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The Mortal Kombat series retains many hidden mysteries and the power to astonish, more than 30 years after its first appearance in coin-op establishments. The recent anthology including the brand's formative years, featuring a quartet of arcade releases, multiple console adaptations, and spinoffs, is more than just a well-emulated collection of iconic titles and not-so-classics — it functions as a comprehensive historical account about the development of the legendary series.

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

What Makes the Historical Compilation

Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection similar to other vintage game anthologies from the development team Digital Eclipse, part documentary, portion interactive museum. The anthology contains emulated versions 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 franchise's attempts at spin-off titles, like combat-focused releases Mortal Kombat Mythologies: Sub-Zero and Mortal Kombat: Special Forces — two of the franchise's most criticized releases.

The Legacy Kollection thus isn't a highlight reel anthology, but an examination of Mortal Kombat's early days, when the creators at Midway and brand founders Ed Boon and John Tobias were figuring out how to make a fighting game, created from video recordings of real actors, as they went along. Observing the archival material — which includes historical videos, contemporary discussions, and digital copies of vintage posters, comics, and even interoffice faxes — it's astonishing to observe how Mortal Kombat went from modest origins to a global sensation. It's truly remarkable to observe several early video game creators, working with minimal planning or oversight, direct their entertainment passions into establishing an enduring gaming brand.

Educational Component

The documentary portion of Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection documents the ascent of Mortal Kombat and its creators' careers at the currently closed Midway. It further illustrates how those same creators contended with how to consistently surpass their achievements, experiencing considerable stress to duplicate their triumphs. It serves as a compelling period piece composed of video recordings and traditional photos and hand-drawn illustrations, which showcase the DIY nature of Mortal Kombat's development and how word of mouth helped disseminate its secrets and secrets of MK in its arcade heyday. Delivered in easily digestible portions, it's an eminently watchable set of brief historical films that covers video games, graphic novels, movies and including the humorous real-world tour. The collection additionally features some unreleased actions and game character images among its archived development assets.

Playable Component

Interspersed along the quintet of documentary episodes' progression are invitations to experience the actual titles. During specific moments, viewers can hop into a combat game session or a home system version to rediscover its combat system 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. Numerous titles here hold up, especially in local multiplayer matches. Yet competing with the aforementioned game's AI-controlled opponents is a demonstration of how basic and unfair the programming was in the franchise's pioneering releases. CPU-controlled opponents clearly employ dishonest tactics or are otherwise dumb as rocks. Lacking a human opponent — online play is available in most titles in the collection, but rather basic in functionality — the experience will be incomplete.

Technical Presentation

The 23 playable Mortal Kombat games in the compilation, a blend of gaming hall, television, and mobile releases, are precisely simulated, though I've observed a few small quirks — mostly input lag and sporadic glitches, particularly in Mortal Kombat 4. And while the games are largely presented as-is, the creators has included some smart user experience improvements and display customization choices. For instance, players have the option to reveal combatant-unique actions on-screen and select to activate infinite time to execute finishing moves. Also included are choices for unlocking secret characters, without having to perform obscure techniques to unlock them.

Graphically, the titles can be experienced with numerous filters and visual treatments. Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection includes remarkably accurate effects that reproduce the CRT monitors of gaming halls or domestic TVs, or the limited color monitor of a Nintendo handheld. A particularly nice touch is the option to have gaming hall-style borders surrounding the screen, with the specific combat game you're playing accurately and softly reflecting against the simulated dark plastic edges. It's remarkably visually appealing.

Extra Content

Players will discover multiple nice touches beyond the documentary and emulated arcade classics, featuring an audio component that enables players to reexperience the tunes of various combat titles without the din of fighters brutally eliminating opponents. There are also fighter biographies that contain backgrounds and multiple story elements presented by the idle displays of gaming hall releases and final sequences.

Historical Preservation

A particularly notable inclusion for committed franchise followers is the ability to access a example of historically missing material in the format of Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 Wavenet Edition. This version of the game, a somewhat revised iteration of Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3, was an early attempt by Midway at head-to-head network battles in gaming halls. The Wavenet Edition of the game is almost exactly the same to UMK3, but featured the capability to battle network competitors and included some minor glitch repairs and refinements. But the Wavenet update failed to achieve popularity, in part