🔗 Share this article

The Mortal Kombat series continues to hold numerous undisclosed elements and the ability to amaze, more than 30 years after its initial debut in coin-op establishments. A new collection including the series' initial period, featuring four original arcade titles, various home ports, and related titles, transcends just a well-emulated collection of iconic titles including less celebrated releases — it's also a detailed chronicle about the creation of the iconic franchise.

As a dedicated Mortal Kombat fan who has paid close attention its origins and transformation, there was much to discover for me to learn and appreciate about the series.

What Makes the Legacy Collection

Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection comparable to other retro collections from the creators at Digital Eclipse, part historical documentation, section playable historical record. This compilation features emulated versions of the pioneering 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 franchise's attempts at spinoffs, like action games Mortal Kombat Mythologies: Sub-Zero and Mortal Kombat: Special Forces — among the series' least successful installments.

The Legacy Kollection consequently doesn't represent a highlight reel anthology, but an examination of Mortal Kombat's early days, when the creators at Midway and series co-creators the visionary developers were determining how to create a combat title, created from video recordings of real actors, as they went along. Observing the archival material — that features archival footage, new interviews, and scans of old flyers, comics, and even company memos — it's incredible to witness how the franchise evolved from modest origins to a global sensation. It's truly remarkable to watch a handful of young game developers, working with minimal planning or guidance, direct their entertainment passions into creating a legendary video game series.

Documentary Portion

The educational segment of Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection documents the ascent of the fighting series and the founders' vocational paths at the now-defunct Midway. It then goes on to show how these identical developers contended with how to consistently surpass their achievements, facing no small amount of demand to replicate their success. It serves as a compelling period piece constructed using analog films and film-based pictures and pencil sketches, which reveal the self-made character of Mortal Kombat's development and how word of mouth helped disseminate its secrets and undisclosed elements of the series in its arcade heyday. Delivered in easily digestible portions, 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 unused moves and digital fighter representations among its cutting-room-floor content.

Interactive Gaming

Interspersed along the five-part documentary's timeline are invitations to experience the original releases. At various points, audience members can jump into a combat game session or a console adaptation to revisit its gameplay and visual presentation, simulated with remarkable precision on contemporary systems.

I spent the bulk of my time engaging with the vintage coin-op games, specifically Mortal Kombat, Mortal Kombat 2, and Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3. Numerous titles here hold up, notably with direct competitive sessions. However, facing the computer-controlled adversaries in these titles is a reminder of how crude and unjust the programming was in early Mortal Kombat games. CPU-controlled opponents blatantly cheat to win or are alternatively incredibly stupid. If you don't have a human opponent — online play is available in numerous anthology releases, but too light on features — you'll be missing out.

Display Features

The 23 playable Mortal Kombat games in the anthology, a blend of gaming hall, television, and mobile releases, are precisely simulated, though I've observed a couple minor issues — mostly input lag and intermittent errors, particularly in Mortal Kombat 4. Even though the releases are largely presented as-is, developer Digital Eclipse has incorporated various clever convenience enhancements and display customization choices. For instance, users can elect to show each character's special moves on the display and opt to have unlimited duration to complete lethal techniques. Additionally available are settings for revealing concealed combatants, eliminating the need to execute obscure techniques to obtain them.

Visually, the games can be played with a variety of filters and visual treatments. Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection includes remarkably accurate filters that mimic the traditional television screens of gaming halls or household displays, or the greenscale screen of a Game Boy. An especially welcome feature is the setting to activate gaming hall-style borders surrounding the screen, with your selected Mortal Kombat title accurately and softly reflecting against the faux black plastic borders. It's quite aesthetically pleasing.

Bonus Elements

There are plenty of welcome features besides the educational material and simulated classic games, 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 character profiles that include bios and multiple story elements shown through the idle displays of gaming hall releases and endings.

Lost Media Recovery

A particularly notable inclusion for hardcore Mortal Kombat fans is the chance to experience a example of historically missing material in the format of Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 Wavenet Edition. This specific release, a somewhat revised iteration of Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3, was an initial venture by the company at one-on-one internet-based play in arcades. The Wavenet Edition of the game is practically indistinguishable to UMK3, but included the option to challenge online opponents and featured various slight bug fixes and balance. But the Wavenet update didn't find widespread adoption, in part