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The Mortal Kombat series continues to hold its share of secrets and the ability to amaze, more than 30 years after its first appearance in coin-op establishments. This latest compilation including the brand's formative years, comprising four arcade games, multiple console adaptations, and spinoffs, goes beyond simply a faithfully reproduced set of legendary games including less celebrated releases — it functions as a rich documentary about the creation of the renowned brand.

Being a long-time enthusiast of the series who has carefully followed its development and progression, there was numerous fresh aspects for me to discover and admire about the series.

What Defines the Legacy Collection

Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection similar to other retro collections from the creators at Digital Eclipse, part documentary, portion interactive museum. The collection includes digitally recreated editions of the first arcade Mortal Kombat, Mortal Kombat 2, Mortal Kombat 3, and Mortal Kombat 4, plus console and handheld ports of some of those games. The collection even includes the series' ventures at spin-off titles, like action-oriented titles Mortal Kombat Mythologies: Sub-Zero and Mortal Kombat: Special Forces — among the series' worst entries.

The Legacy Kollection is therefore not a “best of” collection, but an examination of the series' formative period, when the development team Midway and brand founders Ed Boon and John Tobias were determining how to make a fighting game, produced using film material of real actors, on the fly. Viewing the historical footage — that features vintage recordings, recent conversations, and reproductions of classic advertisements, graphic novels, and even company memos — it's incredible to witness how Mortal Kombat went from humble beginnings to a global sensation. It's genuinely amazing to watch a handful of early video game creators, working with minimal planning or oversight, channel their pop-culture interests into establishing an enduring gaming brand.

Historical Section

The educational segment of Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection documents the ascent of the combat franchise and its creators' careers at the now-defunct Midway. It subsequently demonstrates how those same creators reckoned with how to regularly outdo their previous work, facing no small amount of stress to duplicate their achievements. It's a fascinating time capsule constructed using VHS tapes and film-based pictures and pencil sketches, which showcase the DIY nature of the series' creation process and how personal recommendations helped spread its rumors and hidden aspects of Mortal Kombat in its arcade heyday. Told in bite-sized chunks, it's thoroughly enjoyable set of brief historical films that spans games, comics, films and including the humorous real-world tour. The collection additionally features some unused moves and character sprites among its previously unreleased material.

Playable Component

Distributed throughout the five-segment historical film's chronology are invitations to experience the games themselves. At various points, users can directly access a combat game session or one of its home console ports to revisit its gameplay and graphics, simulated with remarkable precision on contemporary systems.

I dedicated most of my time experiencing the original arcade titles, specifically Mortal Kombat, Mortal Kombat 2, and Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3. Numerous titles here stand the test of time, notably with local multiplayer matches. But playing against the aforementioned game's AI-controlled opponents is a testament to how primitive and unbalanced the programming was in the franchise's pioneering releases. AI-managed characters clearly employ dishonest tactics or are conversely remarkably unintelligent. If you don't have a human opponent — internet multiplayer exists in the majority of included games, but somewhat limited in options — the experience will be incomplete.

Technical Presentation

The twenty-three accessible Mortal Kombat titles in the collection, a blend of arcade, console, and handheld games, are precisely simulated, though I've observed a handful slight anomalies — mostly input lag and the occasional bug, notably within Mortal Kombat 4. And while the games are largely presented as-is, developer Digital Eclipse has included some smart user experience improvements and visual presentation options. For instance, you can choose to show each character's special moves during gameplay and select to activate unlimited duration to perform a Fatality. Also included are choices for accessing hidden fighters, without having to perform some esoteric trick to access them.

Graphically, the titles can be enjoyed with multiple filters and visual treatments. Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection provides highly authentic filters that mimic the cathode-ray tube displays of arcades or home televisions, or the greenscale screen of a portable gaming device. An especially welcome feature is the setting to activate coin-op-inspired frames encircling the display, with your selected Mortal Kombat title precisely and gently mirroring against the faux black plastic borders. It's very artistically charming.

Additional Features

There are plenty of appreciated elements beyond the historical footage and recreated vintage titles, including a music player that lets you revisit the soundtracks of different combat titles absent the noise of combatants violently defeating each other. There are also character profiles that contain backgrounds and multiple story elements shown through the idle displays of gaming hall releases and endings.

Archival Discovery

A particularly notable inclusion for committed franchise followers is the ability to access a piece of "lost media" in the format 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 direct online competitive gaming in arcades. The online-enabled release of the game is virtually identical to UMK3, but featured the capability to challenge online opponents and contained several small glitch repairs and refinements. Yet this online edition didn't find widespread adoption, in part