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Mortal Kombat still possesses many hidden mysteries and the ability to amaze, well past its 30th anniversary after its first appearance in gaming halls. The recent anthology spanning the franchise's earliest days, comprising four original arcade titles, various home ports, and spinoffs, goes beyond only a accurately simulated set of legendary games including less celebrated releases — it functions as a comprehensive historical account about the making of the renowned brand.

As a dedicated devotee of the franchise who has closely monitored its development and progression, there was numerous fresh aspects for me to discover and admire about the series.

What Constitutes the Legacy Collection

Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection similar to previous classic compilations from the development team Digital Eclipse, part documentary, part playable archive. The collection includes simulated releases of the original 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 spin-off titles, like action-oriented titles Mortal Kombat Mythologies: Sub-Zero and Mortal Kombat: Special Forces — two of the franchise's worst entries.

The Legacy Kollection is therefore not a “best of” collection, but an examination of Mortal Kombat's early days, when the creators at Midway and series co-creators Ed Boon and John Tobias were figuring out how to develop a battle series, produced using film material of live performers, as they went along. Watching the documentary — containing historical videos, recent conversations, and scans of old flyers, graphic novels, and even company memos — it's remarkable to see how Mortal Kombat went from humble beginnings to a worldwide phenomenon. It's truly remarkable to observe several pioneering developers, working with minimal planning or guidance, channel their pop-culture interests into establishing an enduring gaming brand.

Documentary Portion

The historical documentation of Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection charts the rise of Mortal Kombat and the developers' professional journeys at the currently closed Midway. It then goes on to show how those same creators addressed how to consistently surpass their achievements, encountering significant demand to replicate their triumphs. It represents an intriguing historical record constructed using analog films and film-based pictures and hand-drawn illustrations, which demonstrate the hands-on approach of the franchise's production method and how oral tradition helped spread its rumors and secrets of MK in its golden era in coin-op establishments. Delivered in easily digestible portions, it's thoroughly enjoyable collection of mini-documentaries that spans games, comics, films and even the silly live-action tour. The compilation also contains some never-implemented techniques and digital fighter representations among its cutting-room-floor content.

Interactive Experience

Placed within the quintet of documentary episodes' progression are opportunities to engage with the original releases. At various points, users can directly access a game of Mortal Kombat or one of its home console ports to revisit its gameplay and artistic style, emulated nearly perfectly on current technology.

I spent the bulk of my time experiencing the original arcade titles, especially Mortal Kombat, Mortal Kombat 2, and Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3. Many of the games here stand the test of time, particularly during direct competitive sessions. But playing against the aforementioned game's AI-controlled opponents is a testament to how primitive and unjust the development approached in the franchise's pioneering releases. CPU-controlled opponents blatantly cheat to win or are alternatively incredibly stupid. Without having someone to play against — network gaming is included in numerous anthology releases, but rather basic in functionality — you'll be missing out.

Visual Options

The 23 playable Mortal Kombat games in the collection, a blend of arcade, console, and handheld games, are accurately emulated, though I have noticed a couple minor issues — mainly control latency and sporadic glitches, notably within Mortal Kombat 4. And while the games are mostly shown in their original form, the development team has added several intelligent user experience improvements and graphical adjustment settings. For example, you can choose to show each character's special moves on the display and select to activate unlimited duration to complete lethal techniques. There are also options for accessing hidden fighters, eliminating the need to execute obscure techniques to access them.

Artistically, the releases can be enjoyed with multiple visual enhancements and presentation styles. Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection includes remarkably accurate filters that mimic the CRT monitors of coin-op establishments or household displays, or the limited color monitor 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 artificial ebony plastic frames. It's very artistically charming.

Additional Features

There are plenty of nice touches beyond the historical footage and recreated vintage titles, featuring an audio component that allows users to rediscover the music from multiple combat titles excluding the sounds of combatants violently defeating each other. There are also fighter biographies that include bios and numerous narrative components presented by the idle displays of gaming hall releases and conclusions.

Lost Media Recovery

Among the most significant features for committed franchise followers is the chance to experience a example of historically missing material in the form of Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 Wavenet Edition. This particular edition, a moderately improved edition of Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3, was an initial venture by the company at direct online competitive gaming in coin-op establishments. The Wavenet Edition of the game is practically indistinguishable to UMK3, but provided the ability to challenge online opponents and contained several small glitch repairs and refinements. But the Wavenet update never gained traction, in part