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The Mortal Kombat series retains numerous undisclosed elements and the capacity to surprise, more than 30 years after its initial debut in coin-op establishments. The recent anthology spanning the series' initial period, featuring a quartet of arcade releases, multiple console adaptations, and derivative games, goes beyond just a well-emulated collection of iconic titles and not-so-classics — it's also a detailed chronicle about the creation of the legendary series.

Being a long-time Mortal Kombat fan who has carefully followed its development and progression, there was much to discover for me to learn and appreciate about the series.

What Defines the Legacy Kollection

Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection comparable to previous classic compilations from the development team Digital Eclipse, part historical documentation, portion interactive museum. The anthology contains digitally recreated editions of the first arcade Mortal Kombat, Mortal Kombat 2, Mortal Kombat 3, and Mortal Kombat 4, including television and mobile versions of several of these titles. The collection even includes the brand's experiments at spinoffs, like action games Mortal Kombat Mythologies: Sub-Zero and Mortal Kombat: Special Forces — two of the franchise's worst entries.

The Legacy Kollection consequently doesn't represent a “best of” collection, but an exploration into the franchise's initial era, when developer Midway and series co-creators the creative duo behind the series were figuring out how to develop a battle series, produced using film material of real actors, on the fly. Viewing the historical footage — containing archival footage, recent conversations, and reproductions of classic advertisements, comics, and even company memos — it's remarkable to see how Mortal Kombat went from modest origins to a worldwide phenomenon. It's truly remarkable to watch a handful of early video game creators, developing without clear direction or guidance, channel their pop-culture interests into creating a legendary video game series.

Historical Section

The documentary portion of Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection charts the rise of Mortal Kombat and its creators' careers at the now-defunct Midway. It then goes on to show how the very same individuals contended with how to consistently surpass their achievements, encountering significant stress to duplicate their achievements. It's a fascinating time capsule composed of video recordings and analog photographs and pencil sketches, which demonstrate the hands-on approach of the franchise's production method and how word of mouth helped circulate its mysteries and secrets of MK in its peak period in gaming halls. Delivered in easily digestible portions, it's highly engaging series of documentary shorts that covers video games, graphic novels, movies and even the comical physical events. The collection additionally features some unused moves and digital fighter representations among its previously unreleased material.

Playable Component

Interspersed along the five-part documentary's timeline are invitations to experience the actual titles. During specific moments, viewers can hop into a game of Mortal Kombat or a home system version to reexperience its mechanics and graphics, recreated with impressive accuracy on contemporary systems.

I spent the bulk 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, especially in local multiplayer matches. Yet competing with the aforementioned game's AI-controlled opponents is a demonstration of how basic and unfair the programming was in the franchise's pioneering releases. CPU-controlled opponents obviously use unfair advantages or are otherwise dumb as rocks. Without having another person to compete with — internet multiplayer exists in numerous anthology releases, but rather basic in functionality — you'll miss the full enjoyment.

Technical Presentation

The two dozen available combat games in the compilation, a blend of coin-op, home system, and portable titles, 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 graphical adjustment settings. For instance, players have the option to show each character's special moves on-screen and opt to have endless periods to perform a Fatality. Also included are choices for revealing concealed combatants, without having to perform complicated methods to access them.

Visually, the games can be played with a variety of filters and visual treatments. Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection provides highly authentic filters that mimic the traditional television screens of gaming halls or household displays, or the greenscale screen of a Nintendo handheld. A notably appreciated element is the choice to enable arcade-like bezels surrounding the screen, with the specific combat game you're playing accurately and softly reflecting against the faux black plastic borders. It's very artistically charming.

Extra Content

There are plenty of appreciated elements beyond the educational material and simulated classic games, featuring an audio component that lets you revisit the tunes of various Mortal Kombat games without the din of two kombatants viciously slaughtering each other. There are also character profiles that include bios and multiple story elements shown through the idle displays of gaming hall releases and conclusions.

Historical Preservation

Among the most significant features for committed franchise followers is the chance to experience a piece of "lost media" in the guise of Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 Wavenet Edition. This version of the game, a slightly updated version of Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3, was an initial venture by the company at head-to-head network battles in gaming halls. The online-enabled release of the game is almost exactly the same to UMK3, but included the option to battle network competitors and included some minor error corrections and adjustments. However, this network version never gained traction, in part