"Use the force Luke" - Yoda
For character, I usually just let the game pick a random one for me. I found that after the initial fun of learning everyone's combos and special moves, the basic kicks and punches were all you needed. That was the real secret to MK: Precise use of high kick, sweep, uppercut, and block could pretty much beat anyone who made a mistake. If I wanted to show off (MK3), I'd pick Sindel and not allow one hit against me. I think I was the only person in town who used that character.
Another fun variant was to offer to only use one attack button (high punch, high kick, low punch, or low kick), and allowing your opponent to use all of them. Bonus fun: Let your opponent choose which button you are limited to!
Different game but equally impressive imo. Obviously takes a lot of practice but audio cues are huge for these kind of challenges - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5w6z-h4hoEU
Killer Instinct 2013 unintentionally at first has different sound (and music!) effects for each move as well as every meter so at some points devs were astonished by a letter from actually blind players with a few advices on how to make it even more accessible.
Upcoming Street Fighter 6 has the options needed!
Also what was your character?