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Mortal Kombat still possesses its share of secrets and the ability to amaze, well past its 30th anniversary after its original launch in gaming halls. This latest compilation including the brand's formative years, comprising four arcade games, multiple console adaptations, and derivative games, transcends only a accurately simulated collection of iconic titles including less celebrated releases — it additionally serves as a comprehensive historical account about the making of the legendary series.

Even as a lifelong enthusiast of the series who has paid close attention its creation and evolution, there was plenty new for me to learn and appreciate about the series.

What Constitutes the Historical Compilation

Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection similar to previous classic compilations from the creators at Digital Eclipse, part historical documentation, portion interactive museum. The anthology contains emulated versions of the first arcade Mortal Kombat, Mortal Kombat 2, Mortal Kombat 3, and Mortal Kombat 4, plus console and handheld ports of certain releases. The collection even includes the brand's experiments at spinoffs, like combat-focused releases Mortal Kombat Mythologies: Sub-Zero and Mortal Kombat: Special Forces — some of the brand's most criticized releases.

The Legacy Kollection thus isn't a “best of” collection, but an examination 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 real actors, as they went along. Viewing the historical footage — that features historical videos, new interviews, and digital copies of vintage posters, graphic novels, and even company memos — it's incredible to witness how the franchise evolved from modest origins to a global sensation. It's genuinely amazing to observe several pioneering developers, working with minimal planning or supervision, direct their entertainment passions into birthing an iconic game franchise.

Educational Component

The documentary portion of Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection charts the rise of the combat franchise and the developers' professional journeys at the now-defunct Midway. It then goes on to show how the very same individuals addressed how to regularly outdo their previous work, experiencing considerable pressure to repeat their achievements. It represents an intriguing historical record constructed using VHS tapes and film-based pictures and pencil sketches, which showcase the DIY nature of Mortal Kombat's development and how oral tradition helped disseminate its secrets and undisclosed elements of the series in its peak period in gaming halls. Delivered in easily digestible portions, it's thoroughly enjoyable series of documentary shorts that includes titles, illustrated stories, cinematic adaptations and including the humorous real-world tour. The collection additionally features some unused moves and game character images among its cutting-room-floor content.

Interactive Gaming

Interspersed along the five-part documentary's timeline are invitations to experience the actual titles. During specific moments, users can directly access a combat game session or a home system version to revisit its gameplay and graphics, simulated with remarkable precision on current technology.

I allocated the majority of my time experiencing the original arcade titles, specifically Mortal Kombat, Mortal Kombat 2, and Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3. Numerous titles here stand the test of time, particularly during direct competitive sessions. But playing against the aforementioned game's AI-controlled opponents is a testament to how primitive and unbalanced the development approached in the series' initial installments. CPU-controlled opponents blatantly cheat to win or are otherwise dumb as rocks. Without having a human opponent — online play is available in numerous anthology releases, but somewhat limited in options — the experience will be incomplete.

Display Features

The 23 playable Mortal Kombat games in the compilation, a mix of coin-op, home system, and portable titles, are faithfully recreated, though I've observed a handful slight anomalies — mainly control latency and the occasional bug, notably within Mortal Kombat 4. Even though the releases are primarily displayed authentically, developer Digital Eclipse has included some smart user experience improvements and graphical adjustment settings. For example, players have the option to reveal combatant-unique actions during gameplay and choose to enable unlimited duration to perform a Fatality. Additionally available are settings for revealing concealed combatants, removing the requirement to complete complicated methods to unlock them.

Graphically, the titles can be enjoyed with multiple visual enhancements and presentation styles. Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection provides highly authentic filters that mimic the cathode-ray tube displays of coin-op establishments or home televisions, or the greenscale screen of a portable gaming device. A particularly nice touch is the choice to enable coin-op-inspired frames surrounding the screen, with your selected Mortal Kombat title accurately and softly reflecting against the faux black plastic borders. It's very artistically charming.

Extra Content

The collection includes numerous appreciated elements beyond the documentary and emulated arcade classics, featuring an audio component that lets you revisit the music from multiple combat titles without the din of two kombatants viciously slaughtering each other. Additionally included are fighter biographies that contain backgrounds and multiple story elements presented by arcade games' attract mode screens and conclusions.

Lost Media Recovery

A particularly notable inclusion for hardcore Mortal Kombat fans is the ability to access a example of historically missing material in the format of Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 Wavenet Edition. This particular edition, a moderately improved edition of Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3, was an pioneering effort from the developer at one-on-one internet-based play in arcades. The online-enabled release of the game is practically indistinguishable to UMK3, but provided the ability to compete against internet adversaries and contained several small bug fixes and balance. However, this network version didn't find widespread adoption, in part