Your 1st Experience Playing Killer Instinct

Okay, so I see a lot of people mention their experiences in KI, some good, some bad, and some even weird or funny. So I thought it’d be really cool to look back upon your FIRST experience in KI (and I’m not talking about the original games here; I’m talking about this 1, and this 1 only). So, share what you can remember or what you just experienced (if you are, in fact, new).


For me, it’s been far too long since my 1st experience, so I can’t really say much about it (although I figure it was pretty bad considering I didn’t understand the combo system yet). However, what I can share with you is my 1st KI experience on PC, which happened, like 10 minutes ago, as of this post.

It was bad.

…really bad.

First thing’s 1st - I had to make sure my PC could run the darn game. The good news is that it can. The bad news? It can’t unless everything’s turned off and it’s set to the 2nd lowest resolution available. Point - Xbox. Then I messed around with the controls and even tried using the keyboard. Trying to do quarter-circles on that thing? Forget it (and don’t get me started on the DP-motion). Point - Xbox. It’s nice to know that I can still use my controller, but I had to wait like 5 minutes for the game to even register that the thing existed - meanwhile, I’m going through the menus figuring out how to do just that. Point - Xbox. Once that was out of the way, I went into an online match - and boy, did it LAG. I thought not having XBL running in the background would make things smoother, but apparently not. Even worse, my opponent was a teabagging douchebag that won. Point - Xbox.

So, yeah, I think I’ll stick with playing the game on my console. As for PC? Never again!

…unless I get a better PC, at any rate. :wink:

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my first experience with Ki was pretty odd, in a way.

If i can remember correctly…

I was just browsing through the free games on the store, and found it. I had never played a fighting game before, but it looked cool, so why not try it? I jumped into the dojo, and found out that fighting games are hard. real hard. after a while i got bored with the dojo, and just played around for a little bit. Then, my roommate saw me playing and mentioned that he liked the old KI games, and wanted to play. That was all i needed to hear. Once “competition” came into play, my dedication sparked. I put my nose to the grind stone and put ALL my effort into learning the 32 dojo lessons, which i completed in 3 grueling days. I found that i still had trouble beating my friend, for some reason, so i decided to watch some tournament gameplay. THAT was when the magic hit me. Even though i couldnt understand half of what was going on, i clearly understood how the “mind games” came into play. Combo breaking was so hype. Counter breaking was so hype. baiting the opponent was SO HYPE. And when the game got into “Danger state”… OH BOY! Watching a player who had been so “tight” the entire match EXPLODE into a flurry of breaks, counterbreaks, and hard-reads was more than my little heart could handle. I loved watching Emperor Rebelo, UA Bass, Paul B, and the Shin Brothers.

I feel like i pick up the mind games so easily, but my problem is execution. I didnt grow up playing these games, so i am starting at square 1 in that regard. But when i play this game, win or lose, i FEEL a connection that i cant feel in anything else. In ALL of the things i enjoy in life i can feel roadblocks, but NOT in KI. I think i have a future with this game, and i’m going to give it my best shot.

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My first experience was a little less exciting.

On day one of the Xbox One’s launch I bought the console as well as the day one LIVE membership card just to get Shadow Jago, I hadn’t even played the new KI yet and knew very little about it as I didn’t follow the game’s development. I just knew KI was coming out and as a fan who’s been here since the games conception I had to have Shadow Jago. I took home my new console, my Xbox LIVE card and a copy of Dead Rising 3 and unwrapped it with my cousin because he went to midnight release with me since he couldn’t afford the new Xbox at the time. I hooked it up, redeemed my codes and started playing KI with my one controller versus the CPU, it was glorious.

