Killer Instinct Gold (Actual N64 Capture) - Gargos Playthrough on Master Difficulty

[Note: This video and description were originally posted on January 13, 2016.]Show more

This is a capture of me playing through Killer Instinct Gold for the Nintendo 64 using the hidden boss character, Gargos. This is not an emulator. This footage was recorded directly from my Nintendo 64 using an actual Killer Instinct Gold cartridge. I'm playing on Master Difficulty.

Here's a brand new 60 fps playthrough with Gargos to replace my old footage. Also, while recording this playthrough, I made an interesting discovery. Although Killer Instinct Gold was one of the earliest Nintendo 64 titles, it runs all of its menu/selection screens at a high resolution of 640x480i. The game then switches to the standard 240p mode (at 60 fps) during the actual matches. So I had to deinterlace my footage two different ways for this video (once for 240p and once for 480i) and then splice together the two deinterlaced videos.

Even though the prior game's boss, Eyedol, was incredibly overpowered, this game's boss, Gargos, is extremely limited and not all that useful. He has only two openers, no super moves (which renders his super bar useless), no linker, no ultra combo or finishing move, and only one ender for his combo (the Claw Uppercut).

When you compare Gargos directly to Eyedol, who can open any combo with a single button press (for instance, Medium Punch), charge across the entire screen and shoot a cluster of three fireballs at a time, you can see just how underpowered Gargos is.

To access Gargos, you have to wait until the character roster appears during the main menu and then press Z, A, R, Z, A, B. You'll hear Gargos's laugh if you input the combination right.

Because Gargos is so limited, I feel this playthrough isn't all that exciting (especially since you can't do Killer or Ultra Combos), but I tried my best. The AI tends to be a pain in the ass as well when you're using Gargos, blocking most of your moves and making it hard to land openers. So that's why I use the Claw Uppercut so much. It's one of the safest ways to do damage. Also, I find that the double claw swipe (forward + Fierce Kick) makes for a good opener (just add a Claw Uppercut if it lands).

As I've said before, I played the first Killer Instinct when it hit the arcades in 1994 and I later picked up my own copy of the game for the SNES. When Killer Instinct 2/Gold hit a couple years later, I was a little disappointed with the changes to the mechanics and the character roster, but over time I began to really appreciate the game.

Recorded with the Hauppauge HD PVR and the official N64 S-video cable at 60 frames per second. I used a Toshiba model D-R550 DVD Recorder to standardize the N64's native 240p/480i signal so that the Hauppauge could capture the console's audio/video signal.

I'm using a standard N64 controller.