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Mortal Kombat continues to hold many hidden mysteries and the capacity to surprise, over three decades after its original launch in arcades. The recent anthology spanning the series' initial period, featuring four arcade games, multiple console adaptations, and derivative games, goes beyond simply a faithfully reproduced set of legendary games and not-so-classics — it functions as a rich documentary about the creation of the renowned brand.

As a dedicated devotee of the franchise who has closely monitored its creation and evolution, there was plenty new for me to discover and admire about the series.

What Constitutes the Legacy Collection

Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection comparable to previous classic compilations from the creators at 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, plus console and handheld ports of certain releases. This compilation also features the franchise's attempts at derivative games, like action games Mortal Kombat Mythologies: Sub-Zero and Mortal Kombat: Special Forces — two of the franchise's least successful installments.

The Legacy Kollection is therefore not a “best of” collection, but an examination of the series' formative period, when the development team Midway and series co-creators Ed Boon and John Tobias were discovering methods to make a fighting game, created from video recordings of real actors, through experimentation. Observing the archival material — which includes vintage recordings, contemporary discussions, and scans of old flyers, graphic novels, and even company memos — it's astonishing to observe how the franchise evolved from simple starts to a international craze. It's frankly astounding to watch a handful of pioneering developers, operating with virtually no plan or oversight, focus their cultural enthusiasms into creating a legendary video game series.

Documentary Portion

The historical documentation of Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection charts the rise of the combat franchise and the developers' professional journeys at the now-defunct Midway. It subsequently demonstrates how those same creators reckoned with how to consistently surpass their achievements, encountering significant pressure to repeat their triumphs. It represents an intriguing historical record composed of VHS tapes and film-based pictures and manual drawings, which demonstrate the hands-on approach of the franchise's production method and how personal recommendations helped spread its rumors and hidden aspects of Mortal Kombat in its arcade heyday. Presented in manageable segments, it's an eminently watchable collection of mini-documentaries that spans games, comics, films and even the comical physical events. The compilation also contains some unreleased actions and digital fighter representations among its previously unreleased material.

Interactive Experience

Placed within the five-part documentary's timeline are prompts to play the games themselves. At various points, users can directly access a combat game session or a home system version to rediscover its combat system and visual presentation, recreated with impressive accuracy on modern hardware.

I dedicated most of my time playing the arcade classics, particularly Mortal Kombat, Mortal Kombat 2, and Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3. Several releases here stand the test of time, especially in local multiplayer matches. However, facing the computer-controlled adversaries in these titles is a reminder of how crude and unjust the development approached in early Mortal Kombat games. AI-managed characters clearly employ dishonest tactics or are otherwise dumb as rocks. Without having another person to compete with — online play is available in most titles in the collection, but too light on features — you'll miss the full enjoyment.

Visual Options

The twenty-three accessible Mortal Kombat titles in the collection, a blend of arcade, console, and handheld games, are accurately emulated, though I've observed a couple minor issues — mostly input lag and the occasional bug, particularly in Mortal Kombat 4. Even though the releases are mostly shown in their original form, the development team has incorporated various clever user experience improvements and graphical adjustment settings. For instance, players have the option to reveal combatant-unique actions on-screen and choose to enable infinite time to execute finishing moves. There are also options for revealing concealed combatants, eliminating the need to execute obscure techniques to access 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 CRT monitors of gaming halls or home televisions, or the greenscale screen of a Nintendo handheld. An especially welcome feature is the choice to enable coin-op-inspired frames encircling the display, with the MK game of your choice accurately and softly reflecting against the faux black plastic borders. It's quite aesthetically pleasing.

Additional Features

Players will discover multiple appreciated elements beyond the historical footage and recreated vintage titles, featuring an audio component that allows users to rediscover the tunes of various fighting releases 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 conclusions.

Historical Preservation

Among the most significant features for committed franchise followers is the chance to experience a segment of previously unavailable content in the form of Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 Wavenet Edition. This version of the game, a moderately improved edition of Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3, was an early attempt by Midway at one-on-one internet-based play in coin-op establishments. This network version of the game is virtually identical to UMK3, but featured the capability to compete against internet adversaries and included some minor bug fixes and balance. However, this network version never gained traction, in part