Killer Instinct

Also known as:  N/A

Developer: Rare, Ltd.

Taking a break from their revival of the Donkey Kong franchise, Rare used the graphical technology from those games and applied it to a fighting game that I feel is a little underrated. Killer Instinct is a smooth-playing fighter that stole some ideas from other games (the most blatant being Mortal Kombat) but also innovated the genre a bit as well. The combo system that eventually became commonplace in fighting games first appeared in Killer Instinct. Hearing the game belt out the name of the combos is always fun, especially if/when you’re able to pull off an ultra combo and hear, “ULTRA!! Ultra!! ultra!!” That's not the reason it's such a good game, though. The fighting itself is fun and addicting, and the combo system allows for unique-for-the-time combat that involved air juggles that were a blast to execute. They weren’t necessarily a blast to be the recipient of, which may be why some folks shun this game, but hey, if you get skilled enough to perform a juggle in retaliation, then it’s all good in my opinion. Killer Instinct is not the best fighting game ever made, but for its time, it was one of the best around and I’m still pretty fond of it to this day.

Review added: 08/02/2019

The King of Rally: Paris - Moscow - Peking

Also known as:  N/A

Developer: KAZe

The King of Rally is an interesting game…it’s not necessarily bad, but it’s also not great. In this racing game, there really isn’t a lot of action in terms of other racers. You’ll come across some other vehicles every now and then, but for the most part you’ll probably be the only one on the screen. Also, somewhat odd is the lack of an automatic transmission option. It actually works for this game, though. Since there isn’t much to do aside from turn when the game tells you to turn, changing gears when needed does provide you with a little bit of gameplay…unfortunately, not enough to keep this from feeling kinda dull by the time you wrap up your first race. I like the unique perspective when driving the car and the overall idea behind it, but I have a feeling that only hardcore fans of the racing genre will find enough here to keep coming back for more. If you had more vehicles on the screen with you more frequently, this game would feel a bit more interesting...but as it is, the driving mostly feels dull. The King of Rally isn’t a terrible game, but it’s not passable…and I think we have a pretender to the throne.

Review added: 02/28/2021

Kirby's Avalanche

Also known as:  Kirby's Ghost Trap (Europe)

Developer: Compile

Since I was a young'un, I've always been obsessed with Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine on the Sega Genesis. I consider it to be my favorite puzzle game that I've ever played. Which is weird. I've owned a Super NES longer than I've owned a Genesis. But somehow, I never had the same fondness of Kirby's Avalanche as I did with Mean Bean Machine. Essentially, it's the same game, but with only minor differences. Kirby's Avalanche looks and sounds a little nicer, with a better overall presentation…but aside from that, there's not a whole lot of improvement over the basic game that Mean Bean Machine was, and Sega's version of Puyo Puyo came out more than a year earlier. Because of that, I felt like I needed to dock the score a tad compared to Mean Bean Machine, but Kirby’s Avalanche is still a very solid puzzle game. If you enjoy some of the recent Puyo Puyo releases that have made their way to North America, but would like to see that happy, pink cream puff (and his enemies and allies) in the game to battle against, then Kirby's Avalanche will be right up your alley. If you're looking for something new and different from Mean Bean Machine, aside from the cosmetic changes, then you may be a little disappointed.

Review added: 03/09/2025

Kirby's Dream Land 3

Also known as:  Hoshi no Kirby 3 (Japan)

Developer: HAL Labs

Kirby's Dream Land 3 is a game that manages to be both charming and boring at times. That's not to say that the game as a whole is bad, mind you, but some of the levels just feel like they're bland. And when levels feel bland, then even having more powers to absorb than ever before and impressive graphics still doesn't really help. Not all levels feel that way, though. When you're in certain levels, it can be genuinely fun to search every nook and cranny to see what the level has hiding within. In other levels, I just tried to make my way to the exit as fast as possible, not caring if I collected the star in that level or not. Like I just mentioned, each stage has a star to find which is obtained by doing certain tasks for the main person in the level. They range from playing a "find the ball under the hat" game, where you need to figure out where an object is located after stuff gets shuffled around, to destruction, like in the Samus level, where the goal is to destroy all Metroids that are loose. The problem is, I never found myself enthralled enough with this game to want to get the stars unless I happened to accomplish that goal on accident. Anyway, I know I'm complaining a lot on this review, but I am a Kirby fan. I appreciate what they tried to do here, and it's not an awful game at all (it's probably perfect for small children), but I guess I expected more from Kirby's first real 16-bit adventure into Dream Land. It's fine for what it is, but nothing that will blow you away.

Review added: 01/28/2024

Kyle Petty's No Fear Racing

Also known as:  Circuit USA (Japan)

Developer: Leland Interactive Media

The only thing that this game fears is the ability to surpass being just a passable game, am I right? But seriously, the game is okay. It's nothing special. It has puzzling aspects like the ability to change your number on your vehicle (you only have a handful of numbers to choose from, unfortunately). What makes that puzzling is that the number on everyone's car, regardless of the number you chose, is 00. There’s also an announcer in this game. The announcer will use the number you selected when they speak about you, but it's still an odd design choice where the announcer says that number 11 has taken the lead…but all you see is 00. I can't imagine that simply having different numbers on each car would be too terribly difficult or take up too much space on the cartridge. But anyway, Kyle Petty's No Fear Racing is a passable racing game, but not much more than that. For NASCAR fans at the time, though, beggars couldn’t be choosers and it was one of the better options on the 16-bit consoles.

Review added: 08/25/2019