Xenia's default XInput hook mirrors Player 1's input to all connected controllers. You must create a custom Xenia configuration file that assigns a unique player slot to each controller's XUID to prevent both controllers from controlling Player 1.
Why both controllers move player 1 in mortal kombat 9
When you plug a second controller into Xenia, the emulator's XInput implementation does not automatically detect a separate player. Instead, it maps every connected device to the same virtual controller slot, user index 0. This is a deliberate design choice to simplify single-player compatibility, but it means both gamepads will always control Player 1 in Mortal Kombat 9. The game itself expects a distinct XInput device for each player, but Xenia feeds the same input stream to both. If you want a working local versus setup without emulator quirks, you can play 2 players mortal kombat 11 natively on PC, where each gamepad is recognized independently. The result: Player 2’s controller either does nothing or moves Player 1 alongside the first controller.
Assign unique player slots by xuid
To stop the mirroring, find each controller's unique XUID and assign them to separate user indexes in Xenia's configuration. Open a command prompt and use the appropriate XInput utility to find each controller's unique identifier, then note the identifier for your Player 1 and Player 2 gamepads. Open your Xenia configuration file in a text editor, located in the same folder as your Xenia executable, and scroll to the input configuration section. Assign Player 1's identifier to user index 0 and Player 2's identifier to user index 1 in the configuration, then save the file and restart Xenia. The second controller should now control Player 2 independently, and you can apply similar co-op setup steps when you play mortal kombat shaolin monks on PC. If you need to get mortal kombat 9 on PC, obtain the game disc image or digital files and load them through Xenia, because this configuration works for both retail and backup copies.
When the second controller still desyncs or disconnects
Even with correct XUID assignments, Player 2’s controller may desync after a few seconds or stop responding during fights. This is caused by Xenia’s default frame pacing, which can drop input packets for secondary controllers. Fix this by adjusting Xenia's frame pacing settings in the configuration to stabilize the input polling rate so both controllers receive consistent updates. If desyncs persist, download a recent nightly build of Xenia, which may include improved multi-controller support. But for Mortal Kombat 9 in Xenia, adjusting frame pacing settings is the final key to keep Player 2 responsive.
Unlike any other emulator guide, Xenia uniquely requires manual XUID-to-user-index binding to break its default controller mirroring, a quirk no other major emulator forces you to solve before local multiplayer works.
