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The Mortal Kombat series retains numerous undisclosed elements and the power to astonish, over three decades after its initial debut in arcades. The recent anthology including the brand's formative years, featuring four arcade games, several home system versions, and spinoffs, transcends only a accurately simulated set of legendary games along with lesser-known entries — it functions as a rich documentary about the creation of the renowned brand.

Even as a lifelong enthusiast of the series who has carefully followed its creation and evolution, there was plenty new for me to discover and admire about the series.

What Makes the Legacy Collection

Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection similar to previous classic compilations from developer Digital Eclipse, part historical documentation, portion interactive museum. This compilation features 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 certain releases. 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 — some of the brand's most criticized releases.

The Legacy Kollection is therefore not a “best of” collection, but an examination of the franchise's initial era, when the development team Midway and franchise originators the visionary developers were determining how to develop a battle series, created from video recordings of real actors, as they went along. Observing the archival material — that features historical videos, contemporary discussions, and scans of old flyers, illustrated stories, and even company memos — it's astonishing to observe how the series transformed from simple starts to a international craze. It's frankly astounding to see a group of early video game creators, working with minimal planning or guidance, direct their entertainment passions into establishing an enduring gaming brand.

Educational Component

The historical documentation of Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection documents the ascent of the combat franchise and the developers' professional journeys at the no-longer-operating Midway. It subsequently demonstrates how those same creators reckoned with how to routinely one-up themselves, experiencing considerable stress to duplicate their success. It represents an intriguing historical record made from VHS tapes and traditional photos and hand-drawn illustrations, which reveal the self-made character of the series' creation process and how word of mouth helped spread its rumors and hidden aspects of Mortal Kombat in its peak period in gaming halls. Delivered in easily digestible portions, it's an eminently watchable collection of mini-documentaries that covers video games, graphic novels, movies and even the silly live-action tour. The compilation also contains some unused moves and game character images among its archived development assets.

Interactive Experience

Placed within the five-segment historical film's chronology are opportunities to engage with the actual titles. At certain intervals, audience members can jump into a Mortal Kombat title or a console adaptation to reexperience its mechanics and graphics, recreated with impressive accuracy on modern hardware.

I spent the bulk 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 local multiplayer matches. However, facing the computer-controlled adversaries in these titles is a testament to how primitive and unjust the development approached in the franchise's pioneering releases. Computer-directed fighters blatantly cheat to win or are otherwise dumb as rocks. Lacking another person to compete with — network gaming is included in numerous anthology releases, but somewhat limited in options — the experience will be incomplete.

Visual Options

The 23 playable Mortal Kombat games in the collection, a combination of coin-op, home system, and portable titles, are precisely simulated, though I detected a handful slight anomalies — mostly input lag and intermittent errors, especially with Mortal Kombat 4. And while the games are mostly shown in their original form, the creators has included some smart convenience enhancements and visual presentation options. For example, you can choose to show each character's special moves on the display and select to activate unlimited duration to perform a Fatality. Additionally available are settings for accessing hidden fighters, without having to perform complicated methods to unlock them.

Visually, the games can be played with a variety of filters and visual treatments. Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection provides highly authentic filters that mimic the traditional television screens of coin-op establishments or domestic TVs, or the monochrome green display of a portable gaming device. A particularly nice touch is the setting to activate gaming hall-style borders framing the gameplay, with the specific combat game you're playing accurately and softly reflecting against the simulated dark plastic edges. It's remarkably visually appealing.

Additional Features

Players will discover multiple nice touches beyond the documentary and emulated arcade classics, containing a soundtrack mode that enables players to reexperience the soundtracks of different Mortal Kombat games absent the noise of fighters brutally eliminating opponents. Also present are fighter biographies that contain backgrounds and multiple story elements presented by the demo sequences of coin-op titles and endings.

Historical Preservation

One of the biggest highlights for dedicated series enthusiasts 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 slightly updated version of Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3, was an initial venture by the company at one-on-one internet-based play in coin-op establishments. The Wavenet Edition of the game is almost exactly the same to UMK3, but provided the ability to battle network competitors and included some minor bug fixes and balance. However, this network version never gained traction, in part