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Mortal Kombat still possesses its share of secrets and the power to astonish, over three decades after its original launch in arcades. A new collection spanning the series' initial period, which includes four original arcade titles, several home system versions, and related titles, is more than just a well-emulated set of legendary games including less celebrated releases — it functions as a rich documentary about the making of the iconic franchise.

As a dedicated devotee of the franchise who has carefully followed its development and progression, there was numerous fresh aspects for me to discover and admire about the series.

What Makes the Legacy Collection

Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection is, like previous classic compilations from the development team Digital Eclipse, part historical documentation, section playable historical record. The anthology contains simulated releases of the pioneering arcade Mortal Kombat, Mortal Kombat 2, Mortal Kombat 3, and Mortal Kombat 4, including television and mobile versions of some of those games. The anthology additionally contains the series' ventures at spinoffs, like combat-focused releases Mortal Kombat Mythologies: Sub-Zero and Mortal Kombat: Special Forces — among the series' most criticized releases.

The Legacy Kollection is therefore not a highlight reel anthology, but an examination of the series' formative period, when the development team Midway and series co-creators the creative duo behind the series were figuring out how to develop a battle series, digitized from footage of actual people, through experimentation. Observing the archival material — which includes vintage recordings, contemporary discussions, and digital copies of vintage posters, graphic novels, and even interoffice faxes — it's incredible to witness how the series transformed from modest origins to a international craze. It's genuinely amazing to observe several early video game creators, developing without clear direction or supervision, channel their pop-culture interests into establishing an enduring gaming brand.

Documentary Portion

The educational segment of Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection documents the ascent of the combat franchise and the developers' professional journeys at the currently closed Midway. It further illustrates how those same creators addressed how to consistently surpass their achievements, experiencing considerable stress to duplicate their triumphs. It represents an intriguing historical record constructed using video recordings and traditional photos and hand-drawn illustrations, which reveal the self-made character of Mortal Kombat's development and how word of mouth helped circulate its mysteries and secrets of MK in its arcade heyday. Presented in manageable segments, it's thoroughly enjoyable series of documentary shorts that spans games, comics, films and even the comical physical events. The compilation also contains some unused moves and digital fighter representations among its archived development assets.

Interactive Gaming

Distributed throughout the quintet of documentary episodes' progression are prompts to play the actual titles. At various points, users can directly access a Mortal Kombat title or a console adaptation to reexperience its mechanics and graphics, emulated nearly perfectly on current technology.

I allocated the majority of my time experiencing the original arcade titles, specifically Mortal Kombat, Mortal Kombat 2, and Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3. Several releases here remain enjoyable, notably with direct competitive sessions. However, facing the artificial intelligence fighters in these releases is a demonstration of how basic and unfair the programming was in the franchise's pioneering releases. Computer-directed fighters obviously use unfair advantages or are conversely remarkably unintelligent. If you don't have a human opponent — internet multiplayer exists in most titles in the collection, but too light on features — you'll miss the full enjoyment.

Technical Presentation

The 23 playable Mortal Kombat games in the compilation, a blend of coin-op, home system, and portable titles, are precisely simulated, though I've observed a handful slight anomalies — mostly input lag and the occasional bug, notably within Mortal Kombat 4. Even though the releases are primarily displayed authentically, the creators has included some smart user experience improvements and visual presentation options. For example, players have the option to show each character's special moves on-screen and choose to enable endless periods to complete lethal techniques. Additionally available are settings for revealing concealed combatants, without having to perform some esoteric trick to access them.

Artistically, the releases can be played with a variety of 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 monochrome green display of a Nintendo handheld. An especially welcome feature is the setting to activate coin-op-inspired frames encircling the display, with your selected Mortal Kombat title faithfully and subtly duplicating against the faux black plastic borders. It's remarkably visually appealing.

Bonus Elements

There are plenty of nice touches beyond the documentary and emulated arcade classics, including a music player that allows users to rediscover the soundtracks of different combat titles absent the noise of combatants violently defeating each other. There are also fighter biographies that include bios and the various bits of lore shown through the demo sequences of coin-op titles and conclusions.

Lost Media Recovery

Among the most significant features for hardcore Mortal Kombat fans is the ability to access a example of historically missing material in the form of Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 Wavenet Edition. This version of the game, a slightly updated version of Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3, was an pioneering effort from the developer at one-on-one internet-based play in arcades. This network version of the game is virtually identical to UMK3, but provided the ability to compete against internet adversaries and included some minor bug fixes and balance. However, this network version didn't find widespread adoption, in part