History YMMV / KillerInstinct

* RescuedFromTheScrappyHeap: Every returning newcomer from ''Killer Instinct 2''. Maya, Kim Wu, Tusk, and Gargos were all given more unique designs, personalities, and gameplay that helped them hold up against the rest of the cast a lot better. It may have also helped that they weren't replacing any fan favorites this time around.

* ReplacementScrappy: ''Killer Instinct 2'''s newcomers Maya, Tusk and Kim Wu aren't too popular with the fans, being replacements of fan favorites Cinder, Thunder and Riptor. Replacing three interesting and unique characters with a trio of generic human warriors? Not a great move. It also doesn't help Thunder is given no explanation for his disappearance and the other two are simply written as being dead, making for a rather cheap way to get rid of them. Maya was retooled for Season 2 and became more popular, and the pre-release reception for Kim and Tusk has them on the road to being RescuedFromTheScrappyHeap.

* ReplacementScrappy: ''Killer Instinct 2'''s newcomers Maya, Tusk and Kim Wu aren't too popular with the fans, being replacements of fan favorites Cinder, Thunder and Riptor. It also doesn't help Thunder is given no explanation for his disappearance and the other two are simply written as being dead, making for a rather cheap way to get rid of them. Maya was retooled for Season 2 and became more popular, and the pre-release reception for Kim and Tusk has them on the road to being RescuedFromTheScrappyHeap.

* RescuedFromTheScrappyHeap: Maya got more love in Season 2 thanks to getting a new design and appearing alongside Riptor, Cinder and Thunder, allowing her to become distanced from the other three and avoid getting accusations of replacing them like she did in her debut game. Kim Wu, Tusk, and Gargos also got the same treatment in Season 3 for many of the same reasons as Maya.

* SugarWiki/VisualEffectsOfAwesome: The 2013 game really loves particle effects. Hitting someone with Jago's Endokuken or Orchid's Firecat causes them to shatter into a bunch of energy particles. Most of Glacius' special moves leave the map covered in lovingly detailed ice shards. Cinder not only has fire constantly swirling around, but he also is a light source, which is why a Cinder MirrorMatch is used for the Windows 10 Edition's Hardware test. Also General RAAM's Instinct Mode literally covers the screen with moving objects while still maintaining the 60fps gameplay, it's quite a sight.

** Thankfully, his rebooted appearance is much more politically correct, rather than the "red-skinned Indian" stereotype from before. Apparently some of the Double Helix devs even approached some of the people of the Nez Perce tribe to help them make it as accurate as possible, so it has the approval of at least one actual Native tribe.

* InternetBackdraft: Quite a few people were upset that Shadow Jago, easily one of the most popular new characters, was only available for sale from December 14th, 2015 to January 15th, 2016. This was only compounded by Iron Galaxy being tight lipped on if he'd be coming back to the marketplace or if he was lost forever for everyone who didn't get him. It was alleviated when he was permanently put up for sale upon Season 3's release.

** Jago's theme. "You faaaart, saw my nigga, Jago. Fought at local carwash, died from his potatoes".

** Jago's theme. "You faaaart, saw my nigga, Jago. Fought at local carwash, died from his potatoes".

* FandomRivalry: With ''VideoGame/StreetFighterV'' and ''VideoGame/MortalKombatX'' due to all having similar DLC update models and ''KI'' and ''MKX'' both launching updates within a month of ''SFV''[='=]s release. This has gotten to the point that both ''KI'' and ''MKX'' can often be found getting dissed in online comments by ''Street Fighter'' fans, much to the chagrin of both games' fans.

* FandomRivalry: With ''VideoGame/StreetFighterV'' due to both games having a similar DLC model. This only increased when Season 3 was confirmed to be released within a month of ''Street Fighter V''.

** [[MostWonderfulSound C-C-C-]]{{COMBO BREAKER}}!!

* MostWonderfulSound: The announcer has a few. There's the classic "C-C-C-COMBO BREAKER!". The 2013 game adds "C-C-C-COUNTER BREAKER!" and "ULLLLLLLLLLTRAAAAAAAAAA!". The sheer enthusiasm the announcer has yelling them makes you feel awesome for pulling it off.

