I put together this guide to everything that I found the most challenging in the Challenge Tower. I have completed both the Story Mode and Challenge Tower to 100% and can provide you with the tricks I learned by trial and error. If you get stuck feel free to leave me a message in this post or here: http://www.gameinformer.com/members/nomercy85/default.aspx
Flawless Victory on Goro with any character!
You want to jump over his head and immediately uppercut him in the back when you land. If you take too long to attack after you land, he will interrupt your attack and you will get destroyed. You need to begin the attack the very second you hit the ground. You can do specific combos for more damage but only certain combos will work. Never try and flat out attacking him while he is facing you, but you can attack him from his front side if you jumped over from his back side when he is doing a ground pound. Double dash up to him within grabbing distance whenever he does his 2 punch combo and goes across the screen. His attacks are so slow that he will never hit you if you follow the pattern and keep jumping over him.
This strategy will help you a ton on tower challenge #185 where you have to fight Sheeva, Goro and Kintaro back to back. Against Kintaro remember to jump and attack when he does his teleport stomp to avoid getting hit. I made it easier by saving my X-ray meter the whole time until I reached Kintaro because Goro and Sheeva are easy. Against Sheeva just get in close and use any of your specials because her moves are a lot slower than Baraka's so you can pretty much just spam something like down forward square and you'll only ever get hit by like a sweeping kick.
This strategy will also DESTROY challenge #275 where you have to fight 3 Goros back to back with 1 health bar that doesn't refill. Just do not get lazy. Always double dash right into his face, flip over and uppercut him in the back. There is very little room for error or slowness, but it's easy enough if you use this strategy.
Tshang Tsung vs Shao Khan (Challenge #250&251)
I found it easiest to keep a full screen distance away from Shao Kahn and just repeatedly hit him with the skull projectile (back, back, square) The attack he does seems to be based off his distance away from you. He will be more likely to throw a few hammers that you can jump over if he is close to the edge of his side of the screen. Just keep shooting skulls make sure to upgrade your skull projectile whenever you have enough xray meter built up. It will shoot off 3 skulls instead of one which can really help knock him back.
Both Baraka and Sindel are pushovers with this strategy especially if you use Soul Capture (forward, down, back, X + R2) at the beginning of the match to do extra damage. The move has a lot of range and if they block it then you get a lot of extra meter. Against Shao Kahn i'd just focus on keeping him on his edge of the screen though.
Stryker vs Shao Kahn x 3 (Challenge #269)
This is actually a really easy challenge. Start off the match by spamming the move Roll Toss (back, forward, circle). You can usually repeat it if he blocks it the first time. This will create a good distance between you and Shao Kahn to spam Gun Shot (back, forward, square) which will interrupt Kahn's moves and knock him back. The only move it does not interrupt is his hammer toss so make sure you jump straight up over every hammer or you're screwed.
Save your X-ray meter for the 2nd Kahn that jumps on the screen and use it immediately because he will always pop on the screen right next to you. Repeat the strategy above. If Kahn ever gets too close to you use the Roll Toss move again to create some distance again. Also if you happen to have full X-ray meter and he blocks your Roll Toss, then that's a perfect time to use your X-ray move (which will even counter Shao Kahn's X-ray if you happen to do them at the same time). If you don't have any meter when the 3rd Kahn pops up then be ready to spam Roll Toss to give yourself some room again.
FAILPROOF ENDGAME Strategy (Challenge #300)
I chose to use Liu Kang. It is possible to get a flawless victory on all 4 fights using this strategy.
Vs Goro: Same strategy as above for the flawless Goro kills. Keep jumping over his head. Also if you see him start to do the ground pound, jump infront of him a second time to avoid the ground damage. Instead of just using uppercut after i jumped over him, I found it was more advantageous to use the combo Lotus Furry (x, x, circle). You can follow this up with a low fireball while he's on the ground and pull it off, but i think it's easier to use that time to dash towards him instead. The time it takes to do the fireball while he's on the ground is enough sometimes to put you at risk of getting hit by his x-ray or fireballs when he recovers. The combo alone still does more damage than an uppercut.
I'm sure there are other combos that could be used with other characters as well, but you have to make sure it A.) does more damage than the uppercut and B.) cannot be interrupted mid combo. It just needs to be something that sends them to kiss the ground consistently. Raiden's combo Sudden Energy (triangle, triangle, forward+square) is another example of a good combo to use. It is essential that you do the combo as soon as you land on the ground after jumping over him otherwise it'll get interrupted and you will get smacked! You cannot be slow.
Sometimes you may just want to use the uppercut for its speed though. You need to use your judgement. For example if he does his 2 punch combo and you double dash after him that's when i would use the uppercut instead of the combo. But if he is taunting or doing an uppercut while you jump over him then he is in what i like to refer to as "Komboland" and you should take him for a ride.
