Was an honour, brother. Thank you.

A 2 hour Tom AND Mike podcast? lets go!

i shit you not! i was just listening to some tom brady videos on my lunch break when i stumbled upon mike's videos and i said to myself, "man i really wish this mike person would be a guest on tom's video" thirty minutes later, i see this video pop up lmao

Mkx was the last time that I could tell who was playing (Sometimes) in a tournament just by looking at how the character is fighting

“If you listen to the fans you’ll be next to them” 🔥🔥

This podcast episode is the fgc equivalent of Shaq and Kobe linking up for the first time

I never get tired of Tom talking about how bad MK has gotten cause it’s in a sad state

Recently discovered Mike and really enjoy his measured no nonsense approach to the fighting game scene. This should be a good listen...

I’m convinced Tom never gets tired of talking

Iconic crossover

Sonic fox mkx erron black had its own personality Hayatei mkx ronin takeda had its own personality Kitana prime kitana has its own personality Soo many players had a character identity Mkx had the greatest freedom of expression mortal kombat will never be the same

NRS should've known they didn't have time to create an assist game. The fact that 3 Kameos are characters that are also characters in the main roster (Sub Zero, Scorpion, Kung Lao) should've been enough for them to say let's just build up on MK11 instead of starting from scratch. Long Live Tekken

I fully agree with Mike when he said MK is not a serious fighting game, I love MK but he's right, the proof is right in our faces. Look at MK1, you can be unsafe and keep yourself safe, absolutely no risk involved, it's an auto pilot game.

Both yall made vids clowning True Under Dawg💀

I adore long form podcasts, can’t wait to listen to this

Neither you Tom, nor Mike can stop me from watching this on both your channels. 😆

This was an incredible talk. Thank you two for putting it together. MK as an IP has so much potential that feels wasted. I hope they do go back to the drawing board and make a foundation they can build upon. There are so many directions they could go, but it needs depth. I want to feel powerful, but more importantly, I don't want to feel like every other person using my character. They have done this backwards. The cameos and switching moves in X/11 where a way to make your character more unique, but that's not the same as playing a character your own way.

For me...MK is a content driven game...story, character work, and genuine intrugre...whereas SF is an ACTUAL fighting game. And for me it shows...MK puts a lot of stock on "Guest" characters, where SF may not have "popular" characters, but you keep going back because the core is still there with a new mechanic added. (ie super bar, ex bar, focus attack, DI ect...) my humble opinion.

I agree with Mike. I absolutely love Tekken Tag2 probably my second favorite Tekken and I'm what two gentlemen would probably consider a casual player but I played the hell out of that game with a team of Zafina and Lili. it was fun customizable from characters to music and the game play was phenomenal to me.

Wow this was a dream of a collaboration between you guys! The two most honest voices of the current state of NRS titles and I couldn’t agree more with your sentiments and opinions to get this franchise back in shape to where they were. Hope to see more talk’s with you and Mike in the future GREAT PODCAST

Game recognizing game! I listen to both of your channels daily, whatta collab!

Let's go thanks for your powerful insight

Bruh the Flip Stance button LMAO

1:46 Man hearing "I can't control it !"was the sign the match just turned into a bossfight. X factor was insane but I still kinda love it

That was a great chat! Enjoyable and keeping it real. GGs.

Love Mike and Toms content. Shouts out to y’all man

That was the best 2 hours 4 minutes & 36 seconds of my life, both of you guys have vast knowledge on how fighting games work & should work, I’m a regular on tom brady channel now I’m also a mike hollow fan, mad respect to both you guys🫡

NRS needs to improve the music department too. The past few games don’t feel dynamic enough.

Real MK Tom Brady for president, Hollow for vice president

Kind of hard to follow the conversation. Found myself immersed with some good ass TEKKEN playing in the background.

Such a geat conversation this was 👏

"Supers" were pioneered by SNK's Art of Fighting (1992) -- called "desperation moves", they required 100% spirit meter (another innovation by said game), and player HP to be at or below 10%. That is, even though the ability could remove up to 100% HP, and was unblockable, it was so situational and risky (if a character was hit in the slow starting animation of a "DM", it would be a guaranteed K. O.), it was as far from a "crutch" as could possibly be. Since then, super moves have more and more become comeback crutches -- especially in the context of how lenient their input commands have gotten (if they have any input command at all) -- and combo related tools (enders or extenders). This has not only dulled a lot of sheen ("hype") from using these abilities (because any scrub can mash them out, and does); but, because "supers" have become so garishly cinematic and disconnected from the core gameplay of the games, that they have actually broken a lot of the gameplay flow. In SF6, for example, the level 1 and 2 supers are as close to "normal" super as there have been for a generation; while, its "Critical Art" super (level 3) is tantamount to a cut-scene comeback crutch, and more reminiscent of MK's "Fatal Blow", than a pure super move. This is another in a litany of negative offshoots of the simplification (common euphemisms: "exclusivity", "accessibility") of a game genre that was conceived from a womb of complexity. For one cannot turn all chess pieces into queens, just to help those who cannot grasp the complexity of chess pieces, without destroying the game itself.