* VisualEffectsOfAwesome: The 2013 game really loves particle effects. Hitting someone with Jago's Endokuken or Orchid's Firecat causes them to shatter into a bunch of energy particles. Most of Glacius' special moves leave the map covered in lovingly detailed ice shards. Cinder not only has fire constantly swirling around, but he also is a light source, which is why a Cinder MirrorMatch is used for the Windows 10 Edition's Hardware test. Also General RAAM's Instinct Mode literally covers the screen with moving objects while still maintaining the 60fps gameplay, it's quite a sight.

** Eyedol's updated design. Some people love it, saying that it fixed many of his original design quirks, while also saying that the split-head is genius, while others think that the new design doesn't fit at all, and that they preferred the old 2-headed demon over the new ogre-like design.

** Guest Character's tend to be controversial with different opinions on them. With Rash, there's just as many people who are excited as there are people who think he doesn't fit the tone of KI at all, as well as claiming his inclusion will lead to KI getting flooded with guests and turn it into Microsoft's equivalent of ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBros''. Later, Arbiter caused more controversy regard. Some think it's awesome he's a character and are hopeful that having a character from a massively popular franchise will bring more attention to the game, while others think he fits even less than Rash, who is at least a character from another Creator/{{Rare}} franchise.
** Quite a few people were upset that Shadow Jago, easily one of the most popular new characters, was only available for sale from December 14th, 2015 to January 15th, 2016. This was only compounded by Iron Galaxy being tight lipped on if he'd be coming back to the marketplace or if he was lost forever for everyone who didn't get him. It was alleviated when he was permanently put up for sale upon Season 3's release.

*** [[spoiler: To be fair, the fact that Orchid and Jago were related was actually spoiled when you go into Killer Instinct 1's AttractMode. It's random, but if it happens to land on Orchid, it gives an extended story that outright says "she won't find out for some time yet that Jago is actually her brother". And this is accurate; it wasn't actually announced in-game or in-story up until Killer Instinct 2, in Jago and Orchid's arcade mode ending cinematics.]]

* BaseBreakingCharacter: Omen, the January 2015 character, has caused a lot of controversy among the fans. Some consider him to be a cheap, unoriginal clone fighter who uses other characters' moves and looks very bland, created by Iron Galaxy as a filler, while the others think that he is a very interesting character with an cool design and interesting backstory. It doesn't help that Shadow Jago, who is beloved by most fans, wasn't given his own moveset and theme at the time, and still isn't available except to those to those who participated in very limited offers. Although, oddly enough, he IS essentially pitched as a bonus character. Hell, it even says so in his trailer! Some, however, argue that Iron Galaxy still should've put more effort into him, and if they couldn't, then they shouldn't have made him at all.

* FridgeBrilliance: If you pay attention to the Hisako's {{Leitmotif}} "Village of Whispers", you will notice that the lyrics repeat the same word twice (i.e. "Fukushu, fukushu", "Kemuri, kemuri"). There's a reason why the Japanese greeting phrase "moshi moshi" is said the way it is: UsefulNotes/{{Youkai}} (Japanese monsters) cannot speak proper human language, beast youkai because they do not have the right mouths and tongues to properly imitate our sounds, and youkai who were formerly humans have abandoned their humanity and so devolve and begin to lose the ability to speak like humans. Especially repeating words is impossible for youkai to do, so "moshi moshi" became a kind of trust phrase with the implication "I can repeat this word, so now you know that I am human" and if someone only says "moshi" [[GlamourFailure it becomes a dead giveaway that they're not human]]. When viewed from Hisako's perspective, it can be seen as that even though she's an onryō, she ultimately hasn't abandoned her humanity. This is reflected in her goals and motivations, where she's only targeting Ultratech and the individuals associated with them because they disturbed the graves and shrine of the village she watched over, as opposed to being an indiscriminating killer who curses everyone who gets in her way with her grudge like a typical onryō would.

* HellIsThatNoise: In contrast to the older games, 2013 Fulgore [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H8WDZ7KBqqc has some rather unnerving vocals.]]

