Former Rare Employee Explains Why We Never Saw a Killer Instinct 3

A new interview recently popped up with former Rare employee Donnchadh Murphy on NotEnoughShaders. While most of the interview has nothing to do with fighting games, there is one bit of info that’s definitely relevant to the genre’s fans, especially those who grew up in the mid 90s. When asked about what Rare games he would like to see receive HD remakes, Murphy (who previously worked on Killer Instinct 2 and Killer Instinct Gold) had this to say:

Probably the same game every Rare fan wants to see and that’s KI3 (Killer Instinct 3). We all wanted to make KI3, but Microsoft [was] more interested in broadening their demographic than making another fighting game.  So it never got made, I doubt it ever will.

A sad bit of news for fans who remember the good old days when ultra combos meant getting more than 20 hits and not a comeback mechanic.

For those interested in learning more about Rare, you read the entire interview here.

Source: NotEnoughShaders

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=513585037 Mike Cutillo

    This would be a great exclusive game if MS backed it. Too bad. :(

    • http://twitter.com/ConniePetty8 Connie Petty

      If MS won’t do anything with this franchise, then they should sell the rights to someone who will! http://Millionaire4Project.blogspot.com

    • http://twitter.com/GeraldineMMcLau Geraldine M. McLaugh

      If fighting games keep going how they are, this will get made...HopsOnToday5.blogspot.com

      • XxStanTheManxX

        Is that a picture of you Geraldine? Just wanted to compliment your look. A female gamer.

    • http://twitter.com/Tammip1 Tammip

      jMartin responded I’m startled that anybody able to make $6311 in four weeks on the network. did you see this(Click on menu Home)

    • http://twitter.com/Tammip1 Tammip

      ….
      goo.gl/NSwPY

  • Bama_X

    All M$ have to do is throw those 2 games out there on live with a GGPO Netcode and see how much money the franchise can make.  IMO it’s low risk, high reward! 

    • http://www.facebook.com/people/Basil-Bisiolu/100000804618260 Basil Bisiolu

       Mircosoft is dumb, even when M$ aren’t making fighting games they got Rare doing awful projects.

    • Reginald Jean-Louis

      Far as I know NO fighting games on xbl  use Good Game Peace Out code for online play. Why did you mention it? Fighting game companies use  in-house code or (I assume) an already standardized online play format that is coded. I’m sorry to sound harsh but why do you want to be a fg hipster? go on ‘head wit dat man nobody even knows what the hell that bs is.

      • http://www.facebook.com/people/Ernest-Atkinson/100001166709286 Ernest Atkinson

        SF3 Online uses GGPO

      • Jano Torres

        MvC:O will use GGPO

      • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_TIC7WNRSMFBSCLF6OR6JQJAAZA sb

        well you look real stupid and have no clue what you are talking about SF3 and Skullgirls uses GGPO any FG gamer would know that
        The LOL and SC websites are that way——->>>

      • spectaa

        Yellow carded.

      • Bama_X

        My response to your reply!  http://youtu.be/RRIQ7d-lFl0

      • Smashbro29

         3SO, SkullGirls, MvCO. Some say SFxT, I’m not sure though.

      • Louis Lam

        He mentioned it because it’s the best netcode out there right now, everybody in the FGC knows what it is, go back to CoD.

        • Goatbot

          SCV has the best netcode out there. GGPO is better than we had before but it’s still not amazing and it isn’t the very best there is.

          • d3v

            SCV is’t the best unless off course tou think having variable input delay is fine.

      • de1irium

        9/10 if you’re a troll.  Don’t want to live on this planet if you’re not.

      • http://www.facebook.com/thurl Thurl Bailey Jr

        Flagging this comment for review.

  • PointCtrPoint

    Ultra Combos were fatalities.

