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The Mortal Kombat series retains numerous undisclosed elements and the capacity to surprise, well past its 30th anniversary after its first appearance in coin-op establishments. A new collection spanning the brand's formative years, comprising four arcade games, several home system versions, and derivative games, is more than just a well-emulated collection of iconic titles along with lesser-known entries — it additionally serves as a comprehensive historical account about the creation of the legendary series.

Being a long-time enthusiast of the series who has paid close attention its origins and transformation, there was much to discover for me to learn and appreciate about the series.

What Makes the Historical Compilation

Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection comparable to other retro collections from developer Digital Eclipse, portion educational film, part playable archive. 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 certain releases. The collection even includes the series' ventures 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 examination of the franchise's initial era, when the creators at Midway and brand founders Ed Boon and John Tobias were figuring out how to create a combat title, created from video recordings of live performers, as they went along. Viewing the historical footage — containing vintage recordings, new interviews, and scans of old flyers, graphic novels, and even company memos — it's incredible to witness how Mortal Kombat went from humble beginnings to a global sensation. It's truly remarkable to watch a handful of pioneering developers, working with minimal planning or supervision, direct their entertainment passions into establishing an enduring gaming brand.

Educational Component

The documentary portion of Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection traces the growth of Mortal Kombat and its creators' careers at the currently closed Midway. It then goes on to show how these identical developers reckoned with how to consistently surpass their achievements, facing no small amount of demand to replicate their success. It represents an intriguing historical record constructed using VHS tapes and film-based pictures and hand-drawn illustrations, which demonstrate the hands-on approach of Mortal Kombat's development and how personal recommendations helped disseminate its secrets and undisclosed elements of the series in its golden era in coin-op establishments. Presented in manageable segments, it's thoroughly enjoyable collection of mini-documentaries that includes titles, illustrated stories, cinematic adaptations and including the humorous real-world tour. The compilation also contains some unreleased actions and digital fighter representations among its archived development assets.

Interactive Gaming

Placed within the five-segment historical film's chronology are opportunities to engage with the actual titles. At various points, users can directly access a combat game session or a home system version to reexperience its mechanics and graphics, emulated nearly perfectly on modern hardware.

I dedicated most of my time experiencing the original arcade titles, specifically Mortal Kombat, Mortal Kombat 2, and Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3. Numerous titles here stand the test of time, particularly during local multiplayer matches. But playing against the aforementioned game's AI-controlled opponents is a demonstration of how basic and unjust the coding existed in the series' initial installments. Computer-directed fighters blatantly cheat to win or are alternatively incredibly stupid. Without having someone to play against — online play is available in most titles in the collection, but too light on features — you'll miss the full enjoyment.

Visual Options

The two dozen available combat games in the anthology, a combination of coin-op, home system, and portable titles, are precisely simulated, though I've observed a handful slight anomalies — mostly input lag and sporadic glitches, particularly in Mortal Kombat 4. And while the games are largely presented as-is, the creators has included some smart quality-of-life features and display customization choices. For example, you can choose to reveal combatant-unique actions on-screen and select to activate infinite time to execute finishing moves. Also included are choices for accessing hidden fighters, removing the requirement to complete some esoteric trick to obtain them.

Artistically, the releases can be experienced with numerous filters and visual treatments. Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection includes remarkably accurate effects that reproduce the traditional television screens of gaming halls or domestic TVs, or the greenscale screen of a Nintendo handheld. A notably appreciated element is the setting to activate arcade-like bezels encircling the display, with your selected Mortal Kombat title precisely and gently mirroring against the artificial ebony plastic frames. It's very artistically charming.

Additional Features

There are plenty of welcome features besides the documentary and emulated arcade classics, including a music player that enables players to reexperience the music from multiple combat titles absent the noise of two kombatants viciously slaughtering each other. There are also combatant descriptions that feature histories and the various bits of lore displayed via arcade games' attract mode screens and endings.

Lost Media Recovery

A particularly notable inclusion for hardcore Mortal Kombat fans is the chance to experience a piece of "lost media" in the format of Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 Wavenet Edition. This specific release, a moderately improved edition of Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3, was an early attempt by Midway at head-to-head network battles in arcades. The Wavenet Edition of the game is almost exactly the same to UMK3, but provided the ability to compete against internet adversaries and contained several small glitch repairs and refinements. But the Wavenet update failed to achieve popularity, in part