Mortal Kombat 1/Johnny Cage/Introduction

Introduction

21st Century Action Hero

"Like many stars before him, Johnny became addicted to his fame. He came to measure his self-worth by his fans' adoration and their praise of him on social media. But with his star now fading, Johnny is fighting an uphill battle to remain relevant. He joins Liu Kang’s Earthrealm champions hoping that it will provide his career and his fame a desperately needed boost."

Johnny Cage is a rushdown/glass cannon archetype that sacrifices lower health (950 HP) for faster/stronger offensive pressure and mobility. Some of his tools include plus frames from his jabs, an autoshimmy string (s.21), Overhead/Low mixup enders that lead to kombos, a safe, fast and hit-confirmable Mid (F3), fast anti-airs, and one of the fastest armor reversals in the game (EX BF4). Although he lacks any projectile, his DF3 Shadow Dash allows him to advance in quickly with the EX version gaining projectile-invulnerability. He has the ability to charge his Fatal Blow which parries all attacks at shorter range while charging but can also be cancelled with DF3; fully charging Fatal Blow makes the attack unblockable. On top of this, Johnny is designed around fully building up his “Hype” gauge with certain specials and taunts in order to access “Wowing Out” (FDB4), which turns all specials into their EX version and allows him to cancel specials into other specials or Summons up to 2x in a row.

Strengths

Weaknesses

Fisticuffs Johnny: The frame data on Johnny's normals and strings are nothing short of excellent, sporting multiple plus-on-block normals, a 9f mid, a 10f whiff punisher, and multiple safe string extensions; only a few of these strings have gaps to interrupt with Armor; Bobbing and Weaving: He has the best ground movement in the game, as his forward dash covers a lot of ground quickly; mastering block-dashing with Johnny is enough to shut down attempts to zone him out. He also has a command dash, Shadow Dash, which gains projectile immunity when Enhanced; White Men Can Jump: His Jump Kick is notorious as the single hardest jump-in to reliably anti-air, forcing opponents to commit on Up Block more; Ball Buster also guarantees a safe jump setup thanks to its excellent knockdown frames; Excellent Reversal Game: While his Show Off parry has been nerfed, Johnny can still make enemies pause their okizeme with threat of Enhanced Shadow Kick's frightening speed; his Fatal Blow is also a parry when held and can be cancelled into a Shadow Dash if the opponent doesn't take the bait; Install Super: Considered icing on the cake, Johnny has an additional meter, Hype, which builds with special moves and taunts; when filled, he gains a super mode, Wowing Out, which lets him freely cancel his special moves up to three times in a row for even more insane block strings and high damage combos. These special moves are also Enhanced without spending their normal meter costs; Strong Supporting Kast: He has an well-tuned kit which gets even stronger with almost any given Kameo; he has answers for different match-ups and multiple avenues for preferred playstyles.

No Projectiles: While he remains strong in spite of this and Kameos can help shore up this weakness, it remains a noteworthy omission in his kit; I Need my Close-ups!: He needs his movement to make his neutral work, as aside from sweep, B3, and the odd YOLO Shadow Kick, his attacks are lacking in range; 950 HP: Losing 50 HP may seem like a slap on the wrist but this has a knock-on effect in his choice of Kameos; most of the Kameos he synergizes with the best also reduce max HP, making him pay harder for his mistakes;