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This iconic fighting game still possesses many hidden mysteries and the power to astonish, well past its 30th anniversary after its initial debut in arcades. A new collection spanning the brand's formative years, which includes four arcade games, multiple console adaptations, and related titles, is more than simply a faithfully reproduced series of classics including less celebrated releases — it's also a rich documentary about the creation of the renowned brand.

Even as a lifelong Mortal Kombat fan who has paid close attention its creation and evolution, there was numerous fresh aspects for me to learn and appreciate about the series.

What Constitutes the Legacy Kollection

Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection is, like previous classic compilations from developer Digital Eclipse, portion educational film, portion interactive museum. The collection includes emulated versions of the pioneering arcade Mortal Kombat, Mortal Kombat 2, Mortal Kombat 3, and Mortal Kombat 4, plus console and handheld ports of some of those games. This compilation also features the brand's experiments at spinoffs, like action-oriented titles Mortal Kombat Mythologies: Sub-Zero and Mortal Kombat: Special Forces — among the series' worst entries.

The Legacy Kollection is therefore not a greatest hits compilation, but an exploration into the series' formative period, when the creators at Midway and brand founders Ed Boon and John Tobias were figuring out how to develop a battle series, created from video recordings of live performers, on the fly. Watching the documentary — that features historical videos, new interviews, and reproductions of classic advertisements, comics, and even interoffice faxes — it's astonishing to observe how the series transformed from humble beginnings to a international craze. It's genuinely amazing to see a group of early video game creators, operating with virtually no plan or oversight, focus their cultural enthusiasms into birthing an iconic game franchise.

Historical Section

The historical documentation of Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection documents the ascent of the fighting series and the founders' vocational paths at the currently closed Midway. It then goes on to show how those same creators reckoned with how to routinely one-up themselves, encountering significant stress to duplicate their achievements. It's a fascinating time capsule composed of video recordings and traditional photos and hand-drawn illustrations, which reveal the self-made character of Mortal Kombat's development and how personal recommendations helped spread its rumors and undisclosed elements of the series in its peak period in gaming halls. Delivered in easily digestible portions, it's highly engaging collection of mini-documentaries that includes titles, illustrated stories, cinematic adaptations and even the silly live-action tour. The compilation also contains some never-implemented techniques and game character images among its archived development assets.

Playable Component

Placed within the five-part documentary's timeline are opportunities to engage with the original releases. During specific moments, audience members can jump into a combat game session or one of its home console ports to reexperience its mechanics and artistic style, emulated nearly perfectly on contemporary systems.

I dedicated most of my time engaging with the vintage coin-op games, particularly Mortal Kombat, Mortal Kombat 2, and Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3. Numerous titles here stand the test of time, particularly during local multiplayer matches. However, facing the artificial intelligence fighters in these releases is a testament to how primitive and unfair the programming was in the series' initial installments. CPU-controlled opponents obviously use unfair advantages or are alternatively incredibly stupid. If you don't have someone to play against — network gaming is included in numerous anthology releases, but rather basic in functionality — the experience will be incomplete.

Display Features

The twenty-three accessible Mortal Kombat titles in the compilation, a mix of coin-op, home system, and portable titles, are accurately emulated, though I have noticed a few small quirks — mostly input lag and the occasional bug, particularly in Mortal Kombat 4. Although the titles are primarily displayed authentically, developer Digital Eclipse has included some smart convenience enhancements and visual presentation options. For instance, users can elect to show each character's special moves on the display and opt to have endless periods to perform a Fatality. Additionally available are settings for accessing hidden fighters, eliminating the need to execute some esoteric trick to access them.

Artistically, the releases can be experienced with numerous graphical effects and display options. Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection includes remarkably accurate effects that reproduce the cathode-ray tube displays of gaming halls or home televisions, or the limited color monitor of a Game Boy. A particularly nice touch is the option to have coin-op-inspired frames encircling the display, with your selected Mortal Kombat title accurately and softly reflecting against the faux black plastic borders. It's quite aesthetically pleasing.

Extra Content

There are plenty of appreciated elements beyond the historical footage and recreated vintage titles, including a music player that allows users to rediscover the music from multiple combat titles absent the noise of two kombatants viciously slaughtering each other. Also present are character profiles that contain backgrounds and multiple story elements presented by arcade games' attract mode screens and conclusions.

Historical Preservation

Among the most significant features for committed franchise followers 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 initial venture by the company at head-to-head network battles in arcades. The online-enabled release of the game is almost exactly the same to UMK3, but featured the capability to challenge online opponents and included some minor glitch repairs and refinements. Yet this online edition failed to achieve popularity, in part