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Mortal Kombat retains numerous undisclosed elements and the ability to amaze, well past its 30th anniversary after its original launch in gaming halls. A new collection covering the brand's formative years, comprising a quartet of arcade releases, several home system versions, and spinoffs, transcends just a well-emulated collection of iconic titles including less celebrated releases — it additionally serves as a comprehensive historical account about the development of the iconic franchise.

Being a long-time devotee of the franchise who has closely monitored its development and progression, there was much to discover for me to discover and admire about the series.

What Makes the Legacy Collection

Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection similar to other retro collections from the creators at Digital Eclipse, part historical documentation, portion interactive museum. This compilation features emulated versions of the pioneering arcade Mortal Kombat, Mortal Kombat 2, Mortal Kombat 3, and Mortal Kombat 4, including television and mobile versions of several of these titles. This compilation also features the franchise's attempts at derivative games, like combat-focused releases Mortal Kombat Mythologies: Sub-Zero and Mortal Kombat: Special Forces — two of the franchise's most criticized releases.

The Legacy Kollection thus isn't a greatest hits compilation, but an exploration into Mortal Kombat's early days, when the creators at Midway and brand founders Ed Boon and John Tobias were discovering methods to make a fighting game, produced using film material of actual people, on the fly. Viewing the historical footage — which includes vintage recordings, recent conversations, and reproductions of classic advertisements, comics, and including internal communications — it's incredible to witness how the series transformed from simple starts to a international craze. It's frankly astounding to watch a handful of early video game creators, developing without clear direction or guidance, channel their pop-culture interests into establishing an enduring gaming brand.

Historical Section

The historical documentation of Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection documents the ascent of the combat franchise and its creators' careers at the currently closed Midway. It further illustrates how the very same individuals contended with how to regularly outdo their previous work, experiencing considerable pressure to repeat their achievements. It serves as a compelling period piece constructed using VHS tapes and film-based pictures and manual drawings, which demonstrate the hands-on approach of Mortal Kombat's development and how oral tradition helped disseminate its secrets and hidden aspects of Mortal Kombat in its golden era in coin-op establishments. Delivered in easily digestible portions, it's thoroughly enjoyable collection of mini-documentaries that includes titles, illustrated stories, cinematic adaptations and even the silly live-action tour. It also includes some unused moves and game character images among its archived development assets.

Playable Component

Distributed throughout the five-segment historical film's chronology are invitations to experience the actual titles. During specific moments, viewers can hop into a game of Mortal Kombat or a home system version to revisit its gameplay and artistic style, simulated with remarkable precision on current technology.

I allocated the majority of my time playing the arcade classics, especially Mortal Kombat, Mortal Kombat 2, and Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3. Many of the games here stand the test of time, notably with one-on-one local play. However, facing the aforementioned game's AI-controlled opponents is a demonstration of how basic and unfair the development approached in early Mortal Kombat games. AI-managed characters clearly employ dishonest tactics or are alternatively incredibly stupid. If you don't have another person to compete with — internet multiplayer exists in the majority of included games, but somewhat limited in options — you'll miss the full enjoyment.

Visual Options

The twenty-three accessible Mortal Kombat titles in the collection, a blend of coin-op, home system, and portable titles, are precisely simulated, though I have noticed a handful slight anomalies — mainly control latency and intermittent errors, particularly in Mortal Kombat 4. Even though the releases are largely presented as-is, developer Digital Eclipse has added several intelligent convenience enhancements and visual presentation options. For example, players have the option to display fighter-specific techniques on-screen and choose to enable unlimited duration to execute finishing moves. Also included are choices for revealing concealed combatants, without having to perform complicated methods to obtain them.

Artistically, the releases can be played with a variety of visual enhancements and presentation styles. Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection offers very realistic options that simulate the traditional television screens of gaming halls or domestic TVs, or the limited color monitor of a portable gaming device. An especially welcome feature is the option to have gaming hall-style borders framing the gameplay, with the MK game of your choice faithfully and subtly duplicating against the simulated dark plastic edges. It's remarkably visually appealing.

Extra Content

There are plenty of welcome features besides the documentary and emulated arcade classics, including a music player that enables players to reexperience the soundtracks of different Mortal Kombat games excluding the sounds of fighters brutally eliminating opponents. Also present are fighter biographies that feature histories and numerous narrative components presented by the idle displays of gaming hall releases and endings.

Historical Preservation

A particularly notable inclusion for committed franchise followers is the opportunity to play a example of historically missing material in the guise of Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 Wavenet Edition. This particular edition, a moderately improved edition of Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3, was an early attempt by Midway at head-to-head network battles in arcades. The Wavenet Edition of the game is practically indistinguishable to UMK3, but provided the ability to challenge online opponents and featured various slight error corrections and adjustments. But the Wavenet update failed to achieve popularity, in part