The entire game was pre-rendered using SGI computers (Silicon Graphics Incorporated). Killer Instinct's superbly-rendered graphics were considered to be among the finest of their day. This is the first arcade game to use a hard disk drive for mass storage.
Manufactured & sold by Midway, under license from Nintendo. TECHNICAL Main CPU: R4600 100 Mhz) Sound CPU: ADSP2105 10 Mhz) Sound Chips: DMA-driven 10 Mhz) Screen Orientation: Horizontal Video Resolution: 320 x 240 Pixels Screen Refresh: 60.00 Hz Palette Colors: 32768 Players: 2 Control: 8-Way Joystick Buttons: 6 → QP, MP, FP → QK, MK, FK TRIVIA Killer Instinct was released in October 1994. Killer Instinct introduced incredibly complex combos to the fighting genre, as well as including the Fatalities and Humiliations made famous by Midway's "Mortal Kombat" Series. This gives an advantage to the player who wins the first round. The player who wins the first round gets to keep their remaining energy, and still has the second bar to use in future fights. A voice will subsequently announce either 'Round Two' or 'Killer Instinct!'. Once the first bar is depleted, the player falls, gets up and starts to use the second energy bar. Each player starts the game with 2 energy bars, which represent the amount of health each player has for the entire game. The tournament soon turns into a battle for survival. 10 genetically engineered fighters engage in 1-on-1 combat in a tournament arranged by the sinister 'Ultratech', the organization behind the genetic creation of the fighters. Arcade Video game published 27 years ago: Killer Instinct © 1994 Midway Mfg.