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

This iconic fighting game retains numerous undisclosed elements and the capacity to surprise, more than 30 years after its original launch in coin-op establishments. This latest compilation spanning the series' initial period, comprising four arcade games, several home system versions, and derivative games, goes beyond only a accurately simulated series of classics including less celebrated releases — it functions as a comprehensive historical account about the development of the renowned brand.

Being a long-time Mortal Kombat fan who has carefully followed its development and progression, there was much to discover for me to understand and value about the series.

What Defines the Legacy Kollection

Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection is, like other vintage game anthologies from developer Digital Eclipse, part historical documentation, section playable historical record. The anthology contains simulated releases of the pioneering arcade Mortal Kombat, Mortal Kombat 2, Mortal Kombat 3, and Mortal Kombat 4, along with home system and portable adaptations of several of these titles. The collection even includes the brand's experiments at derivative games, like action games Mortal Kombat Mythologies: Sub-Zero and Mortal Kombat: Special Forces — some of the brand's worst entries.

The Legacy Kollection consequently doesn't represent a highlight reel anthology, but a study of the franchise's initial era, when the development team Midway and franchise originators Ed Boon and John Tobias were determining how to make a fighting game, created from video recordings of live performers, on the fly. Watching the documentary — which includes archival footage, contemporary discussions, and digital copies of vintage posters, graphic novels, and including internal communications — it's remarkable to see how the franchise evolved from humble beginnings to a global sensation. It's truly remarkable to see a group of pioneering developers, operating with virtually no plan or oversight, channel their pop-culture interests into creating a legendary video game series.

Educational Component

The educational segment of Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection traces the growth of the fighting series and the founders' vocational paths at the currently closed Midway. It further illustrates how these identical developers reckoned with how to regularly outdo their previous work, facing no small amount of pressure to repeat their achievements. It's a fascinating time capsule constructed using video recordings and traditional photos and manual drawings, which reveal the self-made character of the franchise's production method and how word of mouth helped circulate its mysteries and hidden aspects of Mortal Kombat in its golden era in coin-op establishments. Delivered in easily digestible portions, it's highly engaging series of documentary shorts that includes titles, illustrated stories, cinematic adaptations and even the silly live-action tour. It also includes some unreleased actions and game character images among its archived development assets.

Playable Component

Distributed throughout the five-segment historical film's chronology are invitations to experience the original releases. During specific moments, users can directly access a Mortal Kombat title or a home system version to rediscover its combat system and visual presentation, emulated nearly perfectly on modern hardware.

I spent the bulk of my time experiencing the original arcade titles, specifically Mortal Kombat, Mortal Kombat 2, and Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3. Numerous titles here remain enjoyable, particularly during local multiplayer matches. However, facing the aforementioned game's AI-controlled opponents is a reminder of how crude and unbalanced the programming was in early Mortal Kombat games. CPU-controlled opponents obviously use unfair advantages or are conversely remarkably unintelligent. Without having a human opponent — online play is available in the majority of included games, but somewhat limited in options — you'll miss the full enjoyment.

Visual Options

The two dozen available combat games in the anthology, a blend of gaming hall, television, and mobile releases, are faithfully recreated, though I've observed a couple minor issues — mainly control latency and intermittent errors, notably within Mortal Kombat 4. Although the titles are primarily displayed authentically, the creators has included some smart convenience enhancements and visual presentation options. As an illustration, players have the option to reveal combatant-unique actions on-screen and opt to have unlimited duration to execute finishing moves. Also included are choices for accessing hidden fighters, eliminating the need to execute some esoteric trick to obtain them.

Artistically, the releases can be played with a variety of filters and visual treatments. Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection provides highly authentic filters that mimic the cathode-ray tube displays of coin-op establishments or domestic TVs, or the limited color monitor of a portable gaming device. A notably appreciated element is the setting to activate coin-op-inspired frames encircling the display, with the specific combat game you're playing faithfully and subtly duplicating against the faux black plastic borders. It's remarkably visually appealing.

Bonus Elements

The collection includes numerous nice touches beyond the documentary and emulated arcade classics, containing a soundtrack mode that enables players to reexperience the tunes of various Mortal Kombat games absent the noise of combatants violently defeating each other. Additionally included are character profiles that include bios and multiple story elements displayed via arcade games' attract mode screens and conclusions.

Archival Discovery

Among the most significant features for dedicated series enthusiasts is the ability to access a segment of previously unavailable content in the format of Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 Wavenet Edition. This version of the game, a somewhat revised iteration of Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3, was an pioneering effort from the developer at one-on-one internet-based play in coin-op establishments. The Wavenet Edition of the game is almost exactly the same to UMK3, but provided the ability to challenge online opponents and contained several small bug fixes and balance. However, this network version didn't find widespread adoption, in part