One of the best fighting games ever made.

Back in the mid-nineties if you liked arcade fighters, you had your plate full. There were a plethora of Street Fighters, Mortal Kombats, and King of Fighters out there. Don’t get me wrong, these games were all great in their own respect, but they were all missing something.

Cut to August 1^st 1995. Welcome to Killer Instinct. My local arcade actually received the machine on it first day of release, I believe that was the only time they actually received anything first. I recall assisting one of the workers slapping in the coin doors and powering the machine up. We were both immediately floored.

The only other 3D fighter that had anywhere near the visual appeal was Tekken, and it was old news. Everything about Killer Instinct was extremely cutting edge at the time. The sound was awesome and fit well with the lush levels and highly detailed characters. The combo system was easy to pickup and there were an endless amount of combinations that could be performed.

I was lucky enough to be the first person in my area to get a game on the new machine. Needless to say I didn’t do too well, but who does on their first try? After a few hours as I started to the hang of it, I accidently performed an Ultra Combo on one of my buddies. I still remember all the yelling, we were all pretty amazed and I tried over and over to do it again, but I failed.

The one aspect I really love about Killer Instinct is the rock,paper,scissors countering. Every move in the game has a counter. Unlike some other fighting games, you can’t go defensive and seal a win every round.

To this day Killer Instinct is still my favorite arcade fighter. That is probably why there is a KI machine in this very room with me now.

Here are some videos I made a few years ago when I ran Fighting Fanatic. Enjoy.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LemKbdDFnYM[/youtube]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ay1jW9×5R_g[/youtube]

Tags: gaming, arcade, videos, killer+instinct