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This iconic fighting game continues to hold many hidden mysteries and the power to astonish, well past its 30th anniversary after its first appearance in coin-op establishments. This latest compilation spanning the brand's formative years, comprising four original arcade titles, several home system versions, and derivative games, transcends only a accurately simulated collection of iconic titles along with lesser-known entries — it's also a rich documentary about the making of the renowned brand.

As a dedicated enthusiast of the series who has paid close attention its development and progression, there was much to discover for me to learn and appreciate about the series.

What Constitutes the Legacy Collection

Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection is, like other retro collections from the development team Digital Eclipse, part historical documentation, part playable archive. The collection includes simulated releases of the original arcade Mortal Kombat, Mortal Kombat 2, Mortal Kombat 3, and Mortal Kombat 4, plus console and handheld ports 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 — two of the franchise's most criticized releases.

The Legacy Kollection thus isn't a “best of” collection, but an exploration into Mortal Kombat's early days, when the development team Midway and brand founders the visionary developers were discovering methods to develop a battle series, produced using film material of actual people, through experimentation. Observing the archival material — which includes archival footage, contemporary discussions, and digital copies of vintage posters, illustrated stories, and even interoffice faxes — it's incredible to witness how Mortal Kombat went from humble beginnings to a global sensation. It's truly remarkable to see a group of early video game creators, developing without clear direction or oversight, channel their pop-culture interests into birthing an iconic game franchise.

Educational Component

The historical documentation of Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection charts the rise of the combat franchise and its creators' careers at the currently closed Midway. It then goes on to show how those same creators contended with how to regularly outdo their previous work, encountering significant demand to replicate their achievements. It serves as a compelling period piece composed of VHS tapes and film-based pictures and hand-drawn illustrations, which showcase the DIY nature of the series' creation process and how word of mouth helped spread its rumors and undisclosed elements of the series in its peak period in gaming halls. Told in bite-sized chunks, it's highly engaging series of documentary shorts that includes titles, illustrated stories, cinematic adaptations and even the comical physical events. The collection additionally features some unreleased actions and character sprites among its cutting-room-floor content.

Interactive Experience

Interspersed along the quintet of documentary episodes' progression are opportunities to engage with the games themselves. At certain intervals, users can directly access a game of Mortal Kombat 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 playing the arcade classics, specifically Mortal Kombat, Mortal Kombat 2, and Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3. Several releases here hold up, particularly during direct competitive sessions. But playing against the artificial intelligence fighters in these releases is a demonstration of how basic and unfair the programming was in the series' initial installments. CPU-controlled opponents blatantly cheat to win or are alternatively incredibly stupid. Without having someone to play against — online play is available in numerous anthology releases, but too light on features — you'll miss the full enjoyment.

Technical Presentation

The twenty-three accessible Mortal Kombat titles in the compilation, a mix of coin-op, home system, and portable titles, are faithfully recreated, though I have noticed a handful slight anomalies — mostly input lag and intermittent errors, notably within Mortal Kombat 4. Even though the releases are primarily displayed authentically, developer Digital Eclipse has included some smart user experience improvements and graphical adjustment settings. For example, you can choose to reveal combatant-unique actions on-screen and opt to have infinite time to complete lethal techniques. Also included are choices for accessing hidden fighters, removing the requirement to complete complicated methods to unlock them.

Visually, the games can be played with a variety of filters and visual treatments. Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection provides highly authentic effects that reproduce the traditional television screens of arcades or domestic TVs, or the monochrome green display of a Game Boy. A notably appreciated element is the option to have arcade-like bezels surrounding the screen, with the MK game of your choice precisely and gently mirroring against the faux black plastic borders. It's very artistically charming.

Additional Features

There are plenty of appreciated elements beyond the documentary and emulated arcade classics, including a music player that allows users to rediscover the music from multiple Mortal Kombat games excluding the sounds of fighters brutally eliminating opponents. Additionally included are fighter biographies that feature histories and multiple story elements shown through the demo sequences of coin-op titles and final sequences.

Lost Media Recovery

Among the most significant features 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 particular edition, a slightly updated version of Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3, was an early attempt by Midway at head-to-head network battles in gaming halls. This network version of the game is virtually identical to UMK3, but included the option to battle network competitors and contained several small bug fixes and balance. However, this network version didn't find widespread adoption, in part