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Mortal Kombat still possesses numerous undisclosed elements and the power to astonish, more than 30 years after its first appearance in gaming halls. The recent anthology including the franchise's earliest days, featuring four original arcade titles, several home system versions, and related titles, goes beyond just a well-emulated collection of iconic titles and not-so-classics — it functions as a comprehensive historical account about the development of the renowned brand.

Being a long-time devotee of the franchise who has paid close attention its origins and transformation, there was much to discover for me to discover and admire about the series.

What Makes the Legacy Collection

Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection is, like other retro collections from the development team Digital Eclipse, portion educational film, portion interactive museum. The collection includes simulated releases of the first arcade Mortal Kombat, Mortal Kombat 2, Mortal Kombat 3, and Mortal Kombat 4, including television and mobile versions of several of these titles. The collection even includes the series' ventures at derivative games, like action games Mortal Kombat Mythologies: Sub-Zero and Mortal Kombat: Special Forces — some of the brand's most criticized releases.

The Legacy Kollection is therefore not a highlight reel anthology, but an exploration into the series' formative period, when the development team Midway and series co-creators the creative duo behind the series were figuring out how to create a combat title, digitized from footage of live performers, through experimentation. Viewing the historical footage — that features vintage recordings, new interviews, and reproductions of classic advertisements, graphic novels, and even company memos — it's remarkable to see how the series transformed from modest origins to a global sensation. It's frankly astounding to observe several early video game creators, developing without clear direction or oversight, focus their cultural enthusiasms into establishing an enduring gaming brand.

Documentary Portion

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 subsequently demonstrates how these identical developers addressed how to consistently surpass their achievements, facing no small amount of stress to duplicate their success. It represents an intriguing historical record constructed using video recordings and analog photographs and hand-drawn illustrations, which reveal the self-made character of the franchise's production method and how word of mouth helped spread its rumors and hidden aspects of Mortal Kombat in its arcade heyday. Delivered in easily digestible portions, it's thoroughly enjoyable collection of mini-documentaries that spans games, comics, films and even the silly live-action tour. The compilation also contains some unused moves and character sprites among its cutting-room-floor content.

Playable Component

Interspersed along the five-part documentary's timeline are opportunities to engage with the actual titles. At various points, audience members can jump into a combat game session or a console adaptation to rediscover its combat system and visual presentation, simulated with remarkable precision on contemporary systems.

I spent the bulk of my time experiencing the original arcade titles, especially Mortal Kombat, Mortal Kombat 2, and Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3. Several releases here hold up, especially in direct competitive sessions. However, facing the computer-controlled adversaries in these titles is a demonstration of how basic and unfair the development approached in the series' initial installments. AI-managed characters clearly employ dishonest tactics or are conversely remarkably unintelligent. If you don't have someone to play against — network gaming is included in most titles in the collection, but somewhat limited in options — you'll be missing out.

Display Features

The 23 playable Mortal Kombat games in the compilation, a mix of gaming hall, television, and mobile releases, 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 convenience enhancements and graphical adjustment settings. For instance, users can elect to display fighter-specific techniques on the display and opt to have endless periods to complete lethal techniques. Additionally available are settings for revealing concealed combatants, eliminating the need to execute obscure techniques to access them.

Artistically, the releases can be played with a variety of visual enhancements and presentation styles. Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection provides highly authentic filters that mimic the CRT monitors of arcades or home televisions, or the limited color monitor of a Nintendo handheld. A particularly nice touch is the setting to activate arcade-like bezels encircling the display, with your selected Mortal Kombat title precisely and gently mirroring against the artificial ebony plastic frames. It's remarkably visually appealing.

Bonus Elements

Players will discover multiple welcome features besides the documentary and emulated arcade classics, containing a soundtrack mode that lets you revisit the soundtracks of different combat titles without the din of combatants violently defeating each other. There are also fighter biographies that contain backgrounds and multiple story elements presented by arcade games' attract mode screens and endings.

Archival Discovery

A particularly notable inclusion for committed franchise followers is the ability to access a example of historically missing material in the format of Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 Wavenet Edition. This version of the game, a moderately improved edition of Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3, was an early attempt by Midway at one-on-one internet-based play in gaming halls. This network version of the game is practically indistinguishable to UMK3, but featured the capability to compete against internet adversaries and contained several small error corrections and adjustments. But the Wavenet update failed to achieve popularity, in part