The King Of Fighters Collection: The Orochi Saga

Although never leading the pack, The King Of Fighters series has always found a place with cult fans. Bringing together characters from other SNK fighters like Fatal Fury and Art Of Fighting, along with a host of original members, it was able to live among the Street Fighters and Tekkens. For some, it was the only beat-‘em-up experience needed. As such, there’s little surprise to find a compilation of some of its greatest hits on the PSP. Unfortunately, The Orochi Saga does not do the franchise justice.

Featuring five games from 1994 to 1998 it’s clear from the moment you switch your PlayStation Portable on that love and care was not high on the priority list. Riddled with bugs and minor frustrations, it’s extremely hard to ever settle down and enjoy the game. Most noticeable are the hideous loading times. We thought the days of cursing the PSP’s delays were a thing of the past with high-end titles such as God Of War: Chains Of Olympus proving that when done right, there’s no need to succumb to this problem. Instead, each version takes an absolute age to get going and you’ll even have to suffer from fight-to-fight. Any sense of fluidity is ruined and if it’s been a particularly trying day you may find yourself putting the console down and venturing elsewhere. After all, you’ll be twiddling your thumbs more than actually trading fists; in truth it’s a little insulting.
Just to ensure The King Of Fighters Collection is constantly challenging, there’s difficulties during bouts as well, a flaw no beat-‘em-up can easily recover from. On the odd occasion the game will freeze slightly throwing any sense of smoothness or strategy out the window. Imagine the hassles that can come from playing a fighter online and you’ll get an idea of the troubles you may face. The fact that this is an offline occurrence is unforgiveable.

Just to add a tad more salt to the wound, time has not been kind to the now veteran series. The genre has made considerable strides forward recently so trying to go back to the 1994 version is no easy task. Hardcore fans won’t mind and there’s some fine moments to be had but it’s incredibly inaccessible to those not familiar with the template. Thankfully, the upcoming twelfth iteration will surely right many of these wrongs and open up the game to a new generation. We wouldn’t advise using this to pass the time…

With the above said the collection is still solid and anyone who has been a supporter since the beginning will easily be able to ignore the many niggles that plague this release. However, if you’re looking for a beat-‘em-up on the PSP, entries such as Street Fighter Alpha 3 Max and Tekken: Dark Resurrection already do things far better. If the numerous bugs weren’t present this may even be able to compete but the inconsistencies keep returning to impair proceedings. Throw in some particularly wearisome menus and functionality and you’ll need to have a lot of adoration to not feel a little letdown.