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This iconic fighting game continues to hold its share of secrets and the capacity to surprise, over three decades after its initial debut in arcades. A new collection spanning the franchise's earliest days, comprising a quartet of arcade releases, several home system versions, and spinoffs, is more than simply a faithfully reproduced set of legendary games along with lesser-known entries — it functions as a detailed chronicle about the development of the legendary series.

Even as a lifelong devotee of the franchise who has carefully followed its creation and evolution, there was plenty new for me to discover and admire about the series.

What Makes the Legacy Kollection

Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection comparable to previous classic compilations from developer Digital Eclipse, portion educational film, portion interactive museum. This compilation features 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 certain releases. The collection even includes the franchise's attempts at derivative games, like action games Mortal Kombat Mythologies: Sub-Zero and Mortal Kombat: Special Forces — some of the brand's worst entries.

The Legacy Kollection consequently doesn't represent a “best of” collection, but an exploration into Mortal Kombat's early days, when the development team Midway and series co-creators the visionary developers were discovering methods to make a fighting game, created from video recordings of real actors, through experimentation. Observing the archival material — which includes archival footage, recent conversations, and digital copies of vintage posters, graphic novels, and even interoffice faxes — it's remarkable to see how Mortal Kombat went from humble beginnings to a global sensation. It's genuinely amazing to observe several young game developers, working with minimal planning or guidance, direct their entertainment passions into birthing an iconic game franchise.

Documentary Portion

The historical documentation of Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection traces the growth of the fighting series and the founders' vocational paths at the no-longer-operating Midway. It subsequently demonstrates how the very same individuals contended with how to regularly outdo their previous work, experiencing considerable stress to duplicate their achievements. It represents an intriguing historical record constructed using VHS tapes and analog photographs and pencil sketches, which demonstrate the hands-on approach of Mortal Kombat's development and how oral tradition helped spread its rumors and hidden aspects of Mortal Kombat in its peak period in gaming halls. Told in bite-sized chunks, it's highly engaging series of documentary shorts that includes titles, illustrated stories, cinematic adaptations and even the comical physical events. The collection additionally features some unused moves and digital fighter representations among its archived development assets.

Interactive Gaming

Placed within the quintet of documentary episodes' progression are prompts to play the original releases. At various points, users can directly access a Mortal Kombat title or a console adaptation to revisit its gameplay and graphics, simulated with remarkable precision on contemporary systems.

I dedicated most of my time engaging with the vintage coin-op games, specifically Mortal Kombat, Mortal Kombat 2, and Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3. Several releases here hold up, especially in local multiplayer matches. Yet competing with the aforementioned game's AI-controlled opponents is a demonstration of how basic and unjust the programming was in early Mortal Kombat games. AI-managed characters blatantly cheat to win or are otherwise dumb as rocks. Without having someone to play against — network gaming is included in numerous anthology releases, but somewhat limited in options — you'll be missing out.

Technical Presentation

The 23 playable Mortal Kombat games in the collection, a blend of coin-op, home system, and portable titles, are precisely simulated, though I have noticed a handful slight anomalies — primarily delayed responses and the occasional bug, especially with Mortal Kombat 4. Although the titles are primarily displayed authentically, developer Digital Eclipse has included some smart quality-of-life features and visual presentation options. For instance, you can choose to show each character's special moves during gameplay and opt to have endless periods to perform a Fatality. There are also options for unlocking secret characters, removing the requirement to complete complicated methods to obtain them.

Artistically, the releases can be played with a variety of visual enhancements and presentation styles. Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection includes remarkably accurate filters that mimic the cathode-ray tube displays of coin-op establishments or home televisions, or the greenscale screen of a Game Boy. A notably appreciated element is the option to have coin-op-inspired frames surrounding the screen, 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 welcome features besides the historical footage and recreated vintage titles, containing a soundtrack mode that enables players to reexperience the tunes of various fighting releases excluding the sounds of fighters brutally eliminating opponents. Also present are character profiles that contain backgrounds and multiple story elements shown through the idle displays of gaming hall releases and endings.

Archival Discovery

Among the most significant features for dedicated series enthusiasts is the opportunity to play a segment of previously unavailable content in the guise of Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 Wavenet Edition. This specific release, a somewhat revised iteration of Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3, was an initial venture by the company at one-on-one internet-based play in arcades. The Wavenet Edition of the game is virtually identical to UMK3, but featured the capability to challenge online opponents and featured various slight bug fixes and balance. However, this network version didn't find widespread adoption, in part