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The Mortal Kombat series retains numerous undisclosed elements and the ability to amaze, more than 30 years after its first appearance in coin-op establishments. This latest compilation spanning the brand's formative years, featuring four arcade games, various home ports, and spinoffs, goes beyond just a well-emulated series of classics including less celebrated releases — it additionally serves as a rich documentary about the creation of the renowned brand.

Being a long-time devotee of the franchise who has carefully followed its creation and evolution, there was much to discover for me to discover and admire about the series.

What Constitutes the Historical Compilation

Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection comparable to other vintage game anthologies from the development team Digital Eclipse, portion educational film, part playable archive. The collection includes digitally recreated editions of the pioneering arcade Mortal Kombat, Mortal Kombat 2, Mortal Kombat 3, and Mortal Kombat 4, plus console and handheld ports of several of these titles. This compilation also features the series' ventures at spinoffs, like combat-focused releases Mortal Kombat Mythologies: Sub-Zero and Mortal Kombat: Special Forces — among the series' most criticized releases.

The Legacy Kollection consequently doesn't represent a greatest hits compilation, but a study of Mortal Kombat's early days, when developer Midway and brand founders Ed Boon and John Tobias were discovering methods to develop a battle series, digitized from footage of live performers, through experimentation. Viewing the historical footage — which includes archival footage, new interviews, and digital copies of vintage posters, comics, and including internal communications — it's remarkable to see how Mortal Kombat went from modest origins to a global sensation. It's frankly astounding to observe several early video game creators, operating with virtually no plan or oversight, direct their entertainment passions into birthing an iconic game franchise.

Historical Section

The educational segment of Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection documents the ascent of the fighting series and its creators' careers at the no-longer-operating Midway. It then goes on to show how the very same individuals contended with how to consistently surpass their achievements, facing no small amount of demand to replicate their achievements. It's a fascinating time capsule made from VHS tapes and analog photographs and manual drawings, which demonstrate the hands-on approach of the series' creation process and how word of mouth helped disseminate its secrets and hidden aspects of Mortal Kombat in its peak period in gaming halls. Delivered in easily digestible portions, it's thoroughly enjoyable set of brief historical films that covers video games, graphic novels, movies and including the humorous real-world tour. It also includes some unreleased actions and digital fighter representations among its cutting-room-floor content.

Interactive Experience

Placed within the five-part documentary's timeline are invitations to experience the actual titles. At certain intervals, users can directly access a Mortal Kombat title or a home system version to revisit its gameplay and visual presentation, simulated with remarkable precision on contemporary systems.

I dedicated most of my time playing the arcade classics, particularly Mortal Kombat, Mortal Kombat 2, and Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3. Many of the games here hold up, especially in one-on-one local play. Yet competing with the computer-controlled adversaries in these titles is a testament to how primitive and unfair the development approached in the franchise's pioneering releases. AI-managed characters blatantly cheat to win or are conversely remarkably unintelligent. If you don't have someone to play against — internet multiplayer exists in numerous anthology releases, but rather basic in functionality — the experience will be incomplete.

Display Features

The 23 playable Mortal Kombat games in the collection, a blend of coin-op, home system, and portable titles, are faithfully recreated, though I've observed a handful slight anomalies — mostly input lag and intermittent errors, particularly in Mortal Kombat 4. Although the titles are largely presented as-is, developer Digital Eclipse has added several intelligent user experience improvements and display customization choices. For instance, players have the option to reveal combatant-unique actions during gameplay and opt to have infinite time to execute finishing moves. Also included are choices for unlocking secret characters, eliminating the need to execute obscure techniques to obtain them.

Artistically, the releases can be played with a variety of filters and visual treatments. Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection offers very realistic options that simulate the cathode-ray tube displays of arcades or domestic TVs, or the limited color monitor of a portable gaming device. A notably appreciated element is the choice to enable coin-op-inspired frames framing the gameplay, with the MK game of your choice faithfully and subtly duplicating against the faux black plastic borders. It's remarkably visually appealing.

Additional Features

There are plenty of nice touches beyond the historical footage and recreated vintage titles, containing a soundtrack mode that lets you revisit the tunes of various Mortal Kombat games absent the noise of two kombatants viciously slaughtering each other. There are also character profiles that include bios and multiple story elements shown through arcade games' attract mode screens and conclusions.

Lost Media Recovery

A particularly notable inclusion for dedicated series enthusiasts is the chance to experience a piece of "lost media" in the guise of Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 Wavenet Edition. This version of the game, a slightly updated version of Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3, was an pioneering effort from the developer at head-to-head network battles in gaming halls. This network version of the game is virtually identical to UMK3, but provided the ability to compete against internet adversaries and contained several small error corrections and adjustments. But the Wavenet update didn't find widespread adoption, in part