Killer Instinct - Arcade - & 1994 - Bunker retro

Welcome... ... to this. I will borrow a bit of your time to talk about 90's videogame related stuff when I got THIS CARTRIDGE as a gift from my parents: Killer Instinct for the SNES. Hey, how you doing? Just fine. What are you doing? Ready to start a cuple of fights, and see if it aged well on the SNES. I remember... "THE 16 BIT ERA". Yeah, here in the middle of the 90's WAS the "16 bit era". In Japan and U.S.A. practically where reaching the 32 bit era. Maybe is not a big deal: now we get used to special editions of books, movies and games. And really, is not a big deal: it's just a game. But for a child of 13, long ago this game pack was something special. A black cartridge, that matches the dark tone of the game, and a soundtrack CD. This music wasn't the PacMan's sound effects. An eclectic mix of hard rock, techno, songs that made you think "it came from a suspense movie", hip hop, funny stuff and "classical-gothic" music. The quality in the inserts and instruction manuals has always been great in Nintendo's products but for a fighting game, having the character's moves in detail, was priceless. Well, my parents put the money. Thanks. Years ago, I found Saturn's "Virtua Fighter 2" manual: back then, next generation console and 3D stuff. It's all black and white... even the front cover. Guess I got the worst version of this manual. The Killer Instinct pack was flashy, and the free CD crowned it. Take a look. The game's debut was on the arcades, almost at the end of 1994. As a fact, I played it that year, in Piriapolis. (country: Uruguay- remember that Homer Simpson's joke "Uruguay U-R-Gay"? All right. -_- THAT place). One year later, Killer Instinct was released for the SNES. And next to my birthday too: the perfect chance. RARE, Killer Instinct's game developer, back then worked only for Nintendo. I dedicate this to the ones that remember this lie: a bittersweet speech on the arcade demo. All right but... what is Ultra 64? It's the Nintendo 64's name before its launch, and the replacement for the prototype name "Project Reality", that it had when it was announced in 1993. Legal issues with another company left the name to oblivion. This had always seemed weird to me. Another company was named Ultra 64? What they were doing? Computers? Guitars? Tourism? A paranormal technical support? -text reads "Problems with the underworld? Call now 0900-64 (ultratumba=after death).Your soul, today, also needs a rest."- Seems like Nintendo, more than a year after, change the console's name because of the most unknown company in the world. The way it had to be: respect to minority interests... with lawyers in between. Amen. To the "nobody cares" data enthusiast, maybe we can aim our stupidity goggles to Sun Ultra Workstations. A company that, I learnt about its existence just a few moments ago and have a commercial lifetime during the Nintendo 64 years. There's a lot of "64" in the specifications here... So... that's why the name changed? No clue. Just a wild guess. This hasn't been confirmed anyway. So guys: if you want to know more about Rare's exclusive games for Nintendo, Rare's old NES years and even before ... ... maybe in the future. Ok, ok, ok, ok: but what about the game itself? First, wait a moment: I have my very own "killer configuration" in the gamepad (yeah-yeah-yeah...). And here: I will play in the hard setting. This world taught me severity and strictness. Weeeell, 1 player ... all right! Seems that all the fighters made an appearance here, but they can't rotate like in the original, on a fixed axis bla bla bla... The jagged edges of the characters are terrible. Mmmh, yeah... the arcade has a little more animation than this, I guess... Anyway... Hey, what's the deal with the size of the fighters? Let's see how it plays, and yes... the gameplay... is: IMPECCABLE!! In the original coin up this game have a hard disk the very first used in arcade machines. The SNES version is a port on a 4 years-old hardware: very bold for a 16 bit console. What's the deal with this game? It's better to ask "what kind of fighting games weere popular in that period?" Back then the answer wasn't Quantum Physics. And maybe Mortal Kombat was too, TOO western in gameplay terms. Very stiff for my own taste. To say the truth, now I find it a complete letdown. But, hey, it's just my opinion: I respect its millions of fans. No doubt: the best version it's the SNES one. RARE take a little atmosphere and the extreme violence from this. The match can be ended, by player choice, with a virtual assassination that was called "Fatality". Videogames... very cute. When I saw Mortal Kombat for the first time, I was stunned by its realism. Back then, more detailed digitized graphics were the secret. Actors recorded in video with a chroma key background, to fit them in the game code. And what else can be said about Street Fighter II? Changed videogames forever a year before, and became an example. Even an example for it's own series. Super Street Fighter IV for the Nintendo 3DS, please? Thank you. The basic moves are the same. We have the "Cannon Spike". Ryu's hurricane kick it's still there, and lots of Hadoukens. But the hurricane kick it's no longer "tatsumaki senpuu kiaku" or AK-TAK-TAK-ROCKET!! Whatever he says. Cammy performs the "Cannon Drill" now saying spider arrow? I think she says "spelling error". Ok. Uh... she blocks your ultra attack in a cool way, didn't she? Hello? You are a distraction. And the jujutsu technique it's because I'm also a distraction? You get it right, skinny guy. Nice Shoryuken. This special attacks, presented in a cinematic kind of way, are called ultra combos. "Ultra", word that is closely related to K.I. All this stuff has connections everywhere. Connections that mainly started here, in S.F II: The World Warrior, the original sequel. Stopping Bison's Psycho Crusher with a Shoryuken... it's a pleasure. The sequel Street Fighter II it's a franchise by itself, in it's own way. Mmh, the comparisons are odious, but I'm neither the first or the last one doing this. In comparison, the Mortal Kombat games aged poorly. The ports and spinoffs looks