A long, long time ago, in an arcade far away, there were hordes of fighting games. Street Fighter II ruled the roost, and it would be six years and an ungodly amount of sub-series offshoots, spin-offs, hyper and turbo editions before gamers would get a full fledged sequel. During that time, there were countless cookie cutter clones hoping capitalize on Capcom's success with Street Fighter: World Heroes, Fatal Fury, etc. But Street Fighter would eventually be dethroned by Mortal Kombat's realistic (at the time), digitized fighters, and its fantastic fatality selection, which would then inspire its own slew of imitators: Bloodstorm (ask Johnny Cage actor Daniel Pesina how well that one worked out), WarGods, and others so awful they never made it to arcades.
It's hard to lump Killer Instinct into such a pool, but Rare took a clear cue from Mortal Kombat's fatalities by giving Killer Instinct characters their own brand of finishers, dubbed "No Mercy" moves, executed as a stand alone move at the match's finale, or to close out an Ultimate Combo.
Sure, some were violent, but they weren't as gory or graphic as those of Mortal Kombat. Some were cartoony, worthy of a chuckle, and even a bit titillating...literally.
The No Mercy moves would go on in the sequel, when Double Helix delivered its reboot for the Xbox One 17 years later, the moves had vanished. Or had they?
The free-to-play fighter was recently gifted with a new update, adding in the familiar Fulgore, a bunch of fixes, arcade move, and an evil variant of the game's warrior monk dubbed Shadow Jago, who features as a hidden boss of the new mode.
While he's little more than a clone of the original Jago save for a few cosmetic changes, there's one thing that set him apart -- Shadow Jago is the only character in the game (so far) to have an Ultimate Finisher, slashing his opponent with his sword, before launching them into the air with an uppercut, and hitting them with one final lightning fast hit. You can see it in action below.
Is this a teaser of things to come, or just a farewell bid from developer Double Helix? Amazon the snagged the developer in early February, and Microsoft put Iron Galaxy in charge. While there's been a few teasers of what's to come; like Microsoft Creative Director Adam Isgreen hinting that Season 2 could see the addition of a few newcomers (Killer Instinct is still three characters short of the original game's roster, with Riptor, Cinder, and T.J. Combo still unseen), and talk of a "really nasty" boss character, there's been no mention as of yet on finishing moves.
Despite the silence, I'd take Shadow Jago's ability as a good sign of things to come. We'll keep you posted if we hear anything.
