🔗 Share this article

The Mortal Kombat series retains numerous undisclosed elements and the ability to amaze, well past its 30th anniversary after its initial debut in coin-op establishments. This latest compilation covering the series' initial period, featuring four original arcade titles, several home system versions, and derivative games, goes beyond simply a faithfully reproduced series of classics and not-so-classics — it functions as a comprehensive historical account about the creation of the legendary series.

Being a long-time devotee of the franchise who has closely monitored its creation and evolution, there was plenty new for me to understand and value about the series.

What Makes the Legacy Kollection

Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection similar to other vintage game anthologies from developer Digital Eclipse, part historical documentation, section playable historical record. This compilation features simulated releases of the original arcade Mortal Kombat, Mortal Kombat 2, Mortal Kombat 3, and Mortal Kombat 4, including television and mobile versions of some of those games. The collection even includes the brand's experiments at spin-off titles, like action-oriented titles Mortal Kombat Mythologies: Sub-Zero and Mortal Kombat: Special Forces — some of the brand's most criticized releases.

The Legacy Kollection is therefore not a highlight reel anthology, but an examination of the series' formative period, when the development team Midway and brand founders Ed Boon and John Tobias were determining how to make a fighting game, created from video recordings of live performers, through experimentation. Observing the archival material — which includes archival footage, contemporary discussions, and reproductions of classic advertisements, comics, and even company memos — it's incredible to witness how the franchise evolved from simple starts to a worldwide phenomenon. It's genuinely amazing to see a group of young game developers, developing without clear direction or supervision, channel their pop-culture interests into birthing an iconic game franchise.

Educational Component

The historical documentation of Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection traces the growth of the combat franchise and the developers' professional journeys at the now-defunct Midway. It further illustrates how the very same individuals addressed how to regularly outdo their previous work, encountering significant demand to replicate their achievements. It represents an intriguing historical record composed of analog films and film-based pictures and pencil sketches, which reveal the self-made character of the series' creation process and how personal recommendations helped disseminate its secrets and undisclosed elements of the series in its golden era in coin-op establishments. Delivered in easily digestible portions, it's highly engaging collection of mini-documentaries that covers video games, graphic novels, movies and even the silly live-action tour. The collection additionally features some unused moves and game character images among its cutting-room-floor content.

Interactive Gaming

Distributed throughout the five-part documentary's timeline are invitations to experience the original releases. At certain intervals, users can directly access a combat game session or a home system version to revisit its gameplay and artistic style, simulated with remarkable precision on current technology.

I allocated the majority of my time engaging with the vintage coin-op games, specifically Mortal Kombat, Mortal Kombat 2, and Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3. Many of the games here hold up, particularly during local multiplayer matches. Yet competing with the computer-controlled adversaries in these titles is a testament to how primitive and unjust the development approached in the franchise's pioneering releases. CPU-controlled opponents blatantly cheat to win or are conversely remarkably unintelligent. Without having someone to play against — internet multiplayer exists in the majority of included games, but somewhat limited in options — you'll be missing out.

Display Features

The twenty-three accessible Mortal Kombat titles in the anthology, a combination of coin-op, home system, and portable titles, are faithfully recreated, though I detected a couple minor issues — mainly control latency and sporadic glitches, notably within Mortal Kombat 4. Although the titles are largely presented as-is, the development team has added several intelligent convenience enhancements and display customization choices. For instance, players have the option to show each character's special moves on the display and select to activate unlimited duration to complete lethal techniques. Additionally available are settings for revealing concealed combatants, without having to perform obscure techniques to obtain them.

Artistically, the releases can be played with a variety of graphical effects and display options. Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection provides highly authentic effects that reproduce the traditional television screens of coin-op establishments or domestic TVs, or the limited color monitor of a portable gaming device. An especially welcome feature is the option to have gaming hall-style borders surrounding the screen, with your selected Mortal Kombat title accurately and softly reflecting against the simulated dark plastic edges. It's quite aesthetically pleasing.

Extra Content

The collection includes numerous welcome features besides the documentary and emulated arcade classics, containing a soundtrack mode that enables players to reexperience the tunes of various fighting releases excluding the sounds of fighters brutally eliminating opponents. Additionally included are character profiles that include bios and numerous narrative components displayed via the demo sequences of coin-op titles and conclusions.

Historical Preservation

Among the most significant features for hardcore Mortal Kombat fans is the opportunity to play a piece of "lost media" in the form of Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 Wavenet Edition. This particular edition, a slightly updated version of Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3, was an pioneering effort from the developer at head-to-head network battles in coin-op establishments. This network version of the game is almost exactly the same to UMK3, but included the option to compete against internet adversaries and contained several small error corrections and adjustments. However, this network version failed to achieve popularity, in part