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Showdown! Which is the better fighting game? Mortal Kombat 2 (1993) or Killer Instinct (1994)?

Which was and still is the better game?

  • Mortal Kombat 2 (1993 Midway Games)

    Votes: 105 55.6%
  • Killer Instinct (1994 Rare)

    Votes: 84 44.4%

  • Total voters
    189

Mabdia

Member
Well... if I have to choose between these 2, Killer IInstincwas way better and fun to play.


Both have violence as a gimmick. But KI has a good gameplay. Meanwhile MK2 just is decent.

But if I have to choose between everything released at 1994, I'll have to choose Samurai Shodown 2.
Damn! 1994 was amazing.

KOF 94, Samsho2, AoF2 and World Heroes 2. That was an amazing year for fighting gamers.
 

small_law

Member
MKII is the better game. MKII's combat wasn't good, but at the time, it was good enough. KI's combo system was a complete outlier even in the context of the 90's. I can't think of any game that tried to emulate it.

KI had style though. That theme is one of my favorites. KI 2013 was a wonderful surprise and deserving of a little bit of your time if you haven't played it.
 
I liked both, but I think Killer Instinct was the better game with more in-depth gameplay and a more impressive presentation. As strange as this may sound, the only thing I didn’t really like about KI at times was the long endless combos. I don’t mind long combos, but sometimes it got ridiculous and felt like you were watching more than playing. I think MK2 was more about accessibility and precision while KI was more about style, execution and flashiness. Honestly, imo they were quite different types of games with similarities.
 
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I can’t vote, but killer instinct for sure. It looks better, has amazing music, and it's really fun to play. I still play the Xbox port of the arcade classic regularly. It's a masterpiece for sure👌

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Killer Instinct. MKII had already used the appeal from MK of "realistic" characters and fatalities at that point. KI's varied characters. combos and counter gameplay rocked.
 
KI was my favorite fighter of the era. I owned all the console Street Fighters and MK’s and rented just about every other fighter available. None got me as jazzed as KI’s combo system and style. I loved SF and MK but KI was tops in my book.

At 15 I would scrounge up coins and walk my ass down to the local Pizza Hut a mile down the road and play it all Summer. When I knew it was SNES bound, I bought every magazine that had it even mentioned.

Was not disappointed in the slightest at the results. Those were the days.
 

Velius

Banned
Killer Instinct and it's not even close.

Killer Instinct 2 is the best fighting game ever made.
Not KI Gold fuck that
 

dem

Member
In it’s time… the 3D prerendered KI characters were fucking awesome. The game blew my mind. If you weren’t there… you just don’t understand. For whatever reason it looks hilariously trash now in hindsight. Probably because we have real-time 3D that looks so much better now.

MK looked awesome then and still sort of holds up.


I preferred MK2 then and now. I was never into the crazy KI combo game.
 

Type_Raver

Member
Loved the original MK but had a hard time playing MKII.
Once they changed my main from Sub zero to David Hasselhoff, i was so turned off.

I really loved Killer Instinct, which was crazy and insane back in the day in the arcades.
Borrowed a lot from street fighter II in terms of move sets and mechanics but upped the combo counts, added combo breakers and had finishing moves. And the graphics were amazing!
 
Killer Instinct and it's not even close.

Killer Instinct 2 is the best fighting game ever made.
Not KI Gold fuck that
I only played the arcade version of KI2, never the N64 version, i guess the N64 version was broken and couldn't run the game? Makes sense since the N64 had problems handling Crusin and I think that was from a weaker arcade machine.
 

Wonko_C

Member
I only played the arcade version of KI2, never the N64 version, i guess the N64 version was broken and couldn't run the game? Makes sense since the N64 had problems handling Crusin and I think that was from a weaker arcade machine.
KI Gold was fine. The problem was the graphics were blurry, animations were chopped-off, voices sounded muffled, the FMVs were replaced with static images, and the 3D backgrounds looked ugly. At least the music was still incredible.
 

ShirAhava

Plays with kids toys, in the adult gaming world
Voted for MK2 not that I think its that good but

Killer Instinct just sucked even Primal Rage was better
 

JLB

Banned
MK gameplay was very bad, even for the time. Games like Street Fighter, and lately KI, were much different -and better- experiences.
 

