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This iconic fighting game retains many hidden mysteries and the power to astonish, well past its 30th anniversary after its first appearance in coin-op establishments. The recent anthology including the franchise's earliest days, comprising a quartet of arcade releases, various home ports, and spinoffs, goes beyond only a accurately simulated series of classics along with lesser-known entries — it functions as a rich documentary about the making of the legendary series.

Being a long-time Mortal Kombat fan who has paid close attention its creation and evolution, there was plenty new for me to learn and appreciate about the series.

What Makes the Historical Compilation

Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection comparable to other vintage game anthologies from the creators at Digital Eclipse, portion educational film, section playable historical record. The collection includes 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 certain releases. This compilation also features the brand's experiments at spin-off titles, like action-oriented titles Mortal Kombat Mythologies: Sub-Zero and Mortal Kombat: Special Forces — among the series' least successful installments.

The Legacy Kollection consequently doesn't represent a “best of” collection, but an examination of Mortal Kombat's early days, when the creators at Midway and brand founders the visionary developers were figuring out how to develop a battle series, created from video recordings of real actors, through experimentation. Observing the archival material — containing historical videos, new interviews, and digital copies of vintage posters, illustrated stories, and even company memos — it's incredible to witness how the franchise evolved from modest origins to a global sensation. It's genuinely amazing to observe several young game developers, operating with virtually no plan or guidance, channel their pop-culture interests into creating a legendary video game series.

Documentary Portion

The educational segment of Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection traces the growth of the combat franchise and the founders' vocational paths at the currently closed Midway. It then goes on to show how these identical developers contended with how to consistently surpass their achievements, experiencing considerable stress to duplicate their achievements. It represents an intriguing historical record composed of analog films and film-based pictures and pencil sketches, which reveal the self-made character of Mortal Kombat's development and how word of mouth helped circulate its mysteries and undisclosed elements of the series in its golden era in coin-op establishments. Presented in manageable segments, it's an eminently watchable series of documentary shorts that spans games, comics, films and even the silly live-action tour. It also includes some unused moves and game character images among its previously unreleased material.

Interactive Gaming

Placed within the five-part documentary's timeline are prompts to play the original releases. At certain intervals, audience members can jump into a combat game session or a console adaptation to reexperience its mechanics and artistic style, recreated with impressive accuracy on modern hardware.

I dedicated most of my time playing the arcade classics, particularly 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. However, facing the artificial intelligence fighters in these releases is a testament to how primitive and unbalanced the programming was in the series' initial installments. Computer-directed fighters obviously use unfair advantages or are conversely remarkably unintelligent. Lacking someone to play against — online play is available in numerous anthology releases, but too light on features — you'll miss the full enjoyment.

Display Features

The two dozen available combat games in the anthology, a mix of coin-op, home system, and portable titles, are precisely simulated, though I have noticed a couple minor issues — mostly input lag and sporadic glitches, especially with Mortal Kombat 4. Although the titles are primarily displayed authentically, developer Digital Eclipse has added several intelligent convenience enhancements and visual presentation options. For instance, players have the option to reveal combatant-unique actions during gameplay and choose to enable unlimited duration to execute finishing moves. There are also options for unlocking secret characters, removing the requirement to complete obscure techniques to access them.

Artistically, the releases can be experienced with numerous filters and visual treatments. Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection offers very realistic filters that mimic the CRT monitors of arcades or domestic TVs, or the limited color monitor of a Game Boy. A notably appreciated element is the choice to enable gaming hall-style borders surrounding the screen, with the specific combat game you're playing precisely and gently mirroring against the artificial ebony plastic frames. It's quite aesthetically pleasing.

Additional Features

Players will discover multiple appreciated elements beyond the historical footage and recreated vintage titles, featuring an audio component that lets you revisit the music from multiple combat titles absent the noise of two kombatants viciously slaughtering each other. Additionally included are fighter biographies that contain backgrounds and numerous narrative components presented by arcade games' attract mode screens and conclusions.

Archival Discovery

Among the most significant features for hardcore Mortal Kombat fans is the ability to access a piece of "lost media" in the form of Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 Wavenet Edition. This specific release, a somewhat revised iteration of Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3, was an pioneering effort from the developer at direct online competitive gaming in arcades. The online-enabled release of the game is practically indistinguishable to UMK3, but included the option to challenge online opponents and included some minor error corrections and adjustments. Yet this online edition never gained traction, in part