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Mortal Kombat still possesses its share of secrets and the capacity to surprise, more than 30 years after its initial debut in coin-op establishments. The recent anthology covering the franchise's earliest days, which includes four original arcade titles, several home system versions, and derivative games, goes beyond simply a faithfully reproduced collection of iconic titles and not-so-classics — it functions as a detailed chronicle about the making of the renowned brand.

As a dedicated devotee of the franchise who has paid close attention its creation and evolution, there was plenty new for me to understand and value about the series.

What Makes the Legacy Kollection

Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection comparable to previous classic compilations from the creators at Digital Eclipse, portion educational film, section playable historical record. This compilation features 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. This compilation also features the franchise's attempts at spin-off titles, like action games Mortal Kombat Mythologies: Sub-Zero and Mortal Kombat: Special Forces — two of the franchise's least successful installments.

The Legacy Kollection thus isn't a “best of” collection, but an examination of Mortal Kombat's early days, when developer Midway and franchise originators the visionary developers were discovering methods to develop a battle series, digitized from footage of real actors, through experimentation. Watching the documentary — containing vintage recordings, contemporary discussions, and scans of old flyers, comics, and even interoffice faxes — it's incredible to witness how the franchise evolved from modest origins to a worldwide phenomenon. It's frankly astounding to watch a handful of young game developers, 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 traces the growth of the fighting series and the founders' vocational paths at the currently closed Midway. It then goes on to show how these identical developers addressed how to regularly outdo their previous work, encountering significant demand to replicate their success. It represents an intriguing historical record composed of VHS tapes and traditional photos and pencil sketches, which showcase the DIY nature of Mortal Kombat's development and how word of mouth helped disseminate its secrets and hidden aspects of Mortal Kombat in its arcade heyday. Presented in manageable segments, it's an eminently watchable set of brief historical films that spans games, comics, films and even the silly live-action tour. It also includes some never-implemented techniques and game character images among its previously unreleased material.

Interactive Experience

Placed within the quintet of documentary episodes' progression are prompts to play the actual titles. At certain intervals, users can directly access a Mortal Kombat title or one of its home console ports to reexperience its mechanics and artistic style, recreated with impressive accuracy on modern hardware.

I spent the bulk of my time experiencing the original arcade titles, specifically Mortal Kombat, Mortal Kombat 2, and Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3. Several releases here remain enjoyable, notably with direct competitive sessions. But playing against the artificial intelligence fighters in these releases is a reminder of how crude and unfair the coding existed in early Mortal Kombat games. AI-managed characters clearly employ dishonest tactics or are otherwise dumb as rocks. Lacking someone to play against — online play is available in most titles in the collection, but too light on features — you'll miss the full enjoyment.

Technical Presentation

The two dozen available combat games in the anthology, a combination of coin-op, home system, and portable titles, are precisely simulated, though I detected a couple minor issues — primarily delayed responses and sporadic glitches, especially with Mortal Kombat 4. Even though the releases are mostly shown in their original form, developer Digital Eclipse has incorporated various clever quality-of-life features and graphical adjustment settings. For example, users can elect to show each character's special moves on the display and select to activate unlimited duration to perform a Fatality. Additionally available are settings for revealing concealed combatants, removing the requirement to complete obscure techniques to obtain them.

Graphically, the titles can be enjoyed with multiple filters and visual treatments. Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection provides highly authentic filters that mimic the traditional television screens of arcades or domestic TVs, or the greenscale screen of a portable gaming device. A particularly nice touch is the choice to enable gaming hall-style borders surrounding the screen, with the MK game of your choice faithfully and subtly duplicating against the faux black plastic borders. It's very artistically charming.

Bonus Elements

The collection includes numerous appreciated elements beyond the educational material and simulated classic games, including a music player that allows users to rediscover the music from multiple combat titles without the din of two kombatants viciously slaughtering each other. Additionally included are fighter biographies that feature histories and numerous narrative components displayed via the demo sequences of coin-op titles and conclusions.

Lost Media Recovery

Among the most significant features for committed franchise followers is the chance to experience a piece of "lost media" in the format of Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 Wavenet Edition. This specific release, a slightly updated version of Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3, was an initial venture by the company at head-to-head network battles in arcades. The Wavenet Edition of the game is almost exactly the same to UMK3, but included the option to challenge online opponents and contained several small bug fixes and balance. But the Wavenet update didn't find widespread adoption, in part