Customer Reviews

Killer Instinct

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Everone knows that Nintendo is not quite known for creating fighting games. The company is known for its signature Super Mario, Donkey Kong, Zelda and Metroid games. However Nintendo teamed up with Rare to create a fighting game which used a technology similar to their hit 1994 game, Donkey Kong Country. The result was the arcade fighter Killer Instinct. The SNES version was releasd in 1995.

The story behind the game, as with most fighting games, is quite lame. An organisation called "Ultratech" is pitting various fighters against each other for its own ulterior motives. There are ten fighters which are Thunder, Cinder, Glacius, Fulgore, Jago, Orchid, Riptor, Sabrewulf, Spinal and T.J. Combo. The characters themselves show a fair amount of variation, from the ninja-ish Jago to the robotic Fulgore to the dinosaur Riptor to the red indian Chief Thunder. The boss is Eyedol. The game offers a vast amount of moves for each character, including special moves, secret "combo-breakers," ultra combos, finishing moves, humiliations (a bit like Mortal Kombat's "friendships"), stage fatalities and more. What Killer Instinct is really known for are the combos. Depending on the number of hits they range from "triple" to "blaster" to "monster" to "ultra." Despite all this variation, I only enjoyed a few characters like Jago, Combo, Cinder and Thunder.

Just as in the Donkey Kong Country games, the graphics are amazing. The backgrounds range from medieval castles to rooftops to factories to canyons. The fighters have fluid animation, flashy moves and various coloured outfits to choose from. The sound effects are not bad, but some characters make weird noises, for example, Cinder, Glacius and Riptor. The music is extremely well done. Each background has music which matches its atmosphere. I loved Jago's stage back then (a bit like Ryu's from Street Fighter II). The game controls quite well, but some attacks are unavoidable and quite often you'll get beaten up by some cheap move, despite how strategic you get. The game balance is also a bit off. If you want to win, choose Combo, Jago or Fulgore. If you want to lose, pick Sabrewulf, Riptor or Spinal. Ironically, the computer controlled Spinal provides a good challenge. Eyedol is also a worthy opposition, but like I said above, if you make a single wrong move somewhere, you may end up getting beaten up continuously until you die.

Overall however, for a company that's been making side-scrolling action games and adventure games, Killer Instinct is a surprisingly good effort in the fighting game department. If you want a really solid game for your SNES, with great graphics and music that will provide hours of fun and amusement, Killer Instinct is for you.

Rare proved to be a worthy asset to Nintendo during the 90's and surprised everyone by bringing out the hit arcade game, Killer Instinct in 1994. It was an excellent alternative to the Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat games that dominated the arcade scene. While it did not have as many characters or stages as other fighting games, it made up for it with stunning graphics, excellent music, a roster of good characters and deep gameplay that made you want to master each character. Then in 1995, Rare released Killer Instinct for the SNES shocking and surprising gamers at the same time. And it was so close to the source material that it was such a marvelous achievement from Rare and Nintendo.

Killer Instinct has a story in there that no one cared for so you just jump into the action. Pick a character and you'll see the line of characters you must fight one after the other. Each character has his/her/its own moves waiting to be discovered. The game gets you acquainted to a combo system where you can string together certain moves to start a combo chain. The longer the chain, the more you get to beat up the opponent and take off more energy. To make it interesting (and to stop players from over dominating matches), each character has a "combo breaker" move: a certain combo then when you execute after someone tries to chain a combo, that character breaks out of it and hits your opponent at the same time. When your opponent loses all of his/her energy, you get the chance to end the match by either knocking him/her off the stage or by doing an "end special": a special move that you execute to unleash a barrage of combo hits earning you an "ultra combo" (40 or more hits in a row.) If you take too long to finish your opponent, he/she comes back to life with a little bit of energy and is extra powerful. Alongside the main mode, you can get used to the controls in the practice mode, tweak the game setting in the options screen, take on another player in the 2 player VS mode and tournament mode, where up to 8 players can duke it by passing the controller around.

The PROS: For Rare to bring this game to the SNES and have it turn out as good as what Capcom did to the home port of Street Fighter II a few years before, it was quite impressive. The core game, complete with all the characters, stages and moves is intact and inside the massive, black 32 megabit cartridge. The graphics, music, sound effects and game play are worth seeing in person. The controls are very responsive and it's just a matter of memorizing the moves before you learn how to play and get better. The game will become more difficult once you raise it so prepare to fight hard. Adding the extra modes means you can get all your friends in on the action making it a fun game to play. As an special treat, Rare included a bonus music CD of the game's soundtrack and remixed tracks exclusively for the SNES version.

The CONS: Due to cartridge limitations, Rare had to make cuts here and there. You will see missing frames of animations, flat 2D settings instead of the original 3D look the stages had in the arcade version, graphics running on a lower resolution setting and the music tracks playing in the background of matches are instrumental compared to the arcade versions where you heard it with the lyrics spoken (hence the reason why the music CD was included???) These are just minor quips as it doesn't deter from the overall gaming experience.

Killer Instinct was worth picking up back in 1995 and is still worth playing to this very day. Those of you who want to take a chance on this better find a used copy as this game is expensive to buy as a new product. So if you still got your SNES and it works, definitely check this out. And if you can, buy the soundtrack as well; it's pretty good.

