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The Mortal Kombat series still possesses numerous undisclosed elements and the power to astonish, more than 30 years after its original launch in coin-op establishments. The recent anthology spanning the series' initial period, which includes four arcade games, several home system versions, and related titles, is more than only a accurately simulated collection of iconic titles along with lesser-known entries — it functions as a rich documentary about the creation of the renowned brand.

Even as a lifelong devotee of the franchise who has paid close attention its creation and evolution, there was numerous fresh aspects for me to understand and value about the series.

What Defines the Legacy Kollection

Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection comparable to other vintage game anthologies from developer Digital Eclipse, part historical documentation, part playable archive. The anthology contains 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 anthology additionally contains 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 thus isn't a “best of” collection, but an exploration into the series' formative period, when developer Midway and brand founders the visionary developers were figuring out how to develop a battle series, produced using film material of actual people, on the fly. Observing the archival material — that features vintage recordings, contemporary discussions, and reproductions of classic advertisements, graphic novels, and even interoffice faxes — it's astonishing to observe how the series transformed from modest origins to a international craze. It's truly remarkable to see a group of early video game creators, developing without clear direction or guidance, direct their entertainment passions into birthing an iconic game franchise.

Documentary Portion

The historical documentation of Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection documents the ascent of the combat franchise and its creators' careers at the currently closed Midway. It then goes on to show how these identical developers reckoned with how to regularly outdo their previous work, experiencing considerable demand to replicate their achievements. It's a fascinating time capsule constructed using analog films and film-based pictures and manual drawings, which reveal the self-made character of the series' creation process and how word of mouth helped circulate its mysteries and hidden aspects of Mortal Kombat in its peak period in gaming halls. Presented in manageable segments, it's thoroughly enjoyable collection of mini-documentaries that spans games, comics, films and even the comical physical events. It also includes some never-implemented techniques and game character images among its cutting-room-floor content.

Interactive Experience

Distributed throughout the five-part documentary's timeline are invitations to experience the actual titles. At various points, viewers can hop into a Mortal Kombat title or one of its home console ports to reexperience its mechanics and graphics, recreated with impressive accuracy on current technology.

I dedicated most of my time experiencing the original arcade titles, specifically Mortal Kombat, Mortal Kombat 2, and Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3. Many of the games here hold up, notably with one-on-one local play. But playing against the computer-controlled adversaries in these titles is a demonstration of how basic and unjust the development approached in early Mortal Kombat games. Computer-directed fighters clearly employ dishonest tactics or are conversely remarkably unintelligent. If you don't have a human opponent — online play is available in the majority of included games, but too light on features — you'll be missing out.

Technical Presentation

The two dozen available combat games in the anthology, a combination of arcade, console, and handheld games, are faithfully recreated, though I've observed a handful slight anomalies — primarily delayed responses and intermittent errors, notably within Mortal Kombat 4. Although the titles are mostly shown in their original form, developer Digital Eclipse has included some smart user experience improvements and display customization choices. For example, you can choose to reveal combatant-unique actions on the display and opt to have unlimited duration to complete lethal techniques. Also included are choices for revealing concealed combatants, removing the requirement to complete obscure techniques to obtain them.

Graphically, the titles can be experienced with numerous filters and visual treatments. Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection provides highly authentic options that simulate the traditional television screens of coin-op establishments or home televisions, or the limited color monitor of a portable gaming device. An especially welcome feature is the option to have coin-op-inspired frames surrounding the screen, with your selected Mortal Kombat title faithfully and subtly duplicating against the artificial ebony plastic frames. It's remarkably visually appealing.

Bonus Elements

There are plenty of nice touches beyond the historical footage and recreated vintage titles, featuring an audio component that allows users to rediscover the tunes of various Mortal Kombat games excluding the sounds of combatants violently defeating each other. There are also combatant descriptions that include bios and numerous narrative components displayed via arcade games' attract mode screens and conclusions.

Archival Discovery

A particularly notable inclusion for hardcore Mortal Kombat fans is the opportunity to play a segment of previously unavailable content 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 coin-op establishments. The online-enabled release of the game is practically indistinguishable to UMK3, but included the option to challenge online opponents and featured various slight error corrections and adjustments. But the Wavenet update failed to achieve popularity, in part