Why Was Killer Instinct Gold Almost a Super NES Game?

Because the sequel was promised to the console that made the first game a hit.

The chain of events is documented and short. The Super NES version of the original Killer Instinct, released in 1995, was a wide success, selling over three million copies. The industry expected a sequel, and Rare began developing one: the arcade game, and a home version for the Super NES, the machine with the audience.

Then Nintendo announced the Nintendo 64, and the home sequel changed platforms mid development. This page tells that story, including its strangest footnote: the Super NES version was finished anyway, and shelved.

THE MOVE

How the sequel changed consoles

A sequel in demand

Following the Super NES version's success, Rare began development on a sequel for the arcade. A Super NES version was in development alongside it, aimed at the three million players who owned the first game at home.

The announcement

Rare transitioned the home sequel to the newer Nintendo 64 after the console's announcement. The Killer Instinct team split itself between the arcade version and the Nintendo 64 release that would become Killer Instinct Gold, and the console team began work as soon as Rare received its development kit.

The launch plan

Gold was scheduled to be one of the Nintendo 64's initial two launch titles, the clearest sign of how central the series was to the new console's early plans. It missed its release window and arrived on November 25, 1996.

THE FOOTNOTE

The finished game nobody released

Rare, under contract, ultimately finished its Super NES port of Killer Instinct 2. Nintendo chose not to release it. No version of that finished port has ever been sold, which makes the Super NES Killer Instinct 2 one of the more remarkable completed and withheld games of its generation: a sequel built for a three million strong audience, completed, and set aside because its console's successor needed the title more.

What players got instead was Gold: the same sequel, rebuilt around a cartridge far smaller than the arcade's storage, with the changes detailed on this wing's companion page. The move made Gold a launch window showcase for a new console instead of a late triumph for an old one, and the sales record suggests the trade was not free: Gold did not replicate the success of its Super NES predecessor, and the series went dormant until its 2013 revival.

THE GAME ON THE SHELF

Killer Instinct Gold

Killer Instinct Gold · America · Nintendo 64

Fulgore and Tusk on the American Nintendo 64 box, for the port that began life aimed at the Super NES, as this page tells it.

The full story: The History of Killer Instinct Gold →

Why Was Killer Instinct Gold Almost a Super NES Game?

THE MOVE

THE FOOTNOTE

THE GAME ON THE SHELF

THE FIRST WORD