After a few matches I realized that I couldn’t get any achievements and I really wanted that “Day one Killer” challenge because of the badass Shago achievement art so I called up to the only store open at the time and asked the guy at 7-11 if he had any Xbox currency cards, he told me no but we got up and went to check it out anyway. Turns out they did, the idiot didn’t know what he was talking about, I bought two $20 cards to get the ultra edition on top of the $700+ I had already spent on the console, card and game…

I played solo with Glacius mostly because he was always my favorite in the old games, the new version took some getting used to. I was never a fan of characters like Dhalsim but if I wanted to play my main I had to adapt, eventually I did and I got up the courage to play ranked, I got there with my main Glacius and was struggling to unlock color 5 or maybe it was 6… One of them took an unfair rank requirement to unlock before they changed how it worked. I did pretty good with the ice man though, I was kicking some serious butt. However eventually everyone else started to improve and I just kinda stayed where I was. I think it was right around the time Spinal came out that I was being outclassed and by the time Fulgore was a thing I had basically given up ranked. I tried it again in season two and again in season 3 but franky I suck so I stick with solo play for the most part and exhibitions with friends of a similarly low skill level.

Since the start I’ve been a fan, I’ve been playing the game and supporting it with money as much as I can afford having bought all 3 ultra editions, the shago bundle on three separate accounts not including my own just to fund his moveset (if you couldn’t tell by now, I’ve been a huge fan of Shago since before he was a thing) and I’ve tried to stay active here on the forums despite my skill level not really being on par with most of the folks here. I just love KI and I have for decades, so I’ll continue to support the game and the community to the best of my ability even if I’m not the best player.

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My first experience was about a month ago, so it’s still pretty fresh:

Complete destruction.

Seriously though, I’m having fun. I’m working my way through the dojo/practice modes while also spending some time on Ranked. I get destroyed 99% of the time, but I’m having fun, and I’m starting to learn. At this point I’m still adjusting to the pace of the game. I don’t have the automatic muscle memory down yet, so I still end up thinking too much and reacting too slow. I don’t always have a ton of time to play, but I plan on sticking with it for awhile. If I can even get to Silver, I’ll be pretty happy with myself.

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My first experience with KI on the Xbox One… I couldn’t pull a single damn combo. I sucked at it. I lost every match. I went on to try MKX.

20 years prior… my REAL first experience with KI was on the Game Boy, after seeing the game announced for the SNES (which I didn’t own at the time) and immediately falling in love with it. I pwned that sh*t. Then I moved on to the SNES version. I was untouchable. Arcade emulators? Godlike. Sucked at KI2 though.

How times have changed.

EDIT: Only now did I notice we weren’t supposed to mention the original games. But I think it provides a nice, sharp contrast.

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I remember my first experience. I had been keeping my eye on KI for months because I didn’t own an Xbox One but hoped I would get one eventually. Because I had watched some tutorials, I knew enough of the basics and could pull off combos if I had to.
One day I went to a place here in Ohio called Arcade Legacy with dozens of old machines and consoles. I got to play KI for the first time on their Xbox One they had. I found another guy to play with and we both had a blast. I later ended up getting an Xbox One and KI about a month before the launch of Season 2. I’ve been loving it ever since :smile:

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My first experience with the current KI was when Season 1 was still around and I played as Jago with another person who worked at a Microsoft in the mall. I lost but man was it fun!!

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The moment I got the X1 (which I pre order for the official launch in my country but finally got it 15 days after what they told me…) I bought the game to get it as fast as possible (I wanted it complete). I played KI the next day.

It was totally frustrating…I started the dojo mode with the lessons and then went back to my character to try the combos. At first the combo breaking system seemed extremelly easy, but you get really punished for missing. I found out I wasn’t good at all in this new KI, my pride was hurt and I left the game aside and started playing the old ones to feel I could still give a fight. Finally, after another day just playing the old KIs I took the new game back. What can I say, I’m stubborn sometimes…

I won’t even mention the first time I got to Shadow Jago and how hard it was. But finally I can easily beat him with my main in the hardest difficluty. And of course, I can give a fight after undesrtanding the game better. I came back to fighters and re learned a lot of things. Now I say “it’s negative on block” when years ago I just said ‘you just opened yourself for free’ ( the real pharse was “te vendiste”).

