Thrill Kill (Game)

## Overview

*Thrill Kill*was a violent, 3D, arena-based fighting game, scheduled for release on the Sony PlayStation in October 1998. The game is notable for its relatively high level of controversial content, and certainly not for its playability. *Thrill Kill*was cancelled in 1998, but would have been the first game ever to receive an AO rating, and thus a ban from stores, from the ESRB. *Thrill Kill*plays loosely similar to Power Stone 2. Four fighters enter a 3D arena, and are fighting for their chance to escape from Hell.

## Story

The story revolves around eight characters, which are incarnations of mental illnesses and vices on Earth. It takes place in Hell, the characters all being sinners who have died and descended into The Abyss. Marukka, the Goddess of Secrets, in her own boredom, has pitted the damned characters against each other for entertainment. The characters are fighting to stay alive, and for the chance to be reborn onto Earth.

## Gameplay

*Thrill Kill*is a 3D fighter that was slated to become the first PlayStation fighting game that supported four players at once. After choosing characters, the players are put in a small room and immediately fight each other to the death. *Thrill Kill*is different from most fighting games in that the victor is determined by who deals the most damage, rather than who lives the longest. Each player has a "kill meter" at the top of the screen, which fills up as that player inflicts damage upon the other fighters. When a player's kill meter is full, they can instantly kill an opponent in a particularly violent fashion. If that opponent is the last opponent standing, the kill performed is a thrill kill, which is especially gory and similar to Fatalities in *Mortal Kombat*. Kills can be performed on any opponent, regardless of their kill meter, adding a huge element of strategy to the game. Once a player is killed, all kill meters are reset to zero. The kill meter prevents players from taking a defensive-based stance in the game. Players are able to hold down opponents using "gang-up" moves, while another player beats down the helpless player. These two elements made the game ludicrously unbalanced, but the purpose of the game was to create the most controversial fighter possible, not to create a balanced fighter or good video game.

### Types of Kills

There are four different kinds of kills a player can perform when their kill meter is full. Which one is performed depends on the button pressed while the player's kill meter is full. The player can hit an opponent so they stick to the wall, they can hit an opponent causing them to gorily explode, they can decapitate an opponent, or they can hit an opponent up to the ceiling and have their blood rain down upon them. The computer usually decapitates other players when its kill meter is full.

A thrill kill is performed when there are only two fighters left in the arena. It is similar to a fatality and kills the opponent in an over-the-top, excessively gory fashion. Thrill kills were one of the most controversial elements of the game.

Examples of thrill kills:

* Mammoth tears an opponent's limbs off and beats them to death with them.
* Belladonna shoves a cattle prod down an opponent's throat, electrocuting them, inexplicably causing them to explode.
* Cleetus decapitates an opponent, drinking the blood from their severed head, then eats their arm.
* Tormentor flips over an opponent while simultaneously decapitating them with a chain.
* The Imp magically shrinks an opponent then crushes them underfoot.