The Mortal Kombat Reboot Trilogy: Each Game Plays Quite Differently From The Last With The Dial-A-Combos

It's no secret that I don't long to play the first eight Mortal Kombat games. I also feel the 3D era was one massive deception, especially Mortal Kombat Deception. I played Mortal Kombat (2011) and Mortal Kombat Trilogy has lost its appeal. I think Mortal Kombat II has been massively overhyped for some time since the franchise was launched to much higher heights overshadowing the first game. I got hyped with Mortal Kombat X and Mortal Kombat 11. There were some gameplay mechanics that remained (such as the use of Tekken's use of one button assigned per limb default attack scheme, the sweeps and uppercuts, and the fatalities. 

What may be good (or bad) is how MK deals with the Dial-A-Combo which was blatantly copied from the Tekken series? Unlike Street Fighter, Tekken requires players to memorize certain combos. The system was copied into Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance and has stuck with MK ever since. The difference was MK (2011) up to the present removed multiple fighting styles (which didn't really add depth IMHO) and went back to 2D fighting plane. It's because MK's game mechanics can only fit better with 3D graphics but not 3D gameplay. 

As a Liu Kang fanboy, I'd say that I was kind of ticked with the changes. I didn't mind some mechanics changing. However, what ticked me off was that dial-a-combos kept changing PER GAME. Yes, I could even remember how I enjoyed using Liu Kang's Fierce Tiger combo a lot in MK (2011). However, I wanted it in MKX because I wanted to have a long, easy combo to do a Stage Brutality at the Kove. Instead, I had to learn things AGAIN. The same happened in Mortal Kombat 11 where the dial-a-combos have been revised. I wonder what's with that?

Some can say it keeps gaming fresh. Yet, I do feel that it can be a downside for MK. Again, I could be biased because I prefer Tekken better. It's no secret that I'm going to miss Tekken Tag Tournament 2 more than I'll miss MK (2011). If I had to get rid of one game between Tekken TT2 or MK (2011) - I'd say it would be MK (2011) if there were no other options. I think it's because I kinda like how each dial-a-combo in Tekken has been trademarked and then new styles are added. I think Namco did better when they gave Jin his own identity by giving him a new fighting style. Meanwhile, some of Kazuya's dial-a-combos are still with him. I wonder why hasn't NetherRealm thought of making certain dial-a-combo trademarked with every character? I feel Scorpion's combo that ended with a flip kick should've been trademarked. I think Liu Kang's beginner three-hit combo should've been trademarked. Instead, none of them were. 

Sure, I enjoyed playing all of the reboot trilogy. I'd also say I preferred playing MKX and MK11 over the rather disappointing IMHO Tekken 7. Meanwhile, I think Tekken 7 still gave me some enjoyment because there's some familiarity. Sure, I can b*tch about how Tekken 7 lacks single-player content compared to Tekken 6. I was even expecting it to be better than MKX but failed. I could still whip out Kazuya or Jin with very little effort. Meanwhile, I had to remaster Liu Kang in EVERY. SINGLE. REBOOT. GAME. because the dial-a-combos were hardly trademarked into each other. There could've been ways to balance some broken combos. For example, Liu Kang's Fierce Tiger combo could be toned down since it was too powerful. Instead, NetherRealm decided to keep changing the dial-a-combo for some reason. 

Right now, I can only speculate that they want to keep players busy memorizing new sets. Yet, I don't think the people at NetherRealm see the charm that the Tekken series has with trademarking certain combos. Can you imagine Heihachi not having his trademark dial-a-combo moves? I felt the same way when playing as Shang Tsung in MK11 not having some dial-a-combos he had in MK (2011). I guess this is where the MK reboot loses to Tekken. I may not have enjoyed Tekken 7 but Tekken 6 and Tekken TT2 were both more enjoyable than the reboot trilogy combined.