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Mortal Kombat continues to hold numerous undisclosed elements and the capacity to surprise, well past its 30th anniversary after its initial debut in gaming halls. The recent anthology including the series' initial period, comprising a quartet of arcade releases, several home system versions, and spinoffs, goes beyond just a well-emulated collection of iconic titles and not-so-classics — it functions as a detailed chronicle about the making of the iconic franchise.

Even as a lifelong Mortal Kombat fan who has closely monitored its development and progression, there was much to discover for me to learn and appreciate about the series.

What Constitutes the Legacy Kollection

Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection comparable to other vintage game anthologies from the development team Digital Eclipse, part documentary, portion interactive museum. 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 several of these titles. The collection even includes the brand's experiments at spin-off titles, like action games Mortal Kombat Mythologies: Sub-Zero and Mortal Kombat: Special Forces — two of the franchise's worst entries.

The Legacy Kollection is therefore not a highlight reel anthology, but an examination of the series' formative period, when developer Midway and franchise originators the creative duo behind the series were discovering methods to develop a battle series, created from video recordings of live performers, as they went along. Observing the archival material — that features vintage recordings, new interviews, and digital copies of vintage posters, graphic novels, and including internal communications — it's remarkable to see how the franchise evolved from humble beginnings to a international craze. It's genuinely amazing to observe several pioneering developers, developing without clear direction or guidance, channel their pop-culture interests into establishing an enduring gaming brand.

Documentary Portion

The documentary portion of Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection documents the ascent of the fighting series and its creators' careers at the no-longer-operating Midway. It then goes on to show how these identical developers reckoned with how to regularly outdo their previous work, experiencing considerable pressure to repeat their success. It's a fascinating time capsule constructed using video recordings and film-based pictures and manual drawings, which reveal the self-made character of the series' creation process and how oral tradition helped spread its rumors and hidden aspects of Mortal Kombat in its peak period in gaming halls. Delivered in easily digestible portions, it's highly engaging series of documentary shorts that includes titles, illustrated stories, cinematic adaptations and including the humorous real-world tour. It also includes some unreleased actions and game character images among its cutting-room-floor content.

Playable Component

Placed within the five-part documentary's timeline are prompts to play the games themselves. During specific moments, viewers can hop into a game of Mortal Kombat or a console adaptation to rediscover its combat system and graphics, simulated with remarkable precision on modern hardware.

I spent the bulk of my time experiencing the original arcade titles, especially Mortal Kombat, Mortal Kombat 2, and Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3. Several releases here remain enjoyable, notably with direct competitive sessions. But playing against the aforementioned game's AI-controlled opponents is a reminder of how crude and unfair the coding existed in early Mortal Kombat games. AI-managed characters obviously use unfair advantages or are alternatively incredibly stupid. If you don't have a human opponent — network gaming is included in numerous anthology releases, but rather basic in functionality — you'll be missing out.

Visual Options

The 23 playable Mortal Kombat games in the anthology, a blend of coin-op, home system, and portable titles, are accurately emulated, though I detected a handful slight anomalies — mainly control latency and sporadic glitches, notably within Mortal Kombat 4. Even though the releases are largely presented as-is, the creators has included some smart quality-of-life features and visual presentation options. For example, players have the option to display fighter-specific techniques on-screen and select to activate infinite time to complete lethal techniques. Also included are choices for unlocking secret characters, removing the requirement to complete obscure techniques to unlock them.

Visually, the games can be played with a variety of graphical effects and display options. Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection provides highly authentic effects that reproduce the CRT monitors of arcades or home televisions, or the monochrome green display of a portable gaming device. A particularly nice touch is the choice to enable coin-op-inspired frames surrounding the screen, with your selected Mortal Kombat title faithfully and subtly duplicating against the faux black plastic borders. It's quite aesthetically pleasing.

Additional Features

The collection includes numerous appreciated elements beyond the documentary and emulated arcade classics, including a music player that allows users to rediscover the soundtracks of different Mortal Kombat games excluding the sounds of two kombatants viciously slaughtering each other. Also present are combatant descriptions that include bios and multiple story elements presented by the demo sequences of coin-op titles and final sequences.

Archival Discovery

One of the biggest highlights for dedicated series enthusiasts is the opportunity to play a segment of previously unavailable content in the guise of Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 Wavenet Edition. This particular edition, a slightly updated version of Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3, was an early attempt by Midway at head-to-head network battles in gaming halls. The Wavenet Edition of the game is virtually identical to UMK3, but included the option to battle network competitors and included some minor bug fixes and balance. Yet this online edition didn't find widespread adoption, in part