    • http://www.facebook.com/people/Luis-Lopez/100001971987040 Luis Lopez

      Dangers were fatals…. Ultra combos were 20hits+

      • http://www.facebook.com/people/Luis-Lopez/100001971987040 Luis Lopez

        You guys are retarded… go back to ssf4 or mash happy 3 you random scrubs

    • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=549301113 Brandyn Harris

      No there werent, fool. you are thinking of “Ultimates” which where  combos and fatalities mixed in

      • http://profiles.yahoo.com/u/J6SD2KR4VWPT6U2SELUIUUWTZU Robert

        Yes, but an Ultra combo was fight ending auto-combo.  Your opponent had to be in “danger” in order to perform either an Ultra or an Ultimate.  Ultra could also cause a stage fatality afterward or you could try for 1 last juggle move on the other stages to increase your ultra hit-count (for street cred purposes).

        • http://www.facebook.com/massi4h Mason Maddox

          But was what even more awesome was an Ultra Breaker. 

      • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_TIC7WNRSMFBSCLF6OR6JQJAAZA sb

        the retard calling somebody a fool you cant do combos and fatalities mixed in WTF you cant do a fatality till it says DANGER i see where the saying 09′er comes from

        • http://www.facebook.com/shingoyabuki4 Luis Lozoya

          In Killer Instinct it was possible to do a combo that entered the opponent into a danger state and THEN the combo could be transformed into a fatality… that was called an “Ultimate” and it actually counted the extra hits that the fatality did.
          I don’t know what your problem is with the facts… or your grammar… but you should better get them both straight…

          • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_TIC7WNRSMFBSCLF6OR6JQJAAZA sb

            please tell me ur not serious miss teacher you must be one of those 09′ers a combo TRANSFORMED into a fatality WTF LMAO

          • http://www.facebook.com/shingoyabuki4 Luis Lozoya

            Well… if you don’t believe me… believe the evidence:

            http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zy0SFr-A77g 

        • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=512147398 Alexis A. Rivera-Montalvo

          Combo with Orchid into hcb+FP when the opponent is in danger.

          Unless I remembered incorrectly, she stops the combo and flashes you FTW, which was her fatality to begin with.  Those are Ultimate combos.

        • http://www.facebook.com/DetroitJavin Javin Culverson

          http://youtu.be/P9QC2d3j2KA <— HOLDDATSALT

          • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_TIC7WNRSMFBSCLF6OR6JQJAAZA sb

            ummm you do know thats a rom version i have seen plenty of hacked gameplay of this game TRY AGAIN

          • infominutebrad

            you are so stupid it’s painful to watch.

            every character has an Ultimate (which is a finishing move) that can be done at the end of a combo while the opponent is in danger.  this is different from the Ultra Combo.

            it’s explained in more detail here:

            KI1 – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Killer_Instinct
            KI2 – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Killer_Instinct_2

          • http://www.facebook.com/DetroitJavin Javin Culverson

             http://youtu.be/BjRIDkYA75o

            I suppose you’ll say someone hacked the SNES version of the game as well.  lol

          • WeirdingWay

            Just go do an ultimate on a KI arcade cab. If you think your arcade hacked their cab then I hope you get cancer.

    • PointCtrPoint

      Ugh sorry if I started an argument but yeah I meant that Ultras were basically game enders.

  • Joshua Dionne Johnson

    that make me a sad panda. :(

  • GrandMasterSexay

    Thats a damn shame. . . :( R.I.P. Jago, Tj Combo and Cinder

  • Samir Nour

    If fighting games keep going how they are, this will get made.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Dakota-Dotson/100000657054347 Dakota Dotson

    KI petitions needs to start now. Someone get that ball rolling

    • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_TIC7WNRSMFBSCLF6OR6JQJAAZA sb

      i would sign my name in blood and Ed Boon is down for it NRS would be the right company to make it

      • http://profile.yahoo.com/XABDZOMRW3Y5Y3Q7IJJKT6YHT4 Marky

        No…

        NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

        NRS is a company that didn’t even understand the value of frame data in the development process. They don’t know how to make competitive fighters (yet).

        • http://www.facebook.com/DetroitJavin Javin Culverson

           This is Killer Instinct.  Killer Instinct is not a game that “needs” to follow the “competitive fighter development flow chart”.

    • R Skse

      I will yell at them. Wheres the best place to bomb MS with requests?

    • http://profile.yahoo.com/5NMD53DB5EBT7PJJDPMCBSJGJE Isaac

       There’s already a petition, google it

    • XxStanTheManxX

      I will support the petition. The 1st KI was my favorite.

