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Mortal Kombat still possesses numerous undisclosed elements and the capacity to surprise, over three decades after its original launch in coin-op establishments. This latest compilation covering the franchise's earliest days, comprising four original arcade titles, several home system versions, and spinoffs, is more than just a well-emulated set of legendary games along with lesser-known entries — it additionally serves as a rich documentary about the making of the legendary series.

As a dedicated enthusiast of the series who has paid close attention its development and progression, there was plenty new for me to learn and appreciate about the series.

What Defines the Legacy Collection

Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection is, like other retro collections from developer Digital Eclipse, portion educational film, portion interactive museum. The collection includes emulated versions of the first 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. The collection even includes the franchise's attempts at spin-off titles, like action games Mortal Kombat Mythologies: Sub-Zero and Mortal Kombat: Special Forces — among the series' least successful installments.

The Legacy Kollection is therefore not a highlight reel anthology, but a study of the franchise's initial era, when developer Midway and brand founders Ed Boon and John Tobias were determining how to develop a battle series, created from video recordings of live performers, through experimentation. Watching the documentary — that features historical videos, contemporary discussions, and digital copies of vintage posters, 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 observe several young game developers, developing without clear direction or supervision, direct their entertainment passions into establishing an enduring gaming brand.

Documentary Portion

The historical documentation of Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection charts the rise of the combat franchise and the founders' vocational paths at the currently closed Midway. It then goes on to show how those same creators reckoned with how to consistently surpass their achievements, experiencing considerable stress to duplicate their triumphs. It represents an intriguing historical record made from video recordings and traditional photos and manual drawings, which demonstrate the hands-on approach of the series' creation process and how personal recommendations helped spread its rumors and secrets of MK in its golden era in coin-op establishments. Told in bite-sized chunks, it's thoroughly enjoyable set of brief historical films that covers video games, graphic novels, movies and even the comical physical events. It also includes some unreleased actions and game character images among its cutting-room-floor content.

Interactive Gaming

Distributed throughout the quintet of documentary episodes' progression are invitations to experience the games themselves. During specific moments, viewers can hop into a Mortal Kombat title or a home system version to reexperience its mechanics and visual presentation, simulated with remarkable precision on current technology.

I dedicated most of my time experiencing the original arcade titles, particularly Mortal Kombat, Mortal Kombat 2, and Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3. Numerous titles here hold up, especially in direct competitive sessions. Yet competing with the aforementioned game's AI-controlled opponents is a demonstration of how basic and unjust the development approached in the series' initial installments. Computer-directed fighters blatantly cheat to win or are alternatively incredibly stupid. If you don't have another person to compete with — internet multiplayer exists in most titles in the collection, but too light on features — the experience will be incomplete.

Visual Options

The two dozen available combat games in the anthology, a combination of coin-op, home system, and portable titles, are faithfully recreated, though I detected a handful slight anomalies — mostly input lag and intermittent errors, especially with Mortal Kombat 4. And while the games are primarily displayed authentically, developer Digital Eclipse has added several intelligent convenience enhancements and display customization choices. For instance, players have the option to show each character's special moves during gameplay and select to activate endless periods to execute finishing moves. Also included are choices for unlocking secret characters, without having to perform some esoteric trick to unlock them.

Artistically, the releases can be played with a variety of filters and visual treatments. Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection provides highly authentic options that simulate the CRT monitors of arcades or household displays, or the greenscale screen of a portable gaming device. A notably appreciated element is the option to have gaming hall-style borders framing the gameplay, with your selected Mortal Kombat title precisely and gently mirroring against the artificial ebony plastic frames. It's quite aesthetically pleasing.

Additional Features

There are plenty of nice touches 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. Additionally included are combatant descriptions that contain backgrounds and the various bits of lore presented by arcade games' attract mode screens and final sequences.

Archival Discovery

Among the most significant features for hardcore Mortal Kombat fans is the ability to access a example of historically missing material in the guise of Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 Wavenet Edition. This specific release, a somewhat revised iteration of Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3, was an early attempt by Midway at one-on-one internet-based play in coin-op establishments. The online-enabled release of the game is practically indistinguishable to UMK3, but provided the ability to compete against internet adversaries and included some minor glitch repairs and refinements. However, this network version failed to achieve popularity, in part