I recently got the urge to talk about old games, just like every gamer on here, SO LISTEN UP!
For those of you who don't know what the hell Killer Instinct was, it was one of the best fighting games for the SNES and Arcade. It was your normal fighting game, with a couple fighters, some stages, and an arcade mode with a boss at the end that made you spam continues till you dropped. However, it was an epic fighter not because it had the same unique roster and special moves that games around that time had (Looking at you, Street Fighter II), it was because it would be one of the first games to implement what I like to call a static combo system. In a static combo system, once I hit you, I now have the ability to lay down a large number of hits without being interrupted. This system means it's all about getting that hit to open a fresh can of kill on your enemy!
Now, you may wonder why this system works, and why this game is difficult, even if you know how to land a 17 hit combo. A lot of measures are taken to ensure a nice balance. For one, those 17 hit combos I just mentioned can deal just about the same amount of damage a 4 hit combo can. As the hit number increases, the less damage hits do. This means its all about (once again) getting the hit in to start your combos. However, it means that you need to strategize where you place the hit.
So, for a combo system where it's all about first hits, why would anyone want to play? I mean, there appears to be no way of escaping combos, right? Well, YOU'RE WRONG! The game has something I'm sure a lot of you have seen before, and that is the C-C-C-C-COMBO BREAKER!!!!! By performing the right move at the right time, you can not only escape their combo in the most epic of ways, but get a couple perks as well just for performing one, like extra moves. This allows the combo system to have some balance and maintenance, and makes this game a gem in the retro library. Well, that, and the 20-50 hit ultra combos you can unleash on your opponent once they are low health. Those can look pretty cool too.
The game was made by Rare, so of course, you're gonna have your realistic 2D rendering and such. It does work pretty well though, and definitely adds a different atmosphere Street Fighter and King of Fighters had. Think Mortal Kombat, but a little more fluid. The artwork is well done, and the sprites for combos look amazing when performing those long combos. The arcade version even boasted some cool Mode-7 stages to show depth (shown in the pic above) The music is also great, and can be very fitting for the stages there.
The character roster is very unique compared to other fighting games. Rather than have a cast who all know some martial art, or has some special powers, these characters are all different, from the bloody werewolf Sabrewulf, to the Native American Tribesman Chief Thunder, and to the extreme boxer T.J. Combo (My main btw). It has people of all types, locales, and ability, and makes this game more interesting to pick up.
So, I'm done. I tried my best with reminiscing on KI. If you liked my description of this awesome game, let me know. If not, let me know what I did wrong. Also, if you want me to talk about more retro things, again, let a brotha know.
