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The Mortal Kombat series still possesses numerous undisclosed elements and the capacity to surprise, over three decades after its original launch in arcades. A new collection covering the franchise's earliest days, comprising a quartet of arcade releases, several home system versions, and derivative games, is more than only a accurately simulated set of legendary games and not-so-classics — it's also a detailed chronicle about the creation of the legendary series.

Being a long-time devotee of the franchise who has carefully followed its development and progression, there was much to discover for me to understand and value about the series.

What Defines the Legacy Collection

Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection comparable to other retro collections from the development team Digital Eclipse, part historical documentation, part playable archive. The anthology contains emulated versions of the pioneering arcade Mortal Kombat, Mortal Kombat 2, Mortal Kombat 3, and Mortal Kombat 4, along with home system and portable adaptations of some of those games. This compilation also features the series' ventures at spinoffs, like combat-focused releases Mortal Kombat Mythologies: Sub-Zero and Mortal Kombat: Special Forces — some of the brand's worst entries.

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 determining how to develop a battle series, digitized from footage of real actors, as they went along. Watching the documentary — containing historical videos, contemporary discussions, and scans of old flyers, comics, and including internal communications — it's incredible to witness how the franchise evolved from modest origins to a worldwide phenomenon. It's truly remarkable to see a group of pioneering developers, working with minimal planning or supervision, direct their entertainment passions into birthing an iconic game franchise.

Historical Section

The historical documentation of Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection traces the growth of the combat franchise and its creators' careers at the no-longer-operating Midway. It further illustrates how those same creators contended with how to routinely one-up themselves, encountering significant pressure to repeat their achievements. It represents an intriguing historical record made from VHS tapes and film-based pictures and hand-drawn illustrations, which demonstrate the hands-on approach of Mortal Kombat's development and how personal recommendations helped circulate its mysteries and hidden aspects of Mortal Kombat in its arcade heyday. Presented in manageable segments, it's highly engaging series of documentary shorts that includes titles, illustrated stories, cinematic adaptations and even the silly live-action tour. It also includes some unreleased actions and digital fighter representations among its archived development assets.

Interactive Experience

Placed within the five-segment historical film's chronology are prompts to play the games themselves. During specific moments, users can directly access a combat game session or one of its home console ports to rediscover its combat system and visual presentation, emulated nearly perfectly on contemporary systems.

I dedicated most of my time engaging with the vintage coin-op games, especially Mortal Kombat, Mortal Kombat 2, and Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3. Many of the games here hold up, especially in local multiplayer matches. Yet competing with the artificial intelligence fighters in these releases is a testament to how primitive and unbalanced the coding existed in the series' initial installments. Computer-directed fighters obviously use unfair advantages or are conversely remarkably unintelligent. Lacking someone to play against — online play is available in the majority of included games, but rather basic in functionality — the experience will be incomplete.

Display Features

The twenty-three accessible Mortal Kombat titles in the compilation, a combination of coin-op, home system, and portable titles, are faithfully recreated, though I've observed a couple minor issues — mostly input lag and the occasional bug, especially with Mortal Kombat 4. And while the games are mostly shown in their original form, the creators has added several intelligent quality-of-life features and display customization choices. For instance, you can choose to display fighter-specific techniques on the display and opt to have endless periods to perform a Fatality. Also included are choices for revealing concealed combatants, eliminating the need to execute obscure techniques to unlock them.

Graphically, the titles can be enjoyed with multiple graphical effects and display options. Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection includes remarkably accurate effects that reproduce the traditional television screens of gaming halls or household displays, or the greenscale screen of a portable gaming device. An especially welcome feature is the setting to activate coin-op-inspired frames framing the gameplay, with the specific combat game you're playing precisely and gently mirroring against the simulated dark plastic edges. It's quite aesthetically pleasing.

Additional Features

The collection includes numerous welcome features besides the historical footage and recreated vintage titles, including a music player that lets you revisit the soundtracks of different fighting releases absent the noise of two kombatants viciously slaughtering each other. Additionally included are character profiles that feature histories and numerous narrative components displayed via the idle displays of gaming hall releases and endings.

Archival Discovery

Among the most significant features for dedicated series enthusiasts is the chance to experience a example of historically missing material in the format 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 head-to-head network battles in arcades. This network version of the game is virtually identical to UMK3, but featured the capability to challenge online opponents and included some minor glitch repairs and refinements. Yet this online edition never gained traction, in part