"One of the last great fighting games for the SNES"

Killer instinct is a fairly good fighting game, made by RARE, a company that is known for top-notch graphics and quality. In Killer Instinct, both of these qualities are delivered, and the result is a fun fighting game that is easy to get into and a good diversion for at least a couple of hours.

Gameplay - 10/10

This is a fighting game, so the gameplay basically consists of fighting opponents in various stages. Controls are fairly easy to pick up and learn quickly. There are also a good number of combos that can be learned fairly easily, and fired off with ease after a little practice. Characters are unique, and each character has various special abilities, all of which require different strategies to avoid. Character fighting styles are slightly different, and so there are different characters that are best to use with your own personal experience level. The computer players intelligence level is pretty good, and provides a decent challenge, without being overly difficult on any difficulty rating. My only gripe with the gameplay was that you can continue as many times as you want, starting off at the last battle you lost. In my opinion, it would have been better, and more challenging to allow a set limit of continues, rather than telling you how many you used once you have completed the game.

Multi-player does not have many special options, but it is still a lot of fun. You can choose between single battles, or tournaments. With the tournament, you can select up to 8 players to compete. Since there are only 2 controller ports, you may have to pass the controllers around the group.

Sound - 9/10

The music is fairly good, with tunes for each stage ranging from up-beat to dark. If you cannot get enough of it in the game, you can listen to the Killer Cuts soundtrack that is included with the package of the game. Sound effects are pretty good. There is the announcer’s deep voice used to announce each character, or a victory, or special condition, like a combo. Each character also has 2 or 3 grunting/yelling/injured noises that they make, along with their voice announcing each of their special moves.

Graphics - 10/10

Graphics are top-notch. Characters are very well detailed, and backgrounds show fairly good detail. The action is fast, and the animation stays very smooth. This is one of the later games released for the Super Nintendo, and you can tell this from looking at the detailed graphics.

Overall - 9/10

Overall this is a fairly good game. It is a lot of fun to play through alone or with a friend, and will take you a few hours to master each character, and all of the special combos and moves that they can perform.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 10/14/01, Updated 10/14/01