This is actually my first review of a game and I chose The King of Fighters Collection: The Orochi Saga, cause it's the one game I obtaied and there wasn't a written review for it here (and most of the games already got reviewed and I haven't aquired them yet) and I have it for more than a month. I thought I could've posted a written review on the page of the said game, but it turns out after this site was reborn (that how I see it), I can't do that anymore. So I'll just post it right here. If I did wrong, please don't bite my fingers off. If I didn't, tell me what you think of it. Now without further adue, here it is:
Just your average gamer giving his 2000 cents.
A good compilation of great games
The Wii library hasn't got a stellar line-up of fighting games (minus form the Shop Channel), but one can't say they are not great, one of those games is The King of Fighters Collection: The Orochi Saga and it does not dissapoint... Well, not intirely.
As you are well aware that the japanese copy compiled only the 3 games that strictly marks the Orochi saga from KOF'95 to '97, but here on the other side of the globe SNK Playmore generously gave us 2 more games on the compilation, the introduction KOF'94 and the well known Dream match KOF'98 with almost every character from the previous games, so that's a plus. Ones you boot up the game, you'll be heading straight to the main menu right after the intro (wich was fairly well done if I may say so). The menu is comprised selections of the 5 games, Challenges, Option and Media. In Challenges you get to fight matches with specific conditions, beat them and you get to unlock rewards that comes up in the Media section. In Options you get to thinker with the difficulty, controller and audio settings. In Media you can reap the rewards that you accomplished in the Challenges, it's moslty illustration and music tunes. After selecting one of the games, you get to choose to play the the game itself (arcade mode) or the training mode. Pretty straightfoward. You can also bring up the command move list anytime in the game. Well, only when you're actually in the middle of a match.
The games
King of Fighters '94 marks the first game in the series to feature an ala all-star cast of characters from other SNK titles such as Fatal Fury, Art of Fighting, Ikari Warriors and the well known in Japan but not so much in the state side Psycho Soldier, as well introducing new characters such as Kyo Kusanagi, Benimaru Nikaido and Daimon Goro. And a first in the fighting genre department to have teams of 3-on-3 matches as oppose to the normal 1-on-1 matches at the time. You basicly beat the crap out of the 3 characters of the opposing team, first team of all 3 that gets knocked out, loses the match and the winner moves on! You can punch, kick, throw and pull off special moves like Terry's Power Wave or Ryo's Kou-Ken. What's even better is when ever you are low on health, you can pull off a last-ditch-attempt "Desperation Move" (DM) or fill up your Power meter to have the option use it sooner. Visually this game looks awesome, back in the 90's, with a psuedo 3D graphics that makes it suprisingly appealing to me atleast. What I found very cool is that when one of the member does the fighting, you can see the other 2 looking on at the sideline reacting who gets hit as the match progress, that was really neat. The music in this one are very diverse. Although heavely muffled, but actually quite catchy. Don't be surprised by finding yourself humming to the tune.
King of Fighters '95 started the yearly instalments of the franchise and improved on some the things that plagued the predecesor. This time you can choose any of the 3 characters from other teams to your party. What's more apperent is that the animation has improved alot, some of the characters sprite have been altered as well. The gameplay and command moves are still the same as in '94, but now have more variety to make more combinations of chained attacks. What can I say about the music in this one, they're new and again as diverse as the last, the muffled has also signifantly dimmed and the sound effects has more of an impact than the last game. All the teams are back except one (sayonara, American Sports Team) to make a new team (hello Iori's Yagami Team). All in all, this feels like a more complete game than the last and the first in line of the Orochi Saga. on a side note, this one has the most brutal A.I.
King of Fighters '96 is where the real overhaul took place. It may be the same, but you can definitly feel the gameplay mechanic has a faster pace than the other two before. Just about all of the command moves got alterd to fit the fast paced nature of it, you can finally run instead of hopping foward and now roll on the ground to dogde attacks instead of having to sidestep. What's new is that there's a powered up version of the DM called "Super Desperation Move" (SDM) for all characters. Visually, it looks a whole lot better, the animation are whole lot smoother and the backgrounds are a little crispier. I won't even mention about the sounds and music in this game, but I'll say one thing; no more muffled musics! What's more interesting are the intro's right before the matches, some of the characters actually interact with each other before stuffing their fist in each others faces. Like the famous Terry (showing his fist) vs. Geese (mocking him) or the iconic Kyo vs. Iori. Speaking of that, familiar and new faces/teams has appeared. You can actually feel the sense that there's a tournament going on!
King of Fighters '97 is the concluding and final chapter of the Orochi saga. The first thing you'll notice about this game is that you actually get to choose 2 modes of the combat playstyle that it has to offer, one is the Extra and the other is Advance. Extra Mode is the same combat mechanic from '94 and '95 and Advance Mode is the same one introduced in '96, but with an added feature; you can fill up your Power meter more than ones. Each time you fill up the meter, it converts into a stock, you use that to pull off a DM at anytime and it consumes 1 stock. Additionally, 2 stocks are needed to use a SDM. Up to 5 stocks can be obtained. What's better in this mode is that even if your fighter lost, the one after can use the available stock the last one gathered, so you can catch unsuspected players off-guard with it. Some the command moves were altered that it got so tactical/technical that some of the few characters are a little difficult to use, such as Athena Asamiya's Crystal balls and Chin Gentsai's specials. Visually, '97 looks a little more polished than '96, the animations also got a little step-up. The sound effects are largely untouched, but this time the music is themed to a specific character, rather then the team as a whole. You can listen to the stage's ambience for the ones who do not have their own theme and they sound great, especially the arena in Bali and on the streets of Monaco.
Yes, I know you've been waiting for this. Ladies and gentlemen, let the Dream Match begin!
King of Fighters '98: The Slugfest is (almost) everything good about the previous titles in the series and jammed it in one great-sause package: the gameplay, the modes, the musics, the SFX, the characters, the stages, the visuals. That's all I can say... I will see alot of gamers going straight for this one...
The Cons
There are some gripes I have with this collection though, mainly that it's giving me the vibe of an unfinish collections, it's not the games themselves. It's the extras, mainly the Media. Some of the artworks and tracks are missing. In Challenges, the game only uses the KOF'98, so you can't play as a fighter you wanted to, like Kasumi Todoh, Geese Howard, Wolfgang Krauser, Ms. Big, etc. There was also a mention that the PS2 version of this game has an option to switch from the original to the arrange tracks and vice versa. But those are just the minor complaint from a fan like myself. The thing that's really missing in this collection are character bios, like wich game/franchise they come from and such stuff, I feel SNK really missed an oppertunity here...
The Pros
The games themselves are a direct port from their arcade counterpart, so for the ones that saw, played and breathe these games back in the days will be happy to enjoy them in their full glory. In other words, the games emulates very well. For the ones that missed them, this is practicly a steal for how much it cost now (around $20-$30) with 5 games in 1, what's not to like? Atleast it's better to download the games 1 by 1 from the Shop Channel. And for anyone who still don't know or just being hard head, this game can be played with all controllers that's compatible for the Wii, you can even configure the button mapping.
P.S.
Fare warning, since these games are a straight arcade port, be ready to have you arse handed. Even if it's on the easiest setting as level 1. But not to worry, even a grown man can cry.
It's your choice!
Get it, don't get? It's your choice. You can wait and see if SNK Plamore will re-release a better copy or take what you can get. Me? What do you think? Now I'm waiting patiently for the Nest Saga.
And proud member of the Mega Mario Movement!
