"killer instinct" was included on several lists of top fighting games of all time, including by screwattack in 2008 (ranked fifth best), "gamepro" that same year (ranked 18th best), and ugo in 2010 (ranked tenth best). in 2004, "gamestm" called it possibly "the best combo-heavy fighter ever". in 2009, virgin media ranked it as the eighth top fighting game of all time, stating that it was "most famous for having the longest combos in the business". in 2007, it was voted the sixth top 2d fighting game of all time by crave online users, and ranked the sixth best 2d fighting game of all time by "complex" in 2013.