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Mortal Kombat still possesses numerous undisclosed elements and the capacity to surprise, well past its 30th anniversary after its first appearance in coin-op establishments. The recent anthology including the brand's formative years, featuring a quartet of arcade releases, several home system versions, and derivative games, transcends simply a faithfully reproduced series of classics and not-so-classics — it functions as a rich documentary about the development of the iconic franchise.

Even as a lifelong Mortal Kombat fan who has paid close attention its origins and transformation, there was much to discover for me to understand and value about the series.

What Makes the Historical Compilation

Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection similar to other retro collections from developer Digital Eclipse, part historical documentation, portion interactive museum. The anthology contains 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. The anthology additionally contains the series' ventures at spinoffs, like combat-focused releases Mortal Kombat Mythologies: Sub-Zero and Mortal Kombat: Special Forces — some of the brand's least successful installments.

The Legacy Kollection thus isn't a highlight reel anthology, but a study of the series' formative period, when the creators at Midway and series co-creators Ed Boon and John Tobias were discovering methods to create a combat title, created from video recordings of real actors, on the fly. Watching the documentary — which includes archival footage, recent conversations, and reproductions of classic advertisements, illustrated stories, and even interoffice faxes — it's incredible to witness how the franchise evolved from simple starts to a international craze. It's truly remarkable to watch a handful of pioneering developers, developing without clear direction or oversight, channel their pop-culture interests into creating a legendary video game series.

Educational Component

The educational segment of Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection documents the ascent of Mortal Kombat and the founders' vocational paths at the currently closed Midway. It then goes on to show how the very same individuals reckoned with how to routinely one-up themselves, encountering significant demand to replicate their achievements. It's a fascinating time capsule made from video recordings and traditional photos and hand-drawn illustrations, which demonstrate the hands-on approach of the franchise's production method and how personal recommendations helped spread its rumors and undisclosed elements of the series in its golden era in coin-op establishments. Told in bite-sized chunks, it's highly engaging set of brief historical films that covers video games, graphic novels, movies and even the silly live-action tour. The collection additionally features some never-implemented techniques and digital fighter representations among its archived development assets.

Interactive Gaming

Interspersed along the five-segment historical film's chronology are invitations to experience the games themselves. At certain intervals, audience members can jump into a game of Mortal Kombat or one of its home console ports to reexperience its mechanics and graphics, simulated with remarkable precision on contemporary systems.

I spent the bulk of my time experiencing the original arcade titles, particularly Mortal Kombat, Mortal Kombat 2, and Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3. Several releases here hold up, particularly during direct competitive sessions. However, facing the aforementioned game's AI-controlled opponents is a demonstration of how basic and unjust the coding existed in early Mortal Kombat games. Computer-directed fighters obviously use unfair advantages or are otherwise dumb as rocks. If you don't have someone to play against — network gaming is included in the majority of included games, but rather basic in functionality — you'll be missing out.

Display Features

The two dozen available combat games in the collection, a mix of coin-op, home system, and portable titles, are precisely simulated, though I've observed a couple minor issues — primarily delayed responses and the occasional bug, especially with Mortal Kombat 4. Although the titles are largely presented as-is, developer Digital Eclipse has included some smart quality-of-life features and display customization choices. For instance, users can elect to reveal combatant-unique actions on-screen and opt to have infinite time to perform a Fatality. Additionally available are settings for unlocking secret characters, removing the requirement to complete complicated methods to access them.

Artistically, the releases can be experienced with numerous graphical effects and display options. Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection provides highly authentic effects that reproduce the traditional television screens of coin-op establishments or household displays, or the limited color monitor of a portable gaming device. An especially welcome feature is the setting to activate coin-op-inspired frames encircling the display, with the specific combat game you're playing precisely and gently mirroring against the faux black plastic borders. It's remarkably visually appealing.

Bonus Elements

Players will discover multiple nice touches beyond the documentary and emulated arcade classics, containing a soundtrack mode that allows users to rediscover the music from multiple fighting releases excluding the sounds of combatants violently defeating each other. There are also combatant descriptions that feature histories and numerous narrative components presented by arcade games' attract mode screens and conclusions.

Archival Discovery

A particularly notable inclusion for hardcore Mortal Kombat fans is the ability to access a piece of "lost media" in the guise of Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 Wavenet Edition. This particular edition, a somewhat revised iteration of Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3, was an initial venture by the company at one-on-one internet-based play in arcades. This network version of the game is almost exactly the same to UMK3, but provided the ability to battle network competitors and included some minor error corrections and adjustments. However, this network version failed to achieve popularity, in part