Tom killin it w/ the content lately

Mike Hollow is my favorite man!!!

Really good watch, shout-outs to nick nicastro that dudes a beast. I do agree with a lot in this video, I have a lot of the same gameplay philosophies as Tom with wanting to increase the power level drastically. Whether NRS will make those changes for MK 1 I’m not sure, but if not MK 1 I really hope the next MK game has a MK9 feel and visuals and they build up from there

You guys got me excited for mortal kombat 6 when they figure their ish out

Mike is really out here fr, Mans is intelligent I’m glad he’s getting the recognition he deserves

Thank you for the stream my lord

Rightly or wrongly it’s clear that the NRS/WB business model isn’t competition. It’s create something that looks cool, with guest character from lots of loved franchises to get people to buy the game. All fighting games have a bit of this, it’s fine, they need to make money but you can tell the difference in the way they market their pro tours Tekken - offline only to maintain competitive integrity and make the events more hype, trailers drop for TWT, TWT used as a hype train to debut new character trailers, harada and Murray making regular appearances. KOF: obviously less big but the devs help sponsor and promote smaller tournaments to get people playing Capcom: literally put up 1 million dollars. Went a different direction to Tekken and had lots of online tournaments but also through the world warrior program literally tried to incentivise everyone to compete and try and reach capcom cup. NRS? Basically nothing. Each of these franchises has issues with things like dlc prices or in game stores or whatever but at a core level it feels the devs of Tekken and Street fighter, and indeed SNK for KOF and arcsys want people to play their games competitively, they want people to have fun at every level but they also want to see what top players can squeeze out of these characters, on going balance and tournament support. With NRS I don’t get that as much, MK1 feels like a very good looking shop to me. Buy it, look at it, have fun but dont look too deeply or ask too many questions

Enjoyed the discourse

I love your takes tom you the peoples champ! I hate how players who main broken characters gaslight u into thinking u just not trying hard enough. Mk needs to go back to its roots. Bring back that shaolin monks/deadly alliance atmosphere with the best parts of all their past games and add some of the features that makes their competitors relevant.

Buy Peacemaker, who’s merely a re-skinned DLC from previous games 🤣😩

i havent even watched it yet but i know this is a certified fgc banger

“Makoto was dogshit until this one guy beat the crap out of us”. Damn hearing that is crazy, early times for a new game especially 3s must have been crazy.

Listening to Tom and Mike so eloquently construct their argument with purpose and clarity is such a refreshing take after listening to Fate ramble on about how bad the game is over the last few months

This is good Tom keep it up !!

NRS just makes baffling decisions I’ve always hated NRS zoning

Thank you.

Ooh looking forward to this while i grind azucena combos

Damn this was a fine vid on mk. Listening to the whole thing while playing Tekken 8 ironically. The thing is capcom n namco try their best to support their games. Even when sfv was hot garrrabage, capcom try their best improve over the years. Yes progress was slow but sfv is in much better state than at release. Namco support tekken 7 for years as well. Although Im not a fan of t7 at least they tried. NRS abandons their games like after year. They dont try to improve, solve or at least lessen the impact of their weird mistakes. Keep the good work up Brady.

The only wise decision for WB rn is to remove Ed Boon from NRS and put Tom in his place.

NRS are kind of in the same boat as ubisoft is with Assassins creed. They built a legendary franchise that will sell no matter what but their games have slowly gotten more and more shallow and filled with microtransactions. Just like ubisoft they still always nail the graphics and the atmosphere. The other aspect are just average sadly. I sometimes feel like they put combo strings directly in the game based on different difficulties while games like Tekken and SF offer such a great and balanced base game with a variety of different attacks and combos, so players can form different strings just naturally

Great dialog

Heck yeah another Tom Brady 1+ hour podcast let’s goooo 👍🏼

2 Goats

I'm not surprised that this happened.

