• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

Mortal Kombat vs Street Fighter, why is MK more popular in the US?

cireza

Member
As someone who likes to play Fighting Games alone (against the computer), it is pretty obvious that Mortal Kombat is much better than Street Fighter. There is a ton of things to unlock, and a lot of fun to be had.

Virtua Fighter 5 on PS360 also had an amazing offline mode where you would navigate between arcades and play against "fake opponents", with very different AIs. This was very impressive.

Dead or Alive 5 is also very "single player" friendly. I love to put everything random (characters and stages) and do many quick fights agaist the AI. About the AI, Dead or Alive really shines in the hardest modes, it is very smart without giving the feeling that it is cheating. That's not really the case of MK however lol.
 
After trying to play SSF4 it just seems like I'm better at button mashing in MKX than SF4. Seriously I suck and that makes me said cause SF5 looks sick.
 

NeonZ

Member
I think the general western public has an easier time digesting a realistic art direction more so than anime based ones.

Mortal Kombat had a fairly cartoony (although still dark) art direction during the PS2 gen though. And, in spite of those games being considered trash by the competitive community, they still sold fairly well.
 

Pizza

Member
When I was younger I played SF and MK. As a kid, MK's photos of people as characters and over-the-top silliness won me over. Then I discovered that you can do special moves by entering "cheat codes" and I was hooked.


I love street fighter, but I'm much worse at it. MKX is a perfect MK from a gameplay standpoint. I prefer MK since I can choose what version of a character I like, and I get a pool of moves based on that, instead of having literally /everything/ at my disposal. I like that splitting each character into 3 keeps the combos pretty accessible and allows for lots of variation
 
And SF4 needed 5 versions across 5 platforms to not even sell as much as vanilla Tekken 3.

Tekken has been going nonstop for 20 years. SF barely reached its 10th anniversary before it died and went MIA. Just some perspective, hm.


that's nice that I triggered your inner fanboy, but none of that has anything to do with what I was responding to. Tekken 6 was a disaster for namco, hideously over shipped.

American arcades?

Congrats on all 4 of them I guess


....wat

this thread is dumb
 

Bleepey

Member
I heard one of the reasons a MK VS SF game was not made is due to its absence of Eastern appeal. Damn shame. I'd love to see an Mk vs sf game. I don't care if they tone down or remove fatalities.
 
The likes of Ryu, Ken, & Chun-Li are iconic, sure. But the Street Fighter series, while popular, isn't as big as you'd think.

If so, then why are most SF games like Super Turbo, Alpha 2, Alpha 3 Upper, 3rd Strike, & USF IV still being played to this day, especially around the world while most MK games aren't?
 
Because Street Fighter characters are really bland. Or at least that's how I feel about it. MK may be a worse fighter but nothing about Street Fighter is visually interesting. So many of the SF characters are just "Person from X country" with nothing really interesting about them.
 

Windforce

Member
I heard one of the reasons a MK VS SF game was not made is due to its absence of Eastern appeal. Damn shame. I'd love to see an Mk vs sf game. I don't care if they tone down or remove fatalities.

I seriously hope I do not live to see this crossover happen.
 

yurinka

Member
There's pretty much zero chance SFV will sell 5+ million copies anytime soon.
There's pretty much zero chance SFV will sell 5+ million copies anytime soon.
Counting its different editions, SFIV sold 8.1M+ copies as stated before in the thread, without counting the PS4 version.

SFV won't have these editions and will be crossplay, which means its community won't be segregated, will be a single one. That helps to the engagement and growth, specially like as it's the case, fueled by a better planned content update schedule and a more "casual" friendly gameplay and general focus.

Even considering it won't be released on Xbox, I'm pretty sure SFV will sell more copies than the different SFIV versions combined and if not, more than 5M copies. In addition to that, I'm pretty sure SFV will get more money from DLC/microtransactions than SFIV.

Mortal Kombat vs Street Fighter, why is MK more popular in the US?
My theory is that if true the reason would be the same of why Xbox was more popular than PS in US, why American Football is more popular than football in US, etc: because i'ts made in the USA and people tend to favor the products of their own country.

