Total Pageviews

Friday, October 21, 2011

KILLER INSTINCT


Killer Instinct is one of my favorite fighting games, developed by Rare and initially released to arcades in 1994. There were several launches of the game; a SNES version, Game Boy version, and an N64 version (named Killer Instinct Gold). The version I played-- and I'm sure many of you played-- was the SNES release. I did own the Game Boy version at some point, but I don't remember much about it and didn't really get into it. Without a doubt, the most popular and praised release is the one for the Super Nintendo.

Considered by many to be among the best fighting games of all time, Killer Instinct is your usual fighting game where you play as your character of choice in order to defeat your opponent in a one vs. one battle. According to Wikipedia, the game borrows the attack set of Street Fighter and is also inspired by the finishing moves from Mortal Kombat. However, there are several features that distinguish it from other franchises.

Ever heard "c-c-c-combo breaker"? This game is where that originated.

Here's the story; a megacorporation called Ultratech organizes a tournament to test the strength of their experimental creatures they created. The other participants all have their reasons for joining, whether it be searching for the truth or promises made to them by Ultratech. To read about each character's reasons for participating, visit the Wikipedia page located here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Killer_Instinct

If you've played before, you know that this game has some really awesome characters. One notable pair is Cinder and Glacius, pitted against each other in the tournament. Cinder's body is made up entirely of flame, and Glacius is an alien whose body composition is that of icy liquid. Cinder is promised a return to his original form if he can defeat Glacius, and Glacius is promised freedom if he wins the tournament. The rivalry between these two characters is something special.

I believe the video above (not me playing by the way) shows just how great the gameplay is better than I could ever explain it. If you love fighting games, this is definitely a game you should try. The game has a great soundtrack (Killer Cuts); even the opening title's song is something I've listened to over and over again. My personal favorite character is Spinal, the one featured in the video above. If you have a favorite or want to let others know what you think of the game, go ahead and post it in the comments. Thanks for reading.

Fun Fact: Jago and Orchid are brother and sister.
Fun Fact #2: The cyborg Fulgore is only 1 year old.

10 comments:

  1. Wow! Those combos looks broken as hell.

    ReplyDelete
  2. oooh, did not know a lot of these things! great post :D

    ReplyDelete
  3. haha i never seen this before

    ReplyDelete
  4. I liked it when it first came out on SNES, didn't care too much for KI Gold in N64

    ReplyDelete
  5. Killer Instinct, I remember playing this on my SNES which ended up melting. Bad times, man.

    ReplyDelete
  6. I still spend too much time playing this game. I can kill everyone of you in five seconds. :P

    ReplyDelete
  7. ...but the arcade version is the good one.

    ReplyDelete
  8. @M2P

    I've watched some arcade gameplay, it definitely has the superior graphics and finishing moves. The Cinder bug is pretty nasty but I'd still like to try the arcade version someday.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Oh boy, this brings me back.
    C-C-C-C-C-COMBO BREAKER!

    I still have this stuck in my head after all these years.

    ReplyDelete