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This iconic fighting game continues to hold its share of secrets and the capacity to surprise, more than 30 years after its initial debut in arcades. The recent anthology including the brand's formative years, which includes four arcade games, multiple console adaptations, and spinoffs, transcends just a well-emulated set of legendary games along with lesser-known entries — it's also a detailed chronicle about the making of the renowned brand.

Being a long-time enthusiast of the series who has closely monitored its origins and transformation, there was numerous fresh aspects for me to understand and value about the series.

What Defines the Legacy Collection

Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection comparable to previous classic compilations from the creators at Digital Eclipse, portion educational film, section playable historical record. The collection includes simulated releases 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 anthology additionally contains the franchise's attempts at spin-off titles, like action-oriented titles Mortal Kombat Mythologies: Sub-Zero and Mortal Kombat: Special Forces — two of the franchise's least successful installments.

The Legacy Kollection consequently doesn't represent a greatest hits compilation, but an exploration into the franchise's initial era, when developer Midway and series co-creators the creative duo behind the series were figuring out how to develop a battle series, digitized from footage of actual people, through experimentation. Watching the documentary — which includes archival footage, contemporary discussions, and scans of old flyers, graphic novels, and even interoffice faxes — it's remarkable to see how the series transformed from humble beginnings to a global sensation. It's frankly astounding to watch a handful of pioneering developers, developing without clear direction or oversight, focus their cultural enthusiasms into establishing an enduring gaming brand.

Documentary Portion

The documentary portion of Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection traces the growth of Mortal Kombat and the developers' professional journeys at the currently closed Midway. It subsequently demonstrates how those same creators contended with how to regularly outdo their previous work, experiencing considerable stress to duplicate their achievements. It serves as a compelling period piece constructed using analog films and traditional photos and pencil sketches, which demonstrate the hands-on approach of the series' creation process and how oral tradition helped disseminate its secrets and undisclosed elements of the series in its arcade heyday. Presented in manageable segments, it's thoroughly enjoyable set of brief historical films that spans games, comics, films and even the silly live-action tour. It also includes some never-implemented techniques and character sprites among its previously unreleased material.

Interactive Experience

Interspersed along the five-segment historical film's chronology are prompts to play the games themselves. At various points, viewers can hop into a combat game session or a home system version to rediscover its combat system and visual presentation, recreated with impressive accuracy on contemporary systems.

I dedicated most of my time experiencing the original arcade titles, specifically Mortal Kombat, Mortal Kombat 2, and Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3. Several releases here stand the test of time, especially in direct competitive sessions. Yet competing with the artificial intelligence fighters in these releases is a testament to how primitive and unbalanced the programming was in early Mortal Kombat games. Computer-directed fighters blatantly cheat to win or are conversely remarkably unintelligent. Without having another person to compete with — online play is available in most titles in the collection, but somewhat limited in options — you'll miss the full enjoyment.

Display Features

The 23 playable Mortal Kombat games in the collection, a mix of gaming hall, television, and mobile releases, are accurately emulated, though I have noticed a handful slight anomalies — mainly control latency and the occasional bug, notably within Mortal Kombat 4. Although the titles are primarily displayed authentically, the creators has incorporated various clever quality-of-life features and display customization choices. For example, players have the option to display fighter-specific techniques during gameplay 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 access them.

Artistically, the releases can be played with a variety of filters and visual treatments. Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection offers very realistic options that simulate the traditional television screens of gaming halls or household displays, or the greenscale screen of a portable gaming device. A notably appreciated element is the choice to enable coin-op-inspired frames framing the gameplay, with the specific combat game you're playing precisely and gently mirroring against the simulated dark plastic edges. It's remarkably visually appealing.

Extra Content

Players will discover multiple welcome features besides the historical footage and recreated vintage titles, featuring an audio component that lets you revisit the tunes of various combat titles excluding the sounds of two kombatants viciously slaughtering each other. Additionally included are combatant descriptions that contain backgrounds and the various bits of lore displayed via arcade games' attract mode screens and endings.

Historical Preservation

One of the biggest highlights for dedicated series enthusiasts is the opportunity to play a example of historically missing material in the form of Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 Wavenet Edition. This specific release, a moderately improved edition of Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3, was an pioneering effort from the developer at head-to-head network battles in coin-op establishments. The online-enabled release of the game is virtually identical to UMK3, but included the option to challenge online opponents and featured various slight error corrections and adjustments. But the Wavenet update failed to achieve popularity, in part