Other than that, MK traditionally offers way more single player content. Most players aren't harcore players like the average Neogaf or shoryuken.com forum member, they are normal mainstream players who don't like to play against unknown players online because they see it too difficult and frustrating.
 

Popnbake

Member
It's kind of like soccer vs. American football. Soccer is the world's most popular sport, but American football is considerably more popular in the US.

The last two MK games were fantastic, but I am not sure why it resonates with the American audience much more than SF. Thoughts?

There's the media controversy over MK being too violent, two movies, and a live action television series while it was at the arcades.

I really wouldn't be that surprised if people are more familiar with MK than SF.
 

Dysun

Member
Story, graphics, blood/gore, gimmicks (fatalities/stages) appeal to more people than deeper fighting game mechanics

Simple as can be
 

CarJeter

Neo Member
MK is a solid fighter at its core, but on top of that, they have established their characters, their relationships and worlds with storylines that are easy to follow and as a result, people became invested in the franchise. Throw in the over the top violence, variety of content and ways to play and...it's pretty easy to see why MK has done so well as of late.

Outside of gameplay and legacy, SF has NONE of that. No clear character direction, ages, storyline, relationships, or pretty much anything to relate to them on almost any level.

this, especially the characters part.
 

Rentahamster

Rodent Whores
MK is more popular than SF? Real 'mericans love violence and gore, but shy away at immodest butt slaps and naughty muscle busters.
 

entremet

Member
In terms of Street Fighter 4 reviving the scene.

It was definitely a rising tide raises all boats situation.

MK benefited heavily from that along with decent online infrastructure (LOL) in Generation 7.

The PS2 era wasn't a great for fighters in terms of mainstream appeal.
 
The design. Most of MKs characters and environments look like they came from the west whereas Street Fighter deliberately picks on stereotypes for each character and doesn't look Western.

Also, MK has always had a lot more single player and multi player content that people like.
 

ppor

Member
I wish the Asian based markets embraced MKX or even had the chance to. It'd be worth it alone just to see all the different play styles. The Asian markets always seem so xenophobic when comes to most western based products within the realm of gaming. I know mobile dominance in that region is a large part of that but it still makes me wanna throw shade. lol.

Aren't most Western violent games massively censored in Asia, brutal violence seem a hard sell there. Plus China has a ban on skeletons in games, they'd have to censor xrays and Scorpion's face ;)
 

Fury451

Banned
I don't know for sure, but I would say it's a lot easier to play or get good at depending on the character chosen generally speaking.
 

SuperBonk

Member
While single player content is a huge factor in MK's popularity, the reason I always preferred it to SF was simple: it's much easier to play with a standard controller.
 

Celine

Member
The PS2 era wasn't a great for fighters in terms of mainstream appeal.
Why?
I'm quite sure DoA3 performed better than DoA4, Tekken 5 performed better than Tekken 6, VF4 performed better than VF5, SC2 performed about the same as SC4, MK DA performed about the same as MK9.
The only FG series who performed significantly better in the gen following PS2 era was Smash (mainly due to Wii huge popularity compared to Gamecube).
Of course Capcom had a resurgence during PS3/360/Wii gen.
 

Artdayne

Member
MKX has a pretty fleshed out story mode for a fighting game. Certainly the fatalities appeal to some people. It's just a bit easier to play than SFIV as well. I don't know, MKX is actually a pretty fun fighting game.
 

FATALITY

Banned
I think SF is more popular than MK. Media exposed the violence in MK and that helped MK gain some popularity.

He?
Mk was good in the 90 was shit in 2000 and since MK9 has been the most complete fighting game you will get. Mk has been amazing. Im the gonna buy mk xl because it looks badass as fuck.
 

petran79

Banned
It is not just about the realistic graphics (and exposed women).
Prior to Mortal Kombat there was Pit Fighter and it failed abysmally!

Also do not forget that suprisingly games like Samurai Shodown and Last Blade had edited blood in western arcades. Though they lacked realistic graphics, despite the polished gameplay.