ridiculous. Take a look to this option menu. The time I spend remapping the buttons, looking for a decent set up, it's insane. And there's a "turn around" button. It's disgusting. Mario, Sonic, Battletoads: 2D games with sidescrolling action and intuitive controls. In 1997 they couldn't make it right? -on screen: artificial "intelligence"/ ME - Yeah, right. Litres of blood everywhere in an uncontrolled cartoony fashion, was one of the aspects of inspiration in Killer Instinct. Here we got blood, oil, confusing DNA fluids, water, nothing, and fatality's shameless rip-off called "no mercy", or in spanish "sin piedad". Thinking about how this could be so controversial back then, still makes me laugh. Yeah. This cinic morld made me an insensitive kind of guy. Eeeh... Mortal Kombat "it's your game" of choice, I see. Mmh.. M.K. it's an North-American game .Too North-American for me and that's was dangerous for the video game industry in the 90's. As always, there are some exceptions. Earthworm Jim is a "Yank" good game, like Pong as well, but we must say that Rare it's more British than Benny Hill. I guess that in the Japanese Nintendo's headquarters, violent stuff in some games wasn't a big deal but Mortal kombat WAS indeed a big deal in the United States. All this brainless people just made free advertising of the game. Censorship explodes in domestic consoles. Only for Nintendo's Killer Instinct made it very well in conceptual content on SNES, I will like to place the spotlight on someting. On SNES the censorship was very, VERY evident. On Sega's console the game can be played Without blood and the most brutal fatalities, but with a cheatcode, the uncensored mode can be turned on. In SNES the blood was replaced with some kind of sweat or sawdust. The fatalities where changed to the point that they didn't make any sense... ...and Johnny Cage throws teddy bears. The controversial decapitation, with spine and stuff, trademark fatality of Sub Zero was changed, and in the context, it was not too shabby. Maybe it inspired the one in Mortal Kombat II. When the censored version inspires the sequel.. there's irony. Anyway, it changed the blood subject in videogames forever on this hemisphere and provided an age-rating system on the cartdriges. NO to censorship, man. On the funny side, we have movies with more realistic violence, and videogame blood was a "no-no". With the graphics limitations and pixel numbers, honestly, this is far from reality even if in the early 90s they seemed impressive. Something was changing: by the end of the first half of the 90s, videogames were not that primitive anymore. The pixels were less abstract. In 1994, a new generation of consoles arrived: Sega Saturn and Sony's Playstation In one year, we move from a rustic 3D in Star Fox to a more complex one in Daytona U.S.A. I been saying, like an over the top personal opinion, that Mortal Kombat today isn't "wooow" to me anymore, the gameplay wasn't appealing to the japanese gamer. For me, in this aspect, they have something superior already. Guess what? Killer Instinct have the same controller scheme: quick, medium and fierce for kicks and punches. Both games have the block feature by pressing forward or down-forward, and the basic combos on K.I. have a Steet Fighter II feeling... but a few steps beyond. Or "hits" to be more accurate. So, does "Street Fighter II plus a little Mortal Kombat equals K.I."? Or Eternal Champions. "What was the last exciting thing you have done in your life?" "SEGA! Everything else, it's gone!" As you said, Street Fighter II was a referent. A lot of rip-offs were made in the early 90’s. Rare combined two of the most popular fighting games in one concept, Sega have the same idea as well, and a little earlier this game was released. Let me put it in the Genesis, or Mega Drive to the close friends. Here comes that dude and breaks the logo... was that really necessary? Yeah, yeah... hu! Ouch! That midi... anyway. Here's the controller. You know this better than me, so go ahead. Fine. Was hard to beat it because you can't choose the difficulty level. To complete the game, you must beat the final boss 4 times in a row with only one energy bar. I'm not being dramatic. If you lose the boss battle, there is no continue. We can see the variety of characters. I find them, in style, more interesting and with better desing that the ones in Mortal... Enough. No more M.K. criticism, I promise. The trident guy, Al Capone mixed with Gambit during the prohibition era, a dark woman mixed with Psylocke and a ninja... and Wesley Snipes. These fighters, instead coming from different countries as in S.F., came from different ages. The arch meets characters from the Stone Age to the future beyond. Fine. Gameplay? The buttons set up it's like the one in S.F. II. Combos based in air attacks and duck finishers are the basic norm. The block feature is also the same command. But the game have a darker tone. The enders are what connects it with M.K. They aren't a command, depend on the scenary you're in, based in a specific victim's position. Look how clean it is. I want one. It's interesting how two companies mixed two popular fighting games and release two very different games. This what happens when you loose with the final boos?? How about the old "game over"? What do you think if I ask about 1994? 1994? Was an interesting film year, and a thrilling transvestite era. Johnny Depp shows his feminine side on "Ed Wood". Terminator goes transvestite on "Junior". Obviously, inspired in the guru Robin Williams, from "Mrs Doubtfire". He gets on dress the year before. That year also cames classics like "Pulp Fiction" and "Forrest Gump". And exiting forgettable films like "Karate Kid 4". Schwarzenegger danced a Gardel's tango. De Niro stole a woman's heart, and Jim Carrey, in "The Mask", pay tribute to Tex Avery and the wolf from Droopy's cartoons Don't forget "Plenilunio", a werewolf movie, and "El Dirigible", both from Uruguay. Even for a low budget film, the werewolf it's funny for wrong reasons. I remember the wolf movie. I don't remember nothing from "El Dirigible". A softporn videoclip comes to my mind. I was too young.