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The Mortal Kombat series retains numerous undisclosed elements and the power to astonish, well past its 30th anniversary after its initial debut in coin-op establishments. This latest compilation spanning the series' initial period, which includes four arcade games, several home system versions, and related titles, is more than just a well-emulated set of legendary games and not-so-classics — it additionally serves as a detailed chronicle about the making of the legendary series.

As a dedicated enthusiast of the series who has closely monitored its creation and evolution, there was much to discover for me to understand and value about the series.

What Makes the Legacy Kollection

Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection is, like other retro collections from developer Digital Eclipse, part documentary, section playable historical record. The collection includes digitally recreated editions of the pioneering arcade Mortal Kombat, Mortal Kombat 2, Mortal Kombat 3, and Mortal Kombat 4, plus console and handheld ports of several of these titles. The anthology additionally contains 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 is therefore not a “best of” collection, but an exploration into the series' formative period, when the creators at Midway and franchise originators the creative duo behind the series were determining how to make a fighting game, created from video recordings of live performers, through experimentation. Viewing the historical footage — containing historical videos, recent conversations, and digital copies of vintage posters, graphic novels, and even company memos — it's remarkable to see how Mortal Kombat went from humble beginnings to a international craze. It's genuinely amazing to observe several early video game creators, developing without clear direction or oversight, direct their entertainment passions into birthing an iconic game franchise.

Educational Component

The documentary portion of Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection charts the rise of the fighting series and the developers' professional journeys at the now-defunct Midway. It further illustrates how those same creators contended with how to consistently surpass their achievements, encountering significant pressure to repeat their achievements. It's a fascinating time capsule composed of video recordings and analog photographs and manual drawings, which showcase the DIY nature 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 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 cutting-room-floor content.

Interactive Experience

Distributed throughout the quintet of documentary episodes' progression are opportunities to engage with the games themselves. At various points, users can directly access a game of Mortal Kombat or a console adaptation to reexperience its mechanics and visual presentation, recreated with impressive accuracy on current technology.

I allocated the majority of my time experiencing the original arcade titles, particularly Mortal Kombat, Mortal Kombat 2, and Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3. Many of the games here remain enjoyable, especially in local multiplayer matches. However, facing the computer-controlled adversaries in these titles is a reminder of how crude and unfair the programming was in the franchise's pioneering releases. CPU-controlled opponents clearly employ dishonest tactics or are otherwise dumb as rocks. Lacking a human opponent — internet multiplayer exists in most titles in the collection, but too light on features — you'll be missing out.

Technical Presentation

The 23 playable Mortal Kombat games in the compilation, a mix of arcade, console, and handheld games, are precisely simulated, though I have noticed a couple minor issues — mainly control latency and sporadic glitches, particularly in Mortal Kombat 4. And while the games are primarily displayed authentically, the creators has included some smart quality-of-life features and display customization choices. For instance, users can elect to display fighter-specific techniques during gameplay and choose to enable endless periods to complete lethal techniques. Also included are choices for accessing hidden fighters, eliminating the need to execute obscure techniques to unlock them.

Artistically, the releases can be played with a variety of visual enhancements and presentation styles. Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection provides highly authentic options that simulate the cathode-ray tube displays of arcades or household displays, or the greenscale screen of a portable gaming device. A particularly nice touch is the choice to enable arcade-like bezels framing the gameplay, with your selected Mortal Kombat title accurately and softly reflecting against the simulated dark plastic edges. It's quite aesthetically pleasing.

Bonus Elements

The collection includes numerous welcome features besides the historical footage and recreated vintage titles, including a music player that enables players to reexperience the music from multiple Mortal Kombat games without the din of combatants violently defeating each other. There are also character profiles that feature histories and the various bits of lore shown through the demo sequences of coin-op titles and final sequences.

Archival Discovery

Among the most significant features for committed franchise followers is the opportunity to play a segment of previously unavailable content in the guise of Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 Wavenet Edition. This particular edition, a moderately improved edition of Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3, was an pioneering effort from the developer at head-to-head network battles in arcades. This network version of the game is practically indistinguishable to UMK3, but provided the ability to battle network competitors and contained several small error corrections and adjustments. But the Wavenet update failed to achieve popularity, in part