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My first time was extremely good. First character I used was Saberwulf. I didn’t know how to play it very well. I just mashed buttons and things started happening! Even accidentally landed an ultra! I really want to learn the system but I don’t own the game or an X1. I do plan on buying the Definitive to catch up before anything happens so count me in :slight_smile:

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I have same performance problems as OP, altough my most memorable experience was how awesome netcode is, because I came from this trainwreck of a game that is PC MKX.

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First time I played was at my first EVO. Long story short, I didn’t understand it at all and just died. Back then, I thought that was probably the only time I was gonna play it too since I never thought of getting an Xbox One at the time.

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It was around either February or March of 2014. Whenever Titanfall came out and KI was still in Season 1. Post Spinal, Pre Fulgore.
I’d just gotten an Xbone (specifically for Titanfall and Destiny) and my friend had one a while before me. He gets on one day and this conversation goes down:
“Dude, you gotta check out Killer Instinct.”
"…what?"
“It’s a fighting game.”
“You mean like… Mortal Kombat?” (At this point, I couldn’t give 2 sh*ts about fighting games. I only knew about MK for the gore. :P)
“Yeah, it’s free so check it out.”

Half an hour or so later, my brother and I sit down to check it out. We just grab our controllers and start mashing buttons. Sadira was the free character at the time, and this was back when KP was a thing so only Jago’s stage was unlocked.

“Okay, so we have the… Mortal Kombat Girl. Okay.”
“Oh, she doesn’t speak English. Must be an Asian fighting game.” (LOL)
“Alright let’s get star- HOLY ■■■■ THERE’S A DOUBLE JUMP?! Woah, this is… FAST!” (We say that not because of the smooth frame rate or the really good specials or the frantic mind games, but because we could go JABJABJABJABJAB really quick-like and go BOINGBOING.)

-one of us does Shadow Recluse by accident-
“WTF HOW’D YOU DO THAT?!”
“Okay, maybe we should check out the tutorial.”
“Combo Breakers? Lol, they know about memes.”

-the next week, my friend who referred me to the game and actually played fighting games hops on.-
“Hey let’s play!”
“Oh cool. Who you gonna play?”
“Sabrewulf. Because he’s broken. :D” (and probably also because he was a furry, but I don’t judge.)
“Okay, I’ll pick Sa- WTF is this? Why do I have Spinal instead? I don’t know how to button mash this. He’s so slow, oh my jeebus stop eating my bones BAD DOG STAHP”

Of course, I wanted to play Sabrewulf, because I like good things that let me win. AND because being able to play as a monster in a fighting game was something that actually interested me. I’d played Primal Rage in an arcade once, and I always picked Reptile when I went to the Ultimate MK3 machine at Pizza Hutt, so I supposed I shouldn’t be surprised.
Then I found out that the free game is more or less a really good demo, and decided “you know, if I’m gonna play this game I should get the full package.”

That’s how I found out about Classic KI’s legacy. At the time, I thought Killer Instinct was a brand new IP. Knowing that there was history behind it, I got interested. Then I learned Sabrewulf’s back story, and I got invested in it. Slowly the rest of the cast came into light as well (for the longest time after I picked up Wulf I ignored them because a) they’re all just regular dudes besides Spinal, who was hard, and b) quarter circles aren’t friendly to people who don’t play FGs) and I came to love KI.
I even hopped on the Fulgore hype train and tried to use him (badly) and got all sorts of excited when Season 2 got announced.

Over 2 years, 3 Seasons, about $200 give or take, and 26 level 50 characters later, here I am. :slight_smile:

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I want to assure everyone that I do NOT have performance problems. I perform just fine. Ask any of my previous girlfriends. :wink:


@iHeartSkulls I want to thank you, because your post, as short as it was, helped me remember my very 1st experience with KI. So, here it is:

Some time before the actual release of the XB1, I coerced my 2 brothers into driving with me up to Atlanta, Georgia (a good 4+ hours worth of driving, 1 way) for a single day to preview the XB1 and everything that made it so awesome. It was a 1-day mini-vacation and 1 heck of a bonding experience. We left before the sun came up and got back long after the sun went down. In addition to Killer Instinct, I also got to experience Battlefield 4, Dead Rising 3, Forza Motorsport 5, Ryse, and virtually every other launch title they had.