Velius

Banned
I only played the arcade version of KI2, never the N64 version, i guess the N64 version was broken and couldn't run the game? Makes sense since the N64 had problems handling Crusin and I think that was from a weaker arcade machine.
It did play, and in a couple ways it made improvements, but it lost a lot more than it gained. KI Gold had some better combos, and while some people say the backgrounds were better, I disagree. But whatever, they're more different than anything, but I still prefer the "movie" backgrounds than the "polygon" ones. And because Nintendo went with the fucking cartridge method instead of going with the original Nintendo Ultra 64 platform, there were no FMV's, the character portraits were fucking laughable, and the music sucked fucking ass. Even the in-game animations of sprites have less going on, gestures are cut and I think even some frames of animation are either truncated or something because it just doesn't feel the same. I played KI2 in the arcade all the time and when KI Gold came out I couldn't wait because everyone said it was just KI2 only better.

Ever since then I don't believe anything. Nintendo is supposed to be kid-friendly? Bullshit. I became a man that day. Everyone lies. Everyone's a bastard!!!

Look at this fucking bulshit:
 

DGrayson

Mod Team and Bat Team
Staff Member
I played tons of both these games. I would give MK2 the edge for nostalgia reasons and for the fact that I didn't see KI in the arcades (maybe a handful of times).
 
It did play, and in a couple ways it made improvements, but it lost a lot more than it gained. KI Gold had some better combos, and while some people say the backgrounds were better, I disagree. But whatever, they're more different than anything, but I still prefer the "movie" backgrounds than the "polygon" ones. And because Nintendo went with the fucking cartridge method instead of going with the original Nintendo Ultra 64 platform, there were no FMV's, the character portraits were fucking laughable, and the music sucked fucking ass. Even the in-game animations of sprites have less going on, gestures are cut and I think even some frames of animation are either truncated or something because it just doesn't feel the same. I played KI2 in the arcade all the time and when KI Gold came out I couldn't wait because everyone said it was just KI2 only better.

Ever since then I don't believe anything. Nintendo is supposed to be kid-friendly? Bullshit. I became a man that day. Everyone lies. Everyone's a bastard!!!

Look at this fucking bulshit:


Looking at the video as the stages appear,

  • Stage 1 the Arcade version seems to look better overall and there's clearer reflection on the ground not present in the N64 version. The Arcade version also has better graphics in the background.
  • Stage 2 seems even until you see the red reflective moon and the moving train in the background is more detailed than in the N64 version.
  • Stage 3 seems to be even
  • Stage 4 is the Arcade version has more detailed moving clouds and has better detail for the bridge, the temple is more detailed in the background as well.
  • Stage 5 the glacier mountain graphics have the arcade blow the N64 away. Even the ground has better shading.
  • Stage 6 is weird, the N64 versions is this zoomed in isometric angle, while the arcade version continues the standard stage view with a cool red cloud effect in the sky, not sure what happened here.
  • Stage 7 the N64 has the rain effec and the rocking boat effectt, but the Arcade version is a bit more zoomed in but detailed. This may be the only one the N64 wins.
  • Stage 8 actually had a snow effect for the N64 version and a more complete stage platform, so maybe two the N64 wins.
  • Stage 9 had a cloudy sky effect not in the Arcade version, but the Arcade version has more detail and a better layered 3D effect.
  • Stage 10 has the N64 have a rain effect but almost everything else is poorly textures or flat, as well as blurry. Arcade details blow it out the water.

Outside of this, the N64 has frame rate drops, and the frames were clearly cut for KI Gold, as the characters don't animate consistently or smoothly. The N64 indeed has static victory screens while the Arcade is animated, the detail and IQ smashes the N64, and the N64's polygon advantage, if it has one, is barely displayed. The layered 3D effect and parallax is superiors in the arcade as well, and the character models themselves are cleaner in the arcade version. Audio isn't as bad as I thought for the N64 though, and they did give the N64 a few new effects, and apparently as said by you, new combos, but the difference is too stagering for that too matter.

Sure the gap isn't as bad as KI Arcade vs. Snes, but it's still pretty noticeable.
 
Mortal Kombat 2 shits down the throat of Killer Instinct. TBH, I never got the appeal of KI. I thought it was a very medicore game. But, opinions and all that.
 

jufonuk

not tag worthy
Better in terms of fighting mechanics KI

better as in fun and a laugh. MK2

but maybe 🤔 I was just too much of an SF2 fan boy to accept any other inputs other than street fighter 2 style.
 
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