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The Mortal Kombat series retains many hidden mysteries and the capacity to surprise, well past its 30th anniversary after its first appearance in coin-op establishments. The recent anthology covering the series' initial period, which includes four original arcade titles, several home system versions, and spinoffs, is more than only a accurately simulated series of classics and not-so-classics — it additionally serves as a detailed chronicle about the development of the legendary series.

Even as a lifelong devotee of the franchise who has paid close attention its origins and transformation, there was plenty new for me to learn and appreciate about the series.

What Defines the Legacy Kollection

Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection comparable to other vintage game anthologies from the creators at Digital Eclipse, portion educational film, section playable historical record. The collection includes digitally recreated editions of the original arcade Mortal Kombat, Mortal Kombat 2, Mortal Kombat 3, and Mortal Kombat 4, along with home system and portable adaptations of several of these titles. The anthology additionally contains the franchise's attempts at spinoffs, like action games Mortal Kombat Mythologies: Sub-Zero and Mortal Kombat: Special Forces — two of the franchise's worst entries.

The Legacy Kollection is therefore not a highlight reel anthology, but a study of Mortal Kombat's early days, when the development team Midway and franchise originators the visionary developers were discovering methods to make a fighting game, produced using film material of actual people, on the fly. Observing the archival material — containing historical videos, new interviews, and digital copies of vintage posters, comics, and even company memos — it's incredible to witness how the series transformed from modest origins to a worldwide phenomenon. It's genuinely amazing to observe several young game developers, working with minimal planning or supervision, focus their cultural enthusiasms into creating a legendary video game series.

Historical Section

The documentary portion of Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection documents the ascent of the fighting series and its creators' careers at the now-defunct Midway. It further illustrates how those same creators addressed how to consistently surpass their achievements, experiencing considerable stress to duplicate their achievements. It represents an intriguing historical record constructed using video recordings and traditional photos and hand-drawn illustrations, which demonstrate the hands-on approach of the series' creation process and how oral tradition helped spread its rumors and hidden aspects of Mortal Kombat in its peak period in gaming halls. Presented in manageable segments, it's thoroughly enjoyable collection of mini-documentaries that includes titles, illustrated stories, cinematic adaptations and including the humorous real-world tour. The compilation also contains some unused moves and digital fighter representations among its archived development assets.

Interactive Gaming

Placed within the five-part documentary's timeline are prompts to play the games themselves. At certain intervals, users can directly access a Mortal Kombat title or a home system version to rediscover its combat system and graphics, emulated nearly perfectly on contemporary systems.

I allocated the majority of my time playing the arcade classics, specifically Mortal Kombat, Mortal Kombat 2, and Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3. Many of the games here remain enjoyable, notably with one-on-one local play. But playing against the aforementioned game's AI-controlled opponents is a testament to how primitive and unbalanced the development approached in the franchise's pioneering releases. AI-managed characters obviously use unfair advantages or are alternatively incredibly stupid. Lacking someone to play against — online play is available in the majority of included games, but too light on features — you'll miss the full enjoyment.

Technical Presentation

The two dozen available combat games in the anthology, a blend of gaming hall, television, and mobile releases, are accurately emulated, though I detected a few small quirks — mostly input lag and the occasional bug, notably within Mortal Kombat 4. Even though the releases are primarily displayed authentically, developer Digital Eclipse has included some smart user experience improvements and visual presentation options. For example, users can elect to reveal combatant-unique actions on-screen and select to activate endless periods to complete lethal techniques. There are also options for revealing concealed combatants, eliminating the need to execute obscure techniques to obtain them.

Artistically, the releases can be enjoyed with multiple visual enhancements and presentation styles. Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection includes remarkably accurate filters that mimic the cathode-ray tube displays of gaming halls or home televisions, or the monochrome green display of a Game Boy. An especially welcome feature is the setting to activate arcade-like bezels surrounding the screen, with the specific combat game you're playing faithfully and subtly duplicating against the artificial ebony plastic frames. It's very artistically charming.

Extra Content

Players will discover multiple nice touches beyond the historical footage and recreated vintage titles, featuring an audio component that enables players to reexperience the tunes of various fighting releases excluding the sounds of two kombatants viciously slaughtering each other. Additionally included are combatant descriptions that contain backgrounds and the various bits of lore displayed via arcade games' attract mode screens and final sequences.

Lost Media Recovery

Among the most significant features for committed franchise followers is the opportunity to play a example of historically missing material in the format of Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 Wavenet Edition. This version of the game, a somewhat revised iteration of Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3, was an early attempt by Midway at head-to-head network battles in coin-op establishments. This network version of the game is almost exactly the same to UMK3, but featured the capability to compete against internet adversaries and featured various slight glitch repairs and refinements. Yet this online edition never gained traction, in part