Guess which "classic" SNES game turns 20 today?

[Steve]

August 30, 1995. Today marks 20 years since Killer Instinct came home to the SNES. Wow. If that doesn't make you feel old.

Share your SNES Killer Instinct stories here! Anyone buy it on launch day? What did you think of the port back in 1995? How do you feel about it today?

It seems people are divided. Some really love it and are impressed, while others can't get over how big of a downgrade it was compared to the arcade. Where do you stand?

 

[Jibbajaba]

I'll guess "Killer Instinct".

 

[Xian Xi]

As with all fighting games on the SNES, if I lost I would toss my controller toward the SNES to tap it enough to where the game reset.

 

[celeritas]

As with all fighting games on the SNES, if I lost I would toss my controller toward the SNES to tap it enough to where the game reset.

That's a remarkable skill shot worthy of Donnie Yen.

 

[ki_atsushi]

Ah, Killer Instinct, I never knew thee. You teased me in the arcade with your flashy "ULTRA 64" sign, and yet you never came home. All we got was an impostor on that aging system that I rather unaffectionately called "Killer Buttstink".

 

[Beelzebub]

Although my first 16-bit system was the Sega Genesis. We did eventually get an SNES, but it wasn't until after the Killer Instinct bundle came out. I remember getting that and Secret of Evermore one Christmas, and was so excited. I remember playing the hell out of KI, with Thunder and Sabrewulf being my favorite characters. Never played the arcade port before that point, so I didn't have much to compare the port to though, but I still had a lot of fun with that game. Unfortunately I don't have my KI cart anymore, but I do still have the Killer Cuts CD that came with it though.

 

[ki_atsushi]

Although my first 16-bit system was the Sega Genesis. We did eventually get an SNES, but it wasn't until after the Killer Instinct bundle came out. I remember getting that and Secret of Evermore one Christmas, and was so excited. I remember playing the hell out of KI, with Tomahawk and Sabrewulf being my favorite characters. Never played the arcade port before that point, so I didn't have much to compare the port to though, but I still had a lot of fun with that game. Unfortunately I don't have my KI cart anymore, but I do still have the Killer Cuts CD that came with it though.

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I still have my Killer Cuts CD too. Best part about buying the SNES version, lol.

 

[AlexKidd86]

I only had Sega systems (Genesis and SMS) at the time but I do remember being impressed by Killer Instinct when it came out. I would have my mom bring me to Toys R Us to play it along with the Wario game on Virtual Boy they had on display. I may still have a little nostalgia for Killer Instinct but in retrospect I would've been better off just playing my Genesis. The fact that's it's 20 years old does make me feel old though.

 

[Dr Shroom]

I was hoping for Yoshi's Island...

 

[LoneSage]

Primal Rage? oh wait nope

AUGUST 31, 1994 - NEED FOR SPEED ON 3D0

AUGUST 27, 1992 - SUPER MARIO KART

AUGUST 23, 1991 - SUPER NINTENDO IN AMERICA ALONGSIDE F-ZERO AND SUPER MARIO WORLD FFFFFFFFUCK YES

and i dont give a fuck for the other years.

i beseech for someone autistic enough to carry the torch

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1990_in_video_gaming

 

[GregN]

I remember when this was in an arcade I used to frequent around 20 years ago, there was this one dude who talked along with the sound bites in the game, "Ultra combeauuuuuuuuuuu!"

 

[smokehouse]

KI SNES was a half-ass attempt to hold off the masses with Nintendo's delayed abortion that would become the N64.

More notable on the SNES for 1995 was Chrono Trigger, EarthBound and Yoshi's Island.

Most notable about 1995? The release of the Playstation, which would set the bar for home gaming for nearly the next 5 years after that...

 

[Kid Panda]

I never really got into Killer Instinct. I was more of a SF guy, I wasn't very good at fighters anyway so I kinda just passed this one over. Looked pretty cool though.

 

[smokehouse]

I never really got into Killer Instinct. I was more of a SF guy, I wasn't very good at fighters anyway so I kinda just passed this one over. Looked pretty cool though.

Same here...it seems MK3 came out on the SNES in 1995 as well. I actually had a good time with the console version of that game.

 

[neo_mao]

I haven't played Killer Instinct on the SNES in ages - I'm assuming it didn't age well...

But at the time it was rad, I absolutely loved it.

But that was then, this is now. And now we have the new phenomenal Killer Instinct on xbone - it's pretty much the only game I've been playing for months.

 

[LoneSage]

i really, REALLY like neo moe's sig with his two different avvies for his jpn and us account

 

[@M]

I loved KI on the SNES. I've still got my cart and the Killer Cuts CD too (although I cut the cardboard slip case apart and put that, and the disc, in a regular jewel case). I even held onto my old, hand-drawn/written movelist for the game too, done on lined notebook paper.

My younger brother, myself, and friends, used to play KI to death back in the day (one of my buddies refused to use anyone but Black Orchid though, which got old fast). Sabre Wulf was my favorite character, but I usually did random select when I played 2-player.

For what it is, I think it still holds up pretty well today; I fire it up every now and then. The Gameboy port was pretty nice too, although it's missing Cinder and Riptor.

 

[LoneSage]

I wasn't very good at fighters anyway

hey, I'm not either, and I still ain't, but for whatever reason I still play them at an arcade given the chance. god knows why. some misplaced nostalgia i suppose.

 

[smokehouse]

hey, I'm not either, and I still ain't, but for whatever reason I still play them at an arcade given the chance. god knows why. some misplaced nostalgia i suppose.

I never got on the bandwagon when it started...and now with modern games, I'm so far out of it...I don't even try anymore.

MK/2 were two games I did really enjoy...but they were pretty simple save the fatalities. Once games started getting into stuff like complex combos, combo breakers, partner systems, etc...I dropped out of it.

 

[kuze]

I've still got the game boy cart since it came out. I was pretty impressed with what they were able to do with the GB hardware given how limited it was.

 

[smokehouse]

I've still got the game boy cart since it came out. I was pretty impressed with what they were able to do with the GB hardware given how limited it was.

It's actually pretty amazing what some developers were able to do with the very hardware-limited Game Boy...some of those games are rather impressive all things considered.

 

[NeoSneth]

This was one of the few games I dominated at the Arcades. This and tekken were my thing at any mall arcade. Did a few tourney's at the time.

 

[xelement5x]

The thing I love the best about KI was Orchid, because I was a young teen.

 

[GregN]

I used to play MK2-3 as a sophomore in College on SNES Xband and in the arcade.

 

[100proof]

Killer Cuts was easily the best part of that game. When it came out, I thought it was a fairly impressive technical achievement but still a shit port (as the only thing original KI really had going for it was the beautiful-for-its-time pre-rendered graphics and the combo system). Haven't played it in close to 20 years though. Doubt it would hold up to even that low-level nostalgia. I played the KI arcade port on XBone and that didn't hold up at all.