From: shulick@navajo.ucs.indiana.edu (Sam Hulick)
Subject: COMPLETE (pretty much) MORTAL KOMBAT GUIDE
Originator: shulick@navajo
Reply-To: shulick@navajo.ucs.indiana.edu
Organization: Vallen Software
Date: Sat, 26 Sep 1992 05:22:44 GMT

Hello, fellow money-wasters! :)  Not to brag, but I now consider myself an MK
expert (I've won twice).  So now, I've decided to write up THE COMPLETE guide
on moves, techniques, hints, and how to beat the living hell out of Goro and
Shang Tsung.  Throughout this guide, I'll mostly concentrate on Sub-Zero's
techniques, since that's the one character I've mastered.  (Spent about $60
practicing with him.)
By the way, I've retired! :)  No more MK for me, too expensive.

First, I'd like to do a little review of all the characters you can choose
from.  Note, these are generally opinions.

Cage
====
Not so good.  His ball-buster move can do lots of damage, and his sliding kick
can be pretty quick (if you can do it fast enough), but otherwise, I stay away
from him.  His lack of attacks make him pretty generic.

Kano
====
Vicious dude, but I never use him.  His spinning dive is almost always a sure
attack against low-level enemies (enemies at the bottom of the "Game Plan"),
and you can knife the wimps over and over again.  At higher levels, though,
Kano doesn't seem extremely powerful.  You have to rely on basic punches and
kicks, but occasionally you'll get away with knifing someone a few times in a
row or diving.

Raiden
======
Fair.  I notice that new MK players tend to pick Raiden, god knows why.  A good
thing is that his lightning attack always causes damage, even if blocked.  His
dive is nice, and the teleport is kind of hard to pull off if you haven't
practiced a lot.  An O.K. character.

Liu Kang
========
Liu is good mostly against low-level enemies.  At higher levels, his fire and
flying kick are almost ALWAYS blocked and counter-attacked.

Scorpion
========
Very good character.  His teleport punches really screw up low-level enemies,
but later on, the computer cheats by KNOWING when you do it.  I.e. as soon as
you teleport, Sub-Zero will freeze, or someone will throw a laser at you.  Very
cheap.  The harpoon, everyone likes. :)  His special attacks do lots of damage,
and I use him once in awhile in situations where Sub-Zero, for some reason,
won't do the job.

Sub-Zero
========
His best move, in my opinion, is his slide.  EXTREMELY useful in most
situations, and it can also be defensive, as it can get you out of sticky
situations with Goro.  The ice attack is very nice, too.  Later, I'll cover
techniques on freezing and sliding, and how to beat the enemy almost every
time.

Sonya
=====
Excellent to use against a human player.  I usually crouch and wait for them to
jump at me, then I uppercut them.  Or when they're in the air, I do her flying
attack and knock them out of the sky.  Another GREAT combo is first jump and
lowkick them, then when they're falling back, immediately leg-throw them.  Does
plenty of damage.

Ok, now for the moves list.  First, here's how the notation works:
examples:
HP+LP+--O  =  press highpunch, lowpunch, and hold right all at the same time.
LK,HP+-->  =  press lowpunch, then press high punch and tap right at same time
O--,LK+B   =  hold left, and then press lowkick and block at the same time.
^,V        =  tap up once, then tap down once
(H),<--,<--=  hold block and then tap left twice
(Note!  --> is TAP to the right, and --O means hold the joystick to the right)
Also note, below moves assume that you are facing the right.
AND note that the below moves may NOT be the ACTUAL moves, but if you follow
the instructions, they will work.  For instance, for Kano's knife, I just hold
down block and jiggle the joystick left and right.  It works, but I think it's
actually something like left then right + block.


Basic moves for all characters
==============================
leg sweep:            O--,LK
close-up attack:      --O,HP
punch at chest/neck:  LP
punch at face:        HP
kick around waist:    LK
kick around chest:    HK
vicious roundhouse:   O--,HK

uppercut:             |,HP/LP
                      O
throw:                --O,LP
crouch kick:          |,HK/LK
                      O


Cage
====
sliding kick:    O--,--O+LK
laser:           *SIGH* Sorry, this one escapes me.
ball-buster:     |,LP+B
                 O
fatality:        -->,-->,-->,HP
                 get as close to them as possible

Kano
====
throwing knife:  (H),O--,--O,O--,--O,repeat until thrown
                 (i.e. hold block and left+right continuously)
spinning dive:   rotate joystick towards enemy
                 (rotate clockwise if facing right)
spinning dive:   (H),rotate towards enemy
                 block is optional.  It's for better control.
fatality:        O--, /, |, \, --O+LP
                     O   O   O
                 get as close as possible

Raiden
======
dive:            <--,<--,-->
lightning:       |, \ + LP
                 O   O

                    O
teleport:        |, | ??
                 O

fatality:        Sorry, folks, don't know.  It's either one of these:
                 -->,-->,<--,<--,<--,HP
                 -->,-->,-->,<--,<--,HP

Liu Kang
========
fire bolt:       -->,-->,HP
flying kick:     -->,-->,HK
fatality:        spin joystick towards enemy (clockwise)

