Gamescom 2015: ‘Killer Instinct’ Season 3 Gets a Rash

Rash from Battletoads, that is.

For a while now, Microsoft has been teasing us with knowing winks and nods when it comes to questions about the beloved beat-em-up franchise. Today, during their press conference at Gamescom 2015, Microsoft dropped two big announcements on Killer Instinct fans. The first was that Season 3 will hit in March 2016. The second is that Rash from Battletoads will be their first guest character.

The best part, for all you KI players, is that Rash will be available later today for beta testing ahead of his official release. You can find all the information for that at the official Killer Instinct community website, here.

They have Rash’s whole move list broken down and ready for players to drool over. All the signature Battletoads style moves are there, with shape shifting extremities and tongue lashing completely intact. Only thing missing is a demo recording. Which you can watch right here!

Killer Instinct‘s revival was well received when it launched exclusively on the Xbox One back in November 2013. Despite all of the controversy surrounding the Xbox One at the time, KI became a hit and has been featured in fighting tournaments across the globe. Originally there were only a handful of characters available. After the last two seasons of DLC, however, the roster sits snugly at 16 with plenty more fighters to come.

Battletoads has always been a popular series. Debuting in 1991 arcades, the title was a hit and spawned a few more ports and sequels (including a Double Dragons crossover) as well as an incredibly short lived animated series. In the years since, gamers have been clamoring for a new installment. Denizens of the internet had even gone so far as to begin a national trend of prank phone calls to retailers asking for the game in various ways (War Frogs, Fighting Amphibians, etc). Now, with their surprise appearance in Shovel Knight, inclusion in Rare Replay and now guest appearance in KI, it seems we are ever closer to getting that new game.

Rash will be available for beta testing later today, and Season 3 of Killer Instinct will be available March 2016. For all the “Toadally Awesome” news you can handle, keep it here at The Nerd Stash!