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This iconic fighting game continues to hold its share of secrets and the capacity to surprise, over three decades after its original launch in gaming halls. A new collection spanning the franchise's earliest days, featuring four arcade games, multiple console adaptations, and related titles, transcends simply a faithfully reproduced collection of iconic titles and not-so-classics — it functions as a comprehensive historical account about the making of the iconic franchise.

Even as a lifelong enthusiast of the series who has closely monitored its origins and transformation, there was much to discover for me to understand and value about the series.

What Makes the Historical Compilation

Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection is, like other retro collections from the creators at Digital Eclipse, part historical documentation, portion interactive museum. The collection includes simulated releases 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. This compilation also features the franchise's attempts at spinoffs, like action-oriented titles Mortal Kombat Mythologies: Sub-Zero and Mortal Kombat: Special Forces — some of the brand's worst entries.

The Legacy Kollection is therefore not a greatest hits compilation, but an exploration into Mortal Kombat's early days, when the creators at Midway and franchise originators the creative duo behind the series were figuring out how to create a combat title, created from video recordings of real actors, on the fly. Observing the archival material — which includes archival footage, contemporary discussions, and digital copies of vintage posters, graphic novels, and including internal communications — it's astonishing to observe how the franchise evolved from humble beginnings to a worldwide phenomenon. It's genuinely amazing to see a group of young game developers, working with minimal planning or supervision, focus their cultural enthusiasms into establishing an enduring gaming brand.

Documentary Portion

The historical documentation of Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection documents the ascent of the fighting series and the founders' vocational paths at the currently closed Midway. It then goes on to show how those same creators reckoned with how to regularly outdo their previous work, experiencing considerable stress to duplicate their triumphs. It's a fascinating time capsule composed of video recordings and analog photographs and manual drawings, which showcase the DIY nature of the franchise's production method 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 collection of mini-documentaries that spans games, comics, films and even the comical physical events. The compilation also contains some unused moves and digital fighter representations among its archived development assets.

Interactive Experience

Placed within the five-segment historical film's chronology are invitations to experience the actual titles. At various points, users can directly access a Mortal Kombat title or a console adaptation to rediscover its combat system and graphics, emulated nearly perfectly on contemporary systems.

I dedicated most of my time playing the arcade classics, especially Mortal Kombat, Mortal Kombat 2, and Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3. Several releases here remain enjoyable, notably with local multiplayer matches. But playing against the computer-controlled adversaries in these titles is a testament to how primitive and unbalanced the development approached in the series' initial installments. AI-managed characters clearly employ dishonest tactics or are conversely remarkably unintelligent. If you don't have someone to play against — internet multiplayer exists in most titles in the collection, but somewhat limited in options — you'll miss the full enjoyment.

Visual Options

The two dozen available combat games in the compilation, a blend of coin-op, home system, and portable titles, are accurately emulated, though I have noticed a few small quirks — mainly control latency and intermittent errors, notably within Mortal Kombat 4. Although the titles are mostly shown in their original form, the development team has added several intelligent user experience improvements and display customization choices. For example, users can elect to display fighter-specific techniques on-screen and opt to have endless periods to perform a Fatality. Also included are choices for accessing hidden fighters, eliminating the need to execute obscure techniques to unlock them.

Artistically, the releases can be experienced with numerous visual enhancements and presentation styles. Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection offers very realistic effects that reproduce the traditional television screens of coin-op establishments or home televisions, or the greenscale screen of a Game Boy. A particularly nice touch is the setting to activate coin-op-inspired frames surrounding the screen, with the specific combat game you're playing faithfully and subtly duplicating against the simulated dark plastic edges. It's remarkably visually appealing.

Extra Content

There are plenty of welcome features besides the educational material and simulated classic games, containing a soundtrack mode that lets you revisit the soundtracks of different fighting releases excluding the sounds of fighters brutally eliminating opponents. Also present are character profiles that contain backgrounds and multiple story elements presented by arcade games' attract mode screens and endings.

Archival Discovery

A particularly notable inclusion for committed franchise followers is the opportunity to play a segment of previously unavailable content in the guise of Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 Wavenet Edition. This specific release, a moderately improved edition of Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3, was an early attempt by Midway at one-on-one internet-based play in gaming halls. This network version of the game is virtually identical to UMK3, but featured the capability to challenge online opponents and included some minor glitch repairs and refinements. However, this network version didn't find widespread adoption, in part