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Mortal Kombat still possesses numerous undisclosed elements and the ability to amaze, more than 30 years after its first appearance in coin-op establishments. This latest compilation covering the brand's formative years, which includes a quartet of arcade releases, various home ports, and derivative games, goes beyond only a accurately simulated series of classics including less celebrated releases — it's also a rich documentary about the creation of the legendary series.

Being a long-time Mortal Kombat fan who has paid close attention its origins and transformation, there was plenty new for me to discover and admire about the series.

What Defines the Historical Compilation

Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection comparable to other retro collections from the development team Digital Eclipse, part documentary, section playable historical record. This compilation features simulated releases of the pioneering arcade Mortal Kombat, Mortal Kombat 2, Mortal Kombat 3, and Mortal Kombat 4, including television and mobile versions of some of those games. The anthology additionally contains the franchise's attempts at spin-off titles, like action games Mortal Kombat Mythologies: Sub-Zero and Mortal Kombat: Special Forces — among the series' least successful installments.

The Legacy Kollection is therefore not a greatest hits compilation, but an examination of Mortal Kombat's early days, when the creators at Midway and brand founders Ed Boon and John Tobias were discovering methods to develop a battle series, produced using film material of live performers, through experimentation. Watching the documentary — containing archival footage, new interviews, and reproductions of classic advertisements, illustrated stories, and including internal communications — it's astonishing to observe how the franchise evolved from modest origins to a international craze. It's genuinely amazing to watch a handful of pioneering developers, developing without clear direction or guidance, focus their cultural enthusiasms into birthing an iconic game franchise.

Historical Section

The educational segment of Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection documents the ascent of Mortal Kombat and its creators' careers at the now-defunct Midway. It further illustrates how the very same individuals reckoned with how to regularly outdo their previous work, facing no small amount of demand to replicate their achievements. It represents an intriguing historical record made from analog films and traditional photos and pencil sketches, which demonstrate the hands-on approach of the franchise's production method and how personal recommendations helped spread its rumors and undisclosed elements of the series in its golden era in coin-op establishments. Presented in manageable segments, it's highly engaging collection of mini-documentaries that includes titles, illustrated stories, cinematic adaptations and including the humorous real-world tour. The collection additionally features some never-implemented techniques and digital fighter representations among its previously unreleased material.

Interactive Gaming

Placed within the five-segment historical film's chronology are prompts to play the games themselves. At certain intervals, users can directly access a game of Mortal Kombat or a console adaptation to revisit its gameplay and visual presentation, recreated with impressive accuracy on contemporary systems.

I spent the bulk of my time experiencing the original arcade titles, particularly Mortal Kombat, Mortal Kombat 2, and Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3. Several releases here remain enjoyable, especially in local multiplayer matches. However, facing the computer-controlled adversaries in these titles is a testament to how primitive and unjust the programming was in the series' initial installments. Computer-directed fighters clearly employ dishonest tactics or are otherwise dumb as rocks. Without having someone to play against — network gaming is included in most titles in the collection, but rather basic in functionality — the experience will be incomplete.

Visual Options

The two dozen available combat games in the anthology, a blend of arcade, console, and handheld games, are faithfully recreated, though I've observed a couple minor issues — mostly input lag and intermittent errors, notably within Mortal Kombat 4. And while the games are mostly shown in their original form, developer Digital Eclipse has added several intelligent convenience enhancements and display customization choices. As an illustration, users can elect to show each character's special moves on-screen and opt to have endless periods to perform a Fatality. Also included are choices for revealing concealed combatants, without having to perform complicated methods to unlock them.

Graphically, the titles can be experienced with numerous visual enhancements and presentation styles. Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection offers very realistic effects that reproduce the traditional television screens of gaming halls or domestic TVs, or the limited color monitor of a portable gaming device. A particularly nice touch is the setting to activate arcade-like bezels framing the gameplay, with the MK game of your choice precisely and gently mirroring against the faux black plastic borders. It's quite aesthetically pleasing.

Additional Features

The collection includes numerous nice touches beyond the documentary and emulated arcade classics, containing a soundtrack mode that lets you revisit the soundtracks of different combat titles absent the noise of combatants violently defeating each other. Also present are character profiles that include bios and the various bits of lore displayed via the demo sequences of coin-op titles and conclusions.

Archival Discovery

Among the most significant features for hardcore Mortal Kombat fans is the chance to experience a example of historically missing material in the format of Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 Wavenet Edition. This specific release, a moderately improved edition of Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3, was an pioneering effort from the developer at direct online competitive gaming in coin-op establishments. The Wavenet Edition of the game is virtually identical to UMK3, but provided the ability to compete against internet adversaries and contained several small bug fixes and balance. But the Wavenet update never gained traction, in part