Killer Instinct (1994 video game)

Killer Instinct
Killer Instinct
Developer(s)	Rareware
Publisher(s)	Nintendo, Midway
Platform(s)	Arcade, Super NES, Game Boy
Release	1994
Genre(s)	Fighting
Mode(s)	Up to 2 players simultaneously
Arcade system	Ultra 64

For the FOX television series, see Killer Instinct (TV series).

For the reference to the human behaviour, see Killer Instinct (human behaviour)

For the Acclaim Comics comic book, see Killer Instinct (comics)

Killer Instinct is a fighting game by Rare and Nintendo. Initially released in arcades in 1994, and claiming to use an "Ultra 64" hardware engine. The game received a high profile launch on the Super Nintendo, as well as on the Game Boy. It led to a sequel, Killer Instinct 2.

Developed using SGI computers and 3D modeling software from Alias, Killer Instinct was considered a graphical leader when it was released. It featured animated backgrounds that were pre-rendered movies which changed angles depending on the character location. This technique causes the backgrounds to have an unprecedented three dimensional look — a look far better than was possible at the time in real time 3D rendering. (Bram Stoker's Dracula for the Sega CD later used this technique.) The characters were pre-rendered sprites, although many players at the time thought the characters were rendered in real time 3D.^{[citation needed]} Killer Instinct was also the first arcade game with an internal hard disk.

It is rumored that it will be released via Xbox Live Arcade for the Xbox 360 in 2007.

Combos

Standard Flow

It is important to keep in mind that the player may finish the combo after any part by simply not inputting any move, using a non-designated special attack, or using a standard move that is not designated as an auto double in the current sequence (the latter two could be considered 'finishers' in their own right), in addition to the sequences below.

If the opposing player's life is very low on their second life bar, there are two special combo endings which can be performed. The first can be done after at least a 2 hit combo and is the most well known move in Killer Instinct, the Ultra combo, which does a visually impressive automatic 18 hit combo ender similar in style to Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3's Brutalities. The second can be done after at least a 3 hit combo, the Ultimate, which performs a no mercy finishing move on the opponent. Both of these special combo enders function as 'instant-kill' moves, similar to Guilty Gear XX or Samurai Shodown V.

1. Opener (either designated specials moves, jump-in attack, or "top attack.")

2. Auto-double (a specific strength button that is determined by which strength special attack the player used.) If it is after a jump-in attack, it will always be one strength lower then the jump-in attack. If it is after a top attack, it will always be Medium.)

3. At this point the player has two possible choices. S/he end the combo with an end special, which is a specified special attack (which will result in a special finisher.) Or, the player could use a linker, which is a single special move of certain strength.

4. At this point, again, the player has two possible choices. S/he could use an end special (as noted above) or a second auto-double (which will follow the linker, and therefore always be a punch or kick of certain strength, since the linker is always a fixed special attack of certain strength.)

5. End special (a specified special attack.)

Additionally, players can create speed-up, slow-down, and shadow combos by using certain moves, though generally these are graphical changes that result in little gameplay difference. Finally, players have found certain moves or combinations of moves that can be incorporated into or instigate combos outside of this system. Some of these do, in fact, lead to infinites as seen in other fighting games. There is little doubt that these moves were probably not pre-planned.

Combo breaking

The opposing player may break out of the combo by inputting a "c-c-c-c-c-c-combo breaker!" (as heard in-game). The combo breaker is a designated special move of the player's character. A combo can be broken at either the auto-double or linker stage. To successfully break an auto-double, the player must use the breaker move at a strength lower then the auto-double itself (i.e. for a player to break a Medium auto-double s/he must use a Quick breaker.) The combo can also be broken at the linker stage. At this stage the player can use any strength of breaker, making long combos a risky affair.

Hits designation

After a combo is successfully completed without being broken, bonus points are awarded based on the number of hits:

3 hits - Triple combo
4 hits - Super combo
5 hits - Hyper combo
6 hits - Brutal combo
7 hits - Master combo
8 hits - Awesome combo
9 hits - Blaster combo
10 hits - Monster combo
11 hits - King combo
12+ hits - Killer combo

If an Ultra (18+ hits) or Ultimate ender is used, the combo receives that designation instead.

