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The Mortal Kombat series continues to hold its share of secrets and the power to astonish, well past its 30th anniversary after its initial debut in arcades. The recent anthology spanning the series' initial period, featuring four original arcade titles, several home system versions, and related titles, transcends simply a faithfully reproduced series of classics and not-so-classics — it's also a comprehensive historical account about the making of the iconic franchise.

Being a long-time devotee of the franchise who has paid close attention its origins and transformation, there was numerous fresh aspects for me to discover and admire about the series.

What Constitutes the Legacy Collection

Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection comparable to previous classic compilations from the creators at Digital Eclipse, portion educational film, part playable archive. This compilation features simulated releases of the first arcade Mortal Kombat, Mortal Kombat 2, Mortal Kombat 3, and Mortal Kombat 4, along with home system and portable adaptations of several of these titles. The collection even includes the franchise's attempts at spin-off titles, like action-oriented titles Mortal Kombat Mythologies: Sub-Zero and Mortal Kombat: Special Forces — among the series' least successful installments.

The Legacy Kollection consequently doesn't represent a “best of” collection, but a study of the series' formative period, when the creators at Midway and series co-creators Ed Boon and John Tobias were figuring out how to make a fighting game, created from video recordings of live performers, on the fly. Observing the archival material — that features historical videos, new interviews, and scans of old flyers, illustrated stories, and even company memos — it's remarkable to see how Mortal Kombat went from modest origins to a global sensation. It's genuinely amazing to observe several young game developers, developing without clear direction or oversight, channel their pop-culture interests into creating a legendary video game series.

Educational Component

The historical documentation of Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection documents the ascent of the fighting series and the founders' vocational paths at the now-defunct Midway. It subsequently demonstrates how the very same individuals contended with how to consistently surpass their achievements, facing no small amount of demand to replicate their success. It represents an intriguing historical record constructed using video recordings and film-based pictures and manual drawings, which demonstrate the hands-on approach of the franchise's production method and how word of mouth helped circulate its mysteries and secrets of MK in its peak period in gaming halls. Delivered in easily digestible portions, it's highly engaging set of brief historical films that covers video games, graphic novels, movies and even the silly live-action tour. The compilation also contains some unreleased actions and character sprites among its previously unreleased material.

Interactive Experience

Placed within the five-part documentary's timeline are opportunities to engage with the actual titles. During specific moments, audience members can jump into a combat game session or one of its home console ports to reexperience its mechanics and visual presentation, recreated with impressive accuracy on modern hardware.

I allocated the majority of my time playing the arcade classics, specifically Mortal Kombat, Mortal Kombat 2, and Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3. Several releases here remain enjoyable, especially in one-on-one local play. However, facing the aforementioned game's AI-controlled opponents is a reminder of how crude and unjust the coding existed in the series' initial installments. Computer-directed fighters blatantly cheat to win or are alternatively incredibly stupid. Lacking another person to compete with — internet multiplayer exists in numerous anthology releases, but rather basic in functionality — you'll be missing out.

Technical Presentation

The two dozen available combat games in the collection, a mix of arcade, console, and handheld games, are precisely simulated, though I have noticed a few small quirks — primarily delayed responses and the occasional bug, especially with Mortal Kombat 4. And while the games are mostly shown in their original form, developer Digital Eclipse has added several intelligent convenience enhancements and visual presentation options. For instance, you can choose to display fighter-specific techniques on-screen and choose to enable endless periods to complete lethal techniques. Additionally available are settings for revealing concealed combatants, without having to perform obscure techniques to unlock them.

Graphically, the titles can be played with a variety of filters and visual treatments. Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection includes remarkably accurate options that simulate the traditional television screens of gaming halls or household displays, 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 specific combat game you're playing precisely and gently mirroring against the faux black plastic borders. It's remarkably visually appealing.

Additional Features

Players will discover multiple welcome features besides the historical footage and recreated vintage titles, including a music player that lets you revisit the music from multiple Mortal Kombat games excluding the sounds of two kombatants viciously slaughtering each other. Also present are character profiles that feature histories and the various bits of lore displayed via the idle displays of gaming hall releases and endings.

Historical Preservation

One of the biggest highlights for dedicated series enthusiasts is the chance to experience a example of historically missing material in the form 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 head-to-head network battles in coin-op establishments. The online-enabled release of the game is almost exactly the same to UMK3, but featured the capability to compete against internet adversaries and contained several small bug fixes and balance. However, this network version didn't find widespread adoption, in part