Killer Cuts

Killer Instinct plays like many other fighting games, in which the player controls a character to beat an opponent in a one-on-one encounter. The game borrows the attack set of Street Fighter and is also inspired by the finishing moves from Mortal Kombat. There are also several features that distinguish it from other franchises:

A double health bar: Each player begins a bout with two bars of health. Victories are decided not by the best-two-out-of-three format common to other fighting games, but rather by the first player to exhaust both of their opponent's bars. In addition, players do not recover any health after draining the bar once.

Ultratech is a very powerful megacorporation which organizes a tournament called Killer Instinct. Along with regular participants, experimental creatures created by Ultratech also fight in the tournament so their strength can be tested. Ultratech also discovers a technology to make bridges between dimensions, and releases a two-headed satyr-like monster called Eyedol from his dimensional prison in Limbo.

The concept of Killer Instinct dates back to early 1993, when game designer Ken Lobb sketched his concept during his time at Namco, dubbing it "Melee". He sent his pitch to Namco, but it disapproved of the concept and instead made WeaponLord in its place. Lobb took the concept with him to Nintendo of America, where he became head developer. He flew to England and joined Rare, which was planning to rival the success of Mortal Kombat.

Rare founders Tim and Chris Stamper approved of his pitch. In early 1994, Nintendo signed a licensing agreement with WMS Industries, Midway's parent company, which enabled Midway to develop and market games using the early arcade-based version of the Ultra 64 platform (later to become a home console and then be renamed to Nintendo 64) and formed a joint venture company called Williams/Nintendo to market Nintendo-exclusive home conversions of these games. Killer Instinct was announced as the first of these games. The announcement came at a time when Nintendo was still known for its stance against violent video games.

Killer Instinct was a commercial hit. In the United States, RePlay reported it to be one of the most-popular arcade games in January 1995. By May 1995, the arcade game had received about 500 million plays. It went on to be one of America's top five highest-grossing dedicated arcade games of 1995. As of 1996, the game sold 17,000 arcade units.

Killer Instinct gained critical acclaim. An early 1995 article on the fighting game industry in Electronic Gaming Monthly stated that "for now, the undisputed king at the arcades is Killer Instinct". Next Generation reviewed the arcade version of the game and wrote that "it's not the breakthrough title we're all waiting for — and sooner a new genre has to explode. But for the moment at least, Nintendo's plans for Ultra 64 seem to be progressing smoothly". Entertainment Weekly gave the arcade version of the game an A+ rating.