The Legacy Kollection of Mortal Kombat: An Almost Perfect Triumph for the Fighting Game Franchise

This iconic fighting game still possesses numerous undisclosed elements and the power to astonish, more than 30 years after its initial debut in arcades. A new collection including the series' initial period, comprising four arcade games, multiple console adaptations, and derivative games, transcends simply a faithfully reproduced set of legendary games including less celebrated releases — it additionally serves as a rich documentary about the making of the legendary series.

As a dedicated devotee of the franchise who has paid close attention its development and progression, there was much to discover for me to discover and admire about the series.

What Constitutes the Legacy Collection

Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection is, like previous classic compilations from the development team Digital Eclipse, portion educational film, part playable archive. The anthology contains digitally recreated editions of the first 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 series' ventures at spin-off titles, like action-oriented titles Mortal Kombat Mythologies: Sub-Zero and Mortal Kombat: Special Forces — two of the franchise's least successful installments.

The Legacy Kollection is therefore not a “best of” collection, but an examination of the series' formative period, when developer Midway and franchise originators Ed Boon and John Tobias were determining how to make a fighting game, produced using film material of live performers, as they went along. Watching the documentary — containing historical videos, recent conversations, and reproductions of classic advertisements, comics, and even interoffice faxes — it's remarkable to see how the series transformed from modest origins to a global sensation. It's truly remarkable to see a group of pioneering developers, working with minimal planning or supervision, direct their entertainment passions into birthing an iconic game franchise.

Historical Section

The documentary portion of Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection documents the ascent of the combat franchise and the developers' professional journeys at the currently closed Midway. It then goes on to show how those same creators reckoned with how to consistently surpass their achievements, facing no small amount of demand to replicate their triumphs. It's a fascinating time capsule made from video recordings and film-based pictures and hand-drawn illustrations, which reveal the self-made character of Mortal Kombat's development and how personal recommendations helped spread its rumors and hidden aspects of Mortal Kombat in its golden era in coin-op establishments. Delivered in easily digestible portions, it's an eminently watchable set of brief historical films that covers video games, graphic novels, movies and including the humorous real-world tour. The collection additionally features some never-implemented techniques and character sprites among its previously unreleased material.

Playable Component

Distributed throughout the five-part documentary's timeline are invitations to experience the actual titles. During specific moments, audience members can jump into a game of Mortal Kombat or a home system version to revisit its gameplay and graphics, simulated with remarkable precision on contemporary systems.

I dedicated most of my time playing the arcade classics, specifically Mortal Kombat, Mortal Kombat 2, and Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3. Many of the games here stand the test of time, notably with one-on-one local play. But playing against the computer-controlled adversaries in these titles is a demonstration of how basic and unjust the coding existed in the franchise's pioneering releases. CPU-controlled opponents obviously use unfair advantages or are conversely remarkably unintelligent. Without having someone to play against — network gaming is included in most titles in the collection, but too light on features — you'll miss the full enjoyment.

Visual Options

The twenty-three accessible Mortal Kombat titles in the anthology, a blend of coin-op, home system, and portable titles, are accurately emulated, though I have noticed a couple minor issues — mostly input lag and the occasional bug, notably within Mortal Kombat 4. Although the titles are mostly shown in their original form, the creators has incorporated various clever convenience enhancements and visual presentation options. For instance, users can elect to reveal combatant-unique actions on-screen and opt to have infinite time to execute finishing moves. Additionally available are settings for accessing hidden fighters, without having to perform obscure techniques to obtain them.

Artistically, the releases can be played with a variety of filters and visual treatments. Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection includes remarkably accurate effects that reproduce the traditional television screens of gaming halls or household displays, or the limited color monitor of a Nintendo handheld. An especially welcome feature is the setting to activate coin-op-inspired frames encircling the display, with the specific combat game you're playing precisely and gently mirroring against the simulated dark plastic edges. It's very artistically charming.

Bonus Elements

Players will discover multiple welcome features besides the historical footage and recreated vintage titles, containing a soundtrack mode that enables players to reexperience the music from multiple combat titles without the din of combatants violently defeating each other. Also present are character profiles that include bios and multiple story elements displayed via the idle displays of gaming hall releases and conclusions.

Historical Preservation

A particularly notable inclusion for committed franchise followers is the ability to access a piece of "lost media" in the format 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 almost exactly the same to UMK3, but included the option to compete against internet adversaries and contained several small bug fixes and balance. But the Wavenet update didn't find widespread adoption, in part