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The Mortal Kombat series retains its share of secrets and the power to astonish, over three decades after its initial debut in gaming halls. This latest compilation spanning the series' initial period, comprising a quartet of arcade releases, multiple console adaptations, and spinoffs, is more than just a well-emulated set of legendary games and not-so-classics — it additionally serves as a detailed chronicle about the creation of the iconic franchise.

Being a long-time Mortal Kombat fan who has paid close attention its development and progression, 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 other retro collections from developer Digital Eclipse, part historical documentation, part playable archive. The collection includes emulated versions of the first arcade Mortal Kombat, Mortal Kombat 2, Mortal Kombat 3, and Mortal Kombat 4, along with home system and portable adaptations of certain releases. The collection even includes the franchise's attempts 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 is therefore not a greatest hits compilation, but a study of the franchise's initial era, when the creators at Midway and franchise originators Ed Boon and John Tobias were discovering methods to create a combat title, created from video recordings of real actors, as they went along. Viewing the historical footage — containing vintage recordings, new interviews, and digital copies of vintage posters, illustrated stories, and even interoffice faxes — it's remarkable to see how the series transformed from modest origins to a worldwide phenomenon. It's frankly astounding to watch a handful of young game developers, working with minimal planning or guidance, channel their pop-culture interests into establishing an enduring gaming brand.

Documentary Portion

The educational segment of Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection traces the growth of the fighting series and the developers' professional journeys at the no-longer-operating Midway. It further illustrates how these identical developers contended with how to consistently surpass their achievements, experiencing considerable pressure to repeat their success. It serves as a compelling period piece composed of analog films and film-based pictures and hand-drawn illustrations, which showcase the DIY nature of the series' creation process and how word of mouth helped spread its rumors and hidden aspects of Mortal Kombat in its golden era in coin-op establishments. Presented in manageable segments, it's thoroughly enjoyable series of documentary shorts that spans games, comics, films and including the humorous real-world tour. It also includes some unused moves and game character images among its archived development assets.

Interactive Gaming

Interspersed along the quintet of documentary episodes' progression are prompts to play the actual titles. At certain intervals, audience members can jump into a Mortal Kombat title or one of its home console ports to reexperience its mechanics and artistic style, simulated with remarkable precision on current technology.

I dedicated most of my time experiencing the original arcade titles, particularly Mortal Kombat, Mortal Kombat 2, and Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3. Numerous titles here hold up, notably with one-on-one local play. However, facing the artificial intelligence fighters in these releases is a testament to how primitive and unfair the development approached in the series' initial installments. AI-managed characters blatantly cheat to win or are alternatively incredibly stupid. If you don't have someone to play against — online play is available in numerous anthology releases, but too light on features — you'll miss the full enjoyment.

Technical Presentation

The two dozen available combat games in the anthology, a combination of arcade, console, and handheld games, are accurately emulated, though I detected a few small quirks — primarily delayed responses and intermittent errors, particularly in Mortal Kombat 4. Even though the releases are largely presented as-is, the development team has incorporated various clever convenience enhancements and display customization choices. For example, users can elect to show each character's special moves during gameplay and opt to have endless periods to complete lethal techniques. There are also options for revealing concealed combatants, removing the requirement to complete some esoteric trick to obtain them.

Graphically, the titles can be played with a variety of filters and visual treatments. Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection offers very realistic filters that mimic the cathode-ray tube displays of coin-op establishments or domestic TVs, or the monochrome green display of a Nintendo handheld. A particularly nice touch is the option to have arcade-like bezels encircling the display, with the specific combat game you're playing accurately and softly reflecting against the artificial ebony plastic frames. It's remarkably visually appealing.

Bonus Elements

There are plenty of welcome features besides the educational material and simulated classic games, featuring an audio component that enables players to reexperience the tunes of various fighting releases excluding the sounds of combatants violently defeating each other. Also present are fighter biographies that contain backgrounds and multiple story elements displayed via the demo sequences of coin-op titles and conclusions.

Lost Media Recovery

Among the most significant features for committed franchise followers is the chance to experience a segment of previously unavailable content in the format of Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 Wavenet Edition. This version of the game, a moderately improved edition of Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3, was an early attempt by Midway at head-to-head network battles in coin-op establishments. This network version of the game is practically indistinguishable to UMK3, but provided the ability to battle network competitors and featured various slight glitch repairs and refinements. But the Wavenet update never gained traction, in part