* CompleteMonster (2013 reboot): [[BigBad Gargos]] is the worst of all the villains, as he [[EnemyMine forced previous villains to work together with the heroes]] to stop this herald of doom. A being who conquers and destroy worlds, generations ago Gargos wiped out a benevolent race called the Astral Beings to conquer the Astral World. Before he could enter the world of the humans, he was forcefully [[SealedEvilInACan sealed away]] and trapped in his own dimension. However, being able to establish himself as a god to a group of monks, he created a group of worshippers to a being called the Tiger Spirit, who in actuality was him. Wanting to possess one of the monks to be his vessel, he chose Jago and forcefully mind-controlled him to become the dark warrior Shadow Jago, who then tries to free Gargos along with Gargos's personal servant Omen. When Kan-ra summoned Gargos out of temptation for power, this gave the opportunity for Gargos to free himself. Now planning to take over the world for his own, Gargos begins his invasion of Earth, hunting any remaining threats such as the amnesias barbarian Tusk or one of the last remaining Astral Being, the Dragon Spirit. Even his gameplay shows his complete desire for dominance by having a mechanic where punishing his minions that summon him can end up benefiting Gargos. The Shadow Lord is a fitting title for Gargos, the darkest villain in the series.
* CreepyAwesome: [[DemBones Spinal]], [[EvilSorcerer Kan-Ra]] and [[StringyHairedGhostGirl Hisako]] in ''spades''.

* {{Mondegreen}}: No one knows for sure what Chief Thunder says in KI 2013 after he wins. One popular interpretation goes "Cats go Yum Yum" (or Meow Meow).
** It's most likely in Niimiipuutímt, the language of the Nez Perce tribe. Apparently he's saying "Kutse yao yao", and the captions say "Thank you for the battle.".

* RatedMForMoney: Fairly blatant at that. It was actually rated T, but the intent was still there.
** Played straight and literally with the Xbox One release of Killer Instinct Classic, which has a M rating.

* TierInducedScrappy: Spinal and Hisako both get the majority of their hate for being insanely powerful and easy to use respectively.

** Despite being a big fan favorite and fun to watch, Aganos is generally considered to be one of the worst characters in the game due to its odd, hard-to-master playstyle and lackluster match-ups against a majority of the cast.

** GuestCharacter 's tend to be controversial with different opinions on them. With Rash, there's just as many people who are excited as there are people who think he doesn't fit the tone of KI at all, as well as claiming his inclusion will lead to KI getting flooded with guests and turn it into Microsoft's equivalent of ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBros''. Later, Arbiter caused more controversy regard. Some think it's awesome he's a character and are hopeful that having a character from a massively popular franchise will bring more attention to the game, while others think he fits even less than Rash, who is at least a character from another Creator/{{Rare}} franchise.

** GuestCharacters tend to be controversial with different opinions on them. With Rash, there's just as many people who are excited as there are people who think he doesn't fit the tone of KI at all, as well as claiming his inclusion will lead to KI getting flooded with guests and turn it into Microsoft's equivalent of ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBros''. Later, Arbiter caused more controversy regard. Some think it's awesome he's a character and are hopeful that having a character from a massively popular franchise will bring more attention to the game, while others think he fits even less than Rash, who is at least a character from another Creator/{{Rare}} franchise.