Killer Instinct arrived nearly five days ahead of time. The game was well packaged and in meant condition. We enjoy it SO much. My boyfriend is addicted. It is difficult to find such a throwback game for such a good price. We will be buying more from this seller again. Thank you bunches.

Killer Instinct is a 1 on 1 arcade style fighting game made by one of the best game companies at the time Rare. I always loved the arcade game, but never really got into the Super Nintendo version. It has all the characters from the arcade version (Fulgore, Black Orchid, TJ Combo, Cinder, Glacius, Sabrewolf, Chief Thunder, Spinal and Spinal). Each of the characters have their own special moves and fighting styles. The game features combos that test your skills. The combos really feek like a scoring system and not just a way to damage your opponent. There are fatalities (or finishers) and humiliations that you can pull off at the end of a fight. The game looks good with the digitized 3D graphics, but it feels sub par compared to the arcade.

The music was always a standout for this game for getting you pumped to play or fight. It is so good that I even have the soundtrack to it.

There's nothing wrong with the game, but it feels sub par compared to Mortal Kombat games at the time. Of course this was the first in a franchise while Mortal Kombat was already 3 games in. Killer Instinct just feels like its missing something that Street Fighter 2 and Mortal Kombat had. Its got the great music and great combos. maybe it just came out too little too late.

I bought this game for my boyfriend for Christmas, and he absolutley loved it! It is great condition, and works perfectly

During the 16-bit age, the original era of video games were platformers, side scrollers, beat-em ups, shoot em ups, and the occasional great puzzle game. Then, Mortal Kombat and Street Fighter 2 were met with extraordinary success, and the next thing you know fighting games are all the rage. Of that, we saw good and bad. Some of the good games included are the Mortal Kombat games, The Street Fighter 2 games, and a game like Primal Rage. Some of the bad games were titles like the legendary terrible Shaq Fu, Ballz 3-D, and Double Dragon 5. One game came out that was very different, and actually probably the best fighting game not named Mortal Kombat or Street Fighter 2. That game is Killer Instinct.

Some would even go so far to argue that Killer Instinct is actually the best fighting game of this era. While this claim is merely an opinion, it's definitely worth noting that it is at least as great as the best Mortal Kombat game. The backgrounds were very nicely animated and the music was vastly superior. All the character sprites look good, and the characters were pretty unique and cool. However, I would be remiss if I did not mention the major selling point of this game, which is it's unique and fantastic combo-fighting system.

In a game like Street Fighter 2 or Mortal Kombat, you would rely heavily on your ability to combine special attacks with top-tier mastery of the fighting moves. To achieve a respectable level of skill at Killer Instinct requires you to master the fighting combinations. There are auto combos, juggle combos, and some very cool methods of stringing them together to make a more damaging and longer combo. No matter how good you get at combos though, if you are going head to head against another top-tier player who is capable of executing a combo-breaker at will, the tables can turn very quickly.

The characters were a very refreshing addition to a genre quickly becoming stale. Spinal was a skeletal warrior with sword and shield, Fulgore was a vicious and violent futuristic robot, Combo was a punishing boxer, and Riptor was a violent raptor, just to name a few. On top of the really neat combo attacks, each character also had a complimentary set of special moves, and even a finishing move. But the one thing everyone remembers and loves most about this game is the Ultra Combo.

The Ultra Combo was a lengthy auto combo that you could execute after landing at least a three-hit combo. If you could pull this move off when your opponent's lifebar was nearly depleted, it would result in you totally owning your opponent in a torrential downpour of pain, landing brutal hit after brutal hit after brutal hit. In video games, there were few feelings as satisfying as pulling off this move and watching your opponent get thoroughly beaten. After that, the game voice would even scream "ULTRA!" just to cement the moment.

This was a game where players could get legitimately competitive. Constantly trying to one-up a friend by executing a tough 9 or 10 hit combo could become very intense, and nothing spelled out ownage quite like executing an Ultra combo on a friend.

Lastly, I thought that one of the more interesting things about this game was the black SNES cartridge. You really didn't see that many colored cartridges during the Super Nintendo's lifespan, but the fact that Killer Instinct was released as a black cartridge was appropriate and so cool looking.

Everything about this game is above average. The characters, the levels, the really awesome music, and the most excellent gameplay make this one of the better SNES titles to own and easily the best fighting game of this era to own.

For all the arcade-style fighting games in its day, this game was fair in storyline and quality. The artwork/graphics are nice, but this game just didn't have the kick that Mortal Kombat did. It's still a decent fighting game and is good for a couple of hours of entertainment.

Love Killer Instinct. Awesome game from back in the day. Stoked this game works and fires up every time. Such a good game. Ahhh, nostalgia.

This has always been one of my favorite games. All the characters are impressive and it's just an awesome game.

Before Killer Instinct there was Mortal Kombat, and Primal Rage. But once Killer Instinct was introduced to the arcade it blew gamers away! I know I must have spent at least 30$ in quarters on it over the years. Well I was so excited when It came to the SNES as an almost perfect arcade port. I own all versions ever made of it including the arcade game. Buy it trust an experienced Killer Instinct fan you wont be dissapointed, especially when your kicking but with Folgore!