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Mortal Kombat still possesses many hidden mysteries and the power to astonish, well past its 30th anniversary after its initial debut in gaming halls. A new collection covering the brand's formative years, comprising four arcade games, several home system versions, and derivative games, transcends only a accurately simulated series of classics including less celebrated releases — it additionally serves as a comprehensive historical account about the development of the renowned brand.

As a dedicated Mortal Kombat fan who has carefully followed its development and progression, there was plenty new for me to learn and appreciate about the series.

What Makes the Legacy Kollection

Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection comparable to other retro collections from developer Digital Eclipse, part documentary, portion interactive museum. The anthology contains digitally recreated editions of the pioneering arcade Mortal Kombat, Mortal Kombat 2, Mortal Kombat 3, and Mortal Kombat 4, plus console and handheld ports of some of those games. The anthology additionally contains the series' ventures at spin-off titles, like action games Mortal Kombat Mythologies: Sub-Zero and Mortal Kombat: Special Forces — two of the franchise's worst entries.

The Legacy Kollection thus isn't a “best of” collection, but an examination of Mortal Kombat's early days, when the creators at Midway and brand founders Ed Boon and John Tobias were determining how to make a fighting game, digitized from footage of live performers, on the fly. Watching the documentary — containing archival footage, contemporary discussions, and digital copies of vintage posters, graphic novels, and even interoffice faxes — it's remarkable to see how the series transformed from modest origins to a global sensation. It's truly remarkable to see a group of pioneering developers, working with minimal planning or oversight, direct their entertainment passions into establishing an enduring gaming brand.

Historical Section

The educational segment of Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection charts the rise of the combat franchise and the developers' professional journeys at the currently closed Midway. It further illustrates how those same creators reckoned with how to regularly outdo their previous work, facing no small amount of pressure to repeat their achievements. It's a fascinating time capsule made from VHS tapes and film-based pictures and pencil sketches, which reveal the self-made character of the franchise's production method and how word of mouth helped spread its rumors and secrets of MK in its peak period in gaming halls. Presented in manageable segments, it's an eminently watchable series of documentary shorts that includes titles, illustrated stories, cinematic adaptations and including the humorous real-world tour. The collection additionally features some unreleased actions and character sprites among its archived development assets.

Interactive Experience

Interspersed along the five-segment historical film's chronology are invitations to experience the games themselves. At certain intervals, users can directly access a game of Mortal Kombat or a console adaptation to reexperience its mechanics and visual presentation, recreated with impressive accuracy on current technology.

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 remain enjoyable, especially in one-on-one local play. Yet competing with the artificial intelligence fighters in these releases is a demonstration of how basic and unjust the coding existed in the franchise's pioneering releases. Computer-directed fighters clearly employ dishonest tactics or are alternatively incredibly stupid. Without having another person to compete with — online play is available in numerous anthology releases, but too light on features — the experience will be incomplete.

Display Features

The two dozen available combat games in the collection, a mix of gaming hall, television, and mobile releases, are faithfully recreated, though I detected a few small quirks — primarily delayed responses and sporadic glitches, especially with Mortal Kombat 4. Even though the releases are mostly shown in their original form, developer Digital Eclipse has added several intelligent convenience enhancements and visual presentation options. As an illustration, users can elect to show each character's special moves during gameplay and select to activate unlimited duration to complete lethal techniques. Also included are choices for accessing hidden fighters, removing the requirement to complete obscure techniques to unlock them.

Artistically, the releases can be played with a variety of filters and visual treatments. Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection offers very realistic filters that mimic the CRT monitors of coin-op establishments or home televisions, or the monochrome green display of a Nintendo handheld. An especially welcome feature is the option to have arcade-like bezels 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.

Bonus Elements

The collection includes numerous nice touches beyond the educational material and simulated classic games, containing a soundtrack mode that allows users to rediscover the tunes of various Mortal Kombat games excluding the sounds of fighters brutally eliminating opponents. There are also fighter biographies that feature histories and numerous narrative components displayed via the idle displays of gaming hall releases and final sequences.

Lost Media Recovery

A particularly notable inclusion for committed franchise followers is the ability to access a piece of "lost media" in the format of Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 Wavenet Edition. This particular edition, a slightly updated version of Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3, was an pioneering effort from the developer at direct online competitive gaming in gaming halls. The Wavenet Edition of the game is virtually identical to UMK3, but provided the ability to battle network competitors and featured various slight bug fixes and balance. But the Wavenet update didn't find widespread adoption, in part