DO NOT WASTE YOUR XRAY METER ON GORO.
Vs Kintaro: Immediately spam your X-ray as the fight begins and it will connect. After the xray move, it will place you around jumping distance away from him.You should be doing fast low fireballs at this time. In terms of speed, you should be inputting the buttons for the next fireball right when the first one hits him. But have some balls and don't do them nervously or randomly because you need to be reacting to his movements more than anything. This is a 4 fighter endurance challenge so don't forget that.
I don't believe you need to move from the initial position it places you in because he will typically do a teleport after you've gotten off around 2 fireballs on him. It is crucial that you jump straight up and nail him with a kick to send him flying back to the opposite side of the screen when he does his teleport stomp.
Ideally you want to be the entire screen away from him to give yourself more time to react to his horizontal fireballs and so you can continue shooting fireballs at him. If you manage to kick him away while he tries to teleport stomp you, it will create that distance. When he is at the exact opposite side of the screen he will only do 2 moves that can hit you (which are the teleport stomp and his horizontal fireball) so this is the distance you want to keep him at the entire duration of the fight to keep him predictable and allow yourself to counter him. He is also more likely to taunt you at this distance when you jump away which is great for free hits.
If he starts moving towards you and gets too close then you need to jump backwards because he has a breath of fire move as well as a ground fireball move that will hit you 3 consecutive times.You can pretty much say good bye and retry if you get hit by them.You also want to try and time your low fireballs so that when Kintaro does a horizontal fireball, you're character ducks it. You'll build up an xray meter again fairly fast with all the fireballs you put out.
If he gets advances on you while you're in the corner of the map then you'll need to try and jump over him to get to the opposite side of the screen again.
Vs. Mileena: Jump backwards away from her as the fight begins and keep shooting low fireballs at her. If she gets close to you, uppercut her away. Watch out for her dive kick. Low fireballs will again allow you to duck her projectile as well.
Vs. Shao Kahn: For Kahn you need to jump over him and into the opposite corner when he gets too close and keep the low fireball pressure on him. Jump over the hammers.
I'll probably update this as i perfect it, but this works for completing the challenge anyways. I really want to try and do the whole thing flawless to see if there's a secret reward. It would be crazy if either Skarlettt or Tanya was unlockable if you could pull it off since they are both chained up in the background with Shao Kahn
Hope these tips help save you some time. If you'd like to thank me, i'd totally appreciate some retro codes for PSN. You could email em to progamingson85@yahoo.com if you have any extra, but i mostly just put this together because i love Mortal Kombat. Good luck.
Flawless Victory on Goro with any character!
You want to jump over his head and immediately uppercut him in the back when you land. If you take too long to attack after you land, he will interrupt your attack and you will get destroyed. You need to begin the attack the very second you hit the ground. You can do specific combos for more damage but only certain combos will work. Never try and flat out attacking him while he is facing you, but you can attack him from his front side if you jumped over from his back side when he is doing a ground pound. Double dash up to him within grabbing distance whenever he does his 2 punch combo and goes across the screen. His attacks are so slow that he will never hit you if you follow the pattern and keep jumping over him.
This strategy will help you a ton on tower challenge #185 where you have to fight Sheeva, Goro and Kintaro back to back. Against Kintaro remember to jump and attack when he does his teleport stomp to avoid getting hit. I made it easier by saving my X-ray meter the whole time until I reached Kintaro because Goro and Sheeva are easy. Against Sheeva just get in close and use any of your specials because her moves are a lot slower than Baraka's so you can pretty much just spam something like down forward square and you'll only ever get hit by like a sweeping kick.
This strategy will also DESTROY challenge #275 where you have to fight 3 Goros back to back with 1 health bar that doesn't refill. Just do not get lazy. Always double dash right into his face, flip over and uppercut him in the back. There is very little room for error or slowness, but it's easy enough if you use this strategy.
Tshang Tsung vs Shao Khan (Challenge #250&251)
I found it easiest to keep a full screen distance away from Shao Kahn and just repeatedly hit him with the skull projectile (back, back, square) The attack he does seems to be based off his distance away from you. He will be more likely to throw a few hammers that you can jump over if he is close to the edge of his side of the screen. Just keep shooting skulls make sure to upgrade your skull projectile whenever you have enough xray meter built up. It will shoot off 3 skulls instead of one which can really help knock him back.
Both Baraka and Sindel are pushovers with this strategy especially if you use Soul Capture (forward, down, back, X + R2) at the beginning of the match to do extra damage. The move has a lot of range and if they block it then you get a lot of extra meter. Against Shao Kahn i'd just focus on keeping him on his edge of the screen though.