Efficiency

While combos have the potential to be damaging due to the initial difficulty required to 'break' out of one, it is important to note that they are quite dangerous to use. They can only be initiated by fairly high-risk attacks, and can be broken fairly easily if they become too long. Additionally, damage scaling is very severe, meaning that the damage of every successive hit will become smaller. Beyond the fourth or fifth hits, subsequent hits will do negligible, if any, damage (but instead, they reward big points).

Story

Ultratech is a very powerful company which organizes a tournament called Killer Instinct. Along with regular participants, experimental creatures created by Ultratech also fight in the tournament. Ultratech also discovers a technology to make bridges between dimensions, and to also release from his dimensional prison a two-headed monster called Eyedol, an ancient warrior that was locked away along with his rival.

Characters

The game features ten characters, all of which are owned by Rare after the acquisition:

B. Orchid

Hired by Ultratech as a secretary, she is actually a spy working for an unknown party and, along with Jago, appears to be the heroine of the game franchise. Her full name is Black Orchid.

She is famous for a finishing move wherein she flashes her opponent, causing her oppponents to have a unique reaction. For instance, Spinal's eyes bug out and he falls over stiffly, Glacius appears confused before falling over, Saberwulf whimpers loudly several times before clutching at his chest (appearing to have a heart attack) and falling over, T.J. Combo covers his eyes in shock and then screams before falling over, Fulgore has sparks shoot from his head before collapsing, and Orchid herself appears frustrated and stomps her feet on the ground but does not die, as the others do.

Cinder

A criminal who was promised early release by Ultratech in exchange for participating in chemical weapons research. As a result of an accident during testing, his body is composed entirely of flame. He is promised a return to his original form if he is able to defeat Glacius in the tournament. In the early development stages of the game his name was Meltdown, but this was soon afterwards changed to Cinder.

Fulgore

Fulgore is a cyborg, part of a cybernetic project developed by Ultratech, the masterminds behind the Killer Instinct fighting tournament. Fulgore was entered into the tournament to test its fighting capabilities. If successful, the Fulgore unit would be placed in mass production. During the first Killer Instinct tournament, Fulgore met its end at the hands of Jago. A newer version of Fulgore was produced for the second fighting tournament. He can be considered as Killer Instinct's poster boy, since he appears in many of the game's promotional merchandise.

Glacius

An alien who was captured by Ultratech and promised freedom if he wins the tournament. He gets his nickname from his body's icy liquid composition and ability to shape-shift. He appears to be influenced by the T-1000 from the Hollywood film Terminator 2: Judgment Day, as he is able to turn into a puddle of liquid and transform his arms into blades.

Jago

A Tibetan monk following the Tiger Spirit, he is on the path of enlightenment to defeat the evil within. He believes it is his destiny to destroy Ultratech. He has many of the same moves as Street Fighter's Ryu and Ken characters, including the fireball and spinning uppercut.

Riptor

A genetically engineered velociraptor-human hybrid created as a prototype by Ultratech. The tournament serves to test its abilities as a killing machine. He is intelligent and very deadly; one of the deadliest creatures in Killer Instinct.

Sabrewulf

Count Von Sabrewulf is stricken by lycanthropy, and is promised a cure by Ultratech if he wins the tournament. This is a semi-cameo appearance of Sabre Man, known from their 1984 game Sabre Wulf. Sabrewulf fights in his inherited castle as his home level, with biting and claw attacks, and the ability to howl and use his Flaming Bat.

Spinal

An Ultratech minion. He is a product of cell regeneration; a living skeleton of an ancient warrior. He seems to fight for sheer enjoyment. He carries a sword and shield, and has the ability to teleport and physically morph himself into a grayscale version of his opponents during combos. He has an odd quirk in that, in order to perform certain moves, he must gather energy (represented by tokens shaped like skull under his life bar in the SNES version, and by skulls floating around his person in the arcade) by either absorbing opponents projectile energy attacks, or performing combo breakers. Despite requiring these tokens, his special moves are not particularly stronger than normal special attacks. He can "store" up to 5 skull tokens.

