"videogames" reviewer tyrone rodriguez gave the game a score of 8 (great), stating his preference of it over "mortal kombat 3" (the other editors' additional scores being 8–6–6). "entertainment weekly" gave the snes version of the game an a and praised the quality of the port. "gamepro" criticized that the snes version suffers from a lower frame rate than the arcade version and is also missing some of its best sounds and graphical effects, and complained that the combo system makes it too easy for experienced players to defeat newcomers with a single chain of hits. however, they concluded that "this version of "killer" isn't flawless, but it is surprisingly addictive and fun to play." the four reviewers of "electronic gaming monthly" were divided, with andrew baran commenting that "while it's a nice attempt on the super nes, it wasn't the same" as the arcade version, whereas the other three declared it "a superb translation" which has lower quality graphics and sound than the arcade version but retains its content, playability, and overall feel. they scored it a 7.75 out of 10. "computer and video games" gave the game a review score of 93%, adding: "rare weren't lying when they said the home version would play better than the coin-op: no-one realised they were talking about the snes!" "next generation" reviewed the super nes version of the game, and stated that "nintendo and rare have managed one very impressive trick: getting the 16-bit super nes to display 512 colors at once, twice the usual number, which gives the graphics an extra gloss."