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Mortal Kombat retains its share of secrets and the power to astonish, well past its 30th anniversary after its initial debut in coin-op establishments. This latest compilation spanning the series' initial period, which includes four original arcade titles, various home ports, and spinoffs, transcends simply a faithfully reproduced set of legendary games and not-so-classics — it functions as a detailed chronicle about the creation of the renowned brand.

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

What Defines the Legacy Kollection

Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection similar to other vintage game anthologies from developer Digital Eclipse, part historical documentation, portion interactive museum. This compilation features digitally recreated editions of the original 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 series' ventures at derivative games, like action games 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 the series' formative period, when the creators at Midway and franchise originators the visionary developers were figuring out how to create a combat title, digitized from footage of live performers, through experimentation. Observing the archival material — that features archival footage, contemporary discussions, and scans of old flyers, comics, and even interoffice faxes — it's incredible to witness how Mortal Kombat went from humble beginnings to a worldwide phenomenon. It's truly remarkable to watch a handful of pioneering developers, operating with virtually no plan or guidance, channel their pop-culture interests into establishing an enduring gaming brand.

Educational Component

The historical documentation of Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection documents the ascent of the combat franchise and the founders' vocational paths at the now-defunct Midway. It then goes on to show how these identical developers reckoned with how to routinely one-up themselves, experiencing considerable pressure to repeat their achievements. It represents an intriguing historical record made from video recordings and analog photographs and hand-drawn illustrations, which reveal the self-made character of the series' creation process and how personal recommendations helped disseminate its secrets and undisclosed elements of the series in its golden era in coin-op establishments. Presented in manageable segments, it's thoroughly enjoyable collection of mini-documentaries that spans games, comics, films and even the silly live-action tour. The collection additionally features some unused moves and character sprites among its previously unreleased material.

Interactive Experience

Placed within the quintet of documentary episodes' progression are prompts to play the original releases. At various points, users can directly access a combat game session or a home system version to rediscover its combat system and graphics, emulated nearly perfectly on contemporary systems.

I dedicated most of my time experiencing the original arcade titles, particularly Mortal Kombat, Mortal Kombat 2, and Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3. Several releases here hold up, particularly during one-on-one local play. But playing against the aforementioned game's AI-controlled opponents is a demonstration of how basic and unjust the programming was in the franchise's pioneering releases. Computer-directed fighters obviously use unfair advantages or are otherwise dumb as rocks. Lacking another person to compete with — online play is available in numerous anthology releases, but too light on features — you'll miss the full enjoyment.

Display Features

The twenty-three accessible Mortal Kombat titles in the compilation, a blend of gaming hall, television, and mobile releases, are precisely simulated, though I've observed a couple minor issues — mainly control latency and intermittent errors, especially with Mortal Kombat 4. And while the games are largely presented as-is, developer Digital Eclipse has included some smart quality-of-life features and display customization choices. For instance, users can elect to reveal combatant-unique actions during gameplay and choose to enable infinite time to execute finishing moves. Also included are choices for accessing hidden fighters, without having to perform complicated methods to unlock them.

Visually, the games can be experienced with numerous filters and visual treatments. Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection offers very realistic options that simulate the CRT monitors of gaming halls or household displays, or the limited color monitor of a Game Boy. A particularly nice touch 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 faux black plastic borders. It's quite aesthetically pleasing.

Bonus Elements

There are plenty of appreciated elements beyond the documentary and emulated arcade classics, including a music player that lets you revisit the soundtracks of different Mortal Kombat games without the din of two kombatants viciously slaughtering each other. Also present are character profiles that contain backgrounds and multiple story elements displayed via the idle displays of gaming hall releases and conclusions.

Historical Preservation

One of the biggest highlights for committed franchise followers 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 somewhat revised iteration of Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3, was an initial venture by the company at direct online competitive gaming in gaming halls. The Wavenet Edition of the game is practically indistinguishable to UMK3, but included the option to challenge online opponents and featured various slight error corrections and adjustments. Yet this online edition failed to achieve popularity, in part