With the release of Street Fighter 4 it was obvious that there would be a resurgence of the classic fighters from yesteryear. King of Fighters is probably classed by many hardcore fans as the better fighting game, how does it compare by today’s standards? 

 

When KOF first came out it was only available at the arcades or on the mega expensive Neo Geo home console, each game costing well over £100. In these days of the credit crunch we now have a collection on the Wii at around £20, already a bargain and what you get is the first five KOF games, 94 through to 98, looking just like they did all those years ago but now on your Wii.

 

 

KOF is a gathering of characters from SNK's previous fighter games back history, pitting fighters from all over the world to see who will be king.

 

KOF 94 sets quite a high standard, fighters from around the world have been summoned to an underground tournament to see who is the best. It has 8 teams of 3 fighters, the idea is to fight through each team member, and once one is defeated a partner will jump in. Being over 15 years old the game surprised me with how good it looks, with some great animation and top backgrounds. Anyone who has played a fighter before will find the controls familiar, with punches, kicks and special moves all relatively easy to use. 

 

KOF 95 has 8 teams of 3, but this time you are no longer restricted to country and can select any three players including a few new characters. Rugai has somehow survived the end of the last tournament and has returned to have his revenge on all who defeated him. Each character has their own fighting style like drunken style Chin or kickboxer Joe. As with 94 they also have a POW bar at the bottom of the screen that you need to charge up with a button combo. Once full, your attacks will be slightly stronger and you can pull of an impressive Super Special Move.

 

KOF 96 has a larger roster of 9 teams and again you can mix up the countries. 96 also starts to refer more to the whole Orochi storyline. This is the first game that seems to have had a graphical overhaul and the game feels more complete with the controls feeling a lot more comfortable and more in line with the fighters we are used to today.

 

KOF 97 has 29 characters to make your team of three from, now with a new addition of selecting from Advanced or Extra modes. These modes refer to how your POW charges, Extra is the classic way of leaving yourself open to attack whilst charging and Advanced increases with each punch. The POW bar now has three bars to fill, allowing for a MAX move when fully charged.

 

KOF 98 is the pinnacle of this series hosting 36 characters to use. Though the Orochi saga has finished there is still a tournament running, but it is more of a best of the best with fighters coming from all of the older games.

 

 

This Wii collection boasts a few extras on top of the main games, each one is two player and you can change between 8 difficulty settings, change and view the controls and special moves and also change the control input. There are four ways to play, the Wii-mote is a bit fiddly and sacrifices a few buttons, add the nunchuck and it's even more confusing. Thankfully you can use the classic and gamecube controllers, and with these plugged in the game is perfect. For the quick fix players amongst us there is also a challenge mode, this has plenty of mini tasks to complete, each one gradually getting harder.

 

The Wii can handle the action really well, with each game bursting full of colour and action. The game does look dated, especially on the oldest of the games, it would have been nice to have a little graphical overhaul just to utilize the Wii's power, but if you playing this for nostalgia kicks it will not matter.

 

At this price point KOF Orochi is a must buy for fighting fans or those looking for something a bit different from Street Fighter.