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The Mortal Kombat series still possesses many hidden mysteries and the capacity to surprise, well past its 30th anniversary after its initial debut in coin-op establishments. The recent anthology including the franchise's earliest days, comprising four original arcade titles, multiple console adaptations, and spinoffs, goes beyond simply a faithfully reproduced series of classics along with lesser-known entries — it additionally serves as a detailed chronicle about the making of the iconic franchise.

Even as a lifelong enthusiast of the series who has closely monitored its creation and evolution, there was much to discover for me to learn and appreciate about the series.

What Defines the Historical Compilation

Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection is, like previous classic compilations from developer Digital Eclipse, portion educational film, section playable historical record. This compilation features simulated releases of the pioneering arcade Mortal Kombat, Mortal Kombat 2, Mortal Kombat 3, and Mortal Kombat 4, along with home system and portable adaptations of some of those games. This compilation also features the brand's experiments at spin-off titles, like combat-focused releases Mortal Kombat Mythologies: Sub-Zero and Mortal Kombat: Special Forces — some of the brand's most criticized releases.

The Legacy Kollection thus isn't a highlight reel anthology, but an exploration into the series' formative period, when developer Midway and franchise originators the creative duo behind the series were figuring out how to make a fighting game, digitized from footage of actual people, on the fly. Viewing the historical footage — containing archival footage, contemporary discussions, and scans of old flyers, graphic novels, and even company memos — it's incredible to witness how Mortal Kombat went from modest origins to a worldwide phenomenon. It's frankly astounding to watch a handful of young game developers, working with minimal planning or supervision, channel their pop-culture interests into creating a legendary video game series.

Educational Component

The historical documentation of Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection documents the ascent of the fighting series and the founders' vocational paths at the no-longer-operating Midway. It subsequently demonstrates how the very same individuals contended with how to regularly outdo their previous work, encountering significant pressure to repeat their success. It's a fascinating time capsule constructed using VHS tapes and traditional photos and hand-drawn illustrations, which reveal the self-made character of the series' creation process and how personal recommendations helped spread its rumors and undisclosed elements of the series in its arcade heyday. Presented in manageable segments, it's an eminently watchable series of documentary shorts that covers video games, graphic novels, movies and even the silly live-action tour. It also includes some unreleased actions and game character images among its archived development assets.

Interactive Experience

Interspersed along the five-segment historical film's chronology are prompts to play the games themselves. At various points, viewers can hop into a Mortal Kombat title or a console adaptation to revisit its gameplay and graphics, recreated with impressive accuracy on modern hardware.

I dedicated most of my time engaging with the vintage coin-op games, especially Mortal Kombat, Mortal Kombat 2, and Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3. Many of the games here stand the test of time, notably with direct competitive sessions. Yet competing with the computer-controlled adversaries in these titles is a demonstration of how basic and unjust the development approached in early Mortal Kombat games. CPU-controlled opponents blatantly cheat to win or are otherwise dumb as rocks. If you don't have someone to play against — online play is available in numerous anthology releases, but rather basic in functionality — you'll miss the full enjoyment.

Display Features

The 23 playable Mortal Kombat games in the anthology, a blend of arcade, console, and handheld games, are precisely simulated, though I detected a handful slight anomalies — mostly input lag and sporadic glitches, particularly in Mortal Kombat 4. Even though the releases are largely presented as-is, the creators has included some smart quality-of-life features and display customization choices. For instance, players have the option to reveal combatant-unique actions on-screen and select to activate infinite time to perform a Fatality. There are also options for revealing concealed combatants, without having to perform some esoteric trick to unlock them.

Graphically, the titles can be experienced with numerous visual enhancements and presentation styles. Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection offers very realistic effects that reproduce the traditional television screens of coin-op establishments or home televisions, or the greenscale screen of a Nintendo handheld. A particularly nice touch is the choice to enable arcade-like bezels encircling the display, with your selected Mortal Kombat title faithfully and subtly duplicating against the simulated dark plastic edges. It's very artistically charming.

Additional Features

The collection includes numerous appreciated elements beyond the documentary and emulated arcade classics, featuring an audio component that allows users to rediscover the soundtracks of different Mortal Kombat games excluding the sounds of combatants violently defeating each other. There are also fighter biographies that include bios and numerous narrative components displayed via arcade games' attract mode screens and conclusions.

Historical Preservation

One of the biggest highlights for dedicated series enthusiasts is the ability to access a segment of previously unavailable content in the guise of Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 Wavenet Edition. This version of the game, a slightly updated version of Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3, was an pioneering effort from the developer at direct online competitive gaming in arcades. The Wavenet Edition of the game is virtually identical to UMK3, but included the option to compete against internet adversaries and featured various slight error corrections and adjustments. But the Wavenet update never gained traction, in part