Killer Instinct Gold includes 10 playable characters and features exclusive to the Nintendo 64 game such as team battle, team elimination battle, and training mode.
Admittedly, I never owned the game when it first came out — I rented it from , so I never had the joy of tearing through an N64 box to retrieve my grey KI cartridge. Yet, playing the game then and now gives me joy, regardless of whether it was historically panned upon release or not.
Yes, Killer Instinct Gold has often been detailed as a downgraded port of Killer Instinct 2. Yes, Gold has inferior graphics, reduced animations, the removal of unique character endings, and worse camera controls due to N64 limitations. But criticisms be damned, I was hyped every time we rented it from Blockbuster (remember that?) and I got to play against my cousins and brothers on the N64.
The N64 severely lacked a fighting game library compared to Sony’s original PlayStation. As franchises like Tekken and Virtua Fighter introduced groundbreaking mechanics in the 3D fighting game genre, Nintendo and Rare teamed up and (re)entered the ring. With the release of KI Gold, Nintendo fans could have a fighting game that could at least stand next to those aforementioned titles — even if KI Gold couldn’t truly compete with Tekken and VF due to its limitations.
Still, Killer Instinct Gold was groundbreaking in its own right; the game pushed the boundaries of combo mechanics and what was possible. Rare remade all of the backgrounds into full 3D — ditching static renders of the arcade version — with interactive environments allowing players to extend and create expressive combos with the help of a random object, like a box.
While KI Gold isn’t the superior Killer Instinct experience, the game deservedly earned its spot in history. And I’m glad the game has found another home and life on the Nintendo Switch.
Killer Instinct Gold is available now in the Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack: Nintendo 64 for Nintendo Switch.