GameStop Manager's Conference 2010 Recap with Video!

Patrick McCarron

Patrick McCarron

TRMK Admin, Co-founder
Staff member
Last night was the big hands-on event at the <a href="http://www.trmk.org/news/13120/mk_2011_cabinets_unveiled_at_gamestop_managers_meeting.html">GameStop Manager's Conference</a>. Hundreds of GameStop mangers got their hands on <a href="http://www.trmk.org/games/mortal_kombat_9/">Mortal Kombat (2011)</a>. As Ed Boon <a href="https://twitter.com/noobde/status/22663227174">said on Twitter</a>, it was <b>"panda-f***ing-monium!!"</b> last night with a overly positive response from all who attended. We've since heard back from some friends who got to play the game for the first time. Below are some impressions and information from them:

<b>Trash</b> sent along a great breakdown of how the game played and handled:

The game plays soooo smooth. And its very fast, almost seemed too fast at first. Its like the RUN button is always on. It's not clunky like MK vs DC was. I asked Ed if Capcom made it, I don't think he liked that comment. LOL

Combos just seem to flow out so naturally, the possiblities for them seem endless. I won my match by using a simple standing double punch into a fireball juggle, then shadow kick. (that seems like a good 40%) Ed said the combo damage will be toned down drastically in the next build.

Seems you can <b>use your breaker to snap out of Scorpion's spear</b> before you are combo'd/hit. <b>Reptile does more damage while invisible</b>. Also saw, when Sektor vs Sektor, the <b>homing missles cancel each other out if done by both players at the same time</b>.

Also saw a Kung Lao player throw his hat, teleport kick opponent into oncoming hat, teleport again, into a 3 hit combo, finished off by a hat throw juggle! <b>That got applause from the crowd.</b>
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Another friend <b>JRF</b> gave us an overview of all the characters that he played as during the night:
<b>Scorpion</b> – His spear comes out very fast, and has a popup move with his blade and you can Teleport or Spear afterword. His old <b>Mortal Kombat 2 Leg Take Down</b> is really impressive, and can be linked at the end of a kombo. His Hellfire works as a nice stun move still.

<b>Reptile</b> – His <b>slowball is great for an easy juggle setup</b>, and almost seems to wait for you to use a few juggles. His fastball is quick and useful. He has a <b>quick dash</b> move that goes past you and elbows you on the other side like in <b>Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3</b>. His fast dash has really cool animation, where <b>he almost phases out of view</b>… really cool scifi looking. He also has the <b>acid spit</b> which is quick, and a <b>forward quick dash</b> that hits you from the front. I enjoyed playing as him.

<b>Kung Lao</b> – He seems more of a technical player. His moves are quick, and attacks different points in your body to keep you on your toes if you need to block high or low. His teleport has cool animation with wind swirling around. You can choose to just teleport or come out of it with a 2 legged jumping kick to push people back. His <b>straight hat throw can be guided</b>. He also has a hat throw <b>where he throws it at the ground and it bounces up</b>, hitting the person in mid air or when theyre walking up. This can be used in many ways, is a really cool move.

<b>Mileena</b> – She seems like another technical player. Her low game is quick, and she can go high and low to keep you guessing, and just roll under you quick or do her dropping kick. <b>She was my favorite to play as tonight.</b>

<b>Sub-Zero</b> - Didn't play as him, but his winning stance is kinda neat. The screen zooms out as he faces it, and shoots ice at it…you see ice crystals start to form around the screen.
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<b>Ed Boon also dropped a hint</b> regarding a certain mysterious red ninja's presence in the game:
Ed was speaking about balancing characters, and how it’s a hard process. I said “It must be hard balancing <b>Ermac</b> because of his telekinesis moves?" <b>Ed then smiled and said his moves are really cool.</b>
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Also because it's a Gamestop event, we got a bit of word on the <b>pre-order bonuses</b> and possible <b>console exclusive</b> content. I assume we'll get more official details on this as release date approaches.
The pre-order bonus for Gamestop will be a <b>DLC code for an additional stage</b> and a <b>tattoo sticker sheet</b> of some kind. Rumblings of the PS3 version getting an exclusive stage made for 3D.
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Before anyone gets up in arms about this, it's likely just a way to quickly unlock a stage that everyone will have access to and not something non-preorder fans would have to buy on their own.

Here is some photos and gameplay videos taken at the event. There is likely even more to come, so watch YouTube, as a lot of people were filming and taking photos at the event. Sadly one of our friends had his camera stolen at the event by a fellow GameStop employee, and thusly couldn't get any pictures for us. Luckily <b>JRF</b> did manage to get a few photos, including Ed Boon playing the game on the big stage screen. He also managed to get two gameplay videos which we tossed up on the <a href="http://www.youtube.com/trmk">TRMK YouTube account</a> and embedded below.

