Mortal Kombat 11 has been taking the competitive fighting game scene by storm. Recently, some big-time streamers have been getting a little flashy in their finishes, leaving some to wonder what falls into the area of intentional disrespect, or simply good fun.
What Is A Mercy And How To Perform One In Mortal Kombat 11
A “Mercy” occurs after a player has won two rounds and is prompted to “Finish Them!” Rather than kill an opponent, performing a Mercy will grant them 20% of their life back and a second chance to win.
To perform a Mercy, hold down the Stance Switch button at midrange from your opponent, press down four times and then release the Stance Switch. Viola, you have now granted your opponent another chance to defeat you and possibly an unreasonable amount of tilt depending on the circumstances.
The History Of Mercy In Mortal Kombat
The move has a long history in the Mortal Kombat series dating back to Mortal Kombat 3 from 1995. There, the move only granted a sliver of health as opposed to the rather generous 20% now given. It too could be performed after winning two rounds, but it had a more important purpose in granting a new, special type of finisher.
Mortal Kombat 3 introduced a number of other Finishing moves: Babalities, Animalities, and Friendships. A Babality turns your opponent into an infant version of themselves and could be performed only if the winning player did not use Block at all in their winning round.
While Babalities were bland and boring, Friendships were far more amusing and varied. They had the same no-Block requirement as above, and were generally silly, as seen below with Liu Kang’s shadow puppets.
Animalities were different then the previous two finishers. They were still fatal to your opponent, but through a character turning into a creature associated with their personality or theme. Sub-Zero would turn into a Polar Bear and maul his opponent to death, while Liu Kang would turn into a Dragon and chomp down on poor victim, leaving behind only a pair of still-standing legs.
To perform an Animality, the conditions were strict but also allowed for showboating or disrespect, depending on what you wanted to convey to your opponent. First, you needed to perform a Mercy in the third round. So, players could destroy their opponent in the first round, step back from the arcade machine in the second round to allow their opponent a flawless victory, and then come back to beat them in the third round. Then, they would use mercy, hit them once more, and be allowed to use an Animality.
The writer of this article was a wee, 12-year-old lad when a grown-up did this exact thing to him at the local arcade, Wizards Castle. Though the arcade is long shut down, his pride remains there to forever haunt its halls.
In any case, the reintroduction of the Mercy move in 11 begs an important question: does the inclusion hint at the return of new Animalities in future DLC? Why else include the “finisher” if not to bring back some Hungry Hungry Dragons?
Why People Use Mercy In MK 11
Sometimes it’s not about flexing at all. Using a Mercy on an opponent, AI or human, awards an extra heart after winning a match. This is reason enough to do it in every single match without exception, because at 100 hearts to open a simple chest in the Krypt and 250 for the larger ones, getting double the hearts will make your unlocking journey twice as fast. The same extra heart can be acquired by finishing an opponent with a Brutality, but some players find it far easier to defeat their opponent with their tried and true tactics, grant them Mercy, and then beat them once more rather than aim for a specific hit to activate the Brutality.
In addition, players need to perform a total of 10 Mercy moves anyways to unlock “Heart of the One Being” in the Krypt.
There is one other reason to perform a Mercy on your opponent: Style. There are certain Brutalities that can only be activated once a Mercy has been granted. So, similar to old Animalities of Mortal Kombat 3, you can cement your dominance over an opponent by granting them another chance to defeat you, and then killing them with flair. Cetrion has his “Falling Sky”, and Kitana has her “Deadly Lips”, both of which must have a Mercy performed to activate.
Mercy In Major Tournaments: Bad Sportsmanship or Good Fun?
Using Mercy at home on friends, AI, or even online opponents is not that big of a deal. In those situations, everyone should know that those hearts aren’t going to earn themselves.
However, what about in tournament play? The context suddenly changes enormously from casual playing to top-tier competition among the best of the best. Is beating your opponent to a pulp and then granting them Mercy any way to treat a competitor? Everyone is out there to win big, of that there is no doubt, but some view the act as nothing more than disrespect.
For example, SonicFox acting exactly as SonicFox does in tournament settings:
In that case, there is not much room to debate the sentiment behind the Mercy. SonicFox was well ahead in terms of life total, and his act was nothing more than icing on the cake. He then went on to win that particular tournament handily. Creator of the Mortal Kombat series Ed Boon chimed in recently over Twitter to express his sarcastic disappointment.
Although other times, players attempt to showboat with Mercy only to get immediate comeuppance. Leah “GRPT|Gllty” Hayes performed a Mercy on her opponent, IVWHAT|Shino, three separate times during the pools match of a tournament. Unfortunately for her, she lost two of the three matches she would otherwise have won.
Regardless of how one may feel about the move, now and in future, there is no doubt that it will continue to pop up in tournaments. Pro fighting game players just can’t resist the change to show off in front of a huge audience.
