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Wassup World? It’s ya boy Carl “Krypt” Daniel here with the pilot episode of Krypt’s Catch-Up. Each week I’ll be taking you back in time to revisit games that many of you grew up with to see how well they really hold up. It’s easy for nostalgia to have you thinking shit like “Pitfall is the greatest game of all time” so I’ll be here on a weekly basis to either confirm your opinion or to smack you back into reality. As always feel free to leave your comments/suggestions for future episodes in the comment box below or shoot me an email at cdaniel@thekoalition.com.
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Console: Super Nintendo
Developer: Rare
Release Date: 1995
Currently Available On: eBay

Release Reception

In the mid-90’s there was no room on the SNES for fighting games unless they started with the words “Street Fighter” or “Mortal Kombat”. That was until Killer Instinct busted on to the scene with it’s black cartridge to shut shit down. Killer Instinct’s enthuses on massive, easy to pull off combos made it instantly appealing and the unique cast of characters managed to lure in even non-fight fans. Even though there are only current only two games bearing the KI name (this and the N64’s Killer Instinct Gold) the KI series is regarded as key staples in the fighter game genre. Rare has been hinting at the existence of Killer Instinct 3 for several years now but an official announcement has yet to happen.

How Well Does It Hold Up?

Graphics
In 2009 KI does not look good at all. Everything is so dull and muddy, It’s almost like Rare just discovered the color brown and went ape shit with it. The backgrounds look sterile and lifeless, even the level set atop a metropolis rooftop looks devoid of any life. The worst graphical offenders are the character models, they look and animate like digital plasticine creations, especially when blown up on a 40” HD TV.

Gameplay
Gameplay holds up surprisingly well. Almost 15 years later I still had fun kicking my brother ass and performing ultra combos. Characters move pretty fast and the absence of transitions between rounds keeps fights exciting from start to finish. Ultra combos still look awesome but most finishing moves (especially the environmental ones) look down right corny. Still, the fun factor remains so if you enjoyed this game in the past you probably will still enjoy it today.

Sound
The background music and Jigsaw-esque announcer still sound awesome. KI was known for having excellent music and it still holds true. The character voices and sound effects are both terrible but hearing the announcer famously exclaim “C,C,C,C,Combo Breaker!” more than makes up for it.

Verdict
To end this Catch-Up on a disturbing note, Killer Instinct is like an aging porn star. While it still performs well, time has damaged it harshly making it a little awkward to watch. It’s still fun to mess around with for a couple of minutes but ultimately the world has moved on too far. Unless you have a weird vintage fetish or are in to saggy MILF’s I suggest you continue to marvel over the Lacey Duvalle’s (ie. Street Fighter IV) of today and let Killer Instict live only in memory.

Written By Carl Daniel

Gamertag & PSN ID: KRyPTceltrix // Email: CDaniel@TheKoalition.com

1. Quentyn K. says:

   December 6, 2009 at 2:24 pm

   Just a quick gripe: I don't think you can expect much out of a game's graphics when it wasn't designed for (nor can it be upscaled to) a high resolution in this day and age. At second glance, playing KI on a tube TV (especially with the expectations that we had those years ago compared to now) was pretty amazing.

   Reply
2. KRyPT says:

   December 6, 2009 at 3:18 pm

   Agreed, and I did mention they were blown up, but my beef was with the general art and aestetics rather than anything else.

   I regually play virtual console games such as Street Fighter II and even that game has aged far more gracefully than this has.

   Reply
3. JOEKILLA says:

   February 3, 2010 at 11:12 pm

   Krypt's Katch-Up…

   Reply