Kombo's Review Policy: Our reviews are written for you. Our goal is to write honest, to-the-point reviews that don't waste your time. This is why we've split our reviews into four sections: What the Game's About, What's Hot, What's Not and Final Word, so that you can easily find the information you want from our reviews.

What the Game's About
The King of Fighters Collection: The Orochi Saga is a collection of past KOF games. With five titles in the package, you get the 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, and 1998 editions of the often forgotten KOF series. The KOF concept is like a "dream fight" collection of all the past SNK fighting games on the NeoGeo and Arcade cabinets. It's like SNK rounded them all up for a tournament to end all tournaments. With the arrival of Collection, you have access to tons of fighters and tons of unlockable content.

What's Hot
Fighting games went under the radar when during the PlayStation 1 and Nintendo 64 days, developers were hellbent on making everything 3D. What developers and gamers learned from that period was that some genres needed to be either re-imagined or stick with the classic formula. While this isn't a new KOF game, it is a collection of the best. The fighters are drawn with unique characteristics and the animations are smooth. It doesn't get much better in 2D fighting than what Collection. Older gamers will see many old faces who will bring up memories of trying to memorize special move charts and younger gamers have the opportunity to see into a window of the 1990's that they might not be familiar with.

One cool thing Collection has is a challenge mode. You have to meet certain conditions to unlock bonus material. While it would be nice to have full access right away, it adds a new spin on games that have been around for a decade or more. Some challenges are easy while others are hard so it gives players of all skill levels a chance to dive in and expand their 2D prowess. This ingenious feature makes Collection much more than a rehash of dusty games.



What's Not
Collection suffers from some technical problems. Alas, the controls on the PSP aren't well suited for a fighting game with special attacks. While it can't be blamed on the developers -- they did the best they could with the available hardware -- it should be pointed out that the fighting genre on the PSP still needs some tweaking before it is just right. What could have been helped is the load times. You'll frequently watch loading screens and depending on your skill level, the loading screen might be longer than the time you are in combat.

The PSP is a widescreen device and the KOF games were created for SDTV sets. The problem is obvious; the game doesn't take up the full screen when you play. It makes the characters appear smaller than they should and some of the detail is lost in the process. Redesigning the game entirely for the PSP wouldn't preserve the integrity for purists, but it would have been nice to see the game take advantage of the PSP's beautiful screen.


Final Word
Collection provides an exceptional value for your money. You get five full games, multiplayer and a brand new challenge mode that opens up a new perspective and unlockable features with all kinds of factoids and files to browse through. Collection is a fine fighter to add to your collection.