When parries go too far... here are the best counter attacks across all five NetherRealm Studios Mortal Kombat and Injustice titles
Here we were just getting the basics of the fundamental block/strike/throw game down and suddenly a curious fourth element gets thrown into the mix: parries.
These techniques take an opponent's momentum and use it directly against them as they operate on the basis of actually being hit. Parries can be both amazingly hype and insanely frustrating, but we're focusing a bit more on the latter as we share True Under Dawg Gaming's recent video highlighting the best parry moves in NetherRealm Studios' Mortal Kombat and Injustice titles.
We can't talk about parries in concept without referencing Street Fighter 3, which is revered in no small part for its universal parry mechanic that keeps high level competition forever interesting and allowed for the iconic EVO Moment 37 to happen.
It's clear through the SF3 example that parries can absolutely have their place in fighting games, but this really only holds true given a particular balance has been struck.
NetherRealm Studios tends to prioritize (at least historically) flash and excitement over a pristine sense of fairness, and that's made for some pretty interesting counter techniques in their games.
True goes back and visits Mortal Kombat 2011 (often referred to as Mortal Kombat 9) to point out some absolutely ridiculous parries. The first of these is from Johnny Cage and his counter-based super attack that would activate upon being hit by virtually any attack in the game (parries usually lose to certain types of attacks) and would then lead to follow up combos that could easily amount to more than half of a life bar.
The content creator does this for each of the five NRS fighters we currently have while also noting any other particularly strong parries in each title. Check out the video below and let us know if any parts bring back stressful and frustrated memories of scrubby online players nailing you with overpowered parries in the comments.