  • http://www.facebook.com/DetroitJavin Javin Culverson

    If MS won’t do anything with this franchise, then they should sell the rights to someone who will! 

    MK vs KI, anyone?

    • http://www.facebook.com/zrodadon Jonathan Wooden

      Only if it plays off the killer instinct fighting system.

      • http://www.facebook.com/DetroitJavin Javin Culverson

         And if it has KI’s #WINNING announcer!!!  lol

  • http://www.facebook.com/brandon.winn.56 Brandon Winn

    I know in my circle of casual fighter friends we’d all pick up a copy day of release.  I imagine most of NA would buy it in the same fashion.  Hopefully MS picks up on the popularity and power of impact that game had.

  • http://twitter.com/Darkforge Bevan Djernaes

    M$ killed Rare, but honestly I don’t think the talent that remain’s at that studio could pull it off anyway.

  • http://handsomefatman.com/ Carlos Alexandre

    ArcSys did the combo breaker thing right with Burst. If KI3 ever gets made, they better swipe that idea.

    • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_TIC7WNRSMFBSCLF6OR6JQJAAZA sb

      where do you think the burst comes from KI uses COMBO BREAKER done way before ASW was even a company

      • http://handsomefatman.com/ Carlos Alexandre

        I’m aware of this. It’s also irrelevant; ASW did it better.

      • http://handsomefatman.com/ Carlos Alexandre

        I’m aware of this. It’s also irrelevant; ASW did it better.

        • http://www.facebook.com/zrodadon Jonathan Wooden

          ha

        • blackavengre

          I wouldn’t agree on it being better per-se. I like the fact that you actually had to watch for whether your opponent was using a punch or a kick before trying to break their combo, and in KI2 it was even more complicated as you had manual combos which, unlike autos, you had to input the links yourself, button for button, and to break those you even had to guess the strength of the link as well as if it was a punch or a kick.

          Highly underrated combo system, this is

          • http://handsomefatman.com/ Carlos Alexandre

            I don’t see how it’s conducive to sound fighter design to allow someone who got into a position where he’s being comboed the option to break out for free, regardless of the guesswork.

            The reason Burst is so much better is because there is a cost; you Burst to break out of a combo, and suddenly you lose offensive uses. And it can be baited. And you don’t recover it every round.

          • blackavengre

            Well… I definatley won’t be trying to persuade you to play DOA (albeit the guessing game and its many rewards being completely revised). Though I have to say, through your analysis, that comparing the burst system and combo breakers fundamentally is ok but as soon as you look at their exact purposes in-game, they seem very different. For example burst in ACS games is usually limited in its uses, and sometimes comes with a negative effect like in blaz. Wherea combo breakers are free, as you say, but there are benefits to succesfully breakng a combo, ie Spinal gets skulls he can shoot or power his moves with. So yea, on that basic level they are the same, but burst is the way it is, it would seem, because of how much damage can b done in a combo, as well as hot and cold combos. They both serve their purpose well

          • http://handsomefatman.com/ Carlos Alexandre

            I can’t agree. KI was fundamentally designed around a combo system that combo breakers invalidate. Combo breakers even REWARD their user.

            Which means that you can play poorly, get comboed, and Blue Shell your way out of it. It’s flawed.

          • http://twitter.com/KingPeters2 King Peters

             ur dumb dont ever post again

          • http://handsomefatman.com/ Carlos Alexandre

            Choose my response:

            1. Call someone dumb. Use the words ur (sic) and dont (sic). Cunning.

            or

            2. Eat shit.

          • d3v

            Except you cant counter hold out of every situation in DOA except in 4, which was considered trash even by the DOA community. Look at 5 which has a ton of states you cannot counter out of.

          • blackavengre

            to be fair, at the time of DOA4s release, I wasn’t familiar with the community, and despite the changes to holds in terms of damage I still enjoyed and put hours into the game. The easiest way to get around the whole ott damage issue was to change the lifebar setting to largest, a lot of people do this online.

