adjun, you are right. the volleyball launchers are not good from a tactical standpoint. i watched check vs fusion on youtube and the thing about the launchers is that they cannot be disguised for certain characters (major problem). as you stated, if i play subzero or scorpion there is no way for me to launch my opponent without jumping in the air vertically. however, by doing so, (as shown in check vs fusion) the other player will almost always do a breaker. the game really should have a launcher button similar to mvc3 or wallbounces like sf3. obviously, mk9 has more gameplay than the launcher, but the launcher is pretty integral to some cool combos, and the fact that you have to jump vertically with some characters to do the vball launcher doesn't look good, and you will usually get a breaker anyway. i was talking to orbofuncreation in private message and this is what i sent him:
i made up some gameplay for a theoretical 2d mk game.
2.i also made some theoretical gameplay elements that might work. mostly they're inspired by ex moves and wall and ground bouncing from sf3 and mvc3 and mk9.
so, in sf you can use two punches or two kicks to do an enhanced ex move right. and in mk9 you can also do enhanced specials, and in mvc3 there is a launcher button.
so i thought, you could have the original button layout: High punch, Low punch, Block, High kick, and Low kick. and you could have (High punch+Low punch) perform enhanced normals and specials and (High Kick+Low Kick) could also work. so like, if you were sub zero and you did ice freeze motion+(High punch+Low Punch) you could do an enhanced freeze or something, and the only way to block it would be to have enough meter to counter it. (edit) you could also have an enhanced freeze be blockable without meter, but just do big chip like super moves in sf. normal freeze would still do no chip *
i know mk9 already has enhanced specials.
i made up some theoretical combos too that would kinda be used like the launcher button in mvc3.
so like, Liu kang could do: enhanced flying kick(HK+LK) which could do a wall bounce, then standing punch, bicycle kick, fireball. the interesting thing is that with (HK+LK) you could keep LK down and release HK to charge bicycle kick throughout this whole combo.
Jax could do: (HK+LK) standing enhanced anti air kick wall bounce, release HK keep LK down, wave projectile with HK for juggle, release LK for ground pound when they hit the ground.
Reptile: reptile could jump in with a kind of target combo into (HP+LP) launcher, forceball, dash under, forceball, acid, jump kick, slide.
so the combos would still have an "mk" feel and you could do some the normal way, but you could have enhanced stuff for more skilled players.
you could still have breakers/counters and all of this could still use some kind of meter. i would just get rid of X-ray.
all mk9 has are enhanced specials, xray, and short target combos like: (ps3 buttons) square, square, back +triangle. there is some interesting juggling in mk9 9as shown by check), but it's nowhere near as good as even umk3. and i bet NRS nerfs the high damage combos that check found.
this match below is important because it is a precursor to how other pro players like check will play the game. i know it's the demo, but i have a feeling that other than damage scaling and meter building and a few frame changes that the demo will be exactly like the final game.
aesthetically, it really doesn't look good that the launcher must be preceded by a vertical jump, but who knows, maybe people will just get used to it.
