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This iconic fighting game still possesses many hidden mysteries and the ability to amaze, more than 30 years after its first appearance in coin-op establishments. This latest compilation covering the series' initial period, which includes a quartet of arcade releases, multiple console adaptations, and spinoffs, goes beyond only a accurately simulated series of classics including less celebrated releases — it's also a comprehensive historical account about the making of the legendary series.

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

What Constitutes the Historical Compilation

Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection similar to other vintage game anthologies from the creators at Digital Eclipse, part documentary, part playable archive. The collection includes 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. This compilation also features the franchise's attempts at derivative games, like combat-focused releases Mortal Kombat Mythologies: Sub-Zero and Mortal Kombat: Special Forces — among the series' worst entries.

The Legacy Kollection consequently doesn't represent a “best of” collection, but an exploration into the franchise's initial era, when the creators at Midway and franchise originators the creative duo behind the series were determining how to make a fighting game, created from video recordings of real actors, through experimentation. Watching the documentary — that features historical videos, contemporary discussions, and reproductions of classic advertisements, graphic novels, and even interoffice faxes — it's astonishing to observe how Mortal Kombat went from simple starts to a global sensation. It's truly remarkable to observe several pioneering developers, working with minimal planning or supervision, direct their entertainment passions into birthing an iconic game franchise.

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 further illustrates how these identical developers addressed how to routinely one-up themselves, facing no small amount of demand to replicate their triumphs. It serves as a compelling period piece made from analog films and film-based pictures and hand-drawn illustrations, which demonstrate the hands-on approach of the franchise's production method and how word of mouth helped disseminate its secrets and undisclosed elements of the series in its peak period in gaming halls. Presented in manageable segments, it's an eminently watchable collection of mini-documentaries that spans games, comics, films and including the humorous real-world tour. The compilation also contains some never-implemented techniques and character sprites among its archived development assets.

Interactive Experience

Placed within the quintet of documentary episodes' progression are opportunities to engage with the games themselves. During specific moments, viewers can hop into a Mortal Kombat title or a home system version to revisit its gameplay and visual presentation, recreated with impressive accuracy on modern hardware.

I dedicated most of my time playing the arcade classics, particularly Mortal Kombat, Mortal Kombat 2, and Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3. Many of the games here remain enjoyable, notably with local multiplayer matches. But playing against the computer-controlled adversaries in these titles is a demonstration of how basic and unfair the coding existed in early Mortal Kombat games. Computer-directed fighters obviously use unfair advantages or are alternatively incredibly stupid. If you don't have another person to compete with — online play is available in most titles in the collection, but somewhat limited in options — you'll be missing out.

Display Features

The twenty-three accessible Mortal Kombat titles in the anthology, a combination of gaming hall, television, and mobile releases, are precisely simulated, though I detected a few small quirks — mainly control latency and intermittent errors, particularly in Mortal Kombat 4. Even though the releases are mostly shown in their original form, developer Digital Eclipse has included some smart convenience enhancements and visual presentation options. For example, players have the option to show each character's special moves on the display and select to activate unlimited duration to complete lethal techniques. There are also options for unlocking secret characters, eliminating the need to execute complicated methods to access them.

Graphically, the titles can be played with a variety of visual enhancements and presentation styles. Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection provides highly authentic filters that mimic the cathode-ray tube displays of arcades or domestic TVs, or the greenscale screen of a Game Boy. A notably appreciated element is the choice to enable coin-op-inspired frames surrounding the screen, with the specific combat game you're playing accurately and softly reflecting against the artificial ebony plastic frames. It's very artistically charming.

Additional Features

The collection includes numerous appreciated elements beyond the historical footage and recreated vintage titles, including a music player that allows users to rediscover the music from multiple fighting releases excluding the sounds of fighters brutally eliminating opponents. There are also combatant descriptions that include bios and numerous narrative components shown through arcade games' attract mode screens and final sequences.

Historical Preservation

Among the most significant features for dedicated series enthusiasts is the opportunity to play a example of historically missing material in the guise of Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 Wavenet Edition. This version of the game, a somewhat revised iteration 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 almost exactly the same to UMK3, but featured the capability to challenge online opponents and contained several small error corrections and adjustments. However, this network version never gained traction, in part