I got some negative sounding questions about this new Killer Instinct. I'm a guy that put a LOT of time into Killer Instinct arcade in the 90's. As well as Samurai Shodown 2, King of Fighters 95 and Super Turbo, which were all in the arcades at the same time.
There was a small time in there where KI 1 and 2 were THE games I wanted to play... It was all for the thrill of the combos, back then. KI2 I feel is a more distant memory now, but I do remember going to the local Putt-Putt, and fighting away on it all the time...
I've got to say that this new KI looks trash to me. What type of fighting game community are the developers trying to appeal to? The 2D crowd (SF, KoF, ASW games, Skullgirls etc)? The 3D crowd (Tekken, DoA, VF)? The Mortal Kombat/Injustice crowd? Or complete newbies?
I'd say they're appealing to a wide range of people who like traditional 2D gameplay fighters. It has the mechanics of a SF, a bit of violence akin to MK, and a western appeal that really hasn't existed like this in a western fighter since... what.. Tao Feng? It (so far) has a better style than MK, while combining animation and personality that's like a Mix between SFIV and the KI games of old.
All toped with an early next gen shine of "Better graphics that still run at a rock solid 60FPS".
For those that are looking forward to this game, what is it that has you so excited and what is your fighting game background? Doesn't matter if you have no fighting game background.
I've always been a fan of fighters. Back in the day, I got really comfortable at generally being the best at any fighter I played. This all changed when online play on consoles became serious, and I was exposed to players who pulled off the things that, in my group, only I ever attempted. I was meager at these things, these guys were MASTERS at them.
So I've spent online play console gens refining myself into a better fighter, playing at a balance of the fun, hot-blooded casual nature, and the hardcore, mechanical tourney player nature. I don't like my fighters to feel unnaturally restrictive in character selection, I don't like only aiming for the combo that everyone else uses, and I have no direct love for playing the usual characters or top-tiers; I play the peeps I like, normally the odd ones!
All of this has led me to like KoF / SNKP much more than SF / Capcom, as KoF's universal systems and better developed, more well rounded characters call out to me a lot more. I feel like Capcom purposely makes many poor-playing characters in the grand scheme of things, and I tire of characters I like lacking tools that could obviously make them more well-rounded.
How this all relates to the new KI? Well, I see a game that appears to look and play similar to what I like in SF (I was surprised as soon as I saw KI show a legit looking cross-up, and good footsie tools; these never felt right in old KI, but they look well done now!), mixed with the strong overlaying systems & per-character balance and uniqueness of a KoF.
Gameplay sounds fresh, too. Different enders giving personal bonuses on combos is a cool concept. Combos that end in bonus meter, or bonus damage, in addition to the usual concepts like hard/soft knockdowns, distance from character, etc.
They actually adapted the depth of modern fighters, without over-relying on nostalgia for the brand. And added unique character-specific tools, such as Jago being able to shadow-cancel off his throw, and Saberwulf being able to dash right through enemies, for mid-screen, ground-based cross-ups. It's a great mix of "I wanna do that, that sounds cool!" and "y'know, it could actually be useful, as well!"
I don't understand the hate for the new character designs personally, because, even in this early state, I feel like KI shows much more promise than a usual 3D western fighter, and more than KI ever did.
- The idle stances for Jago and 'Wulf are already a cut above the usual, showing an attention to detail that hints at the designers really having fun making these unique characters.
- The actual move animation looks like the "Poppin 2D" you see in old KI, but yet enough 3D, smooth movement to work well when needed. MK is bad here, for me; they put too much motion in moves that should snap, and seem to vary between wildly different motions too often, to the point where it looks like they have no defined style, just a mess of ideas. This game already looks above that, to me; even if it's style is "Just a lot like SFIV", it's a deep understanding of what already looks good in IV, sot just a pale imitation.
- The theory behind the designs looks like the good of KI, in HD. The things that seem to be dropped all seem to tie into making things work by concept, and design. The old designs were too 1-note to me, even back then. Jago looks like more than "90s Ninja with colors to attract the power ranger crowd", 'Wulf looks like more than "my pet dogs head thrown on a bulky body", and Glacius looks like an actual Ice-based beast, rather than "a quick take on a fighting game T1000". There's a lot less "symptom of low poly modeling" to the look of these new designs, compared to old KI.
All in all, I feel this game looks better than most groups "my first fighter"; the devs have been very upfront about what they've shown, and the nuance behind the gameplay seems to be heading in a good direction. It feels to Street Fighter what Fatal Fury was like back in the day: a good alternative that has a lot of fresh ideas on top of it's blatant similarities, that could make it even more fun to play, for the right players.
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