Only 2 people that i listen to now about MK

Idea: The reverse 3-0’s in KL were so satisfying and something I’ll miss. loved ft3 but I feel like instead of compromising that mode, they should’ve just added another game mode where it was ft3, but you can reject the re-match. It can be for character rankings for those of us who want it. I feel we don’t think of this because part of us already gave up on nrs adding new game modes; we have been conditioned to compromise and the proof is how they butchered KL’s ft3.

WE NEED RUNNING AND RUN CANCELS BACK

1:33:24 bruh ive been saying this for years. why does no one move their chest or shoulders to do anything?? why does no one bend their knees to jump while having a 7ft vertical? the animation has always been jarring to look at and i cant believe they've gotten this far with it

Reminder that after all the great reviews and gaining the goodwill of SF6 & MK1 fans who where pissed that their games got MXT, namco announced MXT out of nowhere. Just waiting for guys to piont that out, cause that was really shitty how namco announced that.

They need to let you unlock 10 items at a time at the shrine. Like the fishing in GGST.

DAMN, the Nitro comparison to MK’s franchise now was hilarious yet unfortunately spot on, Tek. and SF is now WWE & ECW in the late 90s while Nitro was slowly going out of business badly after starting off white hot

I haven’t clicked but classic brady rant already just checked out Mike as well recently love how he articulates

He had them in mk4

DeteoitBallin Shang was the most entertaining ❤

I played a Baraka Kano team and a Shao Frost team that have no way to escape a knock down. After the matches I watched them. There were times I tried to do my cameo get up that says it has armor but doesn’t work. Then there are characters like Reptile and Lu Kang that have armor wake ups that work every time. Some characters have moves that work and some that don’t. Some characters have a 300+ 8 hit combo for one bar. Some have… etc… the game is unbalanced. Unfinished and dead. And guys like TUG are just pandering because they are paid to do so. There is no way to prove that he isn’t.

Great listen fate must be jelous

I was a kotal main from the beginning in MKX and they murdered my boy in the last patch

While I've been a long time MK fan from the 90's when it started, I also agree with a lot of argument that is in the discussion. I consider myself less than a casual, cannot play that many hours, but I also feel the issues. Maybe comes from work. Although, on the music, I disagree, as for the environment, the theme and for the timeline, it has catchy tunes. I would leave the techno to 'Tekken' or 'Killer Instinct' and put more deep and gong-like sounds. Well, the '95 movie had both techno and the tournament type of music, so that could be worth keeping, I think. 'Mortal Kombat' for me was the surviving tournament and still to days I think that the music of MK2 Amiga port of the game had that very vibe that you do have a tough, surviving tournament for the Earthrealm people. At least, the music at its title and character select screen. After that comes MK4 & 'MK Deception' with its athmosphere, select and stage musics. Though MK3's industrial music was also very enjoyable. But this is subjective. The too much orchestra? Yeah, can go away, sometimes I too feel, that the new games are too movie-like. Interesting that there was no mentioning of the 'Dead Or Alive' series within the discussion, which I found similar to 'Virtua Fighter' in some ways at that time. The story? Its fine, it had a good twist and some of the multiverse characters were interesting to watch; Barakion, Shao Zero, etc. But they cannot pull this multiple universe thing anymore in my opinion. If they want a reboot, they need to cut any connection with the previous "timeline" and let it be a separate one. I for one, hope that 'Mortal Kombat' will have a more darker, horror-like outfit, music, stages and story alike, as when it was mentioned during the talk, it supposed to be a violent and gory fighting game.

I am pretty sure that nightmare Makato player was Haitani.

