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The Mortal Kombat series still possesses many hidden mysteries and the power to astonish, more than 30 years after its initial debut in coin-op establishments. A new collection including the series' initial period, which includes a quartet of arcade releases, multiple console adaptations, and related titles, is more than only a accurately simulated collection of iconic titles including less celebrated releases — it's also a rich documentary about the making of the renowned brand.

Being a long-time enthusiast of the series who has carefully followed its creation and evolution, there was numerous fresh aspects for me to discover and admire about the series.

What Defines the Historical Compilation

Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection comparable to previous classic compilations from the creators at Digital Eclipse, portion educational film, portion interactive museum. This compilation features emulated versions of the pioneering arcade Mortal Kombat, Mortal Kombat 2, Mortal Kombat 3, and Mortal Kombat 4, plus console and handheld ports of certain releases. The anthology additionally contains the series' ventures at spinoffs, like action-oriented titles Mortal Kombat Mythologies: Sub-Zero and Mortal Kombat: Special Forces — among the series' most criticized releases.

The Legacy Kollection thus isn't a highlight reel anthology, but a study of the series' formative period, when developer Midway and franchise originators the visionary developers were discovering methods to make a fighting game, created from video recordings of actual people, as they went along. Viewing the historical footage — containing historical videos, new interviews, and digital copies of vintage posters, illustrated stories, and even interoffice faxes — it's astonishing to observe how the franchise evolved from modest origins to a global sensation. It's truly remarkable to watch a handful of early video game creators, developing without clear direction or supervision, focus their cultural enthusiasms into creating a legendary video game series.

Historical Section

The educational segment of Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection traces the growth of Mortal Kombat and the developers' professional journeys at the no-longer-operating Midway. It further illustrates how the very same individuals contended with how to routinely one-up themselves, facing no small amount of stress to duplicate their success. It serves as a compelling period piece made from VHS tapes and analog photographs and pencil sketches, which demonstrate the hands-on approach of Mortal Kombat's development and how oral tradition helped disseminate its secrets and hidden aspects of Mortal Kombat in its peak period in gaming halls. Told in bite-sized chunks, it's highly engaging collection of mini-documentaries that includes titles, illustrated stories, cinematic adaptations and even the silly live-action tour. It also includes some unused moves and digital fighter representations among its archived development assets.

Playable Component

Distributed throughout the quintet of documentary episodes' progression are invitations to experience the actual titles. At certain intervals, audience members can jump into a combat game session or a console adaptation to rediscover its combat system and visual presentation, recreated with impressive accuracy on current technology.

I spent the bulk of my time experiencing the original arcade titles, particularly Mortal Kombat, Mortal Kombat 2, and Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3. Many of the games here hold up, particularly during direct competitive sessions. Yet competing with the aforementioned game's AI-controlled opponents is a demonstration of how basic and unjust the coding existed in the franchise's pioneering releases. CPU-controlled opponents obviously use unfair advantages or are conversely remarkably unintelligent. Without having another person to compete with — internet multiplayer exists in most titles in the collection, but too light on features — the experience will be incomplete.

Technical Presentation

The twenty-three accessible Mortal Kombat titles in the anthology, a blend of arcade, console, and handheld games, are accurately emulated, though I've observed a handful slight anomalies — primarily delayed responses and sporadic glitches, especially with Mortal Kombat 4. Even though the releases are mostly shown in their original form, the creators has added several intelligent user experience improvements and graphical adjustment settings. For example, you can choose to show each character's special moves on the display and select to activate infinite time to execute finishing moves. There are also options for revealing concealed combatants, without having to perform obscure techniques to obtain them.

Artistically, the releases can be played with a variety of filters and visual treatments. Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection includes remarkably accurate options that simulate the traditional television screens of arcades or domestic TVs, or the limited color monitor of a Game Boy. An especially welcome feature is the choice to enable arcade-like bezels framing the gameplay, with your selected Mortal Kombat title accurately and softly reflecting against the artificial ebony plastic frames. It's very artistically charming.

Bonus Elements

There are plenty of welcome features besides the documentary and emulated arcade classics, featuring an audio component that lets you revisit the soundtracks of different fighting releases absent the noise of fighters brutally eliminating opponents. Also present are character profiles that feature histories and the various bits of lore displayed via arcade games' attract mode screens and endings.

Historical Preservation

Among the most significant features for dedicated series enthusiasts is the opportunity to play a piece of "lost media" in the form of Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 Wavenet Edition. This particular edition, a moderately improved edition of Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3, was an early attempt by Midway at one-on-one internet-based play in gaming halls. The Wavenet Edition of the game is virtually identical to UMK3, but included the option to battle network competitors and included some minor glitch repairs and refinements. Yet this online edition didn't find widespread adoption, in part