            Honestly though, how good is DOA5 looking :3 (excuse fanboy bias)

          • http://twitter.com/KingPeters2 King Peters

             learn ur games then post

  • http://twitter.com/MortalKomment MortalKomment

     Stupid flying bear games.

  • Iuimarco Sucks

    finally, an article posted by d3v worth reading.

    • Bavo Bruylandt

      except for the free stab at SF4 which is completely irrelevant

  • http://twitter.com/Rotendo Rodolfo Camarena

    Nintendo got the better end of the deal when they sold Rare to Microsoft.  They knew exactly what they were doing.  Ken Lobb talked about why KI3 was never made as well a few years back as he was the Producer for both KI and KI2.  

  • http://twitter.com/jrdizon Alfredo Dizon

    All the exclusives that Sony gets (Kratos in MK; Cole, cats, Mega Man, and Pac-Man in SFxT) shows how much Microsoft cares about fighting games. MS only cares if it’s a shooter.

    • http://profile.yahoo.com/6KIRBSXU73L4GXKJ6ZKJGWVMHI Dante

      to be fair no one cared about that fighting game

      • http://twitter.com/Noble_Cactus Gwonam Squadellah

        Actually, a lot of people did. Just not many people from SRK.

      • JasinWalraven

        Lots of people play the game, Broke ass SRK whiners do not equal the FGC

      • d3v

        The point is that Sony cares enough about the genre to invest in it.

        • http://profile.yahoo.com/6KIRBSXU73L4GXKJ6ZKJGWVMHI Dante

          Sry, I must have missed the point. . .

          if extra characters is all it takes then MS has “cared about the genre” since DOA 4 was on xbox 360; it even included an extra female Spartan character, but then again it was DOA, so I guess it doesn’t count.

          • d3v

            Ever since then, MS hasn’t really done anything for fighting games. Sony on the other hand has shown alot of interest in the genre. Aside from giving money to developers for extra content, they’re also hiring fighting game folks to work on their own game. Also, at least on this side of the Pacific, they sponsor alot of tournaments. Most every major in SEA is sponsored by them, you can even download match vids from some tournaments over PSN here.

            On a related note, DOA4 is the most un-tournament worthy pile of code that had the audacity to call itself a fighting game. Even the DOA community knows that it’s meh and only played it for the money.

          • http://profile.yahoo.com/6KIRBSXU73L4GXKJ6ZKJGWVMHI Dante

            True. . . MS hasn’t done much for fighting games since then, but I just wanted to recognize that they tried once.

            Also sony exclusive characters aren’t even used in tournaments, so I’m not sure how valid that argument is. Tournament viability wasn’t really a consideration when creating buggy characters (like kuro and fat megaman), even in MK, no tournaments use Kratos because he is exclusive to only one console.

            But you make very valid points I guess. Maybe MS should do more.

          • d3v

            @Dante
            It’s not just about the characters, though the exclusives do bring money from Sony that helps in development. It’s also about them sponsoring tournaments.  

            Also, they’re brave enough to try to make a competitive game.

          • http://profile.yahoo.com/6KIRBSXU73L4GXKJ6ZKJGWVMHI Dante

            @ d3v

            Right. I hear you on the sponsoring tournament part; you’re totally right.

            But as far as making a game competitive, it’s just my opinion that Sony tried and failed with SfxT. That’s just my opinion maybe they’ll be more successful with fighting games in the future.

          • http://twitter.com/KingPeters2 King Peters

             yet again u talk non-sense. shut ya mouth doa was based off the gr8est (at the time) fighting game  VF.

        • http://twitter.com/KingPeters2 King Peters

           stop with the caring, passion. just like most females money makes it go woo woo wooo lol
           

  • Stephen Weimer

    I bet this is what gets the ball rolling for a KI3.  Even just a Xbla or PSN game.

  • http://www.facebook.com/massi4h Mason Maddox

    So KI vs Bloody Roar when? 

    Actually stuff that I just want both a new KI and BR

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=761175295 Chris DigitalPhoenix Oakley

    Time to do what we do best…

    bombard the shit out of MS on every social media platform about this.