T.J. Combo

A former heavyweight boxing champion for 5 years. He was stripped of his title and kicked out of the circuit due to sheer brutality towards his opponents, and because he was using cybernetically enhanced arms. Ultratech promises him to return his title if he wins the tournament. He is similar to Balrog of the Street Fighter series and to Major Jackson Jax Briggs of the Mortal Kombat series, but this may be simply because they are both based on similar premises.

Chief Thunder

A Native American Chief, armed with twin tomahawks, who enters the tournament to find out what happened to his missing brother Eagle in the previous year's tournament.

Eyedol

A two-headed, ancient mystical warlord who was trapped in a dimensional prison in the distant past. Ultratech released him to be the final combatant in the tournament. It is shown in Killer Instinct 2 that the person Eyedol was trapped in combat with was Gargos, the final boss of that game.

Art Style

^{[original research?]}

Unlike many other fighting games, especially its contemporaries, Killer Instinct takes place in a modern/futuristic setting. Most stages are quite dark and the game's palette is composed generally of dark, rich colours, which highlight this. The attacks of the game are covered in a comic book style starburst. White starbursts designate hits that have connected, while red ones designate blocked hits. This style is similar to the flashes that appear in later fighting games such as Tekken, Soul Calibur, and Bushido Blade. The amount of blood in the game is actually quite low, especially considering the title of the game. While there is slightly more blood in Killer Instinct than Street Fighter II, generally speaking it is in a realistic amount and never approaches the levels of the Mortal Kombat games.

The music of the game contains a variety of genres and differs heavily between each stage. Of special notice is that when a player's life is in critical status, the music tracks changed to a small loop of the current track, a la Street Fighter II. However due to the flow of the game this only occurs once per match and only at the very end, as opposed to two to three times in Street Fighter II, allowing the original track to play much longer.

Version Differences

In the first arcade version of the game the Danger moves were called No Mercy. This was changed for all later releases in the arcades and the SNES port.
In the first arcade release, Cinder was named Meltdown.
In older arcade releases there was a glitch that caused Fulgore and Glacius' teleport moves, when used against the edge of the rooftop levels, to shrink the players graphics to roughly half their normal size.
In older arcade releases you had to select Riptor and enter a code to play as the end boss Eyedol, but in later releases and also in the SNES release you have to select Cinder instead and then enter a different code.
In earlier arcade releases after turning the opponent into a frog with Orchid, the player could break out of the finishing move and perform other moves and combos against the opponent, including the flash finishing move.
The SNES version graphics are considerably different from the arcade due to memory constraints, especially the finishing moves which had far less variety than their arcade counterparts.
The SNES version replaces the versus scren full motion videos with still images of the characters taken from the videos.
The SNES version levels are considerably shorter in width than the arcade version, which is especially noticeable on the rooftop levels as it is no longer possible to do an Ultra combo and then the air juggle move.
The SNES version replaced the highly popular "Ultra combo!" announcer voice with a very short sample of the word "Ultra" that repeats several times
The SNES version is missing many of the more advanced combo techniques, including break ups, missed Ultras and air Ultras.
The Game Boy version uses fewer attack buttons, does not have Cinder or Riptor, and is missing several other features due to technical limitations.

Trivia

^{[original research?]}

The original planned title for the game was Brute Force [1].
The Super Nintendo version of the game was packaged in a black case in both Europe and the United States; unusual, as most SNES games used a standard grey shell. It also was packaged with a 16 track music CD entitled Killer Cuts featuring arrangements of music from the game. Killer Cuts was later sold through Nintendo Power's Super Power Supplies mail order service in both CD and cassette form.
The fighting system of Interplay's ClayFighter 63 1/3 has striking similarities to Killer Instinct's, mainly in terms of the automatic combo system that that game also employs.
Killer Instinct's "aftermatch" moves seem to have a direct similarity to the Mortal Kombat games. Interestingly, in Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance references to KI characters are included. For example, Reptile has a combo entitled "Rip-Tore" and Cyrax has one called "Full-Gore".^{[citation needed]} However in terms of actual gameplay Killer Instincts system seems to bear a resemblance of Street Fighter II.
The end boss character Eyedol's ending clearly parodies Blanka's ending from Street Fighter II.

References