Super Meter

The Super Meter is a feature introduced in Mortal Kombat (2011) and reappears in Mortal Kombat X and Mortal Kombat 11. The Super Meter acts in different ways, used primarily to alter the way special moves or combos are use and to change their properties and even grant the use of special cinematic attacks.

Overview

There are three sections total in the Super Meter bar, broken up into specific traits;

• A single bar of meter can be utilized for enhancing special attacks or altering combos. This can be to increase the damage of the special, grant armor or produce a juggle if the special allows such when enhancing it. When used with a combo that is allowed to be enhanced, this will either increase the combos damage as a result or even grant a juggle effect in some instances. In some instances with combos, enhancing the combo can even stun the opponent to leave them open for a free hit.
• Two bars of meters grants the player the use of a Breaker. In some situations, the player can press a specific input while being attacked that causes a clash between the fighters, spending two bars of Meter to separate the fighters and interrupt the current combo. Additionally, a Block Breaker can be used as well, which functions just like a normal Breaker, however, this is used when blocking the start-up of a combo.
• Three bars of meter grant the use of a high damaging attack called an X-Ray. By spending all three bars of meter, the player can initiate the attack which will start up like a normal special attack, however they are granted armor. If the attack successfully connects, it will initiate a cinematic where the opponent will sustain heavy damage and when taking damage will show various areas of the body where muscle or bones will break or be wounded. Each cinematic and damage differs depending on what character is selected. The X-Ray attack can be combined with combos to increase its damage entirely, however in some cases, it may offer a slight increase or even deal less damage.

Super Meter system in Mortal Kombat (2011).

At the start of the match, both players start with a single bar of their Super Meter filled, allowing each player to perform one enhanced attack. Either player who successfully lands the first hit of the round will be granted another bar of their Super Meter, which would be enough to perform a Breaker. Super Meter is generated in various ways, including using special moves, taking damage and when attacks are blocked by the opponent. Some characters even have special abilities that can drain the opponent's Super Meter in addition to some that can override the regeneration of Super Meter without using the main ways of generating it.

In Mortal Kombat 11, the Super Meter system has been revamped. Now, instead of one three-sectioned bar, the fighter has two two-sectioned bars, one for Offense and one for Defense.

• Offensive Meter is primarily utilized for amplifying special attacks or combos to gain altered effects, this being to deal increased damage, juggle the opponent or even trick to opponent to open them up for an additional attack. Offensive Meter can also be used with specific special attacks to help alter them into Krushing Blows, a more powerful version of the original special move with altered effects while also performing a cinematic of damaging the opponent in a similar fashion to an X-Ray.
• Defensive Meter is primarily utilized in defensive aspects, hence the name. When knocked down, the player can spend a bar of Defensive Meter to perform a Get Away Roll, rolling either away or towards the opponent, based on a directional input. Additionally, the player can spend all their Defensive Meter to perform a Breakaway, a modified version of a Breaker that can only be performed while in the air that in a technical sense interrupts the opponent's current combo to cause the player to fall to the ground and grants them armor. Additionally, some special moves can be canceled, requiring and spending a bar of Defensive Meter to do such. Some special moves can even spend Defensive Meter to amplify them instead of spending Offensive Meter. Using interactables requires and spends Defensive Meter, similar to the Energy Meter in Mortal Kombat X.
• There are also abilities and actions that require both Meters to function. Performing a Getup Attack or a Launching Getup Attack requires and spends both a bar of Offensive and Defensive. A Getup Attack grants invulnerability to the user, however a Launching Getup Attack does not grant this bonus at the expense of launching the opponent should the attack successfully hit. Amplifying interactables requires one bar of Defensive Meter just like the standard use, but also costs both bars of Offensive to grant armor in its use. The damage output, however, remains the same. Additionally, some characters have abilities that require both Offensive and Defensive Meter to use while others can also increase the regeneration of their Meters for some time, overriding the passive generation. Characters with Resurrection abilities will deplete both their Meters to allow the resurrection.
• When near defeat and at the lowest amount of health possible, all fighters will lose a bar of Defensive Meter for the entirety of the round at the expense of taking no chip damage from an attack. Once both bars are removed, a Last Breath indicator will appear, notifying that the fighter will take damage from the next attack. This only occurs if the fighter has Defensive Meter to spend and if they are currently regenerating their Defensive Meter, this effect will not occur and they will still take chip damage or be defeated. Guest character Spawn is the only character that can permanently remove a bar of Offensive Meter when using his Soul Forfeit ability. Despite losing a bar of Meter for the rest of the match, for one round, Spawn has access to all his Krushing Blows, regardless of requirement, however they deal reduced damage and he can never regain this lost Meter.

Trivia

• The Super Meter shares a familiar role to the EX Gauge in Street Fighter IV, which functions similarly by using portions of the bar to either enhance a special move, cancel out of a special move, or use a Super Attack, which, like the X-Ray, must have the bar completely filled up but is capable of causing a very high damage output if the attack is successfully landed.
• In Mortal Kombat X, Jason Voorhees is the first and only character that can override the generation of his Super Meter, this being achievable through his Rise ability.
• In Mortal Kombat (2011), enhancing Cyrax's Net causes it to drain the opponent's Meter. This was later given to the DLC character Triborg, who uses Cyrax's abilities.
• Jason Voorhees in Mortal Kombat X and Geras in Mortal Kombat 11 possess the ability to resurrect, returning a portion of their health depending on how much Meter they have in their respective games.
• In Mortal Kombat 11, Kotal Kahn and Spawn are the only character that can override the generation of both his Offensive and Defensive Meter.
• In Mortal Kombat 11, Spawn is the first and only character that can permanently remove one of his Offensive Meters, this being achievable through his Soul Forfeit ability, which allows him to use all his Krushing Blows, regardless of their requirements to trigger them.