ULTRAAA COMMBOOOO should be added to the Webster dictionary!=)
Well there is a some what of a story but its really not important but all you need to know is that a evil corperation called Ultratech is holding a tournament so they can test thier super mutant fighters with super killing like ablitys and thats about it...really thats it... i mean every charecter has a backstory but nothing thats intresting to keep your attention...just like Mortal Kombat. You know what, this whole plot is soo simalr M.K's in a lot of ways and obviously its a complete rip-off but the gameplay on the other hand is nothing like M.K's and its where its a stand alone game and it was nothing like any other fighting game at the time and has one of the biggest fan base's to-date.
Gameplay:
The gameplay is where the game earned its own idenity instead of a Mortal Kombat knock off. First off the first 5 mins of the gameplay you will already will experince the very intresting character selection like a skeleton named Spinal, a ex boxing champion conveniently named Combo, and more i cant name right now but that gives you an idea that the name of charecters already gives you an impression that this game is going to be origianl and some what intresting. Now fianlly the actual game play. 1st off the controls are very responsive, just like its arcade counter-part, the buttons are set up like the arcade layout and doing moves are suprisgly hard to pull off due to the lack of sprites and how much per frame the SNES can take unlike the arcade that can take a buch of frames per second, but the controls are not too hard to resort to totaly random button mashing instead you can insert a somewhat strategic set of moves and combos to win. While the actual fighting happens you will notice its a little slower compared to most fighting games at the time. But with its very easy list of combos (that even a 5 year old can do) makes up for its complete slowness=) Also you have 2 life bars during each fight so the gameplay is longer and more replayable than other fighting games that only have 1 life bar. The game desginers did thier best to make the moves as original as possiple and they did a damn good job too! Like each move dosent feel the same at all and thier are no clones like most fightintg games have often. The only thing that K.I has in common with M.K is the fatalitys, or as they call it in K.I, No mercy. Fatalitys are performed in a specific combonation that ends in sweep, far ,or close but in K.I thiers is fairly simple like just move >,>,>,B,X then its done so thier pretty simple pending on the charecter. Another thing K.I is most famous for is this special move that evry chracter has...ULTRA COMBO! Ultra combo is a 30 to 40 hit combo that doesnt get blocked and its un-blockable and un-avoidable so its a must to learn if you either wanna win or if you dont then your completly missing out! One more to point out is when the charcter is knocked out you will have the ""FINISH HIM"" type of situation where the losing opponent is stuned but still has a chance to get back in the game. And thats by mashing random button repatly and if lucky that charcter will come back to life but its very rare.
VIsuals:
Now the visuals...the arcade visuals were spectaclular and had 3-D elements that werent used that often for its time and was considerd one of the best looking games in 1995! But the SNES version was...well ok i guess still good enough but all the polished graphics and pixels was taken off becuse the SNES cant take all that "porscessing" and take the 3-D revolving stages were taken out also so instead its 2-D but still good to look at tho since its still has the digtialtized graphics and elemtes like M.K.=) When you beat the game you will get diffrent endings becuse each dffculty gives a dffrent ending. For example if you beat this game from very easy you will end up with a buch of tex saying play a harder diffecutly for a beter ending or some shet like that. and if yoi beat the game on meadum to very hard then you will get a picture still slide show (slash) cutscene on whats happening to you favorite fighter...nothing intresting....
The game overall is MAGNEFICENT!! and still is!!!! all the K.I fans still begging for a K.I 3 which i agree also... so..... RARE....whats the hold up????