VGR: The Great Debate – The King of Fighters Collection: The Orochi Saga vs. Samurai Shodown Anthology vs. World Heroes Anthology

Yup, this is happening.  For the first time since I compared the new ECW to Wrestling Society X, TNA Wrestling and ROH (on my other blog of years ago), I’m comparing more than two entities to each other.  This time, they are three SNK games that, like the previous debate, are collection games based on three fighting game franchises.  But, the big question is this:  which of them stands out as the best?  Let’s find out as we compare and contrast these collections of classics.  On an interesting side note, this is the first time I’m comparing Wii titles to PS2 titles (the first two are for the Wii, and the last one is for the PS2).  So, let’s get this thing started.

Graphics: Tie

The big thing about the graphical presentation of each game is that they are arcade perfect, to a fault.  They look exactly as they do on an arcade machine.  I say this is to a fault only because you can definitely see the age on each of the games.  There’s a lot of pixilation and it can be jarring, if not, distracting.  With that said, can I honestly put one game over the other two?  I doubt I can, especially knowing the limitations they made to each game.  Orochi Saga does look dated, and sadly, various forms of animation are missing from certain games.  For instance, the amounts of animated blood are missing.  This might have been done to preserve the “teen” rating on the game, but there isn’t that much blood in this game to merit anything higher than a “teen” rating.  So, it may very well be an unforeseen error on porting the game from the arcade.  Samurai Shodown, has its entire graphics intact, and looks better, if not the best of each game, over time.  So, why the tie?  One glaring issue:  the blood is missing from Samurai Shodown 2.  More specifically, the death scenes are missing.  Now, I would say this is a content issue; however, there has been talk that the scenes are intact on the PS2.  Also, there has been talk that the scenes are intact only for versus mode.  Whatever the case may be, this glaring omission takes away from the game heavily on the graphics level.  No, I’m not a blood-thirsty maniac or whatever.  I’m just stating that the game was supposed to be made graphically complete, port-wise.  I should not have to deal with omissions from a game I like.  It’s disheartening.  And, what of World Heroes?  The game remains graphically intact.  It only ties with these two because, graphically, it doesn’t even measure up.  The graphics are arcade perfect, to be sure.  But, when comparing the games, you can see the difference, and that World Heroes is not on the same level.  Still, we give them points for remaining intact.

Sound: Tie

The reason for this is clear:  Orochi Saga is missing music, plain and simple.  Yes, they have re-dubs and remixes of music.  Some of the music can be unlocked through doing extra challenges.  However, once all were unlocked, there was still music missing in King of Fighters 1995.  Also, for a game that is stereo, the sound drops out for your character when he or she approaches the right side of the screen.  You can barely hear them.  This was also an issue for games like Capcom vs. SNK 2.  The anthologies have their music intact.   They have no sound drop off either when approaching certain sides of a stage.  If there is one problem, I’d say it’s the lack of menu screen music.  The silence is deafening, if not creepy.  So, no music on menu screens vs. no music tracks and sound drop-off in various games.  Another tie seems like the best course.  After all, you will be accessing the menu screen every time you play the game.  The sound issues in Orochi Saga are littered around the game, and it does make for a difficult deal breaker.  But, the voice acting and sound effects are still intact.  So, it’s not so bad, but still bothersome.

Control: Orochi Saga

Why does Orochi Saga win this one?  World Heroes Anthology does have arguably the best controller to use for the PS2, but guess what?  Not every game can use the analog stick.  You’d think for arcade ports that they would.  I find this to be a very annoying aspect for most, if not all SNK games collections.  Samurai Shodown does allow you to use the analog stick for the Wii.  So, what’s the issue?  You can’t use the GameCube Controller, which just so happens to have the analog stick in a more appropriate place.  The game only uses the Classic Controller and the standard Wiimote combos. I understand this works for older games as a standard, but this seems like lazy game development on their part.  Now, Orochi Saga works only due to the fact that they allow for all control schemes, including the GameCube controller setup.  I definitely felt right at home with this game, because of it. Now, if you’re wondering why I haven’t gone into controls per each game, it’s because each of them are complex, ever-changing, and never simple (yes, even for World Heroes).  I’d just have another tie, with the tiebreaker being the GCN controller.  Don’t need that, really.

