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This iconic fighting game retains many hidden mysteries and the ability to amaze, well past its 30th anniversary after its original launch in coin-op establishments. The recent anthology covering the brand's formative years, featuring four original arcade titles, multiple console adaptations, and related titles, transcends simply a faithfully reproduced collection of iconic titles and not-so-classics — it functions as a rich documentary about the creation of the iconic franchise.

As a dedicated 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 Defines the Legacy Kollection

Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection is, like previous classic compilations from the development team Digital Eclipse, portion educational film, section playable historical record. The collection includes simulated releases of the original arcade Mortal Kombat, Mortal Kombat 2, Mortal Kombat 3, and Mortal Kombat 4, along with home system and portable adaptations of certain releases. The collection even includes the franchise's attempts at spinoffs, like action games Mortal Kombat Mythologies: Sub-Zero and Mortal Kombat: Special Forces — among the series' least successful installments.

The Legacy Kollection thus isn't a highlight reel anthology, but an exploration into Mortal Kombat's early days, when the creators at Midway and brand founders Ed Boon and John Tobias were determining how to make a fighting game, produced using film material of live performers, on the fly. Observing the archival material — which includes vintage recordings, new interviews, and digital copies of vintage posters, illustrated stories, and even company memos — it's remarkable to see how the series transformed from modest origins to a international craze. It's truly remarkable to watch a handful of pioneering developers, operating with virtually no plan or guidance, channel their pop-culture interests into establishing an enduring gaming brand.

Documentary Portion

The historical documentation of Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection traces the growth of Mortal Kombat and the developers' professional journeys at the no-longer-operating Midway. It then goes on to show how these identical developers reckoned with how to routinely one-up themselves, facing no small amount of stress to duplicate their triumphs. It represents an intriguing historical record constructed using analog films and traditional photos and pencil sketches, which reveal the self-made character of the franchise's production method and how oral tradition helped circulate its mysteries and undisclosed elements of the series in its golden era in coin-op establishments. Presented in manageable segments, it's an eminently watchable set of brief historical films that covers video games, graphic novels, movies and including the humorous real-world tour. The compilation also contains some unused moves and digital fighter representations among its previously unreleased material.

Interactive Experience

Placed within the five-segment historical film's chronology are invitations to experience the original releases. At various points, audience members can jump into a combat game session or one of its home console ports to rediscover its combat system and visual presentation, simulated with remarkable precision on modern hardware.

I allocated the majority of my time engaging with the vintage coin-op games, particularly Mortal Kombat, Mortal Kombat 2, and Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3. Many of the games here remain enjoyable, notably with one-on-one local play. However, facing the computer-controlled adversaries in these titles is a reminder of how crude and unbalanced the programming was in early Mortal Kombat games. AI-managed characters clearly employ dishonest tactics or are alternatively incredibly stupid. Lacking another person to compete with — network gaming is included in numerous anthology releases, but too light on features — you'll miss the full enjoyment.

Visual Options

The 23 playable Mortal Kombat games in the compilation, a combination of arcade, console, and handheld games, are precisely simulated, though I detected a couple minor issues — mainly control latency and the occasional bug, especially with Mortal Kombat 4. Even though the releases are largely presented as-is, developer Digital Eclipse has incorporated various clever user experience improvements and graphical adjustment settings. For instance, players have the option to reveal combatant-unique actions on-screen and select to activate endless periods to execute finishing moves. Also included are choices for accessing hidden fighters, without having to perform obscure techniques to unlock them.

Graphically, the titles can be played with a variety of filters and visual treatments. Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection offers very realistic filters that mimic the cathode-ray tube displays of arcades or household displays, or the greenscale screen of a portable gaming device. A particularly nice touch is the setting to activate arcade-like bezels surrounding the screen, with the specific combat game you're playing accurately and softly reflecting against the artificial ebony plastic frames. It's very artistically charming.

Bonus Elements

The collection includes numerous nice touches beyond the historical footage and recreated vintage titles, including a music player that enables players to reexperience the music from multiple combat titles excluding the sounds of two kombatants viciously slaughtering each other. Additionally included are character profiles that feature histories and the various bits of lore presented by the idle displays of gaming hall releases and final sequences.

Historical Preservation

Among the most significant features for dedicated series enthusiasts is the opportunity to play 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 head-to-head network battles in gaming halls. The online-enabled release of the game is practically indistinguishable to UMK3, but included the option to challenge online opponents and contained several small error corrections and adjustments. Yet this online edition didn't find widespread adoption, in part