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The Mortal Kombat series still possesses numerous undisclosed elements and the ability to amaze, more than 30 years after its initial debut in coin-op establishments. This latest compilation spanning the series' initial period, featuring a quartet of arcade releases, multiple console adaptations, and related titles, transcends simply a faithfully reproduced series of classics and not-so-classics — it additionally serves as a rich documentary about the development of the renowned brand.

Being a long-time enthusiast of the series who has closely monitored its origins and transformation, there was numerous fresh aspects for me to learn and appreciate about the series.

What Constitutes the Legacy Kollection

Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection comparable to other retro collections from the development team Digital Eclipse, part documentary, section playable historical record. The collection includes 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 series' ventures at spinoffs, like action-oriented titles Mortal Kombat Mythologies: Sub-Zero and Mortal Kombat: Special Forces — among the series' worst entries.

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 the visionary developers were discovering methods to develop a battle series, produced using film material of real actors, as they went along. Observing the archival material — which includes vintage recordings, new interviews, and digital copies of vintage posters, comics, and even company memos — it's incredible to witness how the series transformed from simple starts to a worldwide phenomenon. It's truly remarkable to observe several young game developers, developing without clear direction or supervision, focus their cultural enthusiasms into creating a legendary video game series.

Educational Component

The documentary portion of Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection documents the ascent of Mortal Kombat and the developers' professional journeys at the no-longer-operating Midway. It further illustrates how these identical developers reckoned with how to regularly outdo their previous work, experiencing considerable demand to replicate their triumphs. It represents an intriguing historical record constructed using VHS tapes and analog photographs and hand-drawn illustrations, which demonstrate the hands-on approach of the series' creation process and how personal recommendations helped circulate its mysteries and undisclosed elements of the series in its arcade heyday. Told in bite-sized chunks, it's thoroughly enjoyable set of brief historical films that covers video games, graphic novels, movies and even the comical physical events. The collection additionally features some never-implemented techniques and game character images among its cutting-room-floor content.

Playable Component

Distributed throughout the quintet of documentary episodes' progression are invitations to experience the actual titles. During specific moments, users can directly access a Mortal Kombat title or a home system version to reexperience its mechanics and visual presentation, emulated nearly perfectly on contemporary systems.

I allocated the majority of my time engaging with the vintage coin-op games, specifically Mortal Kombat, Mortal Kombat 2, and Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3. Many of the games here stand the test of time, especially in one-on-one local play. But playing against the computer-controlled adversaries in these titles is a demonstration of how basic and unfair the development approached in the series' initial installments. Computer-directed fighters clearly employ dishonest tactics or are conversely remarkably unintelligent. Without having someone to play against — internet multiplayer exists in most titles in the collection, but rather basic in functionality — you'll be missing out.

Display Features

The two dozen available combat games in the collection, a combination of arcade, console, and handheld games, are accurately emulated, though I detected a handful slight anomalies — mainly control latency and sporadic glitches, especially with Mortal Kombat 4. Even though the releases are mostly shown in their original form, the creators has included some smart convenience enhancements and graphical adjustment settings. For example, users can elect to show each character's special moves on the display and opt to have infinite time to perform a Fatality. There are also options for unlocking secret characters, eliminating the need to execute some esoteric trick to access them.

Graphically, the titles can be played with a variety of visual enhancements and presentation styles. Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection offers very realistic options that simulate the CRT monitors 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 encircling the display, with the MK game of your choice faithfully and subtly duplicating against the artificial ebony plastic frames. It's very artistically charming.

Additional Features

There are plenty of welcome features besides the educational material and simulated classic games, including a music player that allows users to rediscover the tunes of various combat titles excluding the sounds of two kombatants viciously slaughtering each other. Additionally included are combatant descriptions that contain backgrounds and multiple story elements displayed via the idle displays of gaming hall releases and final sequences.

Archival Discovery

One of the biggest highlights for hardcore Mortal Kombat fans is the ability to access a piece of "lost media" in the format of Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 Wavenet Edition. This version of the game, a slightly updated version of Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3, was an early attempt by Midway at one-on-one internet-based play in gaming halls. The online-enabled release of the game is almost exactly the same to UMK3, but included the option to battle network competitors and contained several small bug fixes and balance. Yet this online edition failed to achieve popularity, in part