Might as well bring this up
Not too knowledgeable on KOF, but maybe one of you would be
Well, i'm a fan of KoF, i even got the Orochi Saga for the Nintendo Wii, which includes some of the arcade games ported to the home console, it's a pretty fun game, the music is excellent and i like the overall style of the game, most of the fans agrees that the best games are among KoF 96 or 97, for me, the best entry of the series is still KoF 2002 UM, because it includes all of the characters, and each team to that game, and some characters replaced (A character from Kof 96 who looked like Guile or something was replaced with someone called "Nameless" in the roster).
The thing that i like the most of the KoF games are usually the bosses, they are hard as hell, but each one has an interesting story, and an awesome theme for example: Krizalid, Rugal, Orochi, etc., the mechanics of each game are different, for example, you could execute a combo if you meet certain requirements in the first entry Kof 94, but in Kof 96 the game expanded the roster, and made easier to execute some of the movements.
So, if you were asking me which Kof is the best to start, i would suggest Kof 96 or 97', and then you go on with 2002 UM, for the expert in fighting games, i would suggest the original one, it's harder to control, but at the same time is so satisfying to play, and with the topic of Kof XIV, i'm interested on it, it's sad that it doesn't have the anime look of Kof XIII, but either way, i'm mostly interested on the gameplay and music of that game.