Mortal Kombat 1 Reportedly Suffering from 'Player 1…

Summary

An issue with Mortal Kombat 1's multiplayer gives an unfair advantage to player one, making it difficult for player two to land combos.
The presence of "player 1 advantage" has frustrated gamers and led to accusations of rushed development against the development team.
NetherRealm is currently looking into the issue and a fix is expected to be included in one of Mortal Kombat 1's upcoming patches.

While the player and critical feedback has been largely positive since launch, an issue appears to be plaguing Mortal Kombat 1's online and offline multiplayer giving an unfair advantage to player one in matches. The more competitive players in the game's community have already been testing characters to see which are the best, with Kenshi and Johnny Cage emerging as two popular choices. However, this new issue renders any meta a moot point as it doesn't appear to allow player two to have any real chance in landing combos while player one seemingly dominates.

Mortal Kombat 1 is the latest entry in the long-running fighting game franchise and serves as a full reboot of the game's narrative following the events of Mortal Kombat 11. The new era, nurtured by Fire God Liu Kang, sees a universe that has existed in relative peace while the personal histories of many popular characters have been altered, either slightly or drastically. Liu Kang's peace is threatened, though, when a mysterious power begins interfering with the new timeline by shaping select characters into the villains they were in the previous era.

On the multiplayer side of things, a new issue players have been calling "player 1 advantage" has been appearing more often both on- and offline, effectively ruining the game for some. The issue, as described by Reddit user Bozeefus1991, allows player 1 to land certain combos with relative ease while player 2's attempts at those same combos are more likely to miss. It led to some frustrated gamers accusing Ed Boon and the team at NetherRealm of rushing development of the game. The studio has begun looking into the issue.

Issues such as these can prove catastrophic to fighting games, where matches can be won or lost on a single combo landing. It can be seen at events such as the Evolution Champions Series, or EVO, and Capcom Cup, where top-ranked players can just as easily dominate a match before finding themselves going down to the last life-point in a close fight. "Player 1 advantage" effectively renders this pointless as it keeps the second player from ever having a legitimate chance in the match.

With NetherRealm already investigating the issue, the next question is how long it will take the studio to remedy the issue. The investigation all but confirms a fix will come in one of Mortal Kombat 1's upcoming patches, though it is not clear which it would ultimately arrive with. Until then, players will be rolling the dice every time they bring Johnny Cage, Liu Kang, General Shao, or whoever their character of choice is into multiplayer.