I distinctly remember walking up to the booth with all of the consoles and displays of KI and met 1 of the developers (I don’t recall who). They were calling for players who wanted to participate in a challenge. Anyone who could beat the developer at his own game would win a day 1 console BEFORE the console release. My brothers were kind enough to do what I do on here quite often and hyped me up before a crowd about my skill with prior fighting games -

“He had the 49th best Dhalsim in the U.S.!”

“He won with the underdogs of Mortal Kombat, Baraka and Sheeva, and still managed top 200!”

“He’s 1 of the top 5 best Lex Luthor players in injustice, another underrated character, and in the top 100 overall!”

“His 1st ever combo came from the original KI, where he could beat his opponents in less than 5 seconds!”

…as much as I appreciated them doing that for me, I was very quick to regret it.

At the last comment my brothers made, the developer was like, “oh really?”

I simply said in reply, “we’ll see what happens.”

“Indeed we shall.”

I was given 3 opportunities (which was 2 more than everyone else) - I failed every single time, and always in under 10 seconds. Sure I knew how to attack and block, and about crossups and frametraps, and all of the general FG stuff… but that combo system? All I started seeing were big giant Xs left and right as I had no idea what was going on.

Naturally, I didn’t win. Nobody did.

Of course, the dev cheated by not telling anyone about how to actually play the game…

I wanted that Xbox. Instead he kept it. Douchebag.

But, hey, at least now I can have a legit win in UNDER 1 second* with my Aganos, am I right? :wink:

*for those of you who have not seen it, go ahead and look up “Win in 1 Second” under my XBL profile captures and enjoy. :slight_smile:

I’ll also never forget the car ride home. 1 of my brothers was so fascinated about Forza that he talked to us about cars, and specifically, the physics behind how they move. Now, that was the true learning experience of the trip.

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omg I loved that story. I laughed at a lot of it.

This was my favorite part!

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My story is I knew what ki was but at the time i didnt know which should i buy a ps4 or xbox one. My father said xbox since he thought sony was going to go out of the video game market and plus I really wanted to play ki. So at the end 2014 before anyone besides tj and maya was released i think and i got the combo breaker edition which came with all season 1 characters and tj. So i occasionally played it and used tj and sadira because sadira was fun and cool and tj was easy but since nobody in my family played fighting games that much that and my xbox just sat their. At this point i was more into the paying attention to the fgc so i looked videos and found CDjr Maya and i was amazed, then at combo breaker because i was watching it for Street fighter 4 then their was then when they showed of Aria and then I said im getting season 2. So when I used my free 2 months of xbox live i trained my maya, while using sadira and jago to rack up wins. I know the story was boring the competitive scene is what got me into KI.

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Mine was rather uneventful. I had played both of the originals so I already knew basic combo theory, which was more than enough for me to hit the ground running on this KI. I got it also post Spinal pre Fulgore as that’s when I got an Xbox One. About the only real eventful thing I had happen, which IIRC happened 3-4 times, was I got my progress reset due to the glitch with the Kinect cotroller/profile swapping. One time it even transferred all my progress over to my son’s profile.

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First some backstory:

When I was young, I loved KI Gold on the N64. Even though I didn’t know s*** about the controls and the combo system in general, it was still a lot of fun to me and left a lot of fond memories. So you would not believe how hyped I was when I saw that reveal trailer at E3 2013. Killer Instinct was finally back baby! As the months passed by, my anticipation continued to grow with every reveal trailer and video update shown prior to release (especially helped that Microsoft went back on that always-online DRM crap they tried to pull for the initial Xbox One launch). Unfortunately, by the time the game released, I didn’t have the money to buy the system yet so I indulged myself in watching KI videos on Youtube for the time being. But on early January 2014, I finally managed to get an Xbox One! And so the KI journey begins…