  • geroge86

    Well the chances of me ever buying any microsoft game consoles have just reduced to absolute zero. I bet if it was a mediocre first person shooter microsoft would have made 12 remixes by now.

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1291553628 Stefan Johnson

    Fuck Microsoft, Fuck Halo, Fuck Gears, Fuck Kiniect  and all their gimmicky shit.

    Now that`s out of the way let me be more serious now.

    After Injustice is finished NRS should work on KI3 and hire the former employees. I would buy that shit day one. 

    So Microsoft are willing to fund 3 more Halo games but they wont fund KI3? Nonsense…

    • http://profile.yahoo.com/XABDZOMRW3Y5Y3Q7IJJKT6YHT4 Marky

       At what point did people start thinking NRS can make good, competitive fighting games that aren’t full of broken mechanics, infinites and gross imbalances?  This is a company that didn’t even understand why frame data was important in the development process.

      KEEP NRS FILTHY HANDS OFF KI.

      • http://www.facebook.com/DetroitJavin Javin Culverson

         Since when does KI need to be a competitive fighting game that isn’t full of broken mechanics, infinites, and gross imbalances?  Isn’t that why KI got popular in the first place … because it didn’t follow the competitive fighting game flow chart?  lol

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1291553628 Stefan Johnson

    Fuck Microsoft, Fuck Halo, Fuck Gears, Fuck Kiniect  and all their gimmicky shit.

    Now that`s out of the way let me be more serious now.

    After Injustice is finished NRS should work on KI3 and hire the former employees. I would buy that shit day one. 

    So Microsoft are willing to fund 3 more Halo games but they wont fund KI3? Nonsense…

  • Albert Ayala

    C-C-C-C-COMBO BREAKER!!!!

    • http://www.facebook.com/DetroitJavin Javin Culverson

       I liked walking into an arcade and IMMEDIATELY hearing “ULLLLLLTTRRRAAAAAAA COOOOOOMMMMBBOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!” … letting you know someone somewhere was getting OWNED.  lol

  • toreal

    We all need to go kick in the door at Microsoft and demand it. About 20,000 of us should.

  • Pingback: Je remercie Microsoft… « Blog de *aAa* Dragoonhead

  • GreenGoblin

    I seriously can’t express how sad I am right now. This is the fighting game that introduced me to fighters and its my favorite game to this day, I’ve been waiting a long time to see Killer Instinct 3 being made. But now it seems all hope is lost… 

    This really sucks, fuck you microsoft. Seems like I’ve got further reasons to never purchase anything Microsoft related.

  • VisualData

    Fuck Microsoft.

  • KubikiriTurkojin

    ki was a bs game once the combos were old news, combo breakers are bs, fatalities. there are so many fighters out there better than ki, and they are not even good fighters. same thing applies to mk, but marketing and casual players are still a force to be reckoned with. why the fgc would  even bother with this shit instead of focusing on actual good fighters is beyond me. 

    • http://twitter.com/Classicpj classicpj

      you sir must be a troll because when Ki and Ki2 came out evrybody i know was all into them.  Ki was broken and thats what made it fun

    • http://www.facebook.com/people/James-Finch/100000890500613 James Finch

       You must not live in the United States or you must have been born in the mid to late 90′s.

      • http://twitter.com/LuigiBo87 Your Mother Digs Me

         Replace born with grew up in the mid to late 90′s and you got yourself a rebuttal!

      • KubikiriTurkojin

        i played the games when they were jus released in ther arcades. why did people play ki, do you even know? the music was good, the graphics were top notch and the novelty of doing big combos without any effort. not before long the casuals were still li8king it because they didnt have the skills for games like st, ffs or ss2 etc. all the serious fighting game players stopped playing it long ago because the game in its gameplay perspective was shit, just like mk. 

        in other words, it was popular in the US because they like shitty fighters, simple. if you think ki any of them were any good you stupid. 

