Mortal Kombat's Legacy Kollection: An Almost Perfect Triumph for the Combat Series Brand

Mortal Kombat retains many hidden mysteries and the power to astonish, more than 30 years after its original launch in coin-op establishments. This latest compilation including the brand's formative years, comprising four arcade games, several home system versions, and spinoffs, is more than only a accurately simulated series of classics including less celebrated releases — it functions as a rich documentary about the creation of the legendary series.

Being a long-time devotee of the franchise who has closely monitored its creation and evolution, there was plenty new for me to learn and appreciate about the series.

What Defines the Legacy Kollection

Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection similar to previous classic compilations from developer Digital Eclipse, part documentary, part playable archive. 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 certain releases. The collection even includes the brand's experiments at spin-off titles, 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 consequently doesn't represent a greatest hits compilation, but an exploration into the franchise's initial era, when developer Midway and series co-creators Ed Boon and John Tobias were discovering methods to create a combat title, digitized from footage of live performers, on the fly. Viewing the historical footage — that features vintage recordings, recent conversations, and reproductions of classic advertisements, comics, and including internal communications — it's remarkable to see how Mortal Kombat went from simple starts to a international craze. It's truly remarkable to watch a handful of early video game creators, working with minimal planning or oversight, direct their entertainment passions into birthing an iconic game franchise.

Educational Component

The historical documentation of Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection traces the growth of Mortal Kombat and its creators' careers at the currently closed Midway. It then goes on to show how the very same individuals reckoned with how to regularly outdo their previous work, encountering significant pressure to repeat their success. It's a fascinating time capsule made from video recordings and analog photographs and hand-drawn illustrations, which reveal the self-made character of the franchise's production method and how personal recommendations helped spread its rumors and hidden aspects of Mortal Kombat in its golden era in coin-op establishments. Told in bite-sized chunks, it's thoroughly enjoyable series of documentary shorts that includes titles, illustrated stories, cinematic adaptations and even the silly live-action tour. The compilation also contains some never-implemented techniques and digital fighter representations among its cutting-room-floor content.

Interactive Gaming

Distributed throughout the five-part documentary's timeline are invitations to experience the original releases. During specific moments, viewers can hop into a Mortal Kombat title or a home system version to rediscover its combat system and graphics, recreated with impressive accuracy on current technology.

I spent the bulk of my time experiencing the original arcade titles, particularly Mortal Kombat, Mortal Kombat 2, and Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3. Several releases here remain enjoyable, especially in direct competitive sessions. But playing against the computer-controlled adversaries in these titles is a demonstration of how basic and unbalanced the programming was in the franchise's pioneering releases. CPU-controlled opponents obviously use unfair advantages or are conversely remarkably unintelligent. If you don't have a human opponent — online play is available in most titles in the collection, but somewhat limited in options — you'll miss the full enjoyment.

Technical Presentation

The 23 playable Mortal Kombat games in the collection, a mix of coin-op, home system, and portable titles, are accurately emulated, though I have noticed a couple minor issues — primarily delayed responses and sporadic glitches, particularly in Mortal Kombat 4. Although the titles are mostly shown in their original form, developer Digital Eclipse has added several intelligent user experience improvements and display customization choices. For example, you can choose to display fighter-specific techniques during gameplay and select to activate infinite time to execute finishing moves. There are also options for revealing concealed combatants, eliminating the need to execute complicated methods to obtain them.

Artistically, the releases can be experienced with numerous filters and visual treatments. Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection offers very realistic options that simulate the CRT monitors of arcades or home televisions, or the greenscale screen of a Game Boy. A notably appreciated element is the option to have gaming hall-style borders surrounding the screen, with the specific combat game you're playing faithfully and subtly duplicating against the faux black plastic borders. It's quite aesthetically pleasing.

Extra Content

There are plenty of nice touches beyond the historical footage and recreated vintage titles, containing a soundtrack mode that allows users to rediscover the soundtracks of different fighting releases absent the noise of two kombatants viciously slaughtering each other. Additionally included are combatant descriptions that contain backgrounds and multiple story elements displayed via the idle displays of gaming hall releases and conclusions.

Archival Discovery

One of the biggest highlights 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 moderately improved edition of Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3, was an initial venture by the company at direct online competitive gaming in coin-op establishments. The Wavenet Edition of the game is practically indistinguishable to UMK3, but provided the ability to compete against internet adversaries and featured various slight error corrections and adjustments. Yet this online edition never gained traction, in part