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Mortal Kombat retains numerous undisclosed elements and the power to astonish, over three decades after its original launch in arcades. This latest compilation including the franchise's earliest days, which includes a quartet of arcade releases, several home system versions, and spinoffs, transcends simply a faithfully reproduced collection of iconic titles including less celebrated releases — it's also a detailed chronicle about the development of the renowned brand.

As a dedicated devotee of the franchise who has carefully followed its origins and transformation, there was much to discover for me to learn and appreciate about the series.

What Makes the Legacy Kollection

Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection similar to previous classic compilations from developer Digital Eclipse, part historical documentation, part playable archive. This compilation features emulated versions of the original arcade Mortal Kombat, Mortal Kombat 2, Mortal Kombat 3, and Mortal Kombat 4, including television and mobile versions of several of these titles. The anthology additionally contains the franchise's attempts at spin-off titles, like action-oriented titles Mortal Kombat Mythologies: Sub-Zero and Mortal Kombat: Special Forces — two of the franchise's least successful installments.

The Legacy Kollection thus isn't a highlight reel anthology, but an exploration into Mortal Kombat's early days, when the creators at Midway and brand founders the visionary developers were figuring out how to develop a battle series, created from video recordings of live performers, through experimentation. Watching the documentary — containing archival footage, recent conversations, and reproductions of classic advertisements, illustrated stories, and including internal communications — it's astonishing to observe how Mortal Kombat went from simple starts to a global sensation. It's truly remarkable to watch a handful of young game developers, operating with virtually no plan 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 the developers' professional journeys at the currently closed Midway. It subsequently demonstrates how the very same individuals addressed how to regularly outdo their previous work, experiencing considerable pressure to repeat their triumphs. It represents an intriguing historical record made from video recordings and analog photographs and manual drawings, which demonstrate the hands-on approach of Mortal Kombat's development and how oral tradition helped disseminate its secrets and hidden aspects of Mortal Kombat in its arcade heyday. Presented in manageable segments, it's an eminently watchable set of brief historical films that covers video games, graphic novels, movies and even the silly live-action tour. The compilation also contains some unused moves and game character images among its archived development assets.

Playable Component

Placed within the five-segment historical film's chronology are prompts to play the original releases. At various points, audience members can jump into a game of Mortal Kombat or a home system version to reexperience its mechanics and visual presentation, simulated with remarkable precision on contemporary systems.

I spent the bulk of my time engaging with the vintage coin-op games, particularly Mortal Kombat, Mortal Kombat 2, and Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3. Several releases here stand the test of time, notably with direct competitive sessions. However, facing the aforementioned game's AI-controlled opponents is a reminder of how crude and unfair the development approached in early Mortal Kombat games. Computer-directed fighters clearly employ dishonest tactics or are otherwise dumb as rocks. Lacking another person to compete with — online play is available in numerous anthology releases, but too light on features — the experience will be incomplete.

Technical Presentation

The two dozen available combat games in the anthology, a mix of coin-op, home system, and portable titles, are accurately emulated, though I've observed a couple minor issues — mainly control latency and sporadic glitches, especially with Mortal Kombat 4. Although the titles are primarily displayed authentically, the development team has included some smart convenience enhancements and graphical adjustment settings. For example, players have the option to reveal combatant-unique actions on-screen and select to activate unlimited duration to execute finishing moves. Additionally available are settings for unlocking secret characters, removing the requirement to complete obscure techniques to obtain them.

Artistically, the releases can be played with a variety of visual enhancements and presentation styles. Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection offers very realistic effects that reproduce the CRT monitors of gaming halls or household displays, or the greenscale screen of a Game Boy. An especially welcome feature is the option to have gaming hall-style borders surrounding the screen, with the MK game of your choice faithfully and subtly duplicating against the simulated dark plastic edges. It's very artistically charming.

Extra Content

There are plenty of nice touches beyond the documentary and emulated arcade classics, featuring an audio component that lets you revisit the tunes of various Mortal Kombat games absent the noise of fighters brutally eliminating opponents. Additionally included are combatant descriptions that contain backgrounds and numerous narrative components presented by arcade games' attract mode screens and endings.

Archival Discovery

Among the most significant features for committed franchise followers is the chance to experience a segment of previously unavailable content in the format 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 head-to-head network battles in coin-op establishments. The online-enabled release of the game is virtually identical to UMK3, but featured the capability to battle network competitors and included some minor bug fixes and balance. Yet this online edition failed to achieve popularity, in part