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The Mortal Kombat series 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 spanning the franchise's earliest days, which includes a quartet of arcade releases, several home system versions, and related titles, goes beyond just a well-emulated collection of iconic titles along with lesser-known entries — it additionally serves as a detailed chronicle about the development of the iconic franchise.

Even as a lifelong enthusiast of the series who has closely monitored its development and progression, there was much to discover for me to discover and admire about the series.

What Defines the Legacy Kollection

Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection similar to other retro collections from the development team Digital Eclipse, part historical documentation, part playable archive. The anthology contains emulated versions 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 brand's experiments 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 highlight reel anthology, but an exploration into the series' formative period, when the development team Midway and brand founders Ed Boon and John Tobias were figuring out how to make a fighting game, created from video recordings of live performers, as they went along. Viewing the historical footage — that features archival footage, contemporary discussions, and reproductions of classic advertisements, graphic novels, and including internal communications — it's incredible to witness how Mortal Kombat went from simple starts to a international craze. It's truly remarkable to see a group of young game developers, developing without clear direction or oversight, channel their pop-culture interests into establishing an enduring gaming brand.

Educational Component

The documentary portion of Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection documents the ascent of the combat franchise and the developers' professional journeys at the no-longer-operating Midway. It subsequently demonstrates how those same creators contended with how to consistently surpass their achievements, encountering significant stress to duplicate their triumphs. It serves as a compelling period piece composed of video recordings and analog photographs and pencil sketches, which reveal the self-made character of the franchise's production method and how personal recommendations helped circulate its mysteries and undisclosed elements of the series in its arcade heyday. Delivered in easily digestible portions, it's an eminently watchable collection of mini-documentaries that spans games, comics, films and including the humorous real-world tour. The collection additionally features some unused moves and game character images among its cutting-room-floor content.

Interactive Gaming

Placed within the quintet of documentary episodes' progression are prompts to play the original releases. At certain intervals, audience members can jump into a Mortal Kombat title or a home system version to revisit its gameplay and visual presentation, simulated with remarkable precision 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, notably with local multiplayer matches. Yet competing with the artificial intelligence fighters in these releases is a demonstration of how basic and unfair the development approached in the series' initial installments. Computer-directed fighters obviously use unfair advantages or are conversely remarkably unintelligent. If you don't have another person to compete with — network gaming is included in most titles in the collection, but somewhat limited in options — you'll be missing out.

Technical Presentation

The two dozen available combat games in the anthology, a blend of gaming hall, television, and mobile releases, are precisely simulated, though I detected a couple minor issues — mainly control latency and sporadic glitches, particularly in Mortal Kombat 4. Although the titles are mostly shown in their original form, developer Digital Eclipse has added several intelligent convenience enhancements and graphical adjustment settings. For example, you can choose to display fighter-specific techniques on-screen and opt to have infinite time to execute finishing moves. There are also options for unlocking secret characters, removing the requirement to complete some esoteric trick to access them.

Graphically, the titles can be played with a variety of graphical effects and display options. Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection offers very realistic effects that reproduce the cathode-ray tube displays of coin-op establishments or home televisions, or the monochrome green display of a portable gaming device. An especially welcome feature is the setting to activate coin-op-inspired frames encircling the display, with the specific combat game you're playing accurately and softly reflecting against the faux black plastic borders. It's remarkably visually appealing.

Additional Features

The collection includes numerous appreciated elements beyond the documentary and emulated arcade classics, including a music player that allows users to rediscover the music from multiple fighting releases excluding the sounds of two kombatants viciously slaughtering each other. There are also character profiles that contain backgrounds and the various bits of lore displayed via the idle displays of gaming hall releases and conclusions.

Historical Preservation

Among the most significant features for hardcore Mortal Kombat fans is the opportunity to play a segment of previously unavailable content in the guise 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 gaming halls. This network version of the game is practically indistinguishable to UMK3, but featured the capability to battle network competitors and included some minor glitch repairs and refinements. But the Wavenet update didn't find widespread adoption, in part