If you haven’t kept up with Mortal Kombat 1 in recent weeks, you’ve probably missed the new character that’s whipped the fanbase into a frenzy. No, I’m not talking about the Conan the Barbarian DLC fighter that’s been pretty overshadowed by all this. I’m talking about a pink ninja named Floyd who’s been added as a hidden boss. Also, yeah, he’s totally named after the band Pink Floyd.
Secret characters have always been a huge staple in the spine-ripping series, albeit more prominently with older entries. Floyd takes a lot of inspiration from those earlier examples by tasking players with specific challenges just to trigger a fight against him. The community has done an amazing job piecing together everything about this hidden ninja, but it can be a bit of an information overload for more casual players. We’re streamlining all the necessary knowledge and resources you need to fight Mortal Kombat 1’s newest ninja and unlock some amazing rewards.
How to Prepare for Floyd
Both the Mortal Kombat community, and modder thethiny in particular, deserve all the flowers for figuring out so much of this. Without their continued findings and resources, it’s possible we still wouldn’t know how to fight this elusive boss.
The secret to meeting the obvious Pink Floyd referencing character revolves around 37 Floyd Challenges. You thankfully only need to complete ten to trigger the Floyd fight. The bad news is that it’s completely random which ones you need to do. Even worse, you’ll have to start all over with ten more randomized challenges if you fail to defeat him. Successfully completing a correct one will result in a pink “Floyd” notification popping up along with an accompanying guitar riff.
Once you’ve received a notification for the tenth, you’ll be thrust into a fight against the pink ninja with whichever set of characters you’re using. It takes place on a stage called The Field, which is based on the serene location shown in the announcement trailer. You have three opportunities to defeat him in a standard two-round match. Quitting out during or in-between matches will forfeit your chance entirely and require you to complete ten random challenges again. For this reason, it’s best to finish character-specific challenges first so you can do your final challenge with characters you’re used to. Losing against Floyd because you don’t know how to play someone you’re stuck with is not ideal.
The most efficient way to do that is to keep track of which ones you might have to do and how many you have left. I wholeheartedly recommend that you check out thethiny’s Floyd Challenges spreadsheet, as well as their Floyd Tracker. The former lists every possible challenge and how to complete each. The latter monitors a few informative metrics, most importantly how many challenges you need to finish before the next fight will trigger.
If you’re looking for answers on your phone, or simply don’t want to bother with a spreadsheet, we’ve compiled an easy-to-read list. Try to remember which ones you’ve already done if you decide to take a break. This can get monotonous.
Every Floyd Challenge
Below is a list of every Floyd Challenge. All of them can be completed in single-player modes and a majority can be done in versus mode. Adjusting the AI difficulty all the way down to the easiest, or using a second controller, will make this a lot easier. The final five challenges need to be done in Story mode and Towers of Time, but the notifications won’t pop up until you’ve started another local Versus match.
Read More: Mortal Kombat 1’s Towers Of Time Mode Isn’t Explained Well, So We Made It Simple
It is possible to finish multiple challenges at the same time. It will only show a single notification if this happens, which is why the aforementioned Floyd Tracker comes in handy here. If you’re using a second controller to cheese through these, the Floyd notifications can pop up on their side too. Ignore these, since they’re also completely random and don’t count towards your own total. Finally, I’ve bolded any of the challenges that will give you a notification during a match. Feel free to disregard them and move on if no notification pops up after you’ve done their task.
- Total Disrespect - Taunt four times during a match.
- Jumping Gets You Nowhere - Win without jumping.
- Klean Sweep - Perform exactly 13 Sweeps in a match and win.
- Get Over Here Already - Win as Scorpion and perform a Fatality or Animality.
- Flipping Out - Flip your stance exactly 16 times in a match and win.
- Up & Away - Perform five uppercuts exactly in a match and win.
- No Elder God - Get the first hit while fighting against Raiden.
- I Make The Rules - Get a Double Flawless as Liu Kang.
- No Luna - Get a Double Flawless against Reptile.
- Fire & Ice - Achieve a minimum 400 damage combo using Scorpion and Kameo Sub-Zero.
- Ice & Fire - Achieve a minimum five-hit combo using Sub-Zero and Kameo Scorpion.
- Perfect Kouple - Get a Double Flawless using Johnny Cage and Kameo Sonya.
