Microsoft is teasing the return of Killer Instinct in some form.
On the Play XBLA website, the company mentions that Microsoft has “either renewed or refilled a trademark application [for Killer Instinct] in various jurisdictions.”
It’s a teaser for a game, but what kind of game? Breaking the news on an Xbox Live Arcade-centric website suggests it’s a port or revamp of an existing Killer Instinct game, but we don’t know. And unless Microsoft has access to the original character models and backgrounds or decided to re-do everything, it’s really hard to imagine how the Killer Instinct games aren’t going to look odd today.
If Jet Set Radio’s recent re-release has taught us anything, maybe some of our old “favorites” are better left in the past. Will Killer Instinct join that pile?
(In the interest of full disclosure, I totally owned a copy of the Killer Cuts CD. And liked it.)