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Mortal Kombat continues to hold many hidden mysteries and the power to astonish, well past its 30th anniversary after its initial debut in coin-op establishments. A new collection spanning the series' initial period, featuring a quartet of arcade releases, various home ports, and related titles, goes beyond simply a faithfully reproduced collection of iconic titles along with lesser-known entries — it's also a comprehensive historical account about the creation of the legendary series.

Being a long-time enthusiast of the series who has carefully followed its development and progression, there was numerous fresh aspects for me to discover and admire about the series.

What Defines the Historical Compilation

Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection similar to other vintage game anthologies from the development team Digital Eclipse, part documentary, section playable historical record. 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 some of those games. The collection even includes the franchise's attempts at derivative games, like action games Mortal Kombat Mythologies: Sub-Zero and Mortal Kombat: Special Forces — among the series' most criticized releases.

The Legacy Kollection consequently doesn't represent a “best of” collection, but an examination of the franchise's initial era, when developer Midway and franchise originators the visionary developers were figuring out how to create a combat title, digitized from footage of real actors, through experimentation. Viewing the historical footage — which includes historical videos, contemporary discussions, and reproductions of classic advertisements, illustrated stories, and even interoffice faxes — it's incredible to witness how the series transformed from humble beginnings 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 establishing an enduring gaming brand.

Educational Component

The documentary portion of Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection traces the growth of Mortal Kombat and its creators' careers at the now-defunct Midway. It subsequently demonstrates how these identical developers contended with how to consistently surpass their achievements, experiencing considerable stress to duplicate their success. It serves as a compelling period piece constructed using VHS tapes and film-based pictures and manual drawings, which reveal the self-made character of Mortal Kombat's development and how oral tradition helped spread its rumors and undisclosed elements of the series in its arcade heyday. Presented in manageable segments, it's an eminently watchable collection of mini-documentaries that includes titles, illustrated stories, cinematic adaptations and even the silly live-action tour. The compilation also contains some unreleased actions and digital fighter representations among its cutting-room-floor content.

Interactive Experience

Interspersed along the five-part documentary's timeline are invitations to experience the actual titles. At certain intervals, users can directly access a Mortal Kombat title or a home system version to rediscover its combat system and graphics, simulated with remarkable precision on contemporary systems.

I allocated the majority of my time engaging with the vintage coin-op games, specifically Mortal Kombat, Mortal Kombat 2, and Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3. Numerous titles here hold up, particularly during local multiplayer matches. But playing against the aforementioned game's AI-controlled opponents is a testament to how primitive and unbalanced the development approached in the franchise's pioneering releases. AI-managed characters clearly employ dishonest tactics or are alternatively incredibly stupid. If you don't have another person to compete with — network gaming is included in most titles in the collection, but somewhat limited in options — you'll miss the full enjoyment.

Display Features

The two dozen available combat games in the collection, a mix of coin-op, home system, and portable titles, are faithfully recreated, though I detected a handful slight anomalies — primarily delayed responses and sporadic glitches, notably within Mortal Kombat 4. And while the games are primarily displayed authentically, developer Digital Eclipse has included some smart convenience enhancements and visual presentation options. For example, users can elect to reveal combatant-unique actions on-screen and select to activate infinite time to execute finishing moves. Also included are choices for unlocking secret characters, without having to perform obscure techniques to access them.

Visually, the games can be experienced with numerous graphical effects and display options. Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection offers very realistic effects that reproduce the cathode-ray tube displays of coin-op establishments 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 encircling the display, with the MK game of your choice precisely and gently mirroring against the artificial ebony plastic frames. It's very artistically charming.

Bonus Elements

The collection includes numerous welcome features besides the educational material and simulated classic games, featuring an audio component that lets you revisit the tunes of various Mortal Kombat games absent the noise of two kombatants viciously slaughtering each other. Additionally included are fighter biographies that contain backgrounds and numerous narrative components shown through the demo sequences of coin-op titles and final sequences.

Archival Discovery

A particularly notable inclusion for hardcore Mortal Kombat fans is the opportunity to play a piece of "lost media" in the form of Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 Wavenet Edition. This version of the game, a slightly updated version of Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3, was an initial venture by the company at head-to-head network battles in arcades. This network version of the game is virtually identical to UMK3, but featured the capability to challenge online opponents and featured various slight bug fixes and balance. However, this network version never gained traction, in part