SF2 was still more popular than MK1, but between MK2 and Trilogy, MK had turned as the most popular fighting game in the West.
Crisis for both started when companies began to shift their interest to 3D.
MK failed miserably with MK4, while SF did not manage to gain the momentum with SF EX. So Tekken, Virtua Fighter and Soul games took everyone by storm. Even decent western games like Mace The Dark Age. Samurai Shodown 64 was perhaps considered to niche when compared to the above games, so it was not released in the West.

The fact that both turned popular again using 2.5d instead of 3D graphics speaks as to how the preferences of the players changed. SF4 dropping the anime aesthetic of the older titles as well.

Also except gore, MK also featured sexualised female characters, reminding me that in arcades except MK there were some kinky cabs as well.
 
controversy in western countries helped sell MK to a lot of kids.

Couple that with an easier to follow storyline padded by a popular movie and even several TV shows, MK penetrated the american public much better than SF.

plus the theme song.

i contribute MK's success to the theme song (TEST YOUR MIGHT)
 

Raging Spaniard

If they are Dutch, upright and breathing they are more racist than your favorite player
Its not more popular.

The thread is focusing on whether its more succesful financially but thats a different argument. Popularity is sales, reach, lasting power, social media, tournaments, etc etc. Street Fighter beats MK in all those areas.
 

Nev

Banned
Because MK9 and MKX are outstanding games that are as casual friendly as they are deep, have tons of single player content, straightforward gameplay, no hidden mechanics bullshit and no stupid hit stop.

Just kidding, it's clearly because violence and gore and 'merica and that's why sophisticated Europeans don't liek it to the point it's not even shipped there.

Blood and gore vs animu. America loves gore/hyperviolence and most things related to anime are frowned upon.
Exactly!

Its not more popular.

The thread is focusing on whether its more succesful financially but thats a different argument. Popularity is sales, reach, lasting power, social media, tournaments, etc etc. Street Fighter beats MK in all those areas.

The only thing SF "beats" MK at is tournaments; MK X has sold 5 million with no need of 4 revisions and 6 platforms, the franchise has been incredibly popular ever since its release and has had a reinvigoration since 2011 that only goes higher. Social media? This is the most ridiculous. Youtube has dozens of MK related videos with monstrous view counts that are in the 20 ~ mill, there are a lot of reaction videos and people playing the game, and I bet you could ask someone in the street -no matter their age or social group- what the two names are and they'd recognize MK most of the time.

The fact that you like SF more or your friends group plays it doesn't mean it's more popular.
 
MK's more of a spectacle fighter. Easy to pick up, fun variety in character choice, and dem bones break real good. The depth can be found, but its' not the reason people are coming to it.
 

Mexen

Member
MK is the bad boy your best friend (whom you like) wants to go out with and you just there saying "shoryuken" every time she weirdly asks if she can go with him. It ends with you beating a car until there is nothing left.
 

Kaleinc

Banned
In a nut shell:

IBjxgne.gif
 

bman94

Member
What?
No way in hell. Combos in MK are so hard to master and they complex. Just play online then you'll see what I'm talking about.

I said easy to get into. You give someone a controller who never played Fighting games before and told them to play Mortal Kombat 9 or Super Street Fighter IV I guarantee you that they'll be able to understand Mortal Kombat 9 a lot quicker.

It's so much easier to explain to someone how to do down,right punch than to do quarter circle punch. It's easier to explain how to do left, right punch rather than hold back, press forward punch. It's easier to block with a button rather than a direction. It's easier to only use only four main Fighting buttons rather than six. Executing combo's is something that only big gamers would try to learn, not someone picking it up for the first time or trying to get into Fighting games.
 
I don't understand this thread.

Mortal Kombat is not more popular in America that SF. There is absolutely no evidence, cultural or statistical, to back this up.

And yet, this thread is four pages and people keep coming up with reasons to explain why. But... It's not. I don't understand.

Am I wrong? Maybe I'm wrong.
 
Top Bottom