        • http://twitter.com/KingPeters2 King Peters

          Yep it’s offcial ur dumb god bless the USA

    • http://twitter.com/KingPeters2 King Peters

       NO soup for u get out

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_IMW4FEU4ORLNXO7RPHLGXYUDUA Luke Taylor

    and just for that xbox sux
    come to sony rare
    we’ll treat you right 
    sure theres a couple of bugs, but you’ll get used to them
    and just because of that
    doa5 should be the last fighting game xbox ever gets
    no injustice, no bb3, no TxSF, nothing

    • http://twitter.com/KingPeters2 King Peters

       I need to call pest control cuz u bugs r every where

  • http://twitter.com/Darkforge Bevan Djernaes

    If they actually come out with playstation hardware that doesn’t have frame rate problem’s and shitty 3rd party port’s then I’ll gladly jump ship to PS.

    Or better yet, Namco start porting your shit to PC….

    • d3v

      The only games that have had issues on PS3 are SFIV/SSFIV and MvC3/UMvC3. Most other fighting games these days are developed on the PS3 and just ported to the 360.

      • http://twitter.com/KingPeters2 King Peters

         How can i kill a rat cuz u suck

  • http://profile.yahoo.com/KI6R3RMEZC7K3RCO6SBB3CYJPI Lal

    Heck a KI HD ONLINE would be just fine, but not like Jojo’s “HD”. I remmember liking KI1 more than KI2. 

  • http://twitter.com/dyverze DR DYVERZE

    Fuck Micro$oft

    Give Rare back to Nintendo. Let Banjo and Conker live again.

    Give Killer Instict 3 IP to Ed Boon, and watch that franchise get hype once again.

    • http://profile.yahoo.com/KI6R3RMEZC7K3RCO6SBB3CYJPI Lal

      Fuck Ed Boon… but giving it to NetherRealm isn’t a bad idea.

  • http://twitter.com/dyverze DR DYVERZE

    Fuck Micro$oft

    Give Rare back to Nintendo. Let Banjo and Conker live again.

    Give Killer Instict 3 IP to Ed Boon, and watch that franchise get hype once again. 

  • xShonuffx

    Their lost here. it is a perfect time to capitalize on the fighting game industry. If MS wants to broaden their demographic beyond a bunch of Halo addicts then thsi is an opportunity. But Microsoft is about hitting those high sales numbers, the kind you see only on games like Halo or Call of Duty. I doubt what little success Capcom has had in the last four years is enough to convince them to give the green light on KI3.

  • petran79

    Primal Rage vs KI: The battle of the cancelled sequels

  • http://www.facebook.com/victoly Matthew Taylor

    Just a reminder that console companies fucking suck.

    They haven’t done anything useful recently besides destroying creativity because they lack the foresight to do anything that doesn’t inflate prices to insane proportions and stall game development through layers of unneeded beauracracy

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Yan-Zhao/10516382 Yan Zhao

    My favorite N64 fighter, never to see a sequel, I am sad.

  • Ryu_and_Ken

    I need Jago back

  • fakeigniz

    This game was a dumb mess, people complain about BB or SG combos being long but this was a dire repetitive dire mess. Given that the signature element of the game was it’s worse point, I’m glad the franchise is dead.

  • Anthony Worth

    So all you XBOX lovers killed KI by allowing MS to broaden their demographic. Go MS!!!

  • Terry Barcelona

    “A sad bit of news for fans who remember the good old days when ultra combos meant getting more than 20 hits…”
    Good news for those who remember how f**king awful ‘Killer Instinct’ was. 

    Even better news for those who remember how much worse ‘Killer Instinct 2′ managed to be…

  • http://www.facebook.com/DetroitJavin Javin Culverson

    LOL @ all the people who rip on KI for not being a serious fighting game.  That was never the point of the game.  KI was intended just as much to be a serious fighter as something like The Expendables is intended to be a serious action movie.  That is to say … it’s not, and that’s what makes it timeless!! 

    • Johnson Nguyen

      Get this “logic” thing out of my SRK! (Jokes)

  • Mickey B
  • Mickey B
  • kaede_rukawa

    KI in the Snes was a fun game that made its mark, that black cartridge with the soundtrack included was boss. rare was beasting the video game world with their graphics and music back then.

  • http://www.facebook.com/dion.johnson.982 Dion Johnson

    Dammit, Microsoft! is it so wrong to troll bitches with a 2-headed Ogre with a Club?

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