- Get The Horns - While playing Shao Kahn and Kameo Motaro, activate your Fatal Blow and then press the Kameo button (R1/RB) during the start-up.
- Hip Hop 4 Ever - Jump exactly 22 times during a match and win.
- Yeet!!! - Throw your opponent exactly seven times during a match and win.
- This Is Where You Fall Down - Lose to Johnny Cage with less than nine seconds left.
- Timed Out - Lose by running out of time.
- You Suck - Lose to Shao Kahn in the final round when he has Critical Health.
- I’m Down Too - Win by spamming down 2 into the Klassic uppercut brutality. Under console notations, this would be down+Triangle/Y.
- Fists of Fury - Win by using Punches only.
- Kicking It - Win by using Kicks only.
- Sans Jade - Win by using Front Kicks only.
- Losing Is Winning - Lose without doing anything.
- Keep Kalm & Finish - Press nothing during round 1, and then win Rounds 2 and 3.
- Demonic Duo - While playing Ashrah and Kameo Sareena, use up three bars worth of meter and then activate Sareena’s Jataaka Blessing. Make sure to miss when using Ashrah’s enhanced attacks so she doesn’t gain any meter from hitting the opponent.
- Frosty!!! - While playing a Sub-Zero and Kameo Sub-Zero mirror match, successfully land all three of Kameo Sub-Zero’s Deep Freeze moves.
- Toasty!!! - Use Scorpion’s Flame Aura three times on both yourself and the opponent.
- Ka Ballin - Land seven of Mileena’s Roll (a.k.a. Ball Roll) special attack.
- Hat Trick - While playing Kung Lao and Kameo Kung Lao, use and land every Hat-related move.
- Fatal Finish - Perform one Fatality with five characters.
- You Finish Yet??? - Perform five Fatalities with one character.
- Inner Beast - Perform two Animalities with one character.
- Shaolin Monks - Win a Klassic Ladder Tower as Liu Kang with Kung Lao Kameo.
- Door Buster - Beat Baraka’s story mode Test Your Might sequence in Chapter 5, Trapped.
- Climb The Pyramid - Complete Chapter 15 of the story mode.
- Challenge Accepted - Earn 20 points from completing Daily and Weekly Tower of Time challenges.
- Quest Keeper - Complete two daily quests listed on the Profile Menu.
How to Beat Floyd
A match against Floyd follows the default two-round settings, no matter the settings of the fight you were interrupted during. He doesn’t have a Kameo assist and seemingly makes up for it with a hefty 1337 health pool. His AI difficulty will be set to Very Hard, although he does leave himself wide open with occasionally taunting.
Floyd primarily uses a combination of special moves from many of the series’ ninja characters. This includes Scorpion’s Spear, Sub-Zero’s Ice Ball, and Ermac’s Force Lift. What makes this all the more oppressive is that his versions of these moves are typically quicker and recover faster too. It’s very common to see him use these repeatedly in a combo, and chain them together as well. His sole original move, The Wall, summons a crystal that acts as a temporary wall that can easily corner you.
While this can be a difficult fight, he does have exploitable weaknesses! Just like any other AI you play against in Mortal Kombat 1, Floyd doesn’t defend well against jump attacks. A lot of players have demolished him by spamming a short jump-kick-into-uppercut combo. He can occasionally use an anti-air and follow up with a combo of his own, but they never feel as devastating as his other combos. He seemed more likely to drop any combos that started from an anti-air as well, in my experience.
If you would rather not cheese through this fight, it’s still possible to beat Floyd fair and square. Chaining together special moves is how he inflicts the most damage. As simple as it sounds, playing more defensively is a viable strategy. When he uses meter to enhance his special moves, he’ll leave himself open after you’ve blocked or ducked under his attacks. Land some combos when the opportunities arise and then return to defense. The only time you should for sure go on the offensive is when he taunts you. It lasts a while and he won’t be able to block your attacks. This is a free hit moment that you can turn into a free combo.
Defeating Floyd in Mortal Kombat 1 doesn’t just net you mad respect for all the time you invested. The exclusive rewards include the gorgeous Field stage, a set of two pink palettes for the Scorpion and Sub-Zero kameo characters, and a handful of Floyd-themed Kombat Kards. There isn’t a way to unlock Floyd as a playable character, even if you trigger his fight repeatedly, but maybe he’ll return for the next entry.
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