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The Mortal Kombat series continues to hold many hidden mysteries and the power to astonish, over three decades after its first appearance in arcades. This latest compilation spanning the series' initial period, which includes a quartet of arcade releases, various home ports, and related titles, is more than just a well-emulated series of classics including less celebrated releases — it additionally serves as a rich documentary about the development of the renowned brand.

Being a long-time Mortal Kombat fan who has paid close attention its origins and transformation, there was much to discover for me to discover and admire about the series.

What Constitutes the Historical Compilation

Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection is, like other vintage game anthologies from the development team Digital Eclipse, portion educational film, portion interactive museum. The anthology contains simulated releases of the original arcade Mortal Kombat, Mortal Kombat 2, Mortal Kombat 3, and Mortal Kombat 4, including television and mobile versions of certain releases. The collection even includes the series' ventures at spin-off titles, like combat-focused releases Mortal Kombat Mythologies: Sub-Zero and Mortal Kombat: Special Forces — two of the franchise's most criticized releases.

The Legacy Kollection thus isn't a greatest hits compilation, but a study of Mortal Kombat's early days, when the development team Midway and brand founders the creative duo behind the series were discovering methods to create a combat title, created from video recordings of actual people, as they went along. Observing the archival material — which includes vintage recordings, contemporary discussions, and reproductions of classic advertisements, graphic novels, and even interoffice faxes — it's remarkable to see how the series transformed from simple starts to a global sensation. It's genuinely amazing to watch a handful of pioneering developers, operating with virtually no plan or oversight, direct their entertainment passions into creating a legendary video game series.

Historical Section

The documentary portion of Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection traces the growth of the combat franchise and the founders' vocational paths at the now-defunct Midway. It then goes on to show how these identical developers contended with how to routinely one-up themselves, experiencing considerable demand to replicate their achievements. It's a fascinating time capsule constructed using VHS tapes and traditional photos and pencil sketches, which demonstrate the hands-on approach of Mortal Kombat's development and how oral tradition helped spread its rumors and undisclosed elements of the series in its arcade heyday. Presented in manageable segments, it's an eminently watchable collection of mini-documentaries that includes titles, illustrated stories, cinematic adaptations and including the humorous real-world tour. The collection additionally features some unreleased actions and character sprites among its cutting-room-floor content.

Playable Component

Distributed throughout the quintet of documentary episodes' progression are invitations to experience the games themselves. At various points, audience members can jump into a game of Mortal Kombat or a home system version to rediscover its combat system and graphics, emulated nearly perfectly on contemporary systems.

I dedicated most of my time experiencing the original arcade titles, especially Mortal Kombat, Mortal Kombat 2, and Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3. Numerous titles here stand the test of time, especially in one-on-one local play. However, facing the computer-controlled adversaries in these titles is a testament to how primitive and unfair the programming was in the series' initial installments. CPU-controlled opponents clearly employ dishonest tactics or are conversely remarkably unintelligent. If you don't have someone to play against — network gaming is included in numerous anthology releases, but somewhat limited in options — the experience will be incomplete.

Technical Presentation

The twenty-three accessible Mortal Kombat titles in the compilation, a combination of arcade, console, and handheld games, are precisely simulated, though I have noticed a few small quirks — mainly control latency and intermittent errors, especially with Mortal Kombat 4. Even though the releases are largely presented as-is, the creators has added several intelligent user experience improvements and display customization choices. For example, users can elect to reveal combatant-unique actions on-screen and choose to enable endless periods to complete lethal techniques. Additionally available are settings for accessing hidden fighters, removing the requirement to complete complicated methods to access them.

Graphically, the titles can be played with a variety of visual enhancements and presentation styles. Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection includes remarkably accurate filters that mimic the traditional television screens of arcades or household displays, or the limited color monitor of a Nintendo handheld. An especially welcome feature is the setting to activate arcade-like bezels framing the gameplay, with your selected Mortal Kombat title faithfully and subtly duplicating against the simulated dark plastic edges. It's very artistically charming.

Extra Content

There are plenty of appreciated elements beyond the educational material and simulated classic games, including a music player that enables players to reexperience the music from multiple fighting releases without the din of two kombatants viciously slaughtering each other. Also present are fighter biographies that contain backgrounds and multiple story elements displayed via the idle displays of gaming hall releases and endings.

Archival Discovery

A particularly notable inclusion for hardcore Mortal Kombat fans is the opportunity to play a piece of "lost media" in the format of Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 Wavenet Edition. This version of the game, a somewhat revised iteration of Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3, was an early attempt by Midway at direct online competitive gaming in arcades. The Wavenet Edition of the game is virtually identical to UMK3, but featured the capability to challenge online opponents and contained several small glitch repairs and refinements. Yet this online edition didn't find widespread adoption, in part