Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection: A Near-Flawless Victory for the Combat Series Series

The Mortal Kombat series still possesses its share of secrets and the capacity to surprise, well past its 30th anniversary after its initial debut in coin-op establishments. A new collection covering the series' initial period, which includes four arcade games, multiple console adaptations, and derivative games, transcends simply a faithfully reproduced series of classics and not-so-classics — it functions as a rich documentary about the creation of the iconic franchise.

Being a long-time devotee of the franchise who has paid close attention its origins and transformation, there was plenty new for me to understand and value about the series.

What Defines the Legacy Collection

Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection is, like other retro collections from the creators at Digital Eclipse, part historical documentation, section playable historical record. This compilation features emulated versions of the first arcade Mortal Kombat, Mortal Kombat 2, Mortal Kombat 3, and Mortal Kombat 4, including television and mobile versions of some of those games. This compilation also features the franchise's attempts at spin-off titles, like combat-focused releases Mortal Kombat Mythologies: Sub-Zero and Mortal Kombat: Special Forces — some of the brand's most criticized releases.

The Legacy Kollection thus isn't a “best of” collection, but a study of the series' formative period, when developer Midway and franchise originators Ed Boon and John Tobias were determining how to make a fighting game, digitized from footage of real actors, on the fly. Observing the archival material — which includes vintage recordings, contemporary discussions, and reproductions of classic advertisements, graphic novels, and including internal communications — it's remarkable to see how the series transformed from modest origins to a global sensation. It's genuinely amazing to watch a handful of early video game creators, operating with virtually no plan or oversight, direct their entertainment passions into creating a legendary video game series.

Documentary Portion

The historical documentation of Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection documents the ascent of Mortal Kombat and the developers' professional journeys at the currently closed Midway. It subsequently demonstrates how those same creators addressed how to regularly outdo their previous work, facing no small amount of stress to duplicate their success. It serves as a compelling period piece constructed using VHS tapes and film-based pictures and manual drawings, which demonstrate the hands-on approach of the series' creation process and how personal recommendations helped spread its rumors and hidden aspects of Mortal Kombat in its golden era in coin-op establishments. Told in bite-sized chunks, it's thoroughly enjoyable set of brief historical films that spans games, comics, films and even the comical physical events. The compilation also contains some unused moves and game character images among its cutting-room-floor content.

Interactive Gaming

Interspersed along the five-segment historical film's chronology are invitations to experience the actual titles. At certain intervals, viewers can hop into a combat game session or a console adaptation to revisit its gameplay and artistic style, emulated nearly perfectly on modern hardware.

I dedicated most of my time playing the arcade classics, especially Mortal Kombat, Mortal Kombat 2, and Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3. Several releases here hold up, especially in direct competitive sessions. However, facing the computer-controlled adversaries in these titles is a reminder of how crude and unfair the development approached in the franchise's pioneering releases. Computer-directed fighters blatantly cheat to win or are conversely remarkably unintelligent. Without having a human opponent — network gaming is included in the majority of included games, but somewhat limited in options — you'll be missing out.

Display Features

The 23 playable Mortal Kombat games in the collection, a combination of arcade, console, and handheld games, are accurately emulated, though I've observed a handful slight anomalies — mainly control latency and sporadic glitches, particularly in Mortal Kombat 4. Even though the releases are mostly shown in their original form, developer Digital Eclipse has incorporated various clever user experience improvements and display customization choices. For instance, players have the option to reveal combatant-unique actions during gameplay and choose to enable unlimited duration to perform a Fatality. There are also options for unlocking secret characters, without having to perform complicated methods to obtain them.

Visually, the games can be played with a variety of visual enhancements and presentation styles. Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection offers very realistic options that simulate the cathode-ray tube displays of coin-op establishments or household displays, or the greenscale screen of a Nintendo handheld. A particularly nice touch is the option to have coin-op-inspired frames surrounding the screen, with the MK game of your choice accurately and softly reflecting against the simulated dark plastic edges. It's quite aesthetically pleasing.

Extra Content

There are plenty of appreciated elements beyond the educational material and simulated classic games, featuring an audio component that enables players to reexperience the soundtracks of different Mortal Kombat games absent the noise of two kombatants viciously slaughtering each other. Also present are combatant descriptions that feature histories and multiple story elements displayed via arcade games' attract mode screens and conclusions.

Historical Preservation

One of the biggest highlights for dedicated series enthusiasts is the ability to access a piece of "lost media" in the format of Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 Wavenet Edition. This specific release, a somewhat revised iteration of Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3, was an early attempt by Midway at one-on-one internet-based play in arcades. This network version of the game is virtually identical to UMK3, but featured the capability to compete against internet adversaries and included some minor bug fixes and balance. However, this network version didn't find widespread adoption, in part