Mk tom brady funny af when he goes off on how shitty nrs is

I would take everything that worked in MK (throughout) improve on it and then add previous game modes. I'd scrap the current cinematic story telling for a more personal exploration through a Konquest Mode (similar to Armageddon), that has you go through the world and travel to and within different all the realms with (short) cinematic cutscenes once in a while to help progress the story with a bit of a visual narrative. The story would also be focused on the TOURNAMENT!! After story is complete, you're free to roam the different realms and battle NPCs, find secrets that appear after story completion (and some will be there during story mode too), and find mini games throughout (also in Johnny's mansion, in earth realm, you can access his arcade room and play the OG trilogy). There will also be a mode that is akin to Shaolin Monks as well, which will be just a short off shoot story with maybe a few maps and can be replayed. Each mode wins you some kind of award, the awards will be skins, customisation options, and new characters. Character customization will be limited, but it'll be items that are iconic/relevant for each character (such as masks, weapons, gauntlets, etc...) Colors of items and skins can be changed (with a wheel of fitting color pallets for that character), they will not be premade, but dictated to regions on each items (so for example you can make the chest of scorpions shirt yellow, but his sleeves gold or whatever). Create a character, only to avoid bad balance, they will have the same basic combo list across (kinda like TMNT in injustice), but just like variations worked, you can add moves to them to make them more like your own. Run mechanic would return Each player gets two breakers per round I'd add (able to be toggled off), for some stages fatalities that can be initiated at any point in the match, the player that initiated it has a chance to early fatality and win the match...when it is triggered, it turns into a test your might between you and the opponent... If the person that started it wins, he gets the fatality and win, if he loses then the opponent can flip it, on the second flip if you manage to escape that, it ends it and shuts down the opportunity to do it again the rest of the match, putting both players at starting distance. Also the traditional will still exist too at the end of the match, like uppercut into the Deadpool. Stage transitions (only not nearly as long or cinematic as Injustice 2), just a short bust through the ceiling/floor/walls, of certain stages, changing up the surroundings and minor damage to the player being knocked through. Stage interactions, only there will be some that do different things, like and example would be opening the fridge door in Johnny's stage and one time blocking a projectile before the door explodes off after hit, maybe throwing the floor vac at someone when it comes near you. Some do like the vines in the jungle level of mkx, where you swing and the other holds you up. (Can also be turned off for more traditional play) Air combat and Air block, I like it, just wish they gave characters more combos to do and also I would take out the floaty-ness of the jumps (because all they are doing is compensating to give you time) in MK1. Instead of variations, I would add back the changing of styles during the match, only I would make it only two styles and there would be a couple of transitional combos as well as being able to press the button while idle. The two styles would function to help characters have a full toolset/set of play style... So for example, a zoner can switch up to have more of a rush down style, a defensive character switching to have more offensive options, some characters might just get a weapon that enhances and adds to their move list, and so on... Get rid of stance swap, and make it into a dodge system. Block would still exist, however you can now press the dodge button with up or down to dodge a high or low attack and avoid blocking/chip, in order for a quicker reaction/punishment time. To avoid spamming it, it'll be tied to a stamina meter as well as it must be pressed at the right time, you can't just hold the button and press up and down. Also if you misjudge the high or low attack and/or do it too early/late, you'll be open to punishment as well. Projectiles will collide with some and others won't, but it'll make sense... So for example, subzero throws ice ball and scorpion does a fireball, they will hit and the fire will sizzle out while the ice melts till it's too small to do damage, so sub can do an enhanced ice ball and it will out last the flame, or if scorpion did an enhanced it would override the regular iceball, both enhanced would collide. Let's say Quan Chi does magic and Reiko throws knives, the knife can go through the magic, but the magic can also work through the knife, so it'd be as it works currently. Just like Sento's spirit is intangible so a knife/fireball would pass it too, but it would likewise pass it. But if a knife were to physically hit an ice ball it'd deflect, or if it went through fire it'd go through it, but heated and do a little more damage..... Krushing Blows would be back, but it wouldn't work at all like they did in MK11, instead each character has one Krushing Blow tied to a certain move, the KB can either be a pop up, knock down, push back, or pulls them in (depending on the move it's tied to), so while for some it might be a combo starter, for others it might be an extender or ender. Instead of requirements it'll instead be tied to holding the last button input (required in combo/special/move) and can only be done once, if you whiff it, it's spent for that round as well. They will also do slightly more damage, but not too much, they're more meant for the combo opportunity or get away you get from using it. Towers will be back and tower endings would work as a "what if" scenario for each character. There will be a big boss that isn't playable. MK1 (og)-MK 3 roster would be included in roster (taking a few from 3 maybe), and a handful of 3D error, a couple from MKX and a couple from MK11..1 or 2 new character that will either be starting roster, or at least eventually the full roster. Online rooms, king of the hill, all that good stuff (and stuff should have been in this current game). After that I would just add a store with in game currency that is earnable (and also buyable) either by certain game modes (offline of course) and/or just playing the game/achievements, for cosmetics. Just to keep something there to play and earn..

TrueUnderdog needs to stop coping 😂

With all that being said... I did really liked MK11. Graphics were better than MK1'and gameplay wise was not that bad. Not MKX good but way better than MK1's. Was strategic and with a final patch MK11 would be great!

