K-K-K-K-KILLER INSTINCT!!!
Written: Oct 12 '04
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Animation,fun,music,announcer
Cons: Wants to be MK,a bit fuzzy
The Bottom Line: KI is slicker than the average 16-Bit fighter, but suffers from wanting to be MK too much and maybe being a little ambitious
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| flash-hammer's Full Review: Killer Instinct for Super Nintendo |
Killer Instinct was created as Nintendo’s answer to jibes from a Sega employee that Nintendo only catered to kids following the censorship on the Snes of Mortal Kombat. Nintendo got on the phone to their mates at Rare, who came up with the Killer Instinct arcade title to create this response.
This was originally conceived as a showcase of what would become the Nintendo 64, but due to delays on that console, a port to the Super Nes had to be made before the game’s popularity faded.
The game is a one on one fighter in the vein of MK, however it does have one major gameplay feature that differentiates it from the majority of fighters in that it doesn’t really work in rounds, but its more like each fighter has two life bars, when the first one is depleted totally, where most games would end the round, the brawl stops for a moment, and the loser goes onto his second life bar, while the winner fights on with his remaining energy. The basic idea is the same, beat your opponent's life bar down to empty using a variety of punches, kicks and special moves.
To try and make the game feel more like MK, there is blood, and it's of the exaggerated MK variety where gallons pour out upon the slightest hit before disappearing the moment it hits the floor. Once you deplete your opponent's energy bars, there is also a 'Danger' screen where the enemy is dazed and open to a finishing move, each character having a fatal move, performed via a complex button/D-Pad motion, or on some stages can knock their foe off the edge of buildings and such. You wouldn't think it, but Rare are a company usually known for their originality.
The story is your average bleak future where the number one televised event is the Killer Instinct martial arts tournament run by the evil Ultratech company. But this year's last fighter is more powerful than usual, he is one of two ancient demon warlords, sealed in limbo eons ago, only to be freed by Ultratech for this tournament. The characters taking part are:
Jago: A Ninja, lead to the tournament by the mystical Tiger Spirit to vanquish the evil forces at work. Jago is essentially a Ryu/Ken with Quarter Circle Forward +Punch fireball move, rising uppercut and so on.
Black Orchid: The sole female entrant is really a secret agent out to bring down Ultratech from the tournament upwards.
Spinal: An ancient warrior ressurected by Ultratech with none of his memories, other than how to fight, one of Ultratech's many experiments to find the ultimate soldier.
TJ Combo: A disgraced former heavyweight boxing champ who is out to prove he is the real deal and regain his money and fans.
Fulgore: A War robot designed by Ultratech, the KI tournament is it's final test, if it wins it goes into mass production, if it doesn't? scrapheap.
Glacius: An alien being made of ice who crashed on Earth, only to be taken hostage by Ultratech and forced to fight for his freedom.
Chief Thunder: A Native American Shaman who fights with two tomahawks out to find his brother who went missing at the last KI tournament.
Riptor: Another Ultratech soldier experiment, Riptor is the product of combining human and reptile DNA into one angry Dinosaur.
Sabrewulf: No relation to the other Rare game, Sabrewulf is a werewolf who lives in solitude, until he hears that winning the tournament could gain him a cure for his condition.
CinderA convict who was offered a shorter sentance if he volunteered to take part in an Ultratech experiment to make a being comprised of flame. He is told that if he kills Glacius, he will walk free.
So the story is pretty standard fighting game fare, and a few of the characters are cliched, and while none are really original, Killer Instinct went out on a limb by including so many outlandish characters, most games limit themselves to one, and I feel it helps the game, it gives it some character instead of just a bunch of martial arts guys. The game features decent endings for arcade mode, so it offers an incentive to replay for each character, and you can even unlock Eyedol, the last boss to fight with!
The gameplay of the game is pretty good, but far from perfect. The game is famous for it's combo system, with characters being able to string together combos consisting of loads of hits, and there are loads of combos. But that leads to a bit of a problem, because you spend so much time trying to memorize three-million hit combos that it kind of takes the fun out of it. And on the opposite side, it is pretty easy to mash your way into a combo, which given the choice between memorizing 109089 buttons in exact order and just smashing your hand off the pad isn't all that nice a choice. But in the mix for gamers who do their research is the 'Combo Breaker', this is a move that will interrupt an enemy's combo and allow you an opening yourself. these moves work on a sort of Rock/Paper/Scissors principle, only with Weak/Medium/Strong attack. This adds to the game immensely, as you are never totally stuck at the whim of one of these combos.
The game does provide some two player thrills, but while it can get the adrenaline pumping, there are SNES fighters better for it, but it is worth a look every now and again for a laugh.
Graphically, the game is a bit here and there. The characters are rendered ala Rare's Donkey Kong games, but keeping in mind that the arcade game had the N64's power in mind, a lot of downsizing had to be done both to the size of the sprites and to their general quality. This means that on occasion the characters can appear quite fuzzy or blurred, especially on the darker stages.
On the plus side, the animation is pretty awesome, and it really adds to the games enjoyment being able to actually watch the fighters pull off moves fluidly. There is a combo Jago does that I don't know the exacts, but it involves his Dragonpunch rip-off and his Van Damme kick move, the animation as it goes from move to move is spectacularly smooth, and doesn't miss a frame, it's stuff like this that makes you appreciate the game.
The sound is one aspect of the game that cannot be faulted. The music is superb, with a stirring title theme, tension building character select music and unique and excellent themes for each fighter. A favourite has to be Glacius' theme. When you fight him, you face him in an icy wasteland, and the music has this really bleak sound to it...hard to explain, but it just fits.
But where the sound goes from good to legendary is the announcer. While his throaty renditions of character names are awesome and fun (especially Spinal), its his immortal cry of "C-C-C-C-C-COMBO BREAKER!" that the game will always be remembered for.
The game controls look like this, L ,B and A are weak,medium and strong kick respectively, while R,Y and X are the three strengths of punches.
The special moves are performed by either doing the rotation motions or charging the pad in a direction for a few seconds before pressing the opposite direction in conjunction with an attack button.
While actually putting the weak attacks on the shoulder buttons is a pretty unique control method, I personally think it works well, and a lot better than having the strong attacks on the shoulders. While a Six-Buttons on the face pad would be nice, I feel the regular SNES pad is more than workable for the game. The controls are also responsive, and generally sound.
On the whole, Killer Instinct is an enjoyable fighting game that certainly excels above the majority of 16-Bit fighters, and is a great fun game on single player and an enjoyable multiplayer. So why only 4 stars then? The reasons Im deducting a star are partially due to the fuzzy graphics, and mostly due to how much it want's to be MK, but doens't quite have the balls. While it has death moves, let's face it, none of them are close to MK's,granted Orchid's is amusing. The game just seems to be trying too hard to out-MK Mortal Kombat.
So yeah, 4 stars will have to do it, it's a solid fighter, and superb for a company's first foray into the genre, but had they tried to make their own game instead of just trying to mimic Midway and reacting to Sega's jibes, they may have had an absolute classic on their hands. For fans of fighters with a SNES, while KI isn't the best fighter on the console by far, it is certainly better than a lot, and worth a look. When you consider how formidible a task this would have been, to try and port a game made for 64-Bit technology to a 16-Bit console, KI truly is a great achievement.
Recommended:
Yes
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flash-hammer
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