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This iconic fighting game still possesses numerous undisclosed elements and the ability to amaze, over three decades after its initial debut in coin-op establishments. The recent anthology covering the series' initial period, featuring four original arcade titles, several home system versions, and spinoffs, transcends just a well-emulated set of legendary games and not-so-classics — it's also a detailed chronicle about the development of the legendary series.

Even as a lifelong devotee of the franchise who has paid close attention its development and progression, there was much to discover for me to understand and value about the series.

What Constitutes the Legacy Kollection

Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection is, like other vintage game anthologies from the development team Digital Eclipse, portion educational film, part playable archive. The anthology contains simulated releases of the pioneering arcade Mortal Kombat, Mortal Kombat 2, Mortal Kombat 3, and Mortal Kombat 4, plus console and handheld ports of several of these titles. The anthology additionally contains the franchise's attempts at derivative games, like action games Mortal Kombat Mythologies: Sub-Zero and Mortal Kombat: Special Forces — among the series' worst entries.

The Legacy Kollection is therefore not a greatest hits compilation, but an examination of the franchise's initial era, when developer Midway and series co-creators Ed Boon and John Tobias were figuring out how to develop a battle series, produced using film material of live performers, as they went along. Watching the documentary — which includes vintage recordings, recent conversations, and scans of old flyers, graphic novels, and even company memos — it's incredible to witness how the series transformed from simple starts to a global sensation. It's frankly astounding to see a group of early video game creators, developing without clear direction or supervision, channel their pop-culture interests into creating a legendary video game series.

Educational Component

The educational segment of Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection charts the rise of the combat franchise and the developers' professional journeys at the now-defunct Midway. It then goes on to show how those same creators contended with how to consistently surpass their achievements, experiencing considerable pressure to repeat their success. It's a fascinating time capsule composed of video recordings and film-based pictures and manual drawings, which reveal the self-made character of Mortal Kombat's development and how personal recommendations helped spread its rumors and undisclosed elements of the series in its arcade heyday. Delivered in easily digestible portions, it's an eminently watchable set of brief historical films that spans games, comics, films and even the comical physical events. It also includes some unreleased actions and character sprites among its cutting-room-floor content.

Playable Component

Placed within the five-part documentary's timeline are prompts to play the games themselves. At certain intervals, audience members can jump into a Mortal Kombat title or a home system version to revisit its gameplay and graphics, emulated nearly perfectly on modern hardware.

I dedicated most of my time engaging with the vintage coin-op games, specifically Mortal Kombat, Mortal Kombat 2, and Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3. Numerous titles here remain enjoyable, particularly during direct competitive sessions. But playing against the computer-controlled adversaries in these titles is a testament to how primitive and unjust the development approached in the series' initial installments. CPU-controlled opponents clearly employ dishonest tactics or are alternatively incredibly stupid. Without having a human opponent — network gaming is included in most titles in the collection, but rather basic in functionality — the experience will be incomplete.

Display Features

The two dozen available combat games in the collection, a mix of arcade, console, and handheld games, are accurately emulated, though I have noticed a handful slight anomalies — primarily delayed responses and sporadic glitches, especially with Mortal Kombat 4. And while the games are primarily displayed authentically, the development team has incorporated various clever convenience enhancements and visual presentation options. As an illustration, players have the option to show each character's special moves during gameplay and select to activate infinite time to complete lethal techniques. Additionally available are settings for unlocking secret characters, 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 effects that reproduce the CRT monitors of gaming halls or household displays, or the monochrome green display of a portable gaming device. An especially welcome feature is the option to have gaming hall-style borders framing the gameplay, with the MK game of your choice accurately and softly reflecting against the faux black plastic borders. It's remarkably visually appealing.

Extra Content

Players will discover multiple appreciated elements beyond the historical footage and recreated vintage titles, featuring an audio component that enables players to reexperience the music from multiple combat titles absent the noise of fighters brutally eliminating opponents. Additionally included are character profiles that include bios and numerous narrative components shown through the demo sequences of coin-op titles and final sequences.

Archival Discovery

One of the biggest highlights for committed franchise followers is the chance to experience a piece of "lost media" in the format of Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 Wavenet Edition. This version of the game, a somewhat revised iteration of Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3, was an pioneering effort from the developer at head-to-head network battles in arcades. The Wavenet Edition of the game is virtually identical to UMK3, but included the option to battle network competitors and contained several small error corrections and adjustments. But the Wavenet update failed to achieve popularity, in part