YMMV / Killer Instinct (2013)

This is the YMMV page for the reboot of Killer Instinct from 2013. For the original series, see here.

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• And You Thought It Would Fail: The well documented Troubled Production caused a great amount of caution for long time KI fans. First was the revival of a Rare property after their purchase by Microsoft, something that had seen mixed reception ever since then, especially considering Microsoft's own track record the past decade. Then there's the fact that Rare themselves were unable to develop the game, so Microsoft gave it to Double Helix Games, which had games that were less than well received in the past, including movie tie-in games. Even after the game's release, Double Helix were bought by Amazon, thus another developer (the unproven Iron Galaxy Studios, a studio more known for ports and FGC parodies than making original games) took the reins for all future DLC. Yet, in the end, not only the game was very well received, but it was also welcomed as a truly competitive game by the FGC's biggest names.
• Awesome Ego: While he was already pretty cocky to begin with, Cinder's ego came to a head here, where he's pretty much acting like he's the hottest thing since sliced bread, and most people seem to love it.
• Awesome Music: Shares a page with the other games.
• Base-Breaking Character: Omen, the Season 2 bonus character, caused a lot of discourse at release. Some consider him to be a cheap, unoriginal clone fighter who uses other characters' moves and looks very bland, made as lazy filler. Other fans accept his status as a bonus character who was never meant to be completely original, and appreciate him as an interesting addition with a fine design, fun moveset, and intriguing backstory.
• Broken Base:
  • The guest characters tend to be controversial.
    • 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 Super Smash Bros..
    • 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 Rare franchise.
    • And then there's General RAAM, who isn't exactly despised, but is probably the most overlooked and ignored of the three guests. His reveal had everyone saying "what? cool? okay?".
  • While most of the rebooted character designs were very well-received, a few were divisive, such as Cinder and Eyedol. Some fans believed they strayed too far from their original appearances, while others took it as a breath of fresh air. Fortunately, the developers seem aware of this, as those divisive characters such as Cinder and Eyedol have some of the best-looking retro costumes in the game. This comic edit of ''Collapse of the World as We Know It demonstrates two distinct viewpoints on the subject of Eyedol's design. (and then some...)
• Common Knowledge: It's a pretty common belief that the Tiger Spirit was secretly Gargos all along, but this is inaccurate. In reality, Gargos was simply impersonating the Tiger Spirit in order to gain Jago's trust so he could corrupt him easier. This can be clearly seen not only because Jago can still use his powers when fighting Gargos, tiger tattoo and all, but the Dynamite comics explicitly show the Tiger Spirit as a completely separate entity. It doesn't help that this information is never explicitly stated in-game, and that the original series seems to imply that they are the same person.
• Complacent Gaming Syndrome: You will see Jago often in ranked matches. Very often. Ditto with Spinal and, to a lesser extent, Hisako.
• Complete Monster: Gargos is a cruel warlord who regularly destroys planets for power, having previously conquered his home world, the Astral Realm, by slaughtering his own people. Sealed in the Astral Realm after attempting to destroy Earth, something he attempted many times before, Gargos impersonates a deity worshiped by a group of monks so he can manipulate them into unleashing him, corrupting the well-meaning Jago into Shadow Jago in the process. Eventually released by Kan-Ra in a bid for power, Gargos uses this to have his forces invade Earth, ultimately planning on consuming Earth to satisfy his lust for power.
• Crazy Is Cool: Spinal's mad cackling and manic moveset have earned him a lot of fan admiration. It helps that his theme song is a grave, terrifying war chant invoking a warrior god through hallucinogenic mushrooms; the end result is deliciously insane.
• Demonic Spiders: Enemies with the Armoured Trait in Shadow Lords, which gives them the ability to become Immune to Flinching. The cooldown feels very short, especially on higher difficulties, and often turns would-be punishes into VERY painful opportunities for the enemy to tear into you.
• Dueling Games:
  • Billed as one against Guilty Gear Xrd, by virtue of being on rival platforms (Xrd and the PS3/4 vs. KI and the XBO) and being the resurrection of two old 2D fighting game franchises. There's also a bit of an America vs. Japan thing going on.
  • There's a bit of this as of late with Street Fighter V as well, given many of the same reasons as listed above for Xrd, combined with SFV launching at roughly the same time as KI's third season and PC port, alongside SFV's DLC coming out on a monthly schedule lining up with KI's extra season 3 characters.
• Fandom Rivalry: With Street Fighter V and Mortal Kombat X due to all having similar DLC update models and this game and MKX both launching updates within a month of SFV's release. This has gotten to the point that both this game and MKX can often be found getting dissed in online comments by Street Fighter fans, much to the chagrin of both games' fans. Funny that the arcade wars have lasted this long.
