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The Mortal Kombat series continues to hold numerous undisclosed elements and the capacity to surprise, more than 30 years after its original launch in arcades. A new collection spanning the brand's formative years, comprising a quartet of arcade releases, multiple console adaptations, and spinoffs, goes beyond just a well-emulated collection of iconic titles including less celebrated releases — it additionally serves as a comprehensive historical account about the making of the legendary series.

As a dedicated enthusiast of the series who has paid close attention its creation and evolution, there was numerous fresh aspects 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 developer Digital Eclipse, portion educational film, part playable archive. This compilation features 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. The anthology additionally contains 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 greatest hits compilation, but an exploration into Mortal Kombat's early days, when the creators at Midway and brand founders Ed Boon and John Tobias were discovering methods to create a combat title, digitized from footage of actual people, on the fly. Viewing the historical footage — containing historical videos, recent conversations, and digital copies of vintage posters, comics, and even interoffice faxes — it's remarkable to see how the series transformed from modest origins to a international craze. It's truly remarkable to watch a handful of young game developers, operating with virtually no plan or oversight, channel their pop-culture interests into creating a legendary video game series.

Documentary Portion

The historical documentation 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 addressed how to regularly outdo their previous work, facing no small amount of pressure to repeat their triumphs. It's a fascinating time capsule composed of VHS tapes and film-based pictures and pencil sketches, which demonstrate the hands-on approach of the franchise's production method and how oral tradition helped disseminate its secrets and undisclosed elements of the series in its golden era in coin-op establishments. Presented in manageable segments, it's an eminently watchable set of brief historical films that includes titles, illustrated stories, cinematic adaptations and including the humorous real-world tour. The compilation also contains some unreleased actions and character sprites among its cutting-room-floor content.

Interactive Experience

Interspersed along the five-part documentary's timeline are invitations to experience the actual titles. During specific moments, audience members can jump into a Mortal Kombat title or a home system version to reexperience its mechanics and graphics, recreated with impressive accuracy on modern hardware.

I spent the bulk of my time experiencing the original arcade titles, particularly Mortal Kombat, Mortal Kombat 2, and Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3. Many of the games here stand the test of time, notably with direct competitive sessions. But playing against the artificial intelligence fighters in these releases is a testament to how primitive and unjust the programming was in early Mortal Kombat games. Computer-directed fighters clearly employ dishonest tactics or are alternatively incredibly stupid. If you don't have another person to compete with — network gaming is included in the majority of included games, but rather basic in functionality — the experience will be incomplete.

Display Features

The 23 playable Mortal Kombat games in the anthology, a mix of arcade, console, and handheld games, are accurately emulated, though I've observed a couple minor issues — primarily delayed responses and the occasional bug, particularly in Mortal Kombat 4. Even though the releases are mostly shown in their original form, the development team has incorporated various clever convenience enhancements and visual presentation options. For example, users can elect to reveal combatant-unique actions on-screen and opt to have endless periods to complete lethal techniques. Additionally available are settings for revealing concealed combatants, eliminating the need to execute obscure techniques to obtain them.

Artistically, the releases can be played with a variety of filters and visual treatments. Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection offers very realistic options that simulate the CRT monitors of arcades or domestic TVs, or the greenscale screen of a Nintendo handheld. A notably appreciated element is the setting to activate gaming hall-style borders encircling the display, with the MK game of your choice faithfully and subtly duplicating against the simulated dark plastic edges. It's quite aesthetically pleasing.

Extra Content

The collection includes numerous nice touches beyond the historical footage and recreated vintage titles, containing a soundtrack mode that allows users to rediscover the music from multiple fighting releases without the din of two kombatants viciously slaughtering each other. Also present are fighter biographies that include bios and multiple story elements displayed via the idle displays of gaming hall releases and conclusions.

Archival Discovery

Among the most significant features for committed franchise followers is the chance to experience a piece of "lost media" in the guise of Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 Wavenet Edition. This specific release, a somewhat revised iteration of Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3, was an initial venture by the company at head-to-head network battles in gaming halls. This network version of the game is almost exactly the same to UMK3, but featured the capability to battle network competitors and contained several small bug fixes and balance. However, this network version didn't find widespread adoption, in part