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Mortal Kombat continues to hold many hidden mysteries and the power to astonish, over three decades after its initial debut in coin-op establishments. A new collection including the brand's formative years, comprising four original arcade titles, multiple console adaptations, and spinoffs, goes beyond only a accurately simulated series of classics and not-so-classics — it's also a comprehensive historical account about the development of the legendary series.

Being a long-time Mortal Kombat fan who has closely monitored its origins and transformation, there was much to discover for me to discover and admire about the series.

What Constitutes the Legacy Collection

Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection comparable to other retro collections from developer Digital Eclipse, part documentary, section playable historical record. The anthology contains simulated releases of the original arcade Mortal Kombat, Mortal Kombat 2, Mortal Kombat 3, and Mortal Kombat 4, along with home system and portable adaptations of several of these titles. This compilation also features the brand's experiments 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 examination of Mortal Kombat's early days, when the development team Midway and series co-creators the creative duo behind the series were figuring out how to create a combat title, produced using film material of live performers, as they went along. Viewing the historical footage — containing archival footage, recent conversations, and reproductions of classic advertisements, comics, and even company memos — it's astonishing to observe how Mortal Kombat went from modest origins to a international craze. It's truly remarkable to watch a handful of pioneering developers, operating with virtually no plan or guidance, channel their pop-culture interests into birthing an iconic game franchise.

Educational Component

The documentary portion of Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection charts the rise of the combat franchise and the founders' vocational paths at the currently closed Midway. It further illustrates how the very same individuals reckoned with how to routinely one-up themselves, encountering significant demand to replicate their success. It's a fascinating time capsule constructed using VHS tapes and traditional photos and hand-drawn illustrations, which showcase the DIY nature of the franchise's production method and how word of mouth helped spread its rumors and hidden aspects of Mortal Kombat in its peak period in gaming halls. Told in bite-sized chunks, it's highly engaging collection of mini-documentaries that covers video games, graphic novels, movies and including the humorous real-world tour. It also includes some unreleased actions and digital fighter representations among its previously unreleased material.

Interactive Experience

Placed within the five-segment historical film's chronology are prompts to play the games themselves. At various points, audience members can jump into a combat game session or a home system version to revisit its gameplay and graphics, simulated with remarkable precision on modern hardware.

I allocated the majority of my time experiencing the original arcade titles, especially Mortal Kombat, Mortal Kombat 2, and Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3. Several releases here stand the test of time, particularly during one-on-one local play. Yet competing with the computer-controlled adversaries in these titles is a testament to how primitive and unfair the programming was in the franchise's pioneering releases. AI-managed characters blatantly cheat to win or are alternatively incredibly stupid. Lacking a human opponent — online play is available in most titles in the collection, but too light on features — you'll be missing out.

Display Features

The twenty-three accessible Mortal Kombat titles in the anthology, a mix of arcade, console, and handheld games, are precisely simulated, though I detected a few small quirks — primarily delayed responses and intermittent errors, particularly in Mortal Kombat 4. Although the titles are primarily displayed authentically, developer Digital Eclipse has incorporated various clever convenience enhancements and visual presentation options. For example, users can elect to show each character's special moves on-screen and choose to enable endless periods to complete lethal techniques. There are also options for accessing hidden fighters, removing the requirement to complete complicated methods to access them.

Artistically, the releases can be enjoyed with multiple filters and visual treatments. Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection offers very realistic options that simulate the CRT monitors of coin-op establishments or home televisions, or the limited color monitor of a Nintendo handheld. An especially welcome feature is the option to have gaming hall-style borders framing the gameplay, with the specific combat game you're playing accurately and softly reflecting against the artificial ebony plastic frames. It's remarkably visually appealing.

Extra Content

There are plenty of welcome features besides the historical footage and recreated vintage titles, including a music player that enables players to reexperience the tunes of various fighting releases absent the noise of combatants violently defeating each other. Additionally included are fighter biographies that contain backgrounds and multiple story elements shown through the demo sequences of coin-op titles and endings.

Historical Preservation

One of the biggest highlights for hardcore Mortal Kombat fans is the opportunity to play a example of historically missing material in the form of Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 Wavenet Edition. This particular edition, a somewhat revised iteration of Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3, was an pioneering effort from the developer at head-to-head network battles in arcades. This network version of the game is practically indistinguishable to UMK3, but provided the ability to battle network competitors and included some minor bug fixes and balance. However, this network version didn't find widespread adoption, in part