• Fan Nickname:
  • "Hype Beam" for Fulgore's Devastation Beam, courtesy of Maximilian Dood. When Fulgore's Ultimate was revealed, the developers themselves christened it "Ultimate Hype Beam".
  • Before their names were officially revealed, Kan-Ra was called "#NotAMummy" due to his mummy-like silhouette, Aganos was called "Broccoli Man" due to the shape of his silhouette, and Hisako was called "Ghost Girl" for obvious reasons.
  • Shadow Jago is often contracted to "Shago" by many players, and even by members of the dev team. One of his profile taunts even says "Don't call me Shago."
  • Rash's Big Bad Boot special has been affectionately named "Das Boot".
  • Cinder in the new game is often called "Cinderpool".
  • Tusk is often called "Maximilian", because of the uncanny similarities between the two.
    • In the same vein, Sabrewulf is called "Benny" after Maximilian's dog.
  • Gargos' minion summons, Izzik and Dretch, are sometimes referred to as "Jerry and Larry" for the sake of convenience and being easier to pronounce.
  • With the revelation of Kilgore, fans immediately started drawing comparisons to "Bastion" because of its machine gun turrets for arms and a vertical slit for an eye.
• Game-Breaker: The Odorous Wolf Heart in Shadow Lords was this for the first two months that the mode was out. Using the item granted players unlimited Shadow Meter and made every attack unblockable for 15 seconds. While merely ridiculously potent in the hands of most characters, it was downright LUDICROUS in the hands of Fulgore, Omen, and Spinal, giving them, respectively, a spammable, unblockable, ridiculously powerful, screen clearing Devastation Beam, a spammable, if somewhat impractical, opportunity for a command grab that allowed players to possibly wipe out an entire lifebar in a followup combo, and the ability to fire a spammable, unblockable, large projectile that could juggle infinitely while making it effectively impossible for the victim to gain Instinct Meter for the remainder of the match, which was especially notable in that it could shut down one of the main gimmicks of the Final Boss of that mode. Which is to say nothing of players using it at the end of the match for fifteen seconds of unending Shadow Moves to extend Ultra Combos to the point of utter insanity, which became a major problem for the online versus portion. It was finally heavily nerfed two months after the mode launched, providing rapidly regenerating Shadow Meter instead of effectively unlimited Meter.
  • From the same mode, the Snake Guardian. Ending a combo with it equipped provides a damage over time effect that can be cashed out with another successful combo ender for heavy damage. However, the power of this effect is independent on the length or power of the rest of the combo, and, especially with higher rarities, builds EXTREMELY fast and takes several seconds (as many as ten, with a Killer Rarity Guardian) to begin to decay, meaning even a short combo against highly defensive opponents can cut through them like hot butter.
• Germans Love David Hasselhoff: Surprisingly, while not to the extent of Skullgirls, this game has managed to develop a loyal fanbase in Japan, to the point that even the American community was surprised when Ken "Bass" Armas, one of the game's top players, was beaten by Tomosama and Osomatsu, who, respectively, used Riptor and Omen, both of which were considered low-tier in the American community at the time, in their matches against him. This article explains it well.
• Good Bad Bugs:
  • A bug early on with the PC version for Season 3 caused the game to run extremely fast if your monitor wasn't locked to 60hz, since it's designed to run at a consistent 60 FPS and no more. Distressing if you wanted to actually play the game, since performing combos and breakers became all but impossible, but watching the characters scramble around at hyperspeed was admittedly hilarious.
  • Kilgore originally had a bug with his Ultra Combo that caused the combo to "blow out" at various points, sending his opponent flying away early if the Knockdown Meter was filled too high before the Ultra was triggered. The Ultra Combo would, however, continue as though the opponent was still there, which lead to hilarious sights such as Kilgore unleashing a Macross Missile Massacre and uppercutting thin air. Sadly, this was patched out a few weeks later.
  • Shadow Lords allows players to attack for a short period after the fight is over to let players open the mode's treasure chests. This, however, comes to an abrupt end and plays the character's victory animation as soon as all of the loot is collected, allowing certain attacks to remain on screen for a few seconds, allowing for moments that weren't originally intended, especially if the victory pose requires the character model to be moved to a different part of the map. For instance, Cinder's Pyrobombs can cause a screen-filling explosion, Kilgore can be caught in a salvo of his own missiles, and Omen's Shadow Rashakuken can cause his various fireballs to fly past him as he poses.
• Growing the Beard: The classic KI games were fun and cheesy fighters that gave another spin on Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat, but that's about it. Once this game came along, the series really started to come into its own and find a unique identity not based on ripping off other franchises.
