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This iconic fighting game continues to hold numerous undisclosed elements and the power to astonish, well past its 30th anniversary after its first appearance in coin-op establishments. A new collection covering the series' initial period, comprising four original arcade titles, various home ports, and derivative games, is more than simply a faithfully reproduced collection of iconic titles along with lesser-known entries — it additionally serves as a detailed chronicle about the development of the iconic franchise.

Being a long-time enthusiast of the series who has carefully followed its development and progression, there was numerous fresh aspects for me to learn and appreciate about the series.

What Makes the Historical Compilation

Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection is, like other vintage game anthologies from the development team Digital Eclipse, part historical documentation, portion interactive museum. The collection includes simulated releases of the original arcade Mortal Kombat, Mortal Kombat 2, Mortal Kombat 3, and Mortal Kombat 4, plus console and handheld ports of several of these titles. This compilation also features 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 a study of the series' formative period, when the creators at Midway and brand founders Ed Boon and John Tobias were figuring out how to develop a battle series, digitized from footage of real actors, as they went along. Observing the archival material — containing vintage recordings, contemporary discussions, and scans of old flyers, illustrated stories, and including internal communications — it's remarkable to see how Mortal Kombat went from simple starts to a international craze. It's genuinely amazing to observe several pioneering developers, developing without clear direction or supervision, channel their pop-culture interests into creating a legendary video game series.

Historical Section

The historical documentation of Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection documents the ascent of the fighting series and its creators' careers at the no-longer-operating Midway. It subsequently demonstrates how these identical developers contended with how to consistently surpass their achievements, encountering significant pressure to repeat their triumphs. It serves as a compelling period piece composed of VHS tapes and analog photographs 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 arcade heyday. Presented in manageable segments, it's highly engaging series of documentary shorts that covers video games, graphic novels, movies and even the silly live-action tour. It also includes some never-implemented techniques and character sprites among its cutting-room-floor content.

Playable Component

Interspersed along the five-segment historical film's chronology are invitations to experience the games themselves. At various points, users can directly access a Mortal Kombat title or one of its home console ports to rediscover its combat system and artistic style, 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. Several releases here remain enjoyable, notably with direct competitive sessions. However, facing the computer-controlled adversaries in these titles is a testament to how primitive and unjust the development approached in the franchise's pioneering releases. Computer-directed fighters blatantly cheat to win or are alternatively incredibly stupid. If you don't have another person to compete with — network gaming is included in the majority of included games, but somewhat limited in options — the experience will be incomplete.

Visual Options

The two dozen available combat games in the collection, a blend of coin-op, home system, and portable titles, are precisely simulated, though I've observed a handful slight anomalies — mainly control latency and the occasional bug, especially with Mortal Kombat 4. And while the games are largely presented as-is, the development team has included some smart user experience improvements and visual presentation options. As an illustration, players have the option to show each character's special moves on the display and choose to enable infinite time to complete lethal techniques. Also included are choices for revealing concealed combatants, removing the requirement to complete obscure techniques to obtain them.

Graphically, the titles can be played with a variety of visual enhancements and presentation styles. Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection includes remarkably accurate filters that mimic the traditional television screens of coin-op establishments or home televisions, or the monochrome green display of a portable gaming device. A particularly nice touch is the setting to activate arcade-like bezels framing the gameplay, with your selected Mortal Kombat title faithfully and subtly duplicating against the artificial ebony plastic frames. It's quite aesthetically pleasing.

Additional Features

There are plenty of nice touches beyond the educational material and simulated classic games, containing a soundtrack mode that lets you revisit the soundtracks of different fighting releases excluding the sounds of fighters brutally eliminating opponents. Also present are fighter biographies that contain backgrounds and multiple story elements shown through the idle displays of gaming hall releases and conclusions.

Historical Preservation

One of the biggest highlights for dedicated series enthusiasts is the chance to experience a example of historically missing material in the guise of Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 Wavenet Edition. This specific release, a slightly updated version 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 almost exactly the same to UMK3, but included the option to battle network competitors and contained several small error corrections and adjustments. But the Wavenet update failed to achieve popularity, in part