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This iconic fighting game retains its share of secrets and the capacity to surprise, well past its 30th anniversary after its initial debut in coin-op establishments. A new collection spanning the series' initial period, comprising a quartet of arcade releases, multiple console adaptations, and related titles, transcends only a accurately simulated set of legendary games along with lesser-known entries — it additionally serves as a rich documentary about the making of the legendary series.

Even as a lifelong Mortal Kombat fan who has carefully followed its creation and evolution, there was plenty new for me to discover and admire about the series.

What Makes the Legacy Collection

Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection is, like other vintage game anthologies from the creators at Digital Eclipse, portion educational film, part playable archive. The collection includes emulated versions of the pioneering arcade Mortal Kombat, Mortal Kombat 2, Mortal Kombat 3, and Mortal Kombat 4, along with home system and portable adaptations of several of these titles. The collection even includes the series' ventures 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 thus isn't a highlight reel anthology, but a study of the franchise's initial era, when the development team Midway and series co-creators Ed Boon and John Tobias were determining how to develop a battle series, produced using film material of real actors, as they went along. Observing the archival material — which includes historical videos, contemporary discussions, and reproductions of classic advertisements, illustrated stories, and including internal communications — it's remarkable to see how the franchise evolved from modest origins to a worldwide phenomenon. It's frankly astounding to watch a handful of early video game creators, developing without clear direction or oversight, channel their pop-culture interests into establishing an enduring gaming brand.

Historical Section

The documentary portion of Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection documents the ascent of Mortal Kombat and the developers' professional journeys at the no-longer-operating Midway. It subsequently demonstrates how these identical developers reckoned with how to regularly outdo their previous work, experiencing considerable pressure to repeat their success. It's a fascinating time capsule constructed using VHS tapes and film-based pictures and pencil sketches, which reveal the self-made character of the series' creation process and how oral tradition helped spread its rumors and hidden aspects of Mortal Kombat in its peak period in gaming halls. Delivered in easily digestible portions, it's an eminently watchable set of brief historical films that covers video games, graphic novels, movies and even the comical physical events. It also includes some unreleased actions and character sprites among its archived development assets.

Playable Component

Distributed throughout the five-segment historical film's chronology are opportunities to engage with the original releases. At certain intervals, users can directly access a combat game session or one of its home console ports to revisit its gameplay and graphics, emulated nearly perfectly on contemporary systems.

I dedicated most of my time engaging with the vintage coin-op games, especially Mortal Kombat, Mortal Kombat 2, and Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3. Several releases here remain enjoyable, notably with one-on-one local play. Yet competing with the computer-controlled adversaries in these titles is a demonstration of how basic and unfair the programming was in the series' initial installments. Computer-directed fighters obviously use unfair advantages or are conversely remarkably unintelligent. If you don't have another person to compete with — internet multiplayer exists in most titles in the collection, but too light on features — the experience will be incomplete.

Visual Options

The 23 playable Mortal Kombat games in the anthology, a mix of arcade, console, and handheld games, are faithfully recreated, though I've observed a couple minor issues — mainly control latency and sporadic glitches, particularly in Mortal Kombat 4. And while the games are largely presented as-is, the development team has included some smart convenience enhancements and graphical adjustment settings. For example, users can elect to display fighter-specific techniques during gameplay and select to activate unlimited duration to execute finishing moves. Additionally available are settings for accessing hidden fighters, removing the requirement to complete some esoteric trick to access them.

Graphically, the titles can be enjoyed with multiple visual enhancements and presentation styles. Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection provides highly authentic filters that mimic the cathode-ray tube displays of arcades or domestic TVs, or the limited color monitor of a Nintendo handheld. An especially welcome feature is the choice to enable arcade-like bezels surrounding the screen, with the specific combat game you're playing faithfully and subtly duplicating against the simulated dark plastic edges. It's remarkably visually appealing.

Bonus Elements

The collection includes numerous appreciated elements beyond the educational material and simulated classic games, including a music player that enables players to reexperience the soundtracks of different Mortal Kombat games without the din of combatants violently defeating each other. Additionally included are character profiles that include bios and numerous narrative components shown through arcade games' attract mode screens and final sequences.

Historical Preservation

A particularly notable inclusion for hardcore Mortal Kombat fans is the chance to experience a piece of "lost media" in the form 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 direct online competitive gaming in coin-op establishments. This network version of the game is virtually identical to UMK3, but included the option to compete against internet adversaries and featured various slight glitch repairs and refinements. Yet this online edition never gained traction, in part