Xbox 360
Just from looking at the systems that it's destined for indicates that The Orochi Saga is not meant to compete with the likes of Street Fighter 4 or Soul Calibur 4, but can it offer Wii owners a decent beat-'em-up outside of Super Smash Bros. Brawl?
There's a multitude of characters to choose from who are divided into teams by country of origin. Later versions allow you to mix and match fighters but it's difficult to choose a well balanced team when the character select screen only gives you around 20 seconds to pick from dozens of players. Some characters such as the Oedipally inspired Mature (that's actually her name, mature) are far too strong and make confrontations a one sided affair.
The biggest drawback for any newcomer to a series as long established as the King of Fighters, is knowing how to pull off special moves. The Orochi Saga goes some way to fixing this as each country's representatives have a number of similar moves to ease you into each new encounter, additionally using the menu, players can access a full move set for each combatant. On the PS2 however this is hampered by fiddly controls and it's advisable to avoid the thumbstick altogether and use a controller with an 8-way D-Pad.
The jewel in the crown is surely King of Fighters '98 which features some well realised models and is by far the most robust of the games included. Unlockable extras including artwork and music are nice for fans but these bonus features just highlight other obvious deficiencies. Most notably the absence of any versus mode, meaning every time you defeat your friend you're forced to press start on the losing player's pad. This wouldn't be so much of an annoyance if this didn't preclude the winner from choosing a different set of warriors.
Technical glitches also mar the port with some slowdown and long load times, also irritatingly, KOF seems to possess rudimentary Artifical Intelligence as it decides to unpause your game when you go to grab a snack.
Fans consider King of Fighters '98 to be the best in the series so its inclusion would appear to be a bonus; with a stand alone release of that title soon to be available and rumoured to be a better port it seems somewhat misguided to release this now. If you're dying to vent your anger with a solid brawler or you're a die-hard fan then the Orochi Saga can offer some enjoyment but the limited availability and consequently inflated price makes this a difficult recommendation.