* BrokenBase: While many fans were elated to see Killer Instinct get a '''long''' overdue reboot, the fact that it's an UsefulNotes/XboxONE-exclusive title[[note]]which is justified, as Rare belongs to Microsoft now; but the fact that the Xbox One itself divisive so far seems to have leaked over to the game too[[/note]] has many more split on whether it's worth the trade-off.
** The game is adopting a free-to-play model and will release with ''only'' Jago as the selectable character at launch. This is itself a bag of controversy among players, especially considering each character will be $5.
*** This break has largely gone away with release; as it turns out, the pricing model doesn't try to pull any tricks to scam more money from the consumer after all and the free character rotates. About the only negative thing one can say is that the emulated, offline version of the first game isn't much of a bonus for the deluxe edition's extra price. It's largely been forgotten amid the microtransaction insanity of [[VideoGame/ForzaMotorsport Forza 5]] and [[VideoGame/RyseSonOfRome Ryse]].
** The fact that Double Helix is making it, and they haven't had a very good track record...
*** Though Double Helix's work on Season 1 [[WinBackTheCrowd won back the crowd]] with its high quality of gameplay and graphics, to the point that several claimed Iron Galaxy couldn't live up to Double Helix's standards when the game switched developers.
** Some people are disappointed by the fact that No Mercies and Ultimate Combos are not available at launch, since they consider them an important part of the game. Double Helix has stated that they would be added in the future, but that does not stop the disappointment. Most {{egregious}}ly, Shadow Jago as final boss had an Ultimate finisher while no one else had any as of the end of Season 1. Season 2 is beginning to turn that around after adding stage finishers to roughly half the new stages.
** Omen, the January 2015 character, has caused a lot of controversy among the fans. Some consider him to be a cheap, unoriginal clone fighter who uses other characters' moves and looks very bland, created by Iron Galaxy as a filler, while the others think that he is a very interesting character with an cool design and interesting backstory. It doesn't help that Shadow Jago, who is beloved by most fans, wasn't given his own moveset and theme at the time, and still isn't available except to those to those who participated in very limited offers.
*** Oddly enough, he IS essentially pitched as a bonus character. Hell, it even says so in his trailer! Some, however, argue that Iron Galaxy still should've put more effort into him, and if they couldn't, then they shouldn't have made him at all.
** The E3 2015 announcement that the game would be coming to PC with cross-play compatibility drew a lot of ire from some Xbox One owners, with some lamenting the loss of an exclusive game on that console ([[RuleOfCautiousEditingJudgement and that's all that we'll say about that]]), while others were concerned that devoting resources to a port two seasons in would negatively impact the possibility and quality of a third season of content. On the other hand, others were thrilled at the possibility of KI staying in the spotlight during the release of ''VideoGame/StreetFighterV'', which had joint [=PS4=]/PC exclusivity, as well as a possible huge boost to the userbase. The latter fear has also been relieved by the announcement of Season 3 for March 2016, which also happens to be around the same timeframe for the PC port of the game.
** Rash. There's just as many people who are excited as there are people who think he doesn't fit the tone of KI at all, as well as claiming his inclusion will lead to KI getting flooded with guests and turn it into Microsoft's equivalent of ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBros''.
*** Arbiter is even worse in this regard. Some think it's awesome he's a character and are hopeful that having a character from a massively popular franchise will bring more attention to the game, while others think he fits even less than Rash, who is at least a character from another Creator/{{Rare}} franchise.
** The news of Mick Gordon not returning to compose the Season 3 soundtrack was met with unanimous sadness, but the outlook on the future has been mixed. Many are hopeful due to Atlas Plug and Celldweller's past work and the preview of Rash's theme that was put out the same day as the announcement, but others argue that switching composers midway through will create obvious inconsistency, claiming that no one could hope to live up to Mick's work. Then again, some people said the same thing about Robin Beanland before Season One was released...
*** As Season 3 progressed, a small but vocal part of the fanbase began lambasting Atlas Plug and Celldweller's contributions to the game as "refusing to leave their comfort zone", due to a large focus on rock and metal tracks (Mira's theme being an exception). Others feel that this opinion is widely overblown, and borderline hypocritical, as many of Mick Gordon's compositions were also rooted in various forms of rock and metal, particularly his Season 2 works.
** With the announcement that there would only be three new stages in Season 3, opinion is divided; there are people who are disappointed but still excited, those who are waiting for more information on just what it was the remaining budget got spent on (aside from the new lighting) and a small but vocal camp who insist that the entire third season- as well as the rest of the game along with it- has been ruined forever.

** Smaller compared to some of the other contentious points above, but the animations of characters from season 2 onwards have slightly split the fanbase: their animation work is noticeably choppier as well as less fluid and detailed compared to season 1's, especially when it comes to facial animations. Some like the new characters enough and don't mind, some think it looks atrocious when put side-to-side, while a smaller third party actually ''prefers'' the choppier animations, as they remind them of old-timey fighting games and the first KI in particular.

** The reveals of Kilgore and Shin Hisako inevitably caused this. Some people complained about Iron Galaxy wasting possible character slots by releasing [[MovesetClone a pair of characters that were based on pre-existing charcters]] (Shadow Jago was exempt to this, as he was originally a reskin that eventually gained a moveset similar to Jago). Others welcomed the new characters for bringing more love [[EnsembleDarkhorse to two of the game's most beloved characters]], and felt that the various changes (Kilgore being a LongRangeFighter while Fulgore was more melee-focused, Shin Hisako being more of a traditional fighter than the specialized, counter-heavy Hisako) kept them separate enough from their source material to justify their addition. A third camp eventually developed, feeling that Kilgore and Shin Hisako were okay from a design standpoint, but that they would have preferred variants of ''different'' characters instead (with Orchid or Sabrewulf being particularly popular choices).

