🔗 Share this article

Mortal Kombat retains its share of secrets and the capacity to surprise, more than 30 years after its first appearance in arcades. A new collection including the series' initial period, which includes four original arcade titles, several home system versions, and derivative games, is more than only a accurately simulated series of classics and not-so-classics — it's also a rich documentary about the creation of the renowned brand.

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

What Constitutes the Legacy Collection

Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection similar to other retro collections from developer Digital Eclipse, part documentary, part playable archive. This compilation features digitally recreated editions 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 anthology additionally contains the series' ventures at spin-off titles, like action-oriented titles Mortal Kombat Mythologies: Sub-Zero and Mortal Kombat: Special Forces — some of the brand's least successful installments.

The Legacy Kollection thus isn't a “best of” collection, but an exploration into the franchise's initial era, when developer Midway and franchise originators Ed Boon and John Tobias were determining how to develop a battle series, created from video recordings of live performers, as they went along. Observing the archival material — containing archival footage, contemporary discussions, and digital copies of vintage posters, graphic novels, and including internal communications — it's incredible to witness how the series transformed from simple starts to a international craze. It's frankly astounding to see a group of young game developers, operating with virtually no plan or guidance, direct their entertainment passions into establishing an enduring gaming brand.

Documentary Portion

The educational segment of Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection charts the rise of Mortal Kombat and its creators' careers at the currently closed Midway. It subsequently demonstrates how the very same individuals addressed how to regularly outdo their previous work, experiencing considerable demand to replicate their success. It's a fascinating time capsule made from video recordings and traditional photos and pencil sketches, which showcase the DIY nature of Mortal Kombat's development and how personal recommendations helped spread its rumors and secrets of MK in its arcade heyday. Delivered in easily digestible portions, it's thoroughly enjoyable set of brief historical films that covers video games, graphic novels, movies and even the silly live-action tour. The compilation also contains some never-implemented techniques and game character images among its archived development assets.

Interactive Gaming

Distributed throughout the five-segment historical film's chronology are invitations to experience the games themselves. During specific moments, audience members can jump into a game of Mortal Kombat or a home system version to rediscover its combat system and artistic style, emulated nearly perfectly on contemporary systems.

I spent the bulk of my time playing the arcade classics, specifically Mortal Kombat, Mortal Kombat 2, and Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3. Several releases here stand the test of time, particularly during one-on-one local play. Yet competing with the artificial intelligence fighters in these releases is a reminder of how crude and unbalanced the coding existed in early Mortal Kombat games. AI-managed characters obviously use unfair advantages or are otherwise dumb as rocks. Without having a human opponent — online play is available in most titles in the collection, but somewhat limited in options — you'll miss the full enjoyment.

Technical Presentation

The two dozen available combat games in the collection, a blend of gaming hall, television, and mobile releases, are faithfully recreated, though I detected a handful slight anomalies — primarily delayed responses and sporadic glitches, notably within 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 example, you can choose to display fighter-specific techniques on the display and choose to enable infinite time to complete lethal techniques. Also included are choices for unlocking secret characters, removing the requirement to complete obscure techniques 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 arcades or household displays, or the limited color monitor of a portable gaming device. A notably appreciated element is the option to have coin-op-inspired frames encircling the display, with the specific combat game you're playing accurately and softly reflecting against the artificial ebony plastic frames. It's very artistically charming.

Bonus Elements

There are plenty of welcome features besides the historical footage and recreated vintage titles, featuring an audio component that enables players to reexperience the soundtracks of different combat titles excluding the sounds of two kombatants viciously slaughtering each other. There are also combatant descriptions that feature histories and numerous narrative components displayed via the demo sequences of coin-op titles and endings.

Lost Media Recovery

Among the most significant features for hardcore Mortal Kombat fans is the ability to access a piece of "lost media" in the guise of Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 Wavenet Edition. This particular edition, a slightly updated version of Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3, was an early attempt by Midway at one-on-one internet-based play in gaming halls. This network version of the game is practically indistinguishable to UMK3, but featured the capability to challenge online opponents and included some minor glitch repairs and refinements. However, this network version never gained traction, in part