Looks Like Microsoft’s Bringing Back Killer Instinct

@Bane122 said:

Couldn't this have just been a move to block someone else fro picking up the name?

Whaaat? Pffft. You obviously know nothing about the video game industry. If a company mentions a name, they're making a game!

@Pixel_Kaiser said:

I sort of get the feeling that the people saying it "doesn't hold up" never actually played the original, and just remembered watching other people play it or saw screenshots years after the fact. Maybe my least favorite part of this new wave of HD ports is all the downers saying the games were never good.

That said, yeah, Killer Instinct was always garbage. I'm sure if they give it to someone other than Rare, though, the IP could be used for some cool things.

Since you just did the exact opposite can we all assume you've never played the original Killer Instinct and just remember watching other people play it or seeing screenshots? Or would you consider that to be unfair for some reason?

For the record, as someone who played both in their day, I think both games were the picture of style over substance.

@Crushed said:

Killer Instinct is still awesome, and I will strike down the hordes of comments below me that claim that it's awful and shouldn't come back.

I played it in the arcade a month ago. Stilll cool! Except we forgot what the hell we were doing.

Maybe the talents of Rare can actually be put to good use for once

@RVonE said:

SO GOOD!!

Haha, that was a great theme song. I don't know if this is awesome.... or sad... but I still have the soundtrack cd that came with the SNES version of the game (still have the SNES and game for that matter).

As great as KI was, I don't seem them redoing this. Not properly, anyway. :(

Since you brought up the Killer Cuts CD, I will also share an embarrassing fact from my childhood. #Solidarity

I had the Shaq Fu CD that came with Shaq Fu on Genesis, and I listed to the shit out of that CD until it go so scratched, it refused to play anymore. lol Cheers Brother!

@Lobst: Seconded. Why plug in the JSR hate, Patrick? I haven't seen a Giant Bomb review of Jet Set Radio original or HD.

Other reviewers seem to have not played the game in 10 years and are shocked that it is the same game at high res and requires a bit of effort to learn the controls and maps. The Dreamcast over VGA with JSR still looks sharper than WII with component cables and plays nicely on dat giant analog trigger. I will buy the HD version and decide for myself if it is still as fun and complete-able as when I played through it last year.

I want more Time Killers dammit.

Yeah, it's just going to be a XBLA release of the first game or KI Gold.

Even if it's just a re-release of 1 and 2, I'm thrilled.

Can't wait for people to be disappointed by it!

It's utterly shameful how much I listened to Killer Kuts. I would just leave it on repeat while I played Quake dm.

I still occasionally go back to a rom of Killer Instinct, definitely holds up. Stay far away from Killer Instinct 2 though, yuck. So bad they never made another one.

@JoeJaen: You went above and beyond the call of #Solidarity. Haha.

Played the arcade game last month, felt dated.

Click the image to see my reaction!

RoboCop / Crysis dude - just pick one. It doesn't matter which.

Even if KI is dated it's still a heck of a lot of fun. Who knows, maybe a new Killer Instinct game will be a launch title for the next Xbox.

That being said, ULTRA COMBBBBBBBBBOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!

Patrick... I think you mean Jet GRIND radio: http://www.giantbomb.com/jet-grind-radio/61-20096/

@GunnBjorn said:

I never understood why they chose to put the home version on the SNES. The Arcade KI was virtually an advertisement for the Ultra 64. Was it because the Arcade game had better hardware than the N64? And they couldn't make a faithful conversion to the N64. So they put it on the SNES to shroud the N64's graphical limitations. Or was it a data storage space problem?

Because the N64 was still a year away from release when they made the SNES version, and by the time the console was out, they had already released KI2 in the arcades, which was actually the first fighting game for the N64 (KI Gold, remember?). But yeah, the N64 was in fact not as powerful as the arcade machine. The difference between KI2 and KIGold was clear.

I got the game for Christmas one year, came with the OST and a watch that I swapped with my next door Neighbour for something, can't remember what though. One of the best Christmas's ever, also used to think I was ace because I knew how to unlock Idol, too bad he was crap.

Great. Another fighting game to be forgotten in a month, crushed under SFIV and Marvel 3. Only TTT2 has a chance to challenge the Big 2. #Kappa

CCCC-COMBO BREAKER!

@rebgav said:

@ChrisTaran said:

KI was the best fighting game to ever come out on the SNES

Super Street Fighter II and Street Fighter II Turbo are probably going to burn down your house while you sleep.