<center><a href="http://www.trmk.org/images/mk9/GameStop_Crowd_Stage.jpg" target="gamestop"><img src="http://www.trmk.org/images/mk9/GameStop_Crowd_Stage_sm.jpg" class="newslink"></a> <a href="http://www.trmk.org/images/mk9/GameStop_Cyrax_vs_Scorpion.jpg" target="gamestop"><img src="http://www.trmk.org/images/mk9/GameStop_Cyrax_vs_Scorpion_sm.jpg" class="newslink"></a> <a href="http://www.trmk.org/images/mk9/GameStop_Ed_Boon_Mortal_Kombat.jpg" target="gamestop"><img src="http://www.trmk.org/images/mk9/GameStop_Ed_Boon_Mortal_Kombat_sm.jpg" class="newslink"></a><br/>
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Check back later today as we announce our contest in which you can win <a href="http://yfrog.com/jtw1kej">a great prize package</a> which includes the super rare <a href="http://www.trmk.org/news/12995/mkast_to_return_giveaway_mortal_kombat_e3_tshirts.html">E3 2010 Fatality Shirt</a>.
 
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Awesome stuff! Cyrax looks really decent, as do the rest. I think the best thing about this game currently, is how each fighter just looks like they feel and play so differently from one another. They all seem so unique, which furthers the desire to play as them all IMO.
 
Also JRF sent along the button configuration which we haven't seen posted up anywhere else in detail:

One Button Fatality Mode - Triangle at the proper distance for the Fatality. It is likely enabled for the PAX build this weekend too.

R1 - Throw

R2 - Block

F+Block - Breaker

L1 - No function?

L2 - Change Stance. You basically change to a goofy foot stance, but doesn’t effect anything else. You can change back at forth at will. It would be cool if the move-set changed when changing stance…perhaps that will be an addition for more moves added…or perhaps not?

Triangle, Square, Circle, X - Attack buttons
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The gameplay is TERRIFIC.

I want to know more about Mileena, her combos, if NS change her xray (pretty generic on the first demo). Im glad she is a technical player, i want to know more!

Thanks a lot!
 
Man those guys playing were terrible. I can't imagine the controls are much different from MKvDC. Nobody even used any combos! Every free hit offered by a spear or freeze was an uppercut! This isn't MKII people!

Complaints on the attendees skill levels aside, the game looks really great and I'm sure I'll get many hours of enjoyment out of it.
 
Glamador,

It played almost exactly like a cracked out MK2. There arent really chain dial a kombos in this one. You really need to create your own chains.
 
Awesome! Everything looks fantastic.

Still no clarification on how the attacks are laid out, though. Can anyone confirm that either the punches are on the left with the kicks on the right, like the classic setup, or that punches are on top with kicks on the bottom, similar to the more recent games?
 
One Button Fatality Mode - Triangle at the proper distance for the Fatality. It is likely enabled for the PAX build this weekend too.

R1 - Throw

R2 - Block

F+Block - Breaker

L1 - No function?

L2 - Change Stance. You basically change to a goofy foot stance, but doesn’t effect anything else. You can change back at forth at will. It would be cool if the move-set changed when changing stance…perhaps that will be an addition for more moves added…or perhaps not?

R1 and R2 together was X-ray

Triangle, Square, Circle, X - Attack buttons
 
This game looks ****ing great.

Also, confirmation on the control scheme would be amazing. I've wondered for a long time if it's like MK2 (Punches are X and Square, kicks are triangle and O.) or MKvsDCU (Punches are Square and Triangle, Kicks are X and O.)
 
That is so AWESOME!!! I think the Desert has a stage fatality. I mean I sould Sub-Zero somehow falling down after his defeat.
 
What's wrong with that? There are no top, bottom, left, or right sets of buttons on modern controllers. There's 4 buttons in a diamond shape. Where did you want punch? I like punches to be on Square and Triangle with kicks on X and Circle.
 
Glamador said:
What's wrong with that? There are no top, bottom, left, or right sets of buttons on modern controllers. There's 4 buttons in a diamond shape. Where did you want punch? I like punches to be on Square and Triangle with kicks on X and Circle.
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I'm talking about where the buttons for, say, UMK3 would land on such a layout. I don't care enough to have the PS layout memorized, but essentially, on an Xbox/Dreamcast/SNES controller, X and Y correspond with the top row while A and B correspond with the bottom. I figured that was easy enough to see. The "classic" MK layout would place the punches on X and A with the kicks on Y and B (ignoring the SNES for this example since the buttons are in reverse order). I had hopes that, with the emphasis on returning to roots and the announcement that attacks would be labeled similarly to the classic games, the layout would mirror that emphasis in order to come full-circle as far as getting the "feeling" of the classics down.

Basically, I thought it would be cool to have the X button function like a high punch, even if it wasn't labeled precisely that way. With this layout, though, it's not likely to work that way. This is more of the layout you get from Capcom/SNK games (and the last few MKs), as oppose to the one that was unique to MK. So yeah, because of that I'm kind of disappointed. I'll deal.
 
This was just posted on the Mortal Kombat FB page. Nothing really new/different aside from the 360 controllers and that the cabs appear to be double-sided. Seems like this was a rumor, so I guess this confirms it. The post doesn't say where it was taken, but I'm assuming its set-up for PAX.

2pqvm6h.jpg
 
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