Killer Instinct Gold

Large combo successions lead to stronger attacks and brutal, stylistic finisher moves underscored by an announcer.

Killer Instinct Gold includes the arcade release's characters, combos, and 3D, pre-rendered environments, but excludes its full-motion video sequences and some voice-overs due to restrictions of the cartridge media format.

Rare was a prominent second-party developer for Nintendo in the 1990s, and their Killer Instinct series was produced as an exclusive partnership in response to the popularity of Mortal Kombat.

Reviewers preferred the Nintendo 64 port over the arcade release, and appreciated its audiovisual enhancements, but felt that its graphical upgrades and memorization-based combo gameplay were insufficient when compared to fighting games like Tekken 2 and Virtua Fighter 2.

Gold ultimately did not replicate the success of its Super NES predecessor, and the series remained dormant through its 2002 acquisition by Microsoft until its 2013 reboot.

Like other entries in the Killer Instinct series, two characters controlled by humans or artificial intelligence fight in one-on-one matches to deplete their opponent's health meter.

[6] Gold and Killer Instinct 2's shared roster contains eleven characters in total: four new additions and seven returning from the previous title.

As a departure from fighting game staples such as Street Fighter, both Killer Instinct and Mortal Kombat championed an aggressively fast pace of gameplay and placed less emphasis on patience and mastery.

[10] The video game industry expected a sequel after the Super NES version's wide success,[4] with over three million copies sold.

Kevin Bayliss designed the characters and Chris Tilston developed the game engine with feedback from Nintendo's Ken Lobb.

[15] Rare, under contract, ultimately finished its Super NES port of Killer Instinct 2, but Nintendo chose not to release it.

[20][22][23] In particular, IGN felt that the Killer Instinct 2 graphics appeared dated in Gold and gave it a "cheesy 80s feel".

[4][23][24] AllGame described Killer Instinct Gold as best for players who want "Mortal Kombat on speed" with a "hyperactive Barry White" announcer.

[20][23] N64 Magazine concluded that even in the Nintendo 64's then-meager catalog of titles, Killer Instinct Gold did not distinguish itself, and thus had a lifespan of "weeks rather than months".

[18] Killer Instinct Gold was the fifth best-selling video game of the 1996 Christmas shopping season according to TRST data.

The website added that Rare knew that between all its franchises, Killer Instinct had the most fan interest in a new series entry.

[32] The New York Daily News reported that Killer Instinct Gold, while "underrated" in its time, had withered into an outdated frustration as the anthology's biggest letdown.

[34] Twenty years after the original release, Retro Gamer wrote that while Killer Instinct was popular in arcades, it had been outdone by Tekken 2 and Virtua Fighter 2 by 1996, and ultimately proved mediocre in comparison.

Two characters face each other from opposite sides of the screen. They are set in a dark, castle-like dungeon with cobblestone floors. Two long, green, horizontal bars at the top of the screen indicate player health. A large white number displays "89", the time limit.
Fights take place on a 2D plane set against a 3D background. The green bars and large number indicate character health and the time limit, respectively.
On the left, a three-pronged, handheld controller with a central analog stick and multiple buttons. On the right, a black electronics unit that accepts a light gray cartridge on the top and controllers (via ports) on its front.
Killer Instinct Gold was planned as a launch title for the Nintendo 64 console.