Etc.: Orochi Saga

The stories are pretty much standard fare for SNK, with World Heroes being the weirdest.  Orochi Saga focuses on the King of Fighter’s tournaments where the demon, Orochi, was making his return to this world.  It would take a carefully placed set of fighters to heroically challenge Orochi and all of his followers, users, and despots.  This would include the mysterious tournament benefactor Rugal Bernstein, Saisyu Kusanagi, the father of the main hero, Kyo Kusanagi, and head of the Kusanagi clan, and Leopold Goenitz, an Orochi priest looking to bring the prophecy of Orochi to life.  This would be the annual tournaments of 1994 – 1997, with 1998 being a dream match tournament with no direct connection to the story.  Samurai Shodown is a fighting-game representation of the Edo period of Japan before, during, and a little after the Tokugawa Shogunate.  Samurai Shodown’s 1-6 showcase a ragtag bunch of samurai battling for supremacy or justice through the death of whichever diabolical mastermind was the reason for the chaos surrounding the land.  Almost all of the characters here are historically accurate.  World Heroes is where things get crazy.  Doctor Brown (a parody of the Back to the Future character) created a time machine and imported various fighters from different eras to put them in combat with each other for….well, entertainment.  Each character is a parodied representation of different people in history, from Joan of Arc and Hulk Hogan, to Genghis Kahn and Bruce Lee.  It makes for a fun experience if you aren’t taking it too seriously.  And, no, you shouldn’t.  That couldn’t be clearer.  When it comes to extras, only Orochi Saga stands tall in its execution.  The anthologies have virtually all of their extras already unlocked (art, music, etc.), or no extras to boast, unless you activate the codes that unlock them in each specific game they are in.  Actually, there is one minigame in Samurai Shodown where you can control the pets of Samurai Shodown Tenka in taking part.  When dealing with Orochi Saga, the game allows you to do some difficult, yet manageable challenges to not only unlock art and remixed music, but also the hidden characters per game they represented.  It makes for some sense of accomplishment.  This way, you don’t have to fish around to see whether or not the unlocking method will or won’t work on the game.  Now, when it comes to the lasting appeal of each game, this can be a bit tricky.  World Heroes only has 4 games to work with, and if you are a fan, this is perfect for you.  But, outside of that, what else is there?  Truth be told, the game’s gameplay has to hold together.  It does, but it’s not nearly as appealing as the other two.  The key to the game’s appeal is the things it parodies and references.  It’s silly and referential, and yet, fun, in a bad kind of way.  But, that’s not enough to hold a game up, unless there was a demand for it. Sadly, there isn’t.  Moving on to Samurai Shodown, we have a game that is sort of in the same boat as World Heroes.  So, it comes down to the gameplay.  In this case, Samurai Shodown is leagues ahead of World Heroes.  You have 6 games, all with the same style, tweaked to show change over time.  You have a plethora of characters that represented the different people that existed in the era of Japan.  You have an art style that captures the feel and the atmosphere that the games represent.  It has quite the lasting appeal due to its presentation.  This might be the only place where Orochi Saga fails in the “etc.” category, but then we’d be forgetting two things that make that game series one of the best.  It utilized the “team versus battle” idea that kept them afloat for more than 10 years.  It even coerced competitors to find different ways to take this idea (ex. Marvel vs. Capcom 2).  Also, as the games progress, you can find different modes of game play to toy with, specifically the “team edit” mode.  It’s not just limited to the given teams.  You can make your own super team of fighters that you like to use.  You can also throw in the plethora of stars in the SNK universe at your disposal.  These stars span over games like Fatal Fury, Art of Fighting, Athena, Psycho Soldier, Ikari Warriors, and even the sports franchises of SNK.  Nice stuff, to say the least.  I think it’s safe to say that you have more to work with when it comes to Orochi Saga.

Final Verdict:

This is the first three way battle between games that I own.  They are all SNK games that come from notorious fighting game franchises.  In the end, the most comprehensive game of the three is Orochi Saga.  I think it comes down to the amount of care SNK put into the game.  They went out of their way to add many extras, tweak the music, and even work on the graphics to some effect.  I’m guessing it goes to show the popularity of the games being represented.  The King of Fighters series has a tremendous fan following.  Again, it’s been around for a decade, and then some.  People still clamor to the game in any instances to play it and have fun.  World Heroes seems to be a very obscure title that may or may not have a great following.  It barely compares to the other two series involved, on many levels.  Meanwhile, Samurai Shodown has a strong fan following as well.  However, as a game franchise, it never reached the same level of popularity as King of Fighters.  In fact, the franchise has had its share of disappointing sequels.  Some will say that it started after Samurai Shodown 2.  Others will say it started when it went 3-D.  Either way, Samurai Shodown quite isn’t King of Fighters.  So, in conclusion, if you own a Wii, PSP, or even a working PS2, secure The Orochi Saga, and soon.  But, if you’re a fan of the other two anthologies, get a hold of them as well.  You won’t be disappointed, too much.  Now, how about we call off this debating for now, and get into….

Darkness….