Orochi Saga/Trivia

Notes for the Orochi Saga

 * As said and written in many pages on this wiki, The King of Fighters series takes place in an alternate universe separated from storylines such as the Fatal Fury series and Art of Fighting series.
 * Because of this, their stories will not be listed in the synopsis of this saga, although the events of Art of Fighting, Art of Fighting 2, Fatal Fury: King of Fighters and Fatal Fury 2 (in that order), all happened prior to the events of The King of Fighters '94 (the prologue of this saga). Games such as Fatal Fury 3: Road to the Final Victory, Real Bout Fatal Fury and Art of Fighting 3 do not happen during this story arc.


 * Starting with The King of Fighters '95, the series begins to enter a "floating timeline", a trope or device used in fiction to create the illusion of passing time without aging characters in a medium. This is purposely done to prevent the cast of The King of Fighters series from over aging throughout the passage of real time. For example, if the KOF series had continued to age their characters through the passage of time, Kyo Kusanagi would be about 33-35 years old by the time of the current KOF game, The King of Fighters XV. Similarly, Iori Yagami would be either be around the same age as Kyo by KOF XV or have possibly died from the Orochi curse that all Yasakani members are fated to have.
 * It should be noted that because of this, the characters in The King of Fighters series have remained the same age since The King of Fighters '95, despite the fact that each game is supposedly set a year after the previous one. Starting with The King of Fighters XI, all character's ages are no longer displayed, and any future character added to the series would not have their ages displayed.
 * Oddly enough, the only other game where the characters were allowed to be aged by one year was in The King of Fighters EX sub-series, an alternate series games set after the events of The King of Fighters '97.
 * It should also be noted that due to use of the floating timeline, the events of Art of Fighting, Art of Fighting 2, Fatal Fury: King of Fighters and Fatal Fury 2 all happen much closer than its original counterparts, with Art of Fighting 2 possibly being set in 1991 instead of 1979 (if Fatal Fury: King of Fighters and Fatal Fury 2 were set in 1992 and 1993, respectively).


 * The King of Fighters '98: Dream Match Never Ends (and its remake The King of Fighters '98 Ultimate Match), is not listed in the canonical story, as it is a "Dream Match" game (a title that have little or no canon story to it). This is due to the fact that deceased characters in-story return with no reason at all, it is therefore non-canon. The same thing occurs with The King of Fighters '94 Re-Bout, which is a remake of the original The King of Fighters '94.


 * The King of Fighters: Kyo, a game released only in Japan, also contains elements that are canon to the events found in this saga/story arc.

Gameplay similarities to other titles

 * This is the first story arc to use the expression "FIGHT" before the matches (and only in the first game and its remake). The expression is used again only during the games of the NESTS Chronicles.
 * Starting with The King of Fighters '95, the rounds are announced with the expression "READY GO", which soon became common during the series, and continues until today, not being used during the NESTS Saga.
 * The King of Fighters '96 starts with the tradition of counting rounds numerically. It was interrupted during the Ash Saga and resumed in KOF XIV.
 * Due to 3-vs-3 system, the maximum number of rounds is 5. However, when the last round ends in a tie, a decisive round, under the name "FINAL ROUND", appears.


 * This is the only story arc which the fighters' name are announced before the matches. This method ends in The King of Fighters '97 and The King of Fighters '98 (and its remake).
 * However, the characters' complete names appears in the beginning of the rounds, just like in KOF '97.
 * In console versions of KOF '98, the fighter's names are announced only during the Survival Mode.

Similarities to other Sagas

 * This is the longest mainline story arc of all the series (if counting KOF '94/Re-Bout as its prologue).


 * This is the only story arc which the teams are classified by country (and only in the first games).


 * This is the only arc whose Team Rivals'  leaders (the deuteragonists) are male characters, as the later Sagas' has one of its respective storylines' teams were led by female deuteragonists.


 * This saga, the NESTS Chronicles and Tales of Ash are the only story arcs which a hero/protagonist or a rival/deuteragonist appears in a solo participation.


 * This is the only story arc which the Hero Team remains with its formation unchanged during the course of the saga.
 * Starting from the NESTS Chronicles, this team earns new characters in each game.


 * All games of this saga were produced and released by former SNK (the KOF '98 remake was produced and released by SNK PLAYMORE).