King of Fighters on PSP Question

[Croooow!]

I'm looking to get into the King of Fighters series after introducing myself to fighters on SFII Champion Edition. I liked the PSP for SFII because of the portability and lack of loading from my downloaded version of Capcom Classics. I'm looking for the best way to play KoF 95 on the PSP and am torn between the Neo Geo Station download, KoF Collection UMD, and the KoF Collection download. Does anyone have any experience with the performance and loading speeds on any of these? I'm wary of the UMD copy because I've played Metal Slug Anthology on UMD and returned it because the loading and performance issues were such a problem.

[Bradtemple87]

I'm looking to get into the King of Fighters series after introducing myself to fighters on SFII Champion Edition. I liked the PSP for SFII because of the portability and lack of loading from my downloaded version of Capcom Classics. I'm looking for the best way to play KoF 95 on the PSP and am torn between the Neo Geo Station download, KoF Collection UMD, and the KoF Collection download. Does anyone have any experience with the performance and loading speeds on any of these? I'm wary of the UMD copy because I've played Metal Slug Anthology on UMD and returned it because the loading and performance issues were such a problem.

KOF 96 was a LOT better than 95

[Betamax001]

I think the KOF game I played was a version of 98, which was really fun. I haven't played any but I would THINK the download version of the Collection would be your best bet, because of the different versions of the game. And because it's a download there SHOULD be minimal loading times. The only SNK game I played on PSP was the Arcade Classics collection, and I seldom play because it takes so long to boot up.

[jfrost]

The Collection comes with '97 which is by far the best of the Orochi saga (it is actually my favorite KOF, excluding the newer ones I haven't played; I like it better than '98).

[wip3outguy7]

I have heard that the ports in the Orochi Saga are pretty glitchy. I would suggest staying away.

I would recommend '95 through the Neo Geo Station on PSN, but KOF wasn't really KOF until '96.

If you are interested in getting into KOF as a whole, I would suggest picking up King of Fighters '98 Ultimate Match for the PS2. It is probably the most balanced and inexpensive game in the series. If that isn't an option, pick up King of Fighters Dream Match '99 on the Dreamcast. It contains a lot of the balancing tweaks and extra characters from '98 Ultimate Match and actually plays a little smoother, IMO.

Oh and check out Dandy J's KOF tutorials: Part 1, Part 2

Advice I give anyone before embarking on a KOF journey: LEARN TO JUMP

[kiteJargon]

The PS2 version of the Orochi saga was glitchy and had weird stuff like input problems. From what I've played of the PSP version though, I would say it has none of these problems and is actually a pretty good collection.

[Croooow!]

The only SNK game I played on PSP was the Arcade Classics collection, and I seldom play because it takes so long to boot up.

Have you played it on UMD or did you download it. From what I've gathered online Metal Slug Anthology's load times on the download are a lot better than the UMD version and I'm wondering if this isn't true for the other SNK PSP compilations. If that's the case I'm definitely leaning towards KoF Collection just so I have other options if 95 isn't the best place to start like some are recommending.

[isiolia]

The one I played the most, first on MAME then Dreamcast back in the day, was '98.

'99 is available as a PSOne Classic as well, if you're really wanting to keep in on the PSP.