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This iconic fighting game continues to hold many hidden mysteries and the power to astonish, more than 30 years after its initial debut in coin-op establishments. The recent anthology including the franchise's earliest days, comprising a quartet of arcade releases, several home system versions, and derivative games, goes beyond just a well-emulated series of classics and not-so-classics — it functions as a detailed chronicle about the creation of the legendary series.

Even as a lifelong Mortal Kombat fan who has paid close attention its origins and transformation, there was much to discover for me to learn and appreciate about the series.

What Defines the Legacy Kollection

Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection is, like other retro collections from the creators at Digital Eclipse, part documentary, section playable historical record. The anthology contains 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. The collection even includes the series' ventures at derivative games, like combat-focused releases Mortal Kombat Mythologies: Sub-Zero and Mortal Kombat: Special Forces — some of the brand's worst entries.

The Legacy Kollection thus isn't a greatest hits compilation, but an exploration into the series' formative period, when the creators at Midway and franchise originators the creative duo behind the series were discovering methods to develop a battle series, produced using film material of real actors, as they went along. Viewing the historical footage — that features archival footage, contemporary discussions, and reproductions of classic advertisements, comics, and even company memos — it's incredible to witness how the franchise evolved from humble beginnings to a international craze. It's genuinely amazing to observe several young game developers, operating with virtually no plan or oversight, focus their cultural enthusiasms into creating a legendary video game series.

Educational Component

The educational segment of Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection charts the rise of the combat franchise and the founders' vocational paths at the no-longer-operating Midway. It then goes on to show how those same creators reckoned with how to regularly outdo their previous work, experiencing considerable pressure to repeat their triumphs. It represents an intriguing historical record made from VHS tapes and traditional photos and manual drawings, which showcase the DIY nature of the franchise's production method and how word of mouth helped spread its rumors and undisclosed elements of the series in its golden era in coin-op establishments. Presented in manageable segments, it's an eminently watchable set of brief historical films that spans games, comics, films 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 Gaming

Interspersed along the quintet of documentary episodes' progression are invitations to experience the original releases. At certain intervals, audience members can jump into a combat game session or one of its home console ports to reexperience its mechanics and visual presentation, emulated nearly perfectly on modern hardware.

I dedicated most of my time playing the arcade classics, specifically Mortal Kombat, Mortal Kombat 2, and Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3. Several releases here remain enjoyable, particularly during one-on-one local play. However, facing the artificial intelligence fighters in these releases is a reminder of how crude and unfair the coding existed in the franchise's pioneering releases. AI-managed characters obviously use unfair advantages or are alternatively incredibly stupid. If you don't have someone to play against — internet multiplayer exists in most titles in the collection, but rather basic in functionality — the experience will be incomplete.

Display Features

The twenty-three accessible Mortal Kombat titles in the anthology, a mix of arcade, console, and handheld games, are precisely simulated, though I detected a couple minor issues — mostly input lag and the occasional bug, particularly in Mortal Kombat 4. Although the titles are largely presented as-is, the creators has added several intelligent convenience enhancements and visual presentation options. For example, users can elect to display fighter-specific techniques on the display and select to activate endless periods to complete lethal techniques. Also included are choices for unlocking secret characters, removing the requirement to complete some esoteric trick to unlock them.

Visually, the games can be played with a variety of visual enhancements and presentation styles. Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection provides highly authentic filters that mimic the traditional television screens of coin-op establishments or household displays, or the monochrome green display of a portable gaming device. An especially welcome feature is the setting to activate coin-op-inspired frames encircling the display, with the MK game of your choice accurately and softly reflecting against the artificial ebony plastic frames. It's quite aesthetically pleasing.

Additional Features

Players will discover multiple welcome features besides the historical footage and recreated vintage titles, containing a soundtrack mode that lets you revisit the soundtracks of different combat titles excluding the sounds of fighters brutally eliminating opponents. There are also fighter biographies that contain backgrounds and the various bits of lore displayed via the idle displays of gaming hall releases and conclusions.

Lost Media Recovery

A particularly notable inclusion for dedicated series enthusiasts is the ability to access a example of historically missing material in the format of Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 Wavenet Edition. This specific release, a somewhat revised iteration of Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3, was an early attempt by Midway at one-on-one internet-based play in coin-op establishments. The online-enabled release of the game is almost exactly the same to UMK3, but provided the ability to challenge online opponents and contained several small glitch repairs and refinements. However, this network version never gained traction, in part