** [[StringyHairedGhostGirl Hisako]] has been received very warmly by the fanbase due to her interesting and [[CreepyAwesome awesomely creepy]] design, as well as [[{{Golem}} Aganos]], who has a very fleshed out rivalry with Kan-Ra, an interesting design and an awesome stage theme.

** The Arbiter has already managed to be this, considering the reaction from his tease made a lot of people interested in ''Killer Instinct'' just for his appearance. It helps he was this in his home series too, not to mention that it's been a ''long'' time since ''Halo'' was involved in a crossover with [[DeadOrAlive a popular fighting game franchise]].

* NightmareFuel: Kan-Ra's reveal. [[JumpScare VERY]] [[NightmareFace MUCH]] SO.
** And now we see he's more of a [[SlasherSmile psycho]] [[EvilLaugh experimenter.]] Yikes.
** Good news: [[spoiler: Riptor's back for the fans!]] Bad news: we learn it really, [[KilledOffScreen REALLY sucks to work at UltraTech.]]
** Hisako's teaser at the end of Aganos' trailer. [[BringMyBrownPants Hope you brought your brown pants.]]
*** Hisako in general. She's basically [[Literature/TheRing Sadako]] crossed with [[VideoGame/{{Skullgirls}} Painwheel]], taking the look and glitching powers of the former and the rage and horrible contortions of the later.
** Eyedol now has a single head, but it's ''split in half!'' You can even see his brain swell.
*** To say nothing of his ''theme''. It sounds like the ending credits of a SlasherMovie!
** The score theme from the SNES version is very creepy. Don't believe me? [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IPa1oAsf0C4 Check this out]]!
** Maya's Ultimate in the 2013 could best be described as '''barbaric'''. The floating dagger strikes are par for the course with her, but near the end, her twin daggers bring her foe to their knees as she jumps offscreen, then position themselves under their face. Even if its your first time seeing it, you'll just ''know'' what's about to happen when the daggers snap into position, pointy end facing the sky. With a brutal jumping curbstomp, Maya drives their face into the ground, mercifully [[GoryDiscretionShot sparing us the view of]] [[EyeScream her opponent's eyes getting skewered by the waiting blades]]. It's a cold, wicked execution that wouldn't feel out of place in Mortal Kombat, and it comes from one of the game's more HEROIC characters to boot!
** How about General RAAM's guest appearance in the newest KI game? What's scary isn't the fact he's there or what he says (granted, that windy rasp is always unsettling,) but ''just how fucking huge he is compared to everyone else.'' In every video you see of him '''he will dwarf the character he's fighting! Hell, some of the other fighters barely come up to his hips!'''
*** He can summon Kryll. While the ones he uses as a ranged attack just do small amounts of damage, veteran Gears fans will remember just how nightmarish these Hollow bats were, what with their ability to tear anything, even Boomers (who, for context, could take '''180 bullets before dying in the original Gears of War''') apart in ''seconds.''

* FridgeBrilliance: If you pay attention to the Hisako's {{Leitmotif}} "Village of Whispers", you will notice that the lyrics repeat the same word twice ("Fukushu, fukushu", "Kemuri, kemuri", "Gyakusatsu, gyakusatsu", "Ryuuketsu, ryuuketsu", "Sakebu, sakebu"). There's a reason why the Japanese greeting phrase "moshi moshi" is said the way it is: UsefulNotes/{{Youkai}} (Japanese monsters) cannot speak proper human language, beast youkai because they do not have the right mouths and tongues to properly imitate our sounds, and youkai who were formerly humans have abandoned their humanity and so devolve and begin to lose the ability to speak like humans. Especially repeating words is impossible for youkai to do, so "moshi moshi" became a kind of trust phrase with the implication "I can repeat this word, so now you know that I am human" and if someone only says "moshi" [[GlamourFailure it becomes a dead giveaway that they're not human]]. When viewed from Hisako's perspective, it can be seen as that even though she's an onryō, she ultimately hasn't abandoned her humanity.