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The Mortal Kombat series still possesses numerous undisclosed elements and the power to astonish, well past its 30th anniversary after its original launch in arcades. A new collection covering the series' initial period, which includes four original arcade titles, several home system versions, and derivative games, goes beyond just a well-emulated collection of iconic titles including less celebrated releases — it functions as a rich documentary about the development of the iconic franchise.

As a dedicated enthusiast of the series who has closely monitored its origins and transformation, there was plenty new for me to discover and admire about the series.

What Constitutes the Legacy Collection

Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection is, like other vintage game anthologies from the development team Digital Eclipse, part documentary, section playable historical record. This compilation features digitally recreated editions of the original arcade Mortal Kombat, Mortal Kombat 2, Mortal Kombat 3, and Mortal Kombat 4, including television and mobile versions of certain releases. This compilation also features the franchise's attempts at derivative games, like action games Mortal Kombat Mythologies: Sub-Zero and Mortal Kombat: Special Forces — two of the franchise's least successful installments.

The Legacy Kollection consequently doesn't represent a “best of” collection, but a study of the franchise's initial era, when developer Midway and franchise originators Ed Boon and John Tobias were figuring out how to create a combat title, created from video recordings of actual people, through experimentation. Observing the archival material — that features archival footage, recent conversations, and reproductions of classic advertisements, comics, and even company memos — it's incredible to witness how the franchise evolved from modest origins to a worldwide phenomenon. It's genuinely amazing to observe several young game developers, working with minimal planning or guidance, channel their pop-culture interests into birthing an iconic game franchise.

Educational Component

The educational segment of Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection charts the rise of Mortal Kombat and the founders' vocational paths at the now-defunct Midway. It subsequently demonstrates how the very same individuals contended with how to routinely one-up themselves, facing no small amount of pressure to repeat their triumphs. It represents an intriguing historical record composed of video recordings and analog photographs and hand-drawn illustrations, which demonstrate the hands-on approach of the franchise's production method and how word of mouth helped spread its rumors and hidden aspects of Mortal Kombat in its arcade heyday. Told in bite-sized chunks, it's thoroughly enjoyable collection of mini-documentaries that covers video games, graphic novels, movies and even the silly live-action tour. The collection additionally features some unused moves and digital fighter representations among its archived development assets.

Playable Component

Distributed throughout the five-part documentary's timeline are prompts to play the actual titles. During specific moments, viewers can hop into a game of Mortal Kombat or a console adaptation to revisit its gameplay and visual presentation, simulated with remarkable precision on modern hardware.

I allocated the majority of my time engaging with the vintage coin-op games, specifically Mortal Kombat, Mortal Kombat 2, and Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3. Numerous titles here remain enjoyable, especially in direct competitive sessions. But playing against the computer-controlled adversaries in these titles is a reminder of how crude and unjust the programming was in early Mortal Kombat games. Computer-directed fighters obviously use unfair advantages or are conversely remarkably unintelligent. If you don't have someone to play against — online play is available in the majority of included games, but too light on features — the experience will be incomplete.

Display Features

The twenty-three accessible Mortal Kombat titles in the compilation, a blend of coin-op, home system, and portable titles, are faithfully recreated, though I have noticed a few small quirks — primarily delayed responses and intermittent errors, particularly in Mortal Kombat 4. And while the games are primarily displayed authentically, the development team has added several intelligent user experience improvements and visual presentation options. For example, users can elect to show each character's special moves on-screen and opt to have endless periods to perform a Fatality. Also included are choices for unlocking secret characters, removing the requirement to complete obscure techniques to access them.

Visually, the games can be enjoyed with multiple graphical effects and display options. Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection includes remarkably accurate filters that mimic the traditional television screens of coin-op establishments or home televisions, or the limited color monitor of a portable gaming device. A notably appreciated element is the choice to enable gaming hall-style borders surrounding the screen, with the MK game of your choice precisely and gently mirroring against the artificial ebony plastic frames. It's quite aesthetically pleasing.

Bonus Elements

There are plenty of appreciated elements beyond the documentary and emulated arcade classics, featuring an audio component that allows users to rediscover the tunes of various Mortal Kombat games absent the noise of fighters brutally eliminating opponents. Additionally included are character profiles that feature histories and multiple story elements presented by the idle displays of gaming hall releases and conclusions.

Historical Preservation

Among the most significant features for committed franchise followers is the opportunity to play a segment of previously unavailable content in the guise of Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 Wavenet Edition. This version of the game, a slightly updated version 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 almost exactly the same to UMK3, but featured the capability to battle network competitors and included some minor glitch repairs and refinements. But the Wavenet update failed to achieve popularity, in part