Killer Instinct is a series of video games that goes back to the glory days of arcades when the first game in the series was released in 1994. For many kids in arcades in those days, Killer Instinct truly was unlike anything else they had ever seen. Where else could one play as a werewolf or a velociraptor and fight a skeleton, a killer robot, or a man made out of fire?
The series' diverse array of monstrous characters and its brutal combos helped it to stand out from every other game machine in arcades and, as a result, became an instant hit. Even though only one direct sequel was made in 1996, the series survives today almost entirely because of its fans.
The first two Killer Instinct games were made by Rare (later Rare Limited), one of the most prolific game developers at the time that also produced such classics as the original Donkey Kong games, Battletoads, Goldeneye 007 for the N64, Perfect Dark, Banjo Kazooie, and Conker's Bad Fur Day. Despite being one of the most prolific game developers of their time and having so many classics under their belt, Rare eventually went under before being bought by Microsoft in 2002.
It is entirely thanks to this that in 2013, as a launch title for their brand new Xbox One, Microsoft teamed up with developers Double Helix Games and Iron Galaxy to give the series the hard reboot treatment with the release of Killer Instinct in 2013. Now, thanks almost entirely to that game, interest in the series has resurfaced.
A Diverse Array of Characters
Even by the standards of fighting game characters, the Killer Instinct series features an incredibly diverse array of characters that include both humans and monstrous creatures, which truly sets it apart from any other fighting game. Some of these characters are, in no particular order, a werewolf, a genetically engineered velociraptor, a monk, a killer robot, a skeleton, a femme fatale-style secret agent, a man made of fire, a boxer, a mummy, and a literal barbarian. However, most, if not all, of these characters are direct references to what was popular in movies and general popular culture at the time.
The most obvious of these are the velociraptor character, Riptor, who was made in response to the popularity of the 1993 movie Jurassic Park, and the killer robot character, Fulgore, who is an odd fusion of both The Terminator and The Predator. If this makes these characters sound like cheap cash-ins on what was popular at the time, it is entirely because they are.
However, despite being blatant cash grabs, that was not enough to deter fans. The series made up for its lack of imagination with its brutal gameplay and “Ultra-Combo” finishers that were just as satisfying as the Mortal Kombat fatalities to pull off. Cash grabs or not, the series' diverse characters are part of what helped the series survive past the downfall of Rare. As stated before, where else could one play as a werewolf and fight a killer robot? The challenge of adapting Killer Instinct then becomes figuring out how to portray all of these unique characters on screen, as while not all of these monstrous characters are evil, few of them are humanoid.
A lot of CGI will likely be needed if only to create the genuinely bizarre appearances of some of these monstrous characters. This, however, isn't even touching on the larger issue of copyright and intellectual property laws regarding characters like these, but that is a conversation for the lawyers.
Another Tournament, Another Reason to Fight
As hinted above, the Killer Instinct series is not exactly bursting with imagination, at least not initially. Prior to the 2013 reboot, all of these monstrous characters were fighting each other because the totally not evil mega-corporation Ultratech put on the “Killer Instinct Tournament” and invited all manner of man and monsters to participate. Not unlike the Mortal Kombat (Mortal Kombat) or King of Iron Fist (Tekken) tournaments.
Post reboot, however, while Ultratech is still a thing, the Killer Instinct Tournament is not, meaning that the characters' new reasons for fighting each other are now entirely their own. If an adaptation is to be attempted, it will have to be set in the reboot universe if only because that setting has an actual story with a more definitive beginning, middle, and ending.
Regardless of how it is done, however, any adaptation of Killer Instinct needs to be able to give Mortal Kombat a run for its money and not be afraid to show how truly brutal these characters can be. Especially since most of their finishers involve long, drawn-out combos rather than simple, singular killing moves.