@realtommkbrady ik your not really into mk1 anymore but any advice for helping sub break pressure against johnny/raiden using sub zero besides the armor slide?

My mk1 broke. It's in slow mo when I play online. Internet connection is fine. I recorded the last 3 minutes os gameplay using the ps5 share button but the video was almost at normal speed with only 2 minutes and 20 seconds of duration. This game is broken as shit

I’m tired of fighting Smokes, Johnnys & Raiden’s online

I am playing Tekken 8 next to MK1 right now, and it is not THAT bad (MK1). I find myself playing MK1 a little more, and as my skill set keeps growing I go to Tekken - they're both great. I don't know what you guys are talking about. I honestly think you guys feel burned spending $10 on costumes. Thats on you. Don't buy them! I am God ranked Baraka and I didn't buy the kombat pack, I didn't buy any skins, and I'm super happy with my purchase. Because I didn't buy a bunch of BS. Thats on YOU! Not entirely the game, and certainly not the fans...

I think they need to make Kameos a separate mode for MK2 and go back to 1v1 like MK9 no gimmicks, no gear special moves, or MKX variations. Tag Team can be its own mode as well. Or delete Kameos and just have MK9 style 2v2 as its own mode. Yes, NRS cannot do INJ 3 next b/c they f** up MK this much with MK1. But MK1 kameos are here to stay bc they can't just rip it out for the GOTY Aftermath versions.

18:26 So true smh

MK9 reboot please

im 37 minutes into this and though im learning alot of history of fighting games, this isn't a conversation with Mike Hollow, this is listening to you and him occassionally saying something lol

Omg! They still added the flip stance button in Mk1? That's dumb as hell! 🤣

Tom hit me up. 123 from va.

MK animations are just so atrocious, and no it's not because they are trying to be realistic because some stuff looks so bad *because* it's not possible for your body to move the way they do. You'll do a roundhouse kick but your torso will just be frozen like wtf, no weight or momentum behind almost any of these moves. It's not bad for fighting games it's just bad for animated media

You should get a casual or new fighting game player on the podcast to get a different opinion and input. Like with me my first fighting game was mk11

If you think MK fans are delusional when they say MK1 looks fantastic, there are genuinely people out there who think (or at least have convinced themselves) that KOF 14/15 are beautiful games...

Dude 💯% if their next product is anything but another Mortal Kombat game, the franchise is mud. They need to clean house and rebuild from the ground up. That 2 year cycle BS between MK and Injustice is part of the reason they’re in the situation they’re in now. They were on to something with MK9 & MKX. All they had to do is LISTEN to their fan base and build on top of that. That’s 2 games in a row now that have rubbed people the wrong way. 3 if you include Injustice 2. It’s always the same with NRS. People say how bad a game is, the next one releases and people praise the previous game compared to the newest one even though the general consensus is that it was garbage 😂 But as long as it sells well 🤣 💩

Theres no counter picking in tekken

Everything so far proves that NRS has infinite stupidity. Doing everything wrong from business to game design to customer relations.

Talk about fighting game philosophy again.

Love listening to you rant in your own content Tom, but I'd ask that you practice tying up your point more concisely when in conversations like this. I feel like Mike could barely get a word in, which is wild cause he also has no problem talking at length.

Somebody tell Tom KZfaq doesn't pay by the hour 😂

Broken and over the top has always been fun balance is over rated.

Who's Mike hollow lol ?

1:04:30 my boy played jinpachi what a scrub lol

“Dont expect that level of quality from guilty gear” Lol what ? Top 3 fighting game on the market right now…. They set the standard well before Tekken and sf did

The whole "They need to just start over" is one of the most irrelevant talking points imo. No developer would just drop a game they spent millions to make, and also it's like people forgot how much praise mk1 got at launch. People enjoyed the gameplay, the problem is the meta bacame bland, every character has an optimal kameo to use, and the top tiers have very basic strategies. Sure, a whole new game would fix that lmfao, but it's like people forgot they can change the game. Which nrs always does. Look at MKX from launch to last patch, same thing with MK11. To argue why NRS makes this mistake constantly is valid, but scrapping a game is crazy.

Yawn. Love Tom but Mikes attempt at being the "good guy version of Fate" just results in him talking out of both sides of his mouth. With neither side offering relatively anything new, interesting, or useful. He strikes me as the type of guy who looks to see who hes around so he can cater his opinion to them regardless of what he believes. Some people like that, but to me its fake.