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The Mortal Kombat series continues to hold its share of secrets and the power to astonish, more than 30 years after its first appearance in arcades. The recent anthology including the series' initial period, comprising a quartet of arcade releases, several home system versions, and related titles, is more than just a well-emulated collection of iconic titles including less celebrated releases — it additionally serves as a detailed chronicle about the making of the iconic franchise.

Even as a lifelong enthusiast of the series who has closely monitored its development and progression, there was numerous fresh aspects for me to learn and appreciate about the series.

What Defines the Legacy Collection

Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection comparable to other vintage game anthologies from the development team Digital Eclipse, portion educational film, portion interactive museum. The collection includes simulated releases of the pioneering arcade Mortal Kombat, Mortal Kombat 2, Mortal Kombat 3, and Mortal Kombat 4, along with home system and portable adaptations of certain releases. The collection even includes the brand's experiments at spin-off titles, like action-oriented titles Mortal Kombat Mythologies: Sub-Zero and Mortal Kombat: Special Forces — some of the brand's least successful installments.

The Legacy Kollection is therefore not a greatest hits compilation, but a study of Mortal Kombat's early days, when the development team Midway and brand founders Ed Boon and John Tobias were determining how to create a combat title, produced using film material of real actors, through experimentation. Watching the documentary — containing vintage recordings, new interviews, and digital copies of vintage posters, illustrated stories, and including internal communications — it's incredible to witness how the franchise evolved from modest origins to a global sensation. It's truly remarkable to observe several young game developers, operating with virtually no plan or supervision, focus their cultural enthusiasms into creating a legendary video game series.

Educational Component

The educational segment of Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection documents the ascent of Mortal Kombat and its creators' careers at the currently closed Midway. It subsequently demonstrates how these identical developers reckoned with how to regularly outdo their previous work, experiencing considerable demand to replicate their triumphs. It serves as a compelling period piece constructed using analog films and traditional photos and pencil sketches, which demonstrate the hands-on approach of the franchise's production method and how word of mouth helped circulate its mysteries and undisclosed elements of the series in its arcade heyday. Presented in manageable segments, it's highly engaging series of documentary shorts that covers video games, graphic novels, movies and even the comical physical events. The compilation also contains some never-implemented techniques and digital fighter representations among its cutting-room-floor content.

Playable Component

Interspersed along the quintet of documentary episodes' progression are opportunities to engage with the games themselves. At certain intervals, viewers can hop into a Mortal Kombat title or one of its home console ports to revisit its gameplay and artistic style, simulated with remarkable precision on modern hardware.

I allocated the majority of my time experiencing the original arcade titles, particularly Mortal Kombat, Mortal Kombat 2, and Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3. Many of the games here hold up, particularly during direct competitive sessions. But playing against the artificial intelligence fighters in these releases is a testament to how primitive and unbalanced the coding existed in the franchise's pioneering releases. AI-managed characters clearly employ dishonest tactics or are alternatively incredibly stupid. Lacking someone to play against — online play is available in most titles in the collection, but too light on features — the experience will be incomplete.

Visual Options

The twenty-three accessible Mortal Kombat titles in the anthology, a mix of coin-op, home system, and portable titles, are faithfully recreated, though I detected a few small quirks — mainly control latency and sporadic glitches, especially with Mortal Kombat 4. And while the games are primarily displayed authentically, the development team has added several intelligent user experience improvements and display customization choices. For instance, players have the option to display fighter-specific techniques on the display and select to activate endless periods to complete lethal techniques. There are also options for accessing hidden fighters, without having to perform obscure techniques to unlock them.

Visually, the games can be played with a variety of graphical effects and display options. Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection offers very realistic options that simulate the CRT monitors of gaming halls or household displays, or the limited color monitor of a Nintendo handheld. A particularly nice touch is the option to have coin-op-inspired frames encircling the display, with the specific combat game you're playing precisely and gently mirroring against the artificial ebony plastic frames. It's quite aesthetically pleasing.

Extra Content

The collection includes numerous nice touches beyond the historical footage and recreated vintage titles, featuring an audio component that lets you revisit the soundtracks of different fighting releases without the din of two kombatants viciously slaughtering each other. Also present are combatant descriptions that feature histories and the various bits of lore presented by 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 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 coin-op establishments. The Wavenet Edition of the game is virtually identical to UMK3, but included the option to challenge online opponents and featured various slight bug fixes and balance. However, this network version failed to achieve popularity, in part