Major Bug Gives Mortal Kombat 1’s Player 1 Huge Advantage

Before reading on, NetherRealm released a Player 1 Exploit Patch in update 0.122 a week later, the following article is for preserved for historical reference, detailing the issue before it was fixed.

A serious bug discovered in Mortal Kombat 1 is threatening the game’s competitive balance by giving Player 1 a built-in advantage across the entire roster.

The issue first appeared in community tests with Sub-Zero, where certain combos only worked correctly for Player 1. When Player 2 attempted the same precise inputs, the attacks would drop or fail to connect, even in mirror matches using identical fighters.

The most obvious example involves Sub-Zero’s Ice Klone, which fully lands mid-screen for Player 1 but whiffs for Player 2 unless performed in the corner.

Soon after, content creator mrAPchem released an expanded analysis showing that the bug affects every character in the game, including Kitana, Mileena, Sindel, Ashrah, Tanya, Baraka, Li Mei, and Havik.

In Kitana’s case, her Pirouette combo into Jax Kameo and Fan-nado consistently fails for Player 2 regardless of stance or side, while Player 1 can perform it flawlessly.

“Player 1 can perform a particular combo on both sides; Player 2 cannot perform that same combo,” mrAPchem explained in his follow-up video. “This affects everyone in the game whether they know it or not.”

The findings suggest that Player 2’s falling hurtbox may be slightly larger than Player 1’s, causing combo strings to drop. Others speculate a positional spacing offset between players could be at fault. Either way, the result is the same: identical inputs yield different outcomes depending on controller slot.

Players have since confirmed the problem through extensive testing, with many submitting formal bug reports via the official Mortal Kombat 1 bug tracker. The community footage shows consistent results across platforms and control schemes, ruling out user error or latency as causes.

The bug’s scope makes it one of the most serious launch-day issues in recent fighting-game history.

It undermines competitive integrity by turning match outcomes into a matter of side assignment rather than skill. Community testers have even documented measurable damage differences: for example, Player 1 Kitana’s combo can reach 416 damage, while Player 2’s identical string caps at 393, a gap wide enough to decide tournament rounds.

While NetherRealm Studios has not yet issued an official patch at the time of writing, the issue is widely known among competitive players. Many hope for an urgent hotfix before official tournaments begin.

Players have urged others to test their own mains in practice mode using two controllers, switching sides to see which bread-and-butter combos fail on Player 2. “It shouldn’t even be necessary,” said one commenter, “but right now, it absolutely is.”

The consensus among fans is that Mortal Kombat 1 may have launched too early, with several users describing it as “raw cookie dough” that “needed more time to bake.” Despite strong core gameplay and presentation, technical flaws like this Player 1 bias threaten the game’s long-term credibility in competitive circles.

The Player 1 advantage bug highlights how small mechanical errors can ripple through an entire fighting-game ecosystem. If not addressed quickly, it could distort early tournament results and damage the community’s trust in the game’s balance. For now, the community anxiously awaits word from NetherRealm Studios on solutions and whether the upcoming Invasions mode is also affected.

The MK community recently destroyed Hollywood Actress Megan Fox’s portrayal of Nitara as it was revealed that she did not do all of the voice acting herself and a professional voice actor doctored some of her lines. So the fighting title is not shy of being in the news whether it be for the good or bad but the community as a whole seem to be extremely pleased with the end product, for now.

Mortal Kombat 1 is out now on PC, Nintendo Switch, PS5 and Xbox Series S/X.

Source – TheGamer