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Mortal Kombat retains numerous undisclosed elements and the capacity to surprise, well past its 30th anniversary after its first appearance in coin-op establishments. The recent anthology spanning the series' initial period, which includes a quartet of arcade releases, various home ports, and spinoffs, goes beyond only a accurately simulated set of legendary games including less celebrated releases — it functions as a rich documentary about the creation of the iconic franchise.

Even as a lifelong enthusiast of the series who has paid close attention its creation and evolution, there was plenty new for me to understand and value about the series.

What Constitutes the Legacy Collection

Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection similar to other retro collections from the development team Digital Eclipse, part historical documentation, part playable archive. The collection includes simulated releases of the first arcade Mortal Kombat, Mortal Kombat 2, Mortal Kombat 3, and Mortal Kombat 4, including television and mobile versions of several of these titles. This compilation also features the brand's experiments at spinoffs, like combat-focused releases Mortal Kombat Mythologies: Sub-Zero and Mortal Kombat: Special Forces — some of the brand's worst entries.

The Legacy Kollection consequently doesn't represent a highlight reel anthology, but an exploration into the series' formative period, when the creators at Midway and brand founders the creative duo behind the series were determining how to create a combat title, created from video recordings of real actors, through experimentation. Observing the archival material — which includes historical videos, recent conversations, and digital copies of vintage posters, graphic novels, and even interoffice faxes — it's incredible to witness how the series transformed from simple starts to a worldwide phenomenon. It's genuinely amazing to watch a handful of young game developers, working with minimal planning or supervision, focus their cultural enthusiasms into creating a legendary video game series.

Educational Component

The documentary portion of Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection documents the ascent 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 regularly outdo their previous work, facing no small amount of stress to duplicate their success. It's a fascinating time capsule composed of VHS tapes and film-based pictures and hand-drawn illustrations, which demonstrate the hands-on approach of Mortal Kombat's development and how personal recommendations helped circulate its mysteries and undisclosed elements of the series in its peak period in gaming halls. 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 compilation also contains some never-implemented techniques and digital fighter representations among its cutting-room-floor content.

Interactive Experience

Placed within the five-part documentary's timeline are prompts to play the actual titles. During specific moments, users can directly access a combat game session or a console adaptation to reexperience its mechanics and graphics, emulated nearly perfectly on current technology.

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 local multiplayer matches. However, facing the aforementioned game's AI-controlled opponents is a testament to how primitive and unjust the development approached in the franchise's pioneering releases. AI-managed characters obviously use unfair advantages or are alternatively incredibly stupid. Lacking a human opponent — network gaming is included in numerous anthology releases, but somewhat limited in options — you'll be missing out.

Display Features

The two dozen available combat games in the compilation, a mix of arcade, console, and handheld games, are accurately emulated, though I have noticed a couple minor issues — mostly input lag and sporadic glitches, notably within Mortal Kombat 4. Although the titles are mostly shown in their original form, developer Digital Eclipse has incorporated various clever convenience enhancements and graphical adjustment settings. For example, you can choose to show each character's special moves on-screen and select to activate endless periods to complete lethal techniques. Additionally available are settings for unlocking secret characters, removing the requirement to complete some esoteric trick to access them.

Graphically, the titles can be played with a variety of visual enhancements and presentation styles. Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection offers very realistic effects that reproduce the traditional television screens of arcades or domestic TVs, or the greenscale screen of a Game Boy. A notably appreciated element is the setting to activate arcade-like bezels surrounding the screen, with the specific combat game you're playing accurately and softly reflecting against the faux black plastic borders. It's remarkably visually appealing.

Bonus Elements

Players will discover multiple welcome features besides the educational material and simulated classic games, featuring an audio component that allows users to rediscover the soundtracks of different fighting releases excluding the sounds of fighters brutally eliminating opponents. Additionally included are character profiles that include bios and multiple story elements presented by arcade games' attract mode screens and conclusions.

Historical Preservation

Among the most significant features for dedicated series enthusiasts is the chance to experience a example of historically missing material in the format of Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 Wavenet Edition. This version of the game, a slightly updated version of Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3, was an early attempt by Midway at head-to-head network battles in arcades. The online-enabled release of the game is virtually identical to UMK3, but featured the capability to challenge online opponents and contained several small error corrections and adjustments. However, this network version failed to achieve popularity, in part