Retro Arena: Killer Instinct vs Mortal Kombat II · 12:16am Apr 19th, 2020
A new edition of Retro Arena is up and the battle for the Arcades rages on between two classic fighting games. Warner Brothers released Mortal Kombat: Scorpion’s Revenge several days ago marking the first time since the mid-90s of another animated series. We should feel grateful the game industry no longer has to suffer from terribly produced shows based on our media. It’s true that we have come a long way from DIC’s horrid standards during the 80s and 90s for gaming in TV and film. I believe that has to do with my generation growing up on this hobby compared to the Boomers. I mean the majority never had a firm grasp on our hobby, but presumptions based on other works. It’s the reason directors like Jeffrey Scott who acted as if he didn’t care (that’s based on his 2001 interview) and as a result we got awful shows. Now, in 2020 we got works like the Castlevania anime and Detective Pikachu that was surprisingly good. It’s because the directors and producers grew up on this and knew what they had to put in. At the end of the day this is all about proper understanding of the license. However, if you go in with an “I don’t care” attitude it reflects in your work then.
That leads us to the topic as during the 90s MK did have competition from more than the Street Fighter series. As always clones do follow after as throughout that decade you couldn’t enter an arcade without seeing something like Fighter's History. In a sea of MK and SF clones was one that stood out and it was Killer Instinct from Rare. The thing that separated Rare's coin op from the familiar was how stylish the presentation in the gameplay and visuals were. It really reflected the trends and personalities of the 90s between its “EXTREME” and crude gimmicks. Check out my Mortal Kombat II and Killer Instinct reviews in these links to have a clearer picture of this comparison. Will KI’s stylish presentation have an Awesome Victory? Or will the elite’s old style of fighting games continue to dominate with Brutality?