When I first launched the game, the first person I wanted to main was Jago because he was always a favorite of mine in Gold (along with Kim Wu). So I was pretty glad the the dojo not only taught me the basics of the game, but the basics of Jago too. It was also the first fighting game to teach me about fighting game techniques in general like meaties, reversals, cross-ups, anti-airs, etc. Back then, I could NOT do a simple quarter-circle motion for the life of me and the struggle was real when trying to learn a DP motion. (This was because while I played other fighting games before, I never really played them with a competitive fighting game mindset. Just beat up the other guy was my philosophy.) But this was the first fighting game I wanted to actually learn so had to adapt. So after I completed the dojo (except the last one lol) and had some spare practice, I decided to finally take it online…

So here’s the thing…I’ve never played an online match in my life. All of my fighting game “experience” were offline matches with friends. So while the servers were finding me a match, my hands couldn’t stop trembling and sweating. I had no idea who I was going to get and had no confidence in my skills. When a match was finally found, I was lucky to find someone who was just as new as I was (according to his player card). It was that moment that I knew that there was this was it, no turning back now. Time to see whether those last few minutes of training was worth it. Let’s go Jago! (Jago: Indeed. We will achieve victory).

Long story short, I actually managed to win! It was such an awesome feeling. But I knew that was only the first step in my thousand mile KI journey. I had to keep training and improving to be the best that I can. Now here I am in 2016… and I’m still pretty average. But at least I’m a lot better than I was initially and there’s not nowhere to go but up. Also my KI experience has opened my mind to trying out even more fighting games and seeing them more in a different light. To the point where I’m now a fan of the genre itself.

Tl;dr: My first KI experience was inspiring to say the least. It not only allowed me to truly understand and love the series even more, it was also the fighting game that got me truly into the genre as a whole.

Whew this was a lengthy one. Thanks to anyone who even bother reading this. Long live KI!

My first introduction to this game was thanks to youtube lol

Not too long ago when the only fighting game I was following was MK, I was on youtube watching videos of past evos for MK9/Injustice since I had never seen them or even knew there was a “FGC” and on the right side of the screen I saw a video for “Killer Instinct top 8 evo” and I remembered I had seen a few people mention this game before in twitch chat when watching MKX streams and over at MKO and TYM so I decided to watch it…

And what I saw would change my life forever…I saw a fighting game with a werewolf!..Interest piqued. I started watching some videos of it, reading through the KI wikia and learning about the series, its characters, story etc. but never thought about getting it because it was XB1 exclusive and thought I would be a moron to buy a $300 console for one game.

A little while later I kept looking into this game, becoming more and more obsessed with it and its awesome characters, as not only had I never seen a fighter with such cool characters but they are all things I like. I am typically not too interested in human characters, so you can imagine how KI was exciting for me.

After pondering over whether to get it or not I eventually just decided to go for it. I bought an XB1, got a few XB1 cards and bought the game on this past xmas day. I didn’t play until the next day, in which I just jumped into dojo mode since I had heard about how great it was and that was all she wrote really. It practically became not only my favorite fighting game on current gen, but my favorite game in current gen all together lol

Well…My first KI comes from…the SNES version lol (yes, the one with the black swag cardrige).

One of my brothers comes with this game, and said: “hey, a bro gave me this. let’s play”.
First time i played this, i felt loss about combos and timing, smashing buttons like a kid (I was 10 years old).
But few years after, even with new gen consoles, this black cardrige was never get old, and we kept playing SNES KI, due to uniques combos gameplays and mostly because Ultimates/Ultras xD…
Until we go away on each other (IRL).

15 years later

A friend share a link to me via Steam and told me: "WATCH THIS!"
It was THE VIDEO…Beta KI on X1…And when i saw this video, i cried so hard…It was a BLAST…
Since that time, i followed every news about it, watched every Assist me (From maximilian dood) about it, and finally… the final announcement, coming to win10…

Before the game comes out on PC, one of my collegues, told me: "hey, check to my room, i had something to show you"
When i knock up, i heared that sound…“dudumm thinngg dudu-dum thinngggg”…yeah dat menu theme…
I immediatly said: “REALLLYYYY!!” XD.

few months later

Here i am, Casual Killer Rank, trying to master manuals and stuffs…