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Mortal Kombat continues to hold numerous undisclosed elements and the ability to amaze, more than 30 years after its original launch in arcades. This latest compilation including the series' initial period, which includes four original arcade titles, various home ports, and derivative games, goes beyond simply a faithfully reproduced set of legendary games and not-so-classics — it's also a rich documentary about the development of the renowned brand.

As a dedicated Mortal Kombat fan who has paid close attention its development and progression, there was numerous fresh aspects for me to learn and appreciate about the series.

What Constitutes the Legacy Kollection

Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection is, like previous classic compilations from developer Digital Eclipse, part historical documentation, part playable archive. The collection includes emulated versions of the first 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. 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 least successful installments.

The Legacy Kollection is therefore not a highlight reel anthology, but an exploration into Mortal Kombat's early days, when the creators at Midway and franchise originators the visionary developers were figuring out how to make a fighting game, produced using film material of real actors, through experimentation. Observing the archival material — containing vintage recordings, recent conversations, and scans of old flyers, graphic novels, and even company memos — it's remarkable to see how the series transformed from simple starts to a international craze. It's genuinely amazing to watch a handful of young game developers, developing without clear direction or oversight, channel their pop-culture interests into birthing an iconic game franchise.

Documentary Portion

The historical documentation of Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection charts the rise of the combat franchise and the founders' vocational paths at the no-longer-operating Midway. It then goes on to show how those same creators reckoned with how to routinely one-up themselves, facing no small amount of stress to duplicate their achievements. It serves as a compelling period piece constructed using video recordings and traditional photos and manual drawings, which showcase the DIY nature of the series' creation process and how word of mouth helped disseminate its secrets and secrets of MK in its peak period in gaming halls. Presented in manageable segments, it's thoroughly enjoyable series of documentary shorts that includes titles, illustrated stories, cinematic adaptations and including the humorous real-world tour. It also includes some never-implemented techniques and game character images among its archived development assets.

Playable Component

Distributed throughout the quintet of documentary episodes' progression are prompts to play the actual titles. At certain intervals, viewers can hop into a game of Mortal Kombat or a console adaptation to revisit its gameplay and visual presentation, recreated with impressive accuracy on modern hardware.

I allocated the majority of my time engaging with the vintage coin-op games, especially Mortal Kombat, Mortal Kombat 2, and Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3. Several releases here remain enjoyable, especially in local multiplayer matches. But playing against the artificial intelligence fighters in these releases is a testament to how primitive and unbalanced the development approached in early Mortal Kombat games. Computer-directed fighters obviously use unfair advantages or are alternatively incredibly stupid. Without having 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.

Display Features

The two dozen available combat games in the collection, a blend of gaming hall, television, and mobile releases, are faithfully recreated, though I've observed a few small quirks — mostly input lag and the occasional bug, notably within Mortal Kombat 4. And while the games are largely presented as-is, developer Digital Eclipse has incorporated various clever user experience improvements and graphical adjustment settings. For example, users can elect to reveal combatant-unique actions on-screen and opt to have infinite time to perform a Fatality. Additionally available are settings for accessing hidden fighters, without having to perform complicated methods to obtain them.

Graphically, the titles can be played with a variety of filters and visual treatments. Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection offers very realistic options that simulate the traditional television screens of arcades or home televisions, or the limited color monitor of a Nintendo handheld. An especially welcome feature is the option to have gaming hall-style borders framing the gameplay, with the specific combat game you're playing precisely and gently mirroring against the simulated dark plastic edges. It's remarkably visually appealing.

Additional Features

There are plenty of welcome features besides the educational material and simulated classic games, featuring an audio component that lets you revisit the tunes of various combat titles excluding the sounds of combatants violently defeating each other. Additionally included are fighter biographies that feature histories and the various bits of lore presented by arcade games' attract mode screens and endings.

Historical Preservation

Among the most significant features for dedicated series enthusiasts is the opportunity to play a segment of previously unavailable content in the form of Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 Wavenet Edition. This particular edition, a slightly updated version of Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3, was an initial venture by the company at head-to-head network battles in gaming halls. The Wavenet Edition of the game is practically indistinguishable to UMK3, but featured the capability to compete against internet adversaries and included some minor glitch repairs and refinements. Yet this online edition failed to achieve popularity, in part