  • It could also be said that Season 2 was when this game itself Grew the Beard. Season 1 was a solid enough experience, but was limited to a small roster due to time constraints. Once Iron Galaxy got on board, they managed to add more and more unique elements to the game that made it more than a free-to-play tech demo.
• High-Tier Scrappy:
  • Spinal and Hisako both get the majority of their hate for being insanely powerful and easy to use respectively.
  • Kan-Ra gets often gets flak because once one knows how to play him well, he can cover so much of the screen and shut down several options of every character in the roster. It's not helped by his surprisingly high damage for a zoning character and being able to start up a combo from almost every area of the screen.
  • Rash became a high-tier scrappy over the course of Season 3, with his mobility and offensive options making him very difficult to pin down.
• Just Here for Godzilla: Admit it, finally getting a Halo vs. Gears of War fight with Arbiter and General RAAM is amazing.
• Low-Tier Letdown: 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.
• Memetic Mutation:
  • As with the prior games, the announcer's hammy cries such as "C-C-C-COMBO BREAKER!!!" and "ULTRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!" remain ever-popular.
  • "Look for the, Bear Accessories, those simple Bear Accessories." ^ExplanationThis video by Maximilian Dood, the official KI hype man.
  • MAH SOUP! ^ExplanationWhat Kan-Ra yells when using Spike.
  • Kan-Ra's Stage Ultra sending the recipient to the Shadow Realm.
  • [EXERT SOUNDS] ^ExplanationThe subtitles for Tusk's victory animation quote him as saying [EXERT SOUNDS] when he swings his sword.
  • "UNLOAD THE TOAD", "UNINHIBIT THE RIBBIT" and "UNCLOG THE FROG". ^ExplanationTerms referring to Rash becoming playable.
  • #whereisarbitergoing ^ExplanationIn Arbiter's victory animation, he runs off towards one end of the stage. But where is he headed to?
  • Gargos' portal punches are usually met with cries of "ORAORAORA", "MUDAMUDAMUDA", or "ATATATATATATA" from the chat during livestreams.
  • KI wins again. ^ExplanationOriginating from the r/Kappa subreddit, this phrase is often used whenever the game gets any sort of promotion or recognition, but especially whenever it is compared to other fighting games.
  • #BringBackKI ^ExplanationA trending hashtag started by Maximilian Dood in support of something new for the game. As Max explains in this video, it's a campaign to show Microsoft what the fans love about KI in hopes that it will inspire them to do something with the IP.
• Mexicans Love Speedy Gonzales: The rebooted Thunder continues to win over Native Americans, especially with a redesign that is much more faithful to real traditions and less based on stereotypes. Apparently some of the Double Helix devs even approached the Nez Perce tribe to help them make him as accurate as possible, so he has the approval of at least one actual Native tribe. Additionally, the devs refused to make Thunder's retro outfit fully resemble his original appearance. They gave him a jacket and got rid of his war paint and mohawk headdress, so he looks more like a regular tough Native dude than just a walking stereotype.
• Most Wonderful Sound: Just like back in the arcades, this game has truly memorable and spine-tingling sound effects that reverberate throughout the venue.
  • The announcers, of course. Their "C-C-C-COMBO BREAKER!" and "ULTRAAAAAAA!" are just amazing.
  • Fulgore's Devastation Beam, which opens with an awesome mechanical whir before making a really satisfying Godzilla-like mechanical roar. Unless you're targeted by it, in which case it's nightmarish.
  • It sounds amazing to Instinct Cancel with anyone in the game (especially Fulgore) during a combo - all the music and sound effects and explosions stop for a second while your character gets ready to lay down a beatdown, often with a punchy sound to it (ex. Fulgore entering a command into the keypad on his arm, Orchid yelling "Take em down!", Spinal cackling, etc.)
  • Thunder's brutal Call of the Earth command grab ends with Thunder curb-stomping the enemy and twisting his heel, resulting in a sickening but satisfying crunch and crackle.
    • Likewise, Gargos' Sadistic Drop command grab makes a VERY satisfying thud when his victim hits the ground. Even better is the Shadow variation, or better still, the Ultra Ender variation if he's still on his first lifebar.
  • The giant bell falling in either version of Tiger's Lair comes with an immensely satisfying peal when it hits the ground. If timed properly, it can add a very nice bit of flair to the end of the match or during the characters' win animation.
  • The beats and music produced when preforming an Ultra Combo. Double points if the beat works outside of that character's natural stage music.
• Narm:
  • Kim Wu's announce trailer got this reaction because of some not-so-stellar voice acting and clunky dialogue.
  • The mimic skins have lime green skin. During gameplay, with distortion and smoke effects, they look menacing enough. However, their stills, like during pre-fight scenes in the Shadow Lords mode, look goofier than they should be.
