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The Mortal Kombat series still possesses many hidden mysteries and the capacity to surprise, more than 30 years after its original launch in coin-op establishments. The recent anthology including the series' initial period, featuring four arcade games, multiple console adaptations, and derivative games, transcends only a accurately simulated series of classics and not-so-classics — it functions as a rich documentary about the making of the renowned brand.

As a dedicated devotee of the franchise who has paid close attention its creation and evolution, there was much to discover for me to understand and value about the series.

What Constitutes the Legacy Kollection

Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection is, like previous classic compilations from the creators at Digital Eclipse, part historical documentation, section playable historical record. This compilation features 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 — 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 the creators at Midway and brand founders the visionary developers were figuring out how to create a combat title, digitized from footage of live performers, on the fly. Viewing the historical footage — containing archival footage, new interviews, and reproductions of classic advertisements, illustrated stories, and including internal communications — it's incredible to witness how the franchise evolved from humble beginnings to a international craze. It's frankly astounding to watch a handful of early video game creators, developing without clear direction or oversight, channel their pop-culture interests into establishing an enduring gaming brand.

Documentary Portion

The documentary portion of Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection charts the rise of the combat franchise and its creators' careers at the no-longer-operating Midway. It then goes on to show how these identical developers addressed how to consistently surpass their achievements, experiencing considerable stress to duplicate their success. It's a fascinating time capsule made from video recordings and traditional photos and manual drawings, which reveal the self-made character of Mortal Kombat's development and how personal recommendations helped disseminate its secrets and undisclosed elements of the series 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. The compilation also contains some unused moves and digital fighter representations among its cutting-room-floor content.

Interactive Gaming

Placed within the five-segment historical film's chronology are prompts to play the original releases. During specific moments, audience members can jump into a combat game session or one of its home console ports to rediscover its combat system and artistic style, simulated with remarkable precision on modern hardware.

I dedicated most of my time experiencing the original arcade titles, particularly Mortal Kombat, Mortal Kombat 2, and Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3. Several releases here stand the test of time, particularly during one-on-one local play. However, facing the aforementioned game's AI-controlled opponents is a reminder of how crude and unjust the coding existed in early Mortal Kombat games. Computer-directed fighters obviously use unfair advantages or are otherwise dumb as rocks. If you don't have another person to compete with — network gaming is included in the majority of included games, but somewhat limited in options — you'll miss the full enjoyment.

Technical Presentation

The two dozen available combat games in the compilation, a mix of gaming hall, television, and mobile releases, are faithfully recreated, though I've observed a few small quirks — primarily delayed responses and the occasional bug, notably within Mortal Kombat 4. And while the games are mostly shown in their original form, developer Digital Eclipse has included some smart quality-of-life features and visual presentation options. For example, players have the option to display fighter-specific techniques on the