Scorpion
========
harpoon:         <--,<--,LP
teleport punch:  |, /, O--+HP
                 O O
fatality:        (H),^,^
                 get about 3.5 real inches away from enemy

Sub-Zero
========
slide:           O--,LP+B+LK

ice ball:        |, \, --O+LP
                 O   O

fatality:        |, \, --O+HP
                 O   O
                 get as close as possible

Sonya
=====
leg-throw:       |, LP+B+LK
                 O
laser rings:     <--,<--,LP (or HP?)
flying attack:   --O,O--+HP
fatality:        -->,-->,<--,<--,B
                 any distance


Ok, now onto techniques for killing low-level enemies.
The thing you might want to do most is forward flip towards the enemy with a
low kick.  The low-level enemy RARELY blocks this move.  Here, a few excellent
combos:

Sub-Zero
========
Freeze enemy, uppercut, forward flip with lowkick, then slide, back off, repeat
process.  Note, after uppercut, IMMEDIATELY forward flip with lowkick, and
after that kicks them down, IMMEDIATELY slide.

Sonya
=====
Forward flip with lowkick, then immediately leg-throw, backward flip, then
laser rings.
Leg sweep, then immediately leg-throw, backflip, laser.

For other characters, concentrate on jumping punches/kicks, or make up your own
new combos! :)

Now, the "excellent" combos above will not always work with higher-level
enemies who are towards the top of the Game Plan.  Concentrate more on generic
moves (plain kicks/punches) and lots of roundhouses.  (Sonya's "roundhouse" is
actually a back crescent kick, if you want to get technical.) :)

NOTE!!  The Mirror Match is actually the toughest match of the game.  If/when
you get past this, pat yourself on the back.

Winning the Mirror Match with Sub-Zero is NOT very easy at all.  A major
problem is that he'll try to freeze you when you:

   o  Jump backwards
   o  Slide
   o  Freeze him

He doesn't always do this, but in almost ALL cases, he will, and it's very
annoying.  Again, try to concentrate on generic moves, and don't jump around a
lot.  Also, if you want to freeze him, DO IT FROM A DISTANCE.  If you do,
you'll have more time to block his counter-freeze.  If you freeze up close,
he'll freeze you while you're still recovering.  The extra distance between you
two gives you more time to react.

Hints for getting past the Endurance rounds: for all characters.
For some reason, Endurance rounds can be VERY easy to win.  I noticed a pattern
that almost never fails.  (ALMOST).  And this is with all characters:

   1)   Forward flip with a lowkick
   1.5) Immediately slide after that (Sub-Zero only)
   2)   Backward flip
   3)   Wait until enemy gets in range
   4)   Repeat process

I got past all the Endurance rounds with this combo.  Sometimes, though,
they'll block both 1) and 1.5) and you have to wait to try again.

Another note about the Endurance rounds: When you waste Enemy #1, and Enemy #2
jumps out, they just stand there stupidly for a couple seconds.  Take
advantage of this and freeze them, or harpoon them, etc.


SUB-ZERO VS. GORO
=================
This is the winning technique I use.  Modify it to your style, but if you
pretty much follow what I have here, Goro's dead.

Round starts.  While Goro is showing off, get ready by holding back and
repeatedly pressing LP+B+LK (slide).  So, in a more readable notation:


BEGIN ROUND
|--------------------------------V
|                              Slide
|         |----- Succeed? -----~~~~~------ Fail? ------|
|         |                                            |
|  Backflip good distance  <---------------------------|<-----------------|
|  Prepare to freeze                                                      |
|         |                                                               |
|         -----------------------|                                        |
|                           Freeze Goro                                   |
|         |----- Succeed? --~~~~~~~~~~~--- Fail? ------|                  |
|         |                                     (fail due to blocking)    |
|  Uppercut him                                  Prepare to FF w/ LK      |
|  Prepare to forward                                  |                  |
|  flip with lowkick                                   |                  |
|         |                                            |                  |
|         --------------------|   |---------------------                  |
|                      Forward flip w/ lowkick                            |
|         |-- Succeed?-~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~- Fail? -|                  |
|         |                                            |                  |
-----------                                            |------------------|


Simple as that.  There's a glitch, though.  After you succeed with the forward
flip with lowkick, he may switch positions.  i.e. if he was facing left, he may
switch to the right.  Weird bug.  Just be aware of it so you don't mess up your
slide.


SUB-ZERO VS. SHANG TSUNG
========================

Sorry, but there's nothing I can say but: FIGHT.  He changes to different
characters, and you just have to fight it out.  HOWEVER, remember the Raiden
weakness?  Fighting Raiden, you can leg sweep him over and over again and he'll
never get up.  If Shang Tsung changes to Raiden, MOVE IN before he changes, and
keep sweeping.  Sure way to beat him.


Hope this helps.  If you have any questions at all, e-mail me at
shulick@indiana.edu, or post here.  Happy quarter-tossing!

-- 
Sam Hulick          | "The worst sin towards our fellow creatures is not to
shulick@indiana.edu | hate them, but to be indifferent to them: that's the
(NeXTmail welcome)  | essence of inhumanity."  --George Bernard Shaw