  • A few Ultimates are... not really the ultimate finisher. Awkward facial animations and oddly quiet deaths are the main culprits here, especially in ones like Sadira and Hisako's where there's so much attention drawn to the faces.
• Narm Charm: Despite not being nearly as cool as the other Ultimates, Riptor's has appealed to fans for being cute and enjoyable in its silliness, which was clearly the intention (come on, this is the same character who had a Balloon Belly Ultimate in the first game).
• Polished Port: Other than certain aspects that are common to other PC games on the Windows 10 Store (like the lack of more advanced graphical options to ability to disable V-Sync, to note one of the more minor ones), the PC version is surprisingly well-optimized, to the point where at least one review noted that it could pass the performance benchmark on a tablet, making it effectively a mobile game. While it only accepts Xinput (XBOX 360 layout controllers, third party that known to support this includes Logitech though) devices natively, there are workarounds (like various X-Input emulators, and binding the buttons to keys using joy to key).
  • The Steam release adds support for more controllers and crossplay with the Xbox One and Windows Store versions, making it an even more attractive package.
• Rescued from the Scrappy Heap: 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.
  • While he wasn't exactly a Scrappy, Spinal's design in the original games was always seen as a bit too bare bones, clearly just a monster from Jason and the Argonauts. His seafaring redesign, on the other hand, has arguably gotten the most love out of all the returning characters.
• Retroactive Recognition: For the OST, singer Ali Edwards contributed vocals to a few songs years before getting wider attention from her performance on "Devil Trigger".
• Sacred Cow: Among the online-focused part of the Fighting Game Community, at least two games get constantly praised because of having a rollback networking code (such as GGPO). They are this game and Skullgirls. You can barely find any major criticism of these games online. Their well-received netcode served them so well that it allowed them to be included in the main lineup of the reworked online edition of EVO 2020, following the cancellation of the tournament in-person due to the COVID-19 pandemic...at least, until the online edition of EVO 2020 was cancelled as well due to the revelations regarding EVO founder Joey Cuellar engaging in acts of pedophilia.
• Special Effects Failure: Depending on the stage's lighting, character hair can look unnaturally bright during their close-ups in intro or outro animations. This is most noticeable with Tusk, due to his long hair and beard. Fortunately it's not a big problem during gameplay due to how zoomed out the camera is.
  • Certain characters' retro costumes seem quite rushed - Orchid has a mop for hair and Sabrewulf looks like a shaved rat. This is mostly a problem with the earlier characters, and retro costumes got better as time went on.
• Spiritual Adaptation: With the large number of supernatural non-human characters in its roster, this game is sometimes jokingly considered an unofficial reboot/sequel of Darkstalkers.
• Tear Jerker: On the Season 2 soundtrack, there's a secret track at the end of "Herald of Gargos" that features Mick playing a very slow, acoustic version of the main theme on guitar. After finding out days after the album was released that he'd be leaving, the track feels much more somber, seemingly acting as one last quiet send-off after two years of continuous hard work on the series.
• That One Boss: Shadow Jago, by a long shot. Not only does he knock up the difficulty to the legendarily hard Kyle Difficulty, but he also has a lot of improved frame data, a few new moves Jago normally has no access to, and a much more infuriating Instinct Mode. To the uninitiated, Kyle difficulty fights involve input reading CPU opponents that can break any combo they want, resist any traps for Counter Breakers, and will always finish their combo.
  • Shadow Lords' Omens and Gargos have elements of both, with both a max-difficulty AI as well as superpowered mechanics of Shadow Lords (Each Omen has a ridiculous power boost, while Gargos not only is the strongest boss in the game, but he has any powers you didn't seal away by beating an Omen with that power). Simply put, even considering fighting Gargos with all his powers is considered suicidal and even without his powers, he's a chore to fight. It got so bad that Iron Galaxy had to release a patch to tone the difficulty down.
• They Copied It, So It Sucks!: Some claimed that the game looks like a grittier Street Fighter IV at first glance.
• Tough Act to Follow: Mick Gordon's work on the music for the first two Seasons was godlike, winning awards and putting him on the map of amazing composers. To say that Celldweller and Atlas Plug had their work cut out for them is an understatement. Fortunately, their work on Season 3 has been very well-received and meshes with the rest of the soundtrack just fine, but many fans admit Mick's work still stands out.
• Ugly Cute: Much like Mileena, Hisako was designed to be disturbing, but somehow got some fans who find her attractive. It's a bit more understandable in this case, since Hisako has more relatable motives.
• Unexpected Character:
  • Nobody expected that Killer Instinct would have a guest fighter, let alone from the Battletoads franchise.
  • Who would've predicted that Arbiter would've gotten into Killer Instinct? At least Rash was another Rare character!
• Visual Effects of Awesome: The 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 battle between two Cinders 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.

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