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This iconic fighting game continues to hold its share of secrets and the power to astonish, well past its 30th anniversary after its first appearance in arcades. A new collection including the brand's formative years, which includes a quartet of arcade releases, several home system versions, and spinoffs, is more than simply a faithfully reproduced collection of iconic titles and not-so-classics — it's also a comprehensive historical account about the making of the legendary series.

Being a long-time enthusiast of the series who has carefully followed its creation and evolution, there was numerous fresh aspects for me to learn and appreciate about the series.

What Defines the Legacy Kollection

Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection is, like other vintage game anthologies from the development team Digital Eclipse, portion educational film, portion interactive museum. The collection includes digitally recreated editions of the pioneering arcade Mortal Kombat, Mortal Kombat 2, Mortal Kombat 3, and Mortal Kombat 4, including television and mobile versions of some of those games. The anthology additionally contains the franchise's attempts at spinoffs, like combat-focused releases Mortal Kombat Mythologies: Sub-Zero and Mortal Kombat: Special Forces — some of the brand's least successful installments.

The Legacy Kollection is therefore not a highlight reel anthology, but a study of Mortal Kombat's early days, when the creators at Midway and brand founders the visionary developers were discovering methods to develop a battle series, created from video recordings of live performers, as they went along. Watching the documentary — containing vintage recordings, contemporary discussions, and digital copies of vintage posters, graphic novels, and even company memos — it's astonishing to observe how the franchise evolved from modest origins to a global sensation. It's frankly astounding to see a group of young game developers, developing without clear direction or guidance, direct their entertainment passions into creating a legendary video game series.

Documentary Portion

The documentary portion of Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection charts the rise of Mortal Kombat and its creators' careers at the no-longer-operating Midway. It further illustrates how the very same individuals reckoned with how to regularly outdo their previous work, facing no small amount of demand to replicate their triumphs. It serves as a compelling period piece constructed using analog films and traditional photos and pencil sketches, which demonstrate the hands-on approach of Mortal Kombat's development and how personal recommendations helped circulate its mysteries and undisclosed elements of the series in its golden era in coin-op establishments. Told in bite-sized chunks, it's an eminently watchable collection of mini-documentaries that covers video games, graphic novels, movies and including the humorous real-world tour. The collection additionally features some unused moves and character sprites among its archived development assets.

Interactive Experience

Distributed throughout the five-segment historical film's chronology are opportunities to engage with the games themselves. At various points, users can directly access a Mortal Kombat title or a home system version to revisit its gameplay and visual presentation, simulated with remarkable precision on current technology.

I dedicated most of my time engaging with the vintage coin-op games, especially Mortal Kombat, Mortal Kombat 2, and Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3. Many of the games here stand the test of time, particularly during direct competitive sessions. Yet competing with the aforementioned game's AI-controlled opponents is a testament to how primitive and unfair the programming was in early Mortal Kombat games. Computer-directed fighters obviously use unfair advantages or are otherwise dumb as rocks. Lacking a human opponent — internet multiplayer exists in numerous anthology releases, but rather basic in functionality — the experience will be incomplete.

Visual Options

The 23 playable Mortal Kombat games in the compilation, a mix of gaming hall, television, and mobile releases, are precisely simulated, though I detected a few small quirks — primarily delayed responses and the occasional bug, notably within Mortal Kombat 4. And while the games are mostly shown in their original form, the creators has added several intelligent convenience enhancements and graphical adjustment settings. For instance, you can choose to display fighter-specific techniques on-screen and select to activate unlimited duration to execute finishing moves. Additionally available are settings for accessing hidden fighters, without having to perform obscure techniques to access them.

Artistically, the releases can be experienced with numerous visual enhancements and presentation styles. Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection provides highly authentic options that simulate the CRT monitors of coin-op establishments or home televisions, or the monochrome green display of a Game Boy. An especially welcome feature is the option to have gaming hall-style borders encircling the display, with the specific combat game you're playing faithfully and subtly duplicating against the simulated dark plastic edges. It's very artistically charming.

Extra Content

The collection includes numerous welcome features besides the historical footage and recreated vintage titles, containing a soundtrack mode that allows users to rediscover the soundtracks of different combat titles absent the noise of two kombatants viciously slaughtering each other. Also present are fighter biographies that feature histories and numerous narrative components displayed via the idle displays of gaming hall releases and endings.

Lost Media Recovery

One of the biggest highlights for dedicated series enthusiasts is the ability to access a piece of "lost media" in the guise of Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 Wavenet Edition. This version of the game, a moderately improved edition of Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3, was an pioneering effort from the developer at one-on-one internet-based play in arcades. The Wavenet Edition of the game is virtually identical to UMK3, but included the option to compete against internet adversaries and featured various slight glitch repairs and refinements. But the Wavenet update failed to achieve popularity, in part