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The Mortal Kombat series retains numerous undisclosed elements and the ability to amaze, well past its 30th anniversary after its original launch in coin-op establishments. The recent anthology covering the franchise's earliest days, featuring four arcade games, several home system versions, and related titles, is more than simply a faithfully reproduced series of classics and not-so-classics — it's also a rich documentary about the making of the renowned brand.

Even as a lifelong devotee of the franchise who has closely monitored its origins and transformation, there was much to discover for me to understand and value about the series.

What Defines the Legacy Collection

Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection comparable to other vintage game anthologies from developer Digital Eclipse, part historical documentation, section playable historical record. The anthology contains digitally recreated editions of the original arcade Mortal Kombat, Mortal Kombat 2, Mortal Kombat 3, and Mortal Kombat 4, plus console and handheld ports of some of those games. The collection even includes the series' ventures at spinoffs, like combat-focused releases Mortal Kombat Mythologies: Sub-Zero and Mortal Kombat: Special Forces — among the series' worst entries.

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 franchise originators the creative duo behind the series were discovering methods to create a combat title, produced using film material of actual people, as they went along. Viewing the historical footage — which includes vintage recordings, new interviews, and reproductions of classic advertisements, comics, and including internal communications — it's remarkable to see how the franchise evolved from humble beginnings to a global sensation. It's truly remarkable to observe several pioneering developers, working with minimal planning or supervision, channel their pop-culture interests into establishing an enduring gaming brand.

Educational Component

The documentary portion of Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection charts the rise of the combat franchise and the developers' professional journeys at the no-longer-operating Midway. It subsequently demonstrates how those same creators contended with how to consistently surpass their achievements, encountering significant demand to replicate their success. It serves as a compelling period piece constructed using analog films and analog photographs and hand-drawn illustrations, which showcase the DIY nature of the franchise's production method and how word of mouth helped circulate its mysteries and hidden aspects of Mortal Kombat in its peak period in gaming halls. Presented in manageable segments, it's highly engaging series of documentary shorts that covers video games, graphic novels, movies and even the silly live-action tour. It also includes some unused moves and digital fighter representations among its cutting-room-floor content.

Interactive Gaming

Distributed throughout the five-segment historical film's chronology are opportunities to engage with the actual titles. During specific moments, viewers can hop into a combat game session or a console adaptation to revisit its gameplay and artistic style, recreated with impressive accuracy on current technology.

I allocated the majority of my time playing the arcade classics, especially Mortal Kombat, Mortal Kombat 2, and Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3. Numerous titles here stand the test of time, especially in direct competitive sessions. However, facing the computer-controlled adversaries in these titles is a testament to how primitive and unfair the coding existed in the series' initial installments. CPU-controlled opponents obviously use unfair advantages or are otherwise dumb as rocks. Lacking a human opponent — online play is available in most titles in the collection, but too light on features — you'll be missing out.

Visual Options

The twenty-three accessible Mortal Kombat titles in the compilation, a mix of gaming hall, television, and mobile releases, are precisely simulated, though I detected a few small quirks — primarily delayed responses and sporadic glitches, particularly in Mortal Kombat 4. And while the games are mostly shown in their original form, the development team has added several intelligent quality-of-life features and visual presentation options. As an illustration, you can choose to reveal combatant-unique actions on the display and opt to have infinite time to execute finishing moves. Also included are choices for revealing concealed combatants, eliminating the need to execute 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 includes remarkably accurate options that simulate the traditional television screens of coin-op establishments or home televisions, or the limited color monitor of a Game Boy. A notably appreciated element is the setting to activate gaming hall-style borders surrounding the screen, with the MK game of your choice faithfully and subtly duplicating against the faux black plastic borders. It's remarkably visually appealing.

Bonus Elements

There are plenty of appreciated elements beyond the documentary and emulated arcade classics, featuring an audio component that enables players to reexperience the tunes of various combat titles excluding the sounds of fighters brutally eliminating opponents. Additionally included are combatant descriptions that contain backgrounds and the various bits of lore displayed via the demo sequences of coin-op titles and final sequences.

Historical Preservation

Among the most significant features for dedicated series enthusiasts is the ability to access a segment of previously unavailable content in the format of Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 Wavenet Edition. This specific release, a slightly updated version of Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3, was an initial venture by the company at head-to-head network battles in gaming halls. This network version of the game is virtually identical to UMK3, but featured the capability to battle network competitors and featured various slight error corrections and adjustments. But the Wavenet update never gained traction, in part