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The Mortal Kombat series retains many hidden mysteries and the capacity to surprise, over three decades after its original launch in arcades. The recent anthology spanning the series' initial period, featuring four original arcade titles, multiple console adaptations, and spinoffs, transcends simply a faithfully reproduced set of legendary games along with lesser-known entries — it additionally serves as a comprehensive historical account about the development of the iconic franchise.

Even as a lifelong enthusiast of the series who has closely monitored its creation and evolution, there was much to discover for me to discover and admire about the series.

What Makes the Legacy Kollection

Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection is, like other vintage game anthologies from the development team Digital Eclipse, part documentary, part playable archive. The collection includes simulated releases of the original arcade Mortal Kombat, Mortal Kombat 2, Mortal Kombat 3, and Mortal Kombat 4, plus console and handheld ports of several of these titles. This compilation also features the franchise's attempts at spinoffs, like action games 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 highlight reel anthology, but an examination 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, digitized from footage of real actors, on the fly. Observing the archival material — which includes vintage recordings, new interviews, and scans of old flyers, graphic novels, and including internal communications — it's remarkable to see how Mortal Kombat went from simple starts to a international craze. It's genuinely amazing to see a group of young game developers, operating with virtually no plan or supervision, direct their entertainment passions into establishing an enduring gaming brand.

Educational Component

The documentary portion of Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection traces the growth of the fighting series and its creators' careers at the now-defunct Midway. It further illustrates how those same creators contended with how to consistently surpass their achievements, facing no small amount of stress to duplicate their achievements. It's a fascinating time capsule made from analog films and analog photographs and hand-drawn illustrations, which showcase the DIY nature of the series' creation process and how personal recommendations helped circulate its mysteries and hidden aspects of Mortal Kombat in its peak period in gaming halls. Delivered in easily digestible portions, it's highly engaging set of brief historical films that includes titles, illustrated stories, cinematic adaptations and even the silly live-action tour. It also includes some never-implemented techniques and game character images among its previously unreleased material.

Interactive Gaming

Interspersed along the five-part documentary's timeline are opportunities to engage with the original releases. During specific moments, viewers can hop into a game of Mortal Kombat or one of its home console ports to revisit its gameplay and visual presentation, recreated with impressive accuracy on contemporary systems.

I spent the bulk of my time playing the arcade classics, specifically Mortal Kombat, Mortal Kombat 2, and Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3. Several releases here stand the test of time, particularly during direct competitive sessions. Yet competing with the aforementioned game's AI-controlled opponents is a testament to how primitive and unjust the development approached in the series' initial installments. AI-managed characters blatantly cheat to win or are otherwise dumb as rocks. If you don't have someone to play against — internet multiplayer exists in the majority of included games, but rather basic in functionality — you'll be missing out.

Technical Presentation

The 23 playable Mortal Kombat games in the anthology, a combination of gaming hall, television, and mobile releases, are precisely simulated, though I've observed a handful slight anomalies — mainly control latency and the occasional bug, especially with Mortal Kombat 4. And while the games are mostly shown in their original form, the creators has included some smart user experience improvements and visual presentation options. For example, you can choose to show each character's special moves during gameplay and select to activate endless periods to perform a Fatality. There are also options for accessing hidden fighters, without having to perform obscure techniques to unlock them.

Artistically, the releases can be played with a variety of filters and visual treatments. Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection offers very realistic effects that reproduce the traditional television screens of arcades or home televisions, or the greenscale screen of a portable gaming device. A notably appreciated element is the option to have gaming hall-style borders surrounding the screen, with your selected Mortal Kombat title faithfully and subtly duplicating against the faux black plastic borders. It's remarkably visually appealing.

Bonus Elements

Players will discover multiple appreciated elements beyond the documentary and emulated arcade classics, featuring an audio component that enables players to reexperience the tunes of various Mortal Kombat games absent the noise of combatants violently defeating each other. Also present are character profiles that feature histories and the various bits of lore shown through the demo sequences of coin-op titles and conclusions.

Archival Discovery

Among the most significant features for hardcore Mortal Kombat fans is the ability to access a piece of "lost media" in the format of Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 Wavenet Edition. This particular edition, a somewhat revised iteration of Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3, was an initial venture by the company at one-on-one internet-based play in gaming halls. The online-enabled release of the game is practically indistinguishable to UMK3, but provided the ability to challenge online opponents and included some minor error corrections and adjustments. Yet this online edition never gained traction, in part