And Mortal Kombat 2 will probably punch off your head.

Well, shit...

Seems like too little, too late to me. If they were going to bring back KI they should have done it during the big fighting game resurgence we saw like a year or two ago. People would've eaten it up then but now? I could see people going "meh" and moving on without a second glance. And that's only IF they're even making something now; renewing their trademark could just be the lawyers doing their job to protect the companies assets even though there's nothing in the works related to it.

Way to drop the ball MSoft/Rare

KILLER!

@GunstarRed said:

@rebgav said:

@ChrisTaran said:

KI was the best fighting game to ever come out on the SNES

Super Street Fighter II and Street Fighter II Turbo are probably going to burn down your house while you sleep.

And Mortal Kombat 2 will probably punch off your head.

See, for me MK2 was best on the Genesis, and I've never been able to enjoy an SF game on a controller. So until like a couple years ago when I picked up SF4 with the Mad Catz arcade stick, the only place I liked SF was in the arcade.

Well, shit...

Seems like too little, too late to me. If they were going to bring back KI they should have done it during the big fighting game resurgence we saw like a year or two ago. People would've eaten it up then but now? I could see people going "meh" and moving on without a second glance. And that's only IF they're even making something now; renewing their trademark could just be the lawyers doing their job to protect the companies assets even though there's nothing in the works related to it.

Way to drop the ball MSoft/Rare

Yes yes yes I want this now.

about damn time, this really should have happened around the time the first Street Fighter 4 came out.

I didn't like Killer Instinct much, but I'd be down for a completely revamped, brand new reboot of the series.

Meh. Meeeeeeeh.

I have strong, strong nostalgia for that game. I played a ton of it when I was in second grade, and Killer Cuts was the only CD I owned until I got the Majora's Mask soundtrack. I listened to that so many times.

There's something about the presentation of KI that always makes me smile in remembrance. From the character select to the in line combo cometary it had some of the best sounds from fighting games of the era. That said I haven't actually played fighting games since I played my last game of KI (Chief Thunder cheap combos!) so what do I know about current era fighters?

@m2cks said:

@msavo said:

Kinect Killer Instinct...

WAVE YOUR HANDS AROUND FOR AN ULTRA COMBO

Shout, "Kinect: C-C-C-C-Combo Breaker!" for a C-C-C-C-Combo Breaker.

As a huge fighting game fan, I sometimes go back and play some of the old games I have. The classics like Street Fighter 2 turbo, Samurai Showdown, and MK2 hold up beautifully. I still have fun playing Tekken 2, Dead or Alive, or Virtua Fighter 2(when my old saturn does work) despite the fact that early 3D games look like arse now. I do not feel KI holds up all that well. The last few times I had a classic fighting games night, I did not even bother to break it out. It's not a bad fighting game, but it feels a little tech demo first.

Obviously, this is Microsoft and Rare wanting to ensure that I Ultra someone with Sabrewulf and listen to them cry heavy tears over XBLA.

I was never really good at Killer Instinct. I did absolutely loved the characters though. I would like to see them spruce up the controls and bring back all the old characters, like dinosaur and skeleton and wolf-man. I just hope they have the good sense not to release it on a Friday.

Killer Instinct... Jack of all trades, master on none.

Awesome! I'm glad that they are doing it in this way cause nostalgia be damned a big budget KI title just doesnt make sense. Myu only beef, WTF TOOK SO LONG?! ULTRAAAAAAA!!!!!!

Can't wait to hear that main theme and Orchid's stage music again!

Wait what? Since when does a trademark renewal mean that there's a remake/re-release/new game coming? Nintendo, for example, keeps renewing the Wave Race and Eternal Darkness trademarks over and over but there are neither games coming nor news stories written about that.

Whatever is it, I bet it's going to be a "better with kinect" game.

If this is going to be a new game, they'll surely fuck it up with Kinect. After a few failed attempts they still haven't got a foot in the door with the core audience and this is just going to be their next attempt. The inevitable shitstorm will be fun to watch though.

Why don't they bring back something good instead? A new Blast Corps could be cool. Hell, I'd prefer a new Mr. Pants game for Windows 8 tablets over the return of the wretched Killer Imstinct series.

Killer Instinct on the SNES and Super Street Fighter 2 are probably my favorite fighting games. Remember the black cart?