

Killer Instinct is a fighting game developed by Rare and published by Midway and Nintendo. It was released as an arcade game in the fall of 1994 and, the following year, ported to the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES) and the Game Boy. The game's plot involves an all-powerful corporation organising a fighting tournament. The story was adapted in a limited comic book series published under the short-lived Acclaim Comics imprint. Killer Instinct features several gameplay elements unique to fighting games of the time. Instead of fighting enemies in best-of-three rounds bouts, each player has two life bars. The player that depletes the other player's life bars first wins the match. The game also introduced "auto-doubles", a feature which allows players to press a certain sequence of buttons to make characters automatically perform combos on opponents. Also featured in the game are "combo breakers", special defensive moves that can interrupt combos. Ultratech is a very powerful megacorporation which organises a tournament called Killer Instinct. Along with regular participants, experimental creatures created by Ultratech also fight in the tournament so their strength can be tested. Ultratech also discovers a technology to make bridges between dimensions, and releases a two-headed, one-eyed, satyr monster called Eyedol from this dimensional prison.
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Character
Plot-driven, earnest, grave and unpretentious.
- character-ledplot-driven
- earnestironic
- gravecomic
- unpretentiousprestige
- cooloverwhelming
Who loves it, who doesn't
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“Is this Rare's best work?”
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“Is it the best fighting game of its decade?”
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“Would a little humor have helped?”
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A yes-or-no question, answered from what people wrote here, on TMDB and on Wikipedia. Never made up.
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About the game
- Platforms
- Arcade
- Developer
- Rare
- Publisher
- Midway
- Released
- October 28, 1994
- Modes
- Single player, Multiplayer
- Perspective
- Side view
IGDB rating 7.2/10 from 112 ratings.
Screenshots
Pairings
Companions we picked from the closest works, and how to take them.
Similar in taste
Closest on the same fourteen dimensions, from everything scored on Curator Co. Other media included when they land close.
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Rival Schools: United by Fate 199783% alikeBoth earnest, plot-driven, grave.
Real Bout Fatal Fury 199583% alikeBoth plot-driven, earnest, grave.
Both plot-driven, earnest, grave.
Both plot-driven, earnest, grave.
Film · Both earnest, grave, plot-driven.
Swordsman 199068% alikeFilm · Both earnest, grave, plot-driven.
Often played with
Similar games per IGDB. Opening one adds it to Curator Co.










