🔗 Share this article

Mortal Kombat still possesses its share of secrets and the ability to amaze, more than 30 years after its first appearance in gaming halls. This latest compilation covering the franchise's earliest days, which includes a quartet of arcade releases, multiple console adaptations, and derivative games, transcends only a accurately simulated series of classics along with lesser-known entries — it additionally serves as a comprehensive historical account about the making of the legendary series.

Being a long-time devotee of the franchise who has paid close attention its creation and evolution, there was numerous fresh aspects for me to learn and appreciate about the series.

What Constitutes the Historical Compilation

Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection similar to other retro collections from the creators at Digital Eclipse, part historical documentation, section playable historical record. The anthology contains simulated releases of the first arcade Mortal Kombat, Mortal Kombat 2, Mortal Kombat 3, and Mortal Kombat 4, including television and mobile versions of certain releases. The collection even includes the series' ventures at spinoffs, like action-oriented titles 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 a study of the franchise's initial era, when the development team Midway and series co-creators the visionary developers were figuring out how to create a combat title, produced using film material of real actors, as they went along. Observing the archival material — that features archival footage, recent conversations, and reproductions of classic advertisements, comics, and even company memos — it's remarkable to see how the series transformed from humble beginnings to a worldwide phenomenon. It's truly remarkable to watch a handful of early video game creators, operating with virtually no plan or supervision, channel their pop-culture interests into birthing an iconic game franchise.

Documentary Portion

The documentary portion of Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection charts the rise of Mortal Kombat and the developers' professional journeys at the currently closed Midway. It subsequently demonstrates how these identical developers reckoned with how to consistently surpass their achievements, experiencing considerable pressure to repeat their triumphs. It serves as a compelling period piece constructed using analog films and traditional photos and manual drawings, which showcase the DIY nature of the franchise's production method and how word of mouth helped spread its rumors and undisclosed elements of the series in its golden era in coin-op establishments. Presented in manageable segments, it's highly engaging collection of mini-documentaries that includes titles, illustrated stories, cinematic adaptations and even the silly live-action tour. It also includes some unused moves and character sprites among its archived development assets.

Interactive Experience

Placed within the quintet of documentary episodes' progression are opportunities to engage with the original releases. At certain intervals, users can directly access a Mortal Kombat title or a console adaptation to revisit its gameplay and graphics, simulated with remarkable precision on modern hardware.

I allocated the majority of my time playing the arcade classics, specifically Mortal Kombat, Mortal Kombat 2, and Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3. Many of the games here remain enjoyable, especially in local multiplayer matches. Yet competing with the aforementioned game's AI-controlled opponents is a reminder of how crude and unbalanced the development approached in early Mortal Kombat games. AI-managed characters clearly employ dishonest tactics or are conversely remarkably unintelligent. Lacking another person to compete with — online play is available in most titles in the collection, but rather basic in functionality — the experience will be incomplete.

Technical Presentation

The twenty-three accessible Mortal Kombat titles in the compilation, a blend of coin-op, home system, and portable titles, are accurately emulated, though I have noticed a few small quirks — mainly control latency and intermittent errors, especially with Mortal Kombat 4. Even though the releases are primarily displayed authentically, developer Digital Eclipse has incorporated various clever convenience enhancements and display customization choices. For example, users can elect to show each character's special moves on-screen and opt to have endless periods to execute finishing moves. There are also options for revealing concealed combatants, without having to perform some esoteric trick to unlock them.

Visually, the games can be enjoyed with multiple filters and visual treatments. Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection includes remarkably accurate filters that mimic the CRT monitors of arcades or domestic TVs, or the monochrome green display of a portable gaming device. A particularly nice touch is the option to have gaming hall-style borders surrounding the screen, with the MK game of your choice accurately and softly reflecting against the faux black plastic borders. It's very artistically charming.

Extra Content

The collection includes numerous welcome features besides the documentary and emulated arcade classics, containing a soundtrack mode that allows users to rediscover the music from multiple Mortal Kombat games excluding the sounds of combatants violently defeating each other. Also present are character profiles that include bios and the various bits of lore presented by 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 segment of previously unavailable content in the guise of Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 Wavenet Edition. This particular edition, a moderately improved edition of Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3, was an pioneering effort from the developer at direct online competitive gaming in gaming halls. This network version of the game is almost exactly the same to UMK3, but featured the capability to challenge online opponents and featured various slight bug fixes and balance. But the Wavenet update never gained traction, in part