Stryker vs Shao Kahn x 3 (Challenge #269)
This is actually a really easy challenge. Start off the match by spamming the move Roll Toss (back, forward, circle). You can usually repeat it if he blocks it the first time. This will create a good distance between you and Shao Kahn to spam Gun Shot (back, forward, square) which will interrupt Kahn's moves and knock him back. The only move it does not interrupt is his hammer toss so make sure you jump straight up over every hammer or you're screwed.
Save your X-ray meter for the 2nd Kahn that jumps on the screen and use it immediately because he will always pop on the screen right next to you. Repeat the strategy above. If Kahn ever gets too close to you use the Roll Toss move again to create some distance again. Also if you happen to have full X-ray meter and he blocks your Roll Toss, then that's a perfect time to use your X-ray move (which will even counter Shao Kahn's X-ray if you happen to do them at the same time). If you don't have any meter when the 3rd Kahn pops up then be ready to spam Roll Toss to give yourself some room again.
FAILPROOF ENDGAME Strategy (Challenge #300)
I chose to use Liu Kang. It is possible to get a flawless victory on all 4 fights using this strategy.
Vs Goro: Same strategy as above for the flawless Goro kills. Keep jumping over his head. Also if you see him start to do the ground pound, jump infront of him a second time to avoid the ground damage. Instead of just using uppercut after i jumped over him, I found it was more advantageous to use the combo Lotus Furry (x, x, circle). You can follow this up with a low fireball while he's on the ground and pull it off, but i think it's easier to use that time to dash towards him instead. The time it takes to do the fireball while he's on the ground is enough sometimes to put you at risk of getting hit by his x-ray or fireballs when he recovers. The combo alone still does more damage than an uppercut.
I'm sure there are other combos that could be used with other characters as well, but you have to make sure it A.) does more damage than the uppercut and B.) cannot be interrupted mid combo. It just needs to be something that sends them to kiss the ground consistently. Raiden's combo Sudden Energy (triangle, triangle, forward+square) is another example of a good combo to use. It is essential that you do the combo as soon as you land on the ground after jumping over him otherwise it'll get interrupted and you will get smacked! You cannot be slow.
Sometimes you may just want to use the uppercut for its speed though. You need to use your judgement. For example if he does his 2 punch combo and you double dash after him that's when i would use the uppercut instead of the combo. But if he is taunting or doing an uppercut while you jump over him then he is in what i like to refer to as "Komboland" and you should take him for a ride.
DO NOT WASTE YOUR XRAY METER ON GORO.
Vs Kintaro: Immediately spam your X-ray as the fight begins and it will connect. After the xray move, it will place you around jumping distance away from him.You should be doing fast low fireballs at this time. In terms of speed, you should be inputting the buttons for the next fireball right when the first one hits him. But have some balls and don't do them nervously or randomly because you need to be reacting to his movements more than anything. This is a 4 fighter endurance challenge so don't forget that.
I don't believe you need to move from the initial position it places you in because he will typically do a teleport after you've gotten off around 2 fireballs on him. It is crucial that you jump straight up and nail him with a kick to send him flying back to the opposite side of the screen when he does his teleport stomp.
Ideally you want to be the entire screen away from him to give yourself more time to react to his horizontal fireballs and so you can continue shooting fireballs at him. If you manage to kick him away while he tries to teleport stomp you, it will create that distance. When he is at the exact opposite side of the screen he will only do 2 moves that can hit you (which are the teleport stomp and his horizontal fireball) so this is the distance you want to keep him at the entire duration of the fight to keep him predictable and allow yourself to counter him. He is also more likely to taunt you at this distance when you jump away which is great for free hits.
If he starts moving towards you and gets too close then you need to jump backwards because he has a breath of fire move as well as a ground fireball move that will hit you 3 consecutive times.You can pretty much say good bye and retry if you get hit by them.You also want to try and time your low fireballs so that when Kintaro does a horizontal fireball, you're character ducks it. You'll build up an xray meter again fairly fast with all the fireballs you put out.
If he gets advances on you while you're in the corner of the map then you'll need to try and jump over him to get to the opposite side of the screen again.
Vs. Mileena: Jump backwards away from her as the fight begins and keep shooting low fireballs at her. If she gets close to you, uppercut her away. Watch out for her dive kick. Low fireballs will again allow you to duck her projectile as well.
Vs. Shao Kahn: For Kahn you need to jump over him and into the opposite corner when he gets too close and keep the low fireball pressure on him. Jump over the hammers.
I'll probably update this as i perfect it, but this works for completing the challenge anyways. I really want to try and do the whole thing flawless to see if there's a secret reward. It would be crazy if either Skarlettt or Tanya was unlockable if you could pull it off since they are both chained up in the background with Shao Kahn
Hope these tips help save you some time. If you'd like to thank me, i'd totally appreciate some retro codes for PSN. You could email em to progamingson85@yahoo.com if you have any extra, but i mostly just put this together because i love Mortal Kombat. Good luck.