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The Mortal Kombat series continues to hold numerous undisclosed elements and the ability to amaze, more than 30 years after its first appearance in coin-op establishments. The recent anthology spanning the series' initial period, comprising four arcade games, various home ports, and derivative games, is more than simply a faithfully reproduced collection of iconic titles including less celebrated releases — it additionally serves as a rich documentary about the creation of the iconic franchise.

Being a long-time devotee of the franchise who has paid close attention its creation and evolution, there was numerous fresh aspects for me to understand and value about the series.

What Makes the Legacy Kollection

Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection similar to other vintage game anthologies from developer Digital Eclipse, part historical documentation, portion interactive museum. The anthology contains simulated releases of the first arcade Mortal Kombat, Mortal Kombat 2, Mortal Kombat 3, and Mortal Kombat 4, plus console and handheld ports of some of those games. The collection even includes the franchise's attempts at spin-off titles, like action games Mortal Kombat Mythologies: Sub-Zero and Mortal Kombat: Special Forces — some of the brand's least successful installments.

The Legacy Kollection is therefore not a greatest hits compilation, but a study of the series' formative period, when the creators at Midway and franchise originators the creative duo behind the series were determining how to develop a battle series, produced using film material of actual people, through experimentation. Viewing the historical footage — which includes vintage recordings, new interviews, and reproductions of classic advertisements, comics, and even company memos — it's remarkable to see how the franchise evolved from humble beginnings to a global sensation. It's genuinely amazing to observe several pioneering developers, operating with virtually no plan or supervision, channel their pop-culture interests into creating a legendary video game series.

Documentary Portion

The documentary portion of Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection documents the ascent of the combat franchise and the founders' vocational paths at the now-defunct Midway. It further illustrates how these identical developers addressed how to consistently surpass their achievements, encountering significant demand to replicate their success. It serves as a compelling period piece constructed using VHS tapes and film-based pictures and hand-drawn illustrations, which showcase the DIY nature of the franchise's production method and how personal recommendations helped circulate its mysteries and hidden aspects of Mortal Kombat in its golden era in coin-op establishments. Told in bite-sized chunks, it's highly engaging series of documentary shorts that includes titles, illustrated stories, cinematic adaptations and even the comical physical events. The compilation also contains some never-implemented techniques and game character images among its archived development assets.

Interactive Gaming

Interspersed along the quintet of documentary episodes' progression are prompts to play the original releases. At certain intervals, audience members can jump into a Mortal Kombat title or a console adaptation to revisit its gameplay and visual presentation, recreated with impressive accuracy on current technology.

I spent the bulk of my time playing the arcade classics, specifically Mortal Kombat, Mortal Kombat 2, and Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3. Many of the games here stand the test of time, especially in direct competitive sessions. However, facing the aforementioned game's AI-controlled opponents is a reminder of how crude and unbalanced the coding existed in the franchise's pioneering releases. CPU-controlled opponents blatantly cheat to win or are otherwise dumb as rocks. Without having someone to play against — network gaming is included in the majority of included games, but somewhat limited in options — you'll miss the full enjoyment.

Technical Presentation

The 23 playable Mortal Kombat games in the anthology, a blend of arcade, console, and handheld games, are accurately emulated, though I've observed a few small quirks — mostly input lag and intermittent errors, notably within Mortal Kombat 4. Although the titles are largely presented as-is, the development team has included some smart quality-of-life features and graphical adjustment settings. As an illustration, you can choose to show each character's special moves during gameplay and select to activate endless periods to complete lethal techniques. Also included are choices for accessing hidden fighters, removing the requirement to complete some esoteric trick to unlock them.

Graphically, the titles can be played with a variety of graphical effects and display options. Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection offers very realistic effects that reproduce the cathode-ray tube displays of coin-op establishments or household displays, or the limited color monitor of a Nintendo handheld. A notably appreciated element is the choice to enable gaming hall-style borders encircling the display, with the specific combat game you're playing precisely and gently mirroring against the simulated dark plastic edges. It's very artistically charming.

Additional Features

Players will discover multiple welcome features besides the documentary and emulated arcade classics, featuring an audio component that enables players to reexperience the soundtracks of different combat titles without the din of two kombatants viciously slaughtering each other. There are also combatant descriptions that feature histories and multiple story elements displayed via the demo sequences of coin-op titles and endings.

Historical Preservation

One of the biggest highlights for dedicated series enthusiasts is the ability to access a example of historically missing material in the form of Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 Wavenet Edition. This specific release, a somewhat revised iteration of Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3, was an pioneering effort from the developer at head-to-head network battles in arcades. The Wavenet Edition of the game is almost exactly the same to UMK3, but included the option to battle network competitors and featured various slight glitch repairs and refinements. However, this network version didn't find widespread adoption, in part