inception]

My favs are Reptile, Sub Zero, Johnny Cage, Noob, Ermac

 

[tehm]

All depends on what you want to do mang.

Personally my main since launch has been Kano because I like characters that can zone favorably versus non-zoners and rush down effectively versus characters that specialize in Zoning.

Now that Kano has been buffed to an extent that he is beginning to become a larger part of the meta-game I'm now working on picking up Shang-Tsung as an alt to be used versus Kano players. (Both because I think he's a hard match-up as Kano and because post-soulsteal I'd simply be playing my main but w/ a big damage bonus over the opponent which sounds pretty boss...)

If you're a big fan of Zangief though I wonder if you wouldn't enjoy Sheeva. She's got a bit of a time getting in, no teleport, and about the worst fireball in the game but she's got the absolute best throw game out there in close and for every missed guess by the opponent you should be able to convert it to 35-50% every time with Sheeva no meter required.

 

[Organelle]

All depends on what you want to do mang.

Personally my main since launch has been Kano because I like characters that can zone favorably versus non-zoners and rush down effectively versus characters that specialize in Zoning.

Now that Kano has been buffed to an extent that he is beginning to become a larger part of the meta-game I'm now working on picking up Shang-Tsung as an alt to be used versus Kano players. (Both because I think he's a hard match-up as Kano and because post-soulsteal I'd simply be playing my main but w/ a big damage bonus over the opponent which sounds pretty boss...)

If you're a big fan of Zangief though I wonder if you wouldn't enjoy Sheeva. She's got a bit of a time getting in, no teleport, and about the worst fireball in the game but she's got the absolute best throw game out there in close and for every missed guess by the opponent you should be able to convert it to 35-50% every time with Sheeva no meter required.

Yeah Sheeva is tempting, but I have a weird thing about playing a chick toon. Never have and was hoping I never would have to ;D.

I too liked Kano's game, but his spin is so risky. I have the 360 version so I can't tell how much of a difference the patch made yet, but he is definitely a contender too. I just keep bouncing between characters, maybe I will give Sheeva a shot. I really really hate chick toons though =(.

Edit: My favorite characters to play in other games right now are ryu, akuma, wolverine, and I am learning zero, but ryu, akuma, and wolverine are def my favorites right now between sf4 and mvc3. So, I don't know if that helps determine who would be a good toon for me or not.

 

[Samsung Crunchy]

Ummm I like using villain characters. I don't know why but I just prefer them overall and usually their playstyle suits my style. Like in Tekken I mained Kazuya, in Soul Caliber I mained Cervantes, and I use Zangief in SF4.

 

[D.Barrett]

I love characters that can do rushdown or zone fairly well. But i have the most fun playing grappliers.

3rd Strike - Alex
SSF4 - Guile sub - Abel
SF2HDR - Guile
CVS2 - Guile, Joe, Haohmaru
MV3 - Task,Spencer,Doom
- Haggar, Wesker, Doom
KOF11 - Gato, Clark, K'
Melty Blood AA - C. Aoko
GuiltyGear Accent Core Plus - Potemkin
Tekken 5DR - Kazuya
Tekken 6 - Miguel sub Kazuya
UMK3 - Nightwolf
MK9 - Kano sub Nightwolf

Dabbled in alotta fighting games lol. For the record Ive mained Guile since Hyper Fighting.

 

[Organelle]

Ummm I like using villain characters. I don't know why but I just prefer them overall and usually their playstyle suits my style. Like in Tekken I mained Kazuya, in Soul Caliber I mained Cervantes, and I use Zangief in SF4.

Who is your mk main? I also main zangief and kazuya, so maybe your toons will mesh well with me. Can I assume your mains are shang tsung and kano or is that just a cool sig pic?

 

[Organelle]

I love characters that can do rushdown or zone fairly well. But i have the most fun playing grappliers.

