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The Mortal Kombat series still possesses numerous undisclosed elements and the capacity to surprise, well past its 30th anniversary after its first appearance in coin-op establishments. This latest compilation covering the series' initial period, featuring a quartet of arcade releases, various home ports, and spinoffs, goes beyond just a well-emulated series of classics along with lesser-known entries — it functions as a comprehensive historical account about the creation of the legendary series.

Being a long-time devotee of the franchise who has carefully followed its origins and transformation, there was much to discover for me to learn and appreciate about the series.

What Makes the Historical Compilation

Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection comparable to other retro collections from the creators at Digital Eclipse, part historical documentation, part playable archive. The collection includes simulated releases of the original arcade Mortal Kombat, Mortal Kombat 2, Mortal Kombat 3, and Mortal Kombat 4, plus console and handheld ports of some of those games. This compilation also features the brand's experiments at spin-off titles, like combat-focused releases Mortal Kombat Mythologies: Sub-Zero and Mortal Kombat: Special Forces — some of the brand's most criticized releases.

The Legacy Kollection is therefore not a “best of” collection, but an exploration into the franchise's initial era, 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 live performers, as they went along. Observing the archival material — containing vintage recordings, new interviews, and digital copies of vintage posters, illustrated stories, and even company memos — it's incredible to witness how the series transformed from humble beginnings to a international craze. It's frankly astounding to see a group of early video game creators, working with minimal planning or supervision, focus their cultural enthusiasms into establishing an enduring gaming brand.

Historical Section

The documentary portion of Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection traces the growth of Mortal Kombat and its creators' careers at the currently closed Midway. It subsequently demonstrates how these identical developers reckoned with how to consistently surpass their achievements, facing no small amount of demand to replicate their achievements. It represents an intriguing historical record made from video recordings and analog photographs and hand-drawn illustrations, which reveal the self-made character of the franchise's production method and how personal recommendations 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 collection of mini-documentaries that spans games, comics, films and even the silly live-action tour. The compilation also contains some unreleased actions and digital fighter representations among its previously unreleased material.

Playable Component

Distributed throughout the five-segment historical film's chronology are invitations to experience the original releases. During specific moments, viewers can hop into a Mortal Kombat title or one of its home console ports to revisit its gameplay and artistic style, recreated with impressive accuracy on modern hardware.

I allocated the majority of my time experiencing the original arcade titles, particularly Mortal Kombat, Mortal Kombat 2, and Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3. Several releases here hold up, notably with direct competitive sessions. Yet competing with the aforementioned game's AI-controlled opponents is a testament to how primitive and unfair the development approached in early Mortal Kombat games. AI-managed characters blatantly cheat to win or are alternatively incredibly stupid. Without having a human opponent — online play is available in the majority of included games, but somewhat limited in options — you'll be missing out.

Technical Presentation

The twenty-three accessible Mortal Kombat titles in the anthology, a mix of gaming hall, television, and mobile releases, are precisely simulated, though I detected a few small quirks — mostly input lag and intermittent errors, particularly in Mortal Kombat 4. Even though the releases are mostly shown in their original form, the development team has included some smart quality-of-life features and visual presentation options. For example, you can choose to reveal combatant-unique actions during gameplay and opt to have infinite time to perform a Fatality. There are also options for unlocking secret characters, removing the requirement to complete complicated methods to obtain them.

Artistically, the releases can be experienced with numerous visual enhancements and presentation styles. Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection includes remarkably accurate filters that mimic the cathode-ray tube displays of arcades or domestic TVs, or the monochrome green display of a portable gaming device. A particularly nice touch is the option to have arcade-like bezels framing the gameplay, with the MK game of your choice faithfully and subtly duplicating against the simulated dark plastic edges. It's very artistically charming.

Additional Features

Players will discover multiple nice touches beyond the documentary and emulated arcade classics, including a music player that lets you revisit the tunes of various fighting releases without the din of two kombatants viciously slaughtering each other. Also present are combatant descriptions that include bios and numerous narrative components shown through the idle displays of gaming hall releases and final sequences.

Historical Preservation

A particularly notable inclusion for hardcore Mortal Kombat fans is the chance to experience a segment of previously unavailable content in the guise of Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 Wavenet Edition. This specific release, a moderately improved edition of Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3, was an early attempt by Midway at direct online competitive gaming in arcades. This network version of the game is practically indistinguishable to UMK3, but provided the ability to compete against internet adversaries and included some minor error corrections and adjustments. Yet this online edition didn't find widespread adoption, in part