Life Is Beautiful
When it comes to Fighting Games, one thing is almost universal between every game: the Life Meter. The Life Meter is prominently displayed at the top of the screen, the bar on the left for Player 1 and the bar on the right for Player 2. As a character takes damage, the meter will decrease and, once emptied, the character is K.O.'ed.
Every character in Mortal Kombat 9 has the same amount of health. So a combo that does 12% of life to one character will do 12% to every character. Also, there is no "guts" rating for any character where Damage Scaling begins to take affect depending on how drained the Life Meter is. Any combo that does 10% damage at the start of the opponent's health will also do 10% damage at the very end of the opponent's health.