It’s 1995. The Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers made their theatrical debut, Coolio released Gangsta’s Paradise, and Killer Instinct made its way onto video game store shelves everywhere. Yours truly was seven years old, playing Killer Instinct not on the Nintendo, but on the Game Boy.
To this day I remember sliding across its many green-screened stages with Spinal, cheesing my way up through different opponents. You can imagine my awe when I played it on my neighbor’s Super Nintendo for the first time: its soundtrack told me “You have never experienced a fighting game like this”. Hearing the smooth beginning of the game’s intro going into the iconic guitar riff rocked my world.
Here’s what made the original Killer Instinct soundtrack so popular, why it perfectly encapsulated 90s culture, and how its character’s designs helped craft the game’s sound too. First, let’s take a look at what the composer for the Xbox version of the game, Mick Gordon, had to say about it. In a documentary interview, he said, “The music on Killer Cuts sounded to me as a seven-year-old kid, the same as [the] music you’d hear on the radio”.
Killer Cuts was the name of the album that was released with Killer Instinct in 1995. The album contained 15 tracks and to this day is still revered by many video game fans as one of the best. As Gordon said, the music in the original game really sounded like the music you would hear on the radio. Each level contained an upbeat song, that could double as either a radio hit or something you would dance to at a club in the mid to late 90s. As the kids say, it was a vibe.
I’m currently listening to the album as I write this article. Not only am I being transported back to the era of my youth, but I am also in the mood to get in my car and drive around the block (cus of gas prices) while blaring this album for my whole neighborhood to hear. This soundtrack with its 90s electro-style track list is something that would energize anyone’s day no matter how little you slept. I listen to it at the gym and I feel invincible (at least until shoulder day, I hate shoulder day).
Killer Instinct set the bar for fighting game soundtracks. While Mortal Kombat is and will forever be my favorite fighting game series, Killer Instinct really showed that music in fighting games does not need to be orchestral and epic, they can be toe-tappingly good fun. It’s a fighting game where characters move really fast and hit each other with a high-octane, long-formed list of combos, so giving players a soundtrack they can bob and dance to makes sense. The soundtrack did a great job capturing that 90s era where things were becoming more digitally infused, the internet was a thing, and it was a time of transition. The rocking but of course heavily compressed sound of Killer Instinct captured that.
The fighters in Killer Instinct were fleshed out not only by their individual move sets but by the music in their own stages. Fighting Orchid atop of a building while “H.I Feeling” and the lyrics “Killer, she’s a killer” burst out of the speakers really gives some depth to who she is: sassy, smooth, and deadly.
Sabrewulf’s fast and creepy stage music captured the fact he is a monster, with the music containing a cool gothic tone. The developers over at Rare really took the time and proper care to ensure each character’s music, like their stage was an extension of the character themselves.
I really do appreciate that kind of attention to detail. While I love Mortal Kombat, none of the stage music is really all that memorable; sure, some of it is fast-paced, but it feels more in sync with the stage and does not really add anything to every character. But it’s that bond between the music and the characters that put Killer Instinct at the front of the pack acoustically, plus you have to think the music in the game does tie in to how the fighters view themselves.
Cinder’s music sounds like he believes himself to be this badass man of fire (which he is), yet also a rocker who’s unfazed by all the explosions going on around him.
Their music is their attitude, and I cherish every second of every song. Killer Instinct’s music not only masterfully captured the era it was made in, but it’s hands-down the best fighting game soundtrack ever made.
