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This iconic fighting game still possesses its share of secrets and the capacity to surprise, over three decades after its original launch in coin-op establishments. A new collection including the brand's formative years, comprising four original arcade titles, various home ports, and spinoffs, goes beyond simply a faithfully reproduced collection of iconic titles along with lesser-known entries — it functions as a comprehensive historical account about the making of the legendary series.

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

What Makes the Historical Compilation

Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection comparable to previous classic compilations from the development team Digital Eclipse, part documentary, section playable historical record. The anthology contains simulated releases of the original arcade Mortal Kombat, Mortal Kombat 2, Mortal Kombat 3, and Mortal Kombat 4, plus console and handheld ports of several of these titles. The anthology additionally contains the brand's experiments at spin-off titles, like action-oriented titles Mortal Kombat Mythologies: Sub-Zero and Mortal Kombat: Special Forces — among the series' least successful installments.

The Legacy Kollection consequently doesn't represent a highlight reel anthology, but an exploration into the series' formative period, when the development team Midway and brand founders the creative duo behind the series were figuring out how to make a fighting game, digitized from footage of actual people, through experimentation. Observing the archival material — containing historical videos, contemporary discussions, and scans of old flyers, illustrated stories, and even company memos — it's incredible to witness how the series transformed from simple starts to a worldwide phenomenon. It's frankly astounding to see a group of early video game creators, developing without clear direction or supervision, direct their entertainment passions into creating a legendary video game series.

Documentary Portion

The historical documentation of Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection documents the ascent of the combat franchise and its creators' careers at the currently closed Midway. It then goes on to show how those same creators addressed how to consistently surpass their achievements, facing no small amount of pressure to repeat their triumphs. It's a fascinating time capsule made from VHS tapes and analog photographs and pencil sketches, which demonstrate the hands-on approach of the series' creation process 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 thoroughly enjoyable series of documentary shorts that covers video games, graphic novels, movies and even the silly live-action tour. The collection additionally features some unreleased actions and game character images among its cutting-room-floor content.

Playable Component

Interspersed along the five-segment historical film's chronology are prompts to play the original releases. At various points, audience members can jump into a combat game session or a home system version to reexperience its mechanics and graphics, recreated with impressive accuracy on contemporary systems.

I allocated the majority of my time experiencing the original arcade titles, specifically Mortal Kombat, Mortal Kombat 2, and Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3. Several releases here remain enjoyable, particularly during direct competitive sessions. Yet competing with the artificial intelligence fighters in these releases is a testament to how primitive and unbalanced the programming was in early Mortal Kombat games. CPU-controlled opponents blatantly cheat to win or are alternatively incredibly stupid. If you don't have a human opponent — network gaming is included in the majority of included games, but too light on features — you'll miss the full enjoyment.

Display Features

The 23 playable Mortal Kombat games in the collection, a mix of gaming hall, television, and mobile releases, are faithfully recreated, though I've observed a couple minor issues — mainly control latency and intermittent errors, especially with Mortal Kombat 4. And while the games are mostly shown in their original form, the development team has included some smart user experience improvements and visual presentation options. For instance, players have the option to show each character's special moves on-screen and opt to have infinite time to execute finishing moves. There are also options for accessing hidden fighters, removing the requirement to complete obscure techniques to unlock them.

Graphically, the titles can be experienced with numerous filters and visual treatments. Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection offers very realistic options that simulate the cathode-ray tube displays of gaming halls or home televisions, or the greenscale screen of a Nintendo handheld. A particularly nice touch is the setting to activate gaming hall-style borders surrounding the screen, with the specific combat game you're playing precisely and gently mirroring against the artificial ebony plastic frames. It's very artistically charming.

Additional Features

There are plenty of nice touches beyond the historical footage and recreated vintage titles, featuring an audio component that allows users to rediscover the music from multiple combat titles absent the noise of combatants violently defeating each other. There are also character profiles that contain backgrounds and multiple story elements presented by the demo sequences of coin-op titles and final sequences.

Historical Preservation

One of the biggest highlights for dedicated series enthusiasts is the opportunity to play a segment of previously unavailable content in the format of Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 Wavenet Edition. This particular edition, a somewhat revised iteration of Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3, was an early attempt by Midway at head-to-head network battles in arcades. The online-enabled release of the game is virtually identical to UMK3, but provided the ability to challenge online opponents and included some minor bug fixes and balance. However, this network version didn't find widespread adoption, in part