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This iconic fighting game still possesses its share of secrets and the capacity to surprise, over three decades after its first appearance in arcades. A new collection spanning the series' initial period, which includes four original arcade titles, several home system versions, and derivative games, goes beyond simply a faithfully reproduced series of classics along with lesser-known entries — it's also a detailed chronicle about the creation of the legendary series.

As a dedicated enthusiast of the series who has paid close attention its creation and evolution, there was numerous fresh aspects for me to discover and admire about the series.

What Defines the Historical Compilation

Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection is, like previous classic compilations from developer Digital Eclipse, part historical documentation, section playable historical record. The collection includes emulated versions of the first 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 action games Mortal Kombat Mythologies: Sub-Zero and Mortal Kombat: Special Forces — two of the franchise's most criticized releases.

The Legacy Kollection is therefore not a highlight reel anthology, but a study of the franchise's initial era, when the creators at Midway and franchise originators the creative duo behind the series were determining how to develop a battle series, digitized from footage of live performers, through experimentation. Viewing the historical footage — which includes vintage recordings, new interviews, and reproductions of classic advertisements, graphic novels, and even interoffice faxes — it's incredible to witness how the franchise evolved from modest origins to a international craze. It's frankly astounding to observe several early video game creators, developing without clear direction or oversight, focus their cultural enthusiasms into birthing an iconic game franchise.

Historical Section

The documentary portion of Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection documents the ascent of the combat franchise and its creators' careers at the no-longer-operating Midway. It subsequently demonstrates how these identical developers contended with how to regularly outdo their previous work, experiencing considerable demand to replicate their triumphs. It represents an intriguing historical record composed of VHS tapes and film-based pictures and pencil sketches, which showcase the DIY nature of Mortal Kombat's development and how word of mouth helped spread its rumors and hidden aspects of Mortal Kombat in its arcade heyday. Delivered in easily digestible portions, it's an eminently watchable series of documentary shorts that spans games, comics, films and even the comical physical events. It also includes some unreleased actions and digital fighter representations among its archived development assets.

Playable Component

Interspersed along the five-part documentary's timeline are prompts to play the original releases. During specific moments, users can directly access a game of Mortal Kombat or one of its home console ports to revisit its gameplay and artistic style, simulated with remarkable precision on contemporary systems.

I allocated the majority of my time playing the arcade classics, specifically Mortal Kombat, Mortal Kombat 2, and Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3. Numerous titles here hold up, particularly during direct competitive sessions. But playing against the aforementioned game's AI-controlled opponents is a testament to how primitive and unjust the coding existed in early Mortal Kombat games. AI-managed characters clearly employ dishonest tactics or are otherwise dumb as rocks. If you don't have someone to play against — online play is available in the majority of included games, but too light on features — the experience will be incomplete.

Visual Options

The twenty-three accessible Mortal Kombat titles in the compilation, a blend of arcade, console, and handheld games, are faithfully recreated, though I detected a handful slight anomalies — mostly input lag and the occasional bug, particularly in Mortal Kombat 4. And while the games are mostly shown in their original form, developer Digital Eclipse has added several intelligent convenience enhancements and visual presentation options. As an illustration, players have the option to reveal combatant-unique actions on-screen and opt to have infinite time to perform a Fatality. There are also options for accessing hidden fighters, without having to perform some esoteric trick to access them.

Artistically, the releases can be played with a variety of filters and visual treatments. Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection includes remarkably accurate effects that reproduce the CRT monitors of gaming halls or home televisions, or the greenscale screen of a Game Boy. A notably appreciated element is the setting to activate arcade-like bezels encircling the display, with your selected Mortal Kombat title faithfully and subtly duplicating against the faux black plastic borders. It's remarkably visually appealing.

Additional Features

There are plenty of welcome features besides the educational material and simulated classic games, containing a soundtrack mode that lets you revisit the tunes of various fighting releases excluding the sounds of fighters brutally eliminating opponents. There are also character profiles that contain backgrounds and multiple story elements presented by the demo sequences of coin-op titles and final sequences.

Lost Media Recovery

One of the biggest highlights 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 slightly updated version of Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3, was an pioneering effort from the developer at direct online competitive gaming in gaming halls. The Wavenet Edition of the game is almost exactly the same to UMK3, but provided the ability to compete against internet adversaries and contained several small bug fixes and balance. Yet this online edition never gained traction, in part