3rd Strike - Alex
SSF4 - Guile sub - Abel
SF2HDR - Guile
CVS2 - Guile, Joe, Haohmaru
MV3 - Task,Spencer,Doom
- Haggar, Wesker, Doom
KOF11 - Gato, Clark, K'
Melty Blood AA - C. Aoko
GuiltyGear Accent Core Plus - Potemkin
Tekken 5DR - Kazuya
Tekken 6 - Miguel sub Kazuya
UMK3 - Nightwolf
MK9 - Kano sub Nightwolf

Dabbled in alotta fighting games lol. For the record Ive mained Guile since Hyper Fighting.

Well except for Kazuya, we think like opposites. So which characters do you hate most in mk9? Haha, maybe I will like them ;D

 

[Kwon]

Had to have coldpowers.

 

[smalltalk]

Also, I love characters that have "cheap" tactics.

THIS. Its so much fun to exploit cheap tactics in games even though it makes it terribly boring and annoying for the person you are playing against.

 

[Organelle]

Had to have coldpowers.

Yeah subzero's ice is always excellent for a control game. Unfortunately I think Scorpion is cooler. But with his limited options in responding to characters like ermac, I just cant justify maining him. As for sub zero, he is awesome, but I don't like his background story. Haha.

I have been playing a lot of scorpion though, and no matter how bad I want him to jive with my play style because of how cool he is, I can't seem to pull it off.

THIS. Its so much fun to exploit cheap tactics in games even though it makes it terribly boring and annoying for the person you are playing against.

As for cheap tactics, they can be fun. That was pretty much the role of my sentinel in mvc2 and my e.honda in sf2hdtr.

 

[Samsung Crunchy]

Who is your mk main? I also main zangief and kazuya, so maybe your toons will mesh well with me. Can I assume your mains are shang tsung and kano or is that just a cool sig pic?

I started with Shang and moved to Quan Chi then I went back to Shang. Been practicing with him lately trying react correctly with ground skulls.

 

[BookBurning]

My criteria in not only MK, but also every fighting game I've played has always been lame in a way but something I can't help because I find it entertaining.

I like to play a character that is rarely ever played, figure out what works with them and progress them past what most people expect from them. Obviously this isn't alway the case just because there are alot of intelligent players doing the same thing that figure out stuff before I do. But basically that's my criteria.

Also I like thinking my character is cool. Haha.

 

[Organelle]

I started with Shang and moved to Quan Chi then I went back to Shang. Been practicing with him lately trying react correctly with ground skulls.

Quan chi is an interesting character to me. Was he improved at all after the patch? Shang Tsung is also awfully tempting, but his mix up is terrible or I should say seems terrible seeing as how I suck right now ;D.

 

[Samsung Crunchy]

Quan chi is an interesting character to me. Was he improved at all after the patch? Shang Tsung is also awfully tempting, but his mix up is terrible or I should say seems terrible seeing as how I suck right now ;D.

To me, Quan Chi is sometimes difficult to read and he wasn't improved after the patch. He actually was hurt since it removed the Rune Trap. Shang requires different playstyle since he is the ultimate example of using his specials to create openings. He's slow with his strings and reach but his zoning game is spectacular and his Soul Steal move can be used at the end of most combos and is 100% safe on block.

 

[Organelle]

To me, Quan Chi is sometimes difficult to read and he wasn't improved after the patch. He actually was hurt since it removed the Rune Trap. Shang requires different playstyle since he is the ultimate example of using his specials to create openings. He's slow with his strings and reach but his zoning game is spectacular and his Soul Steal move can be used at the end of most combos and is 100% safe on block.

You make Shang sound awfully tempting. I like Quan Chi in Mk4 because of the difficulty he posed predictability wise though. But of the two you sound pretty convinced that Shang is better, so I will have to move him up the roster. The way you seem to use him sounds similar to my ryu/akuma game. (Yes I know those two have entirely different skill sets, but I still play a predominantly zoning game with both rather then a rush game with akuma)

Zoning just seems so difficult in mk with all the teleports. I guess instincts wise I was leaning towards a rush down or throw game (because of wolverine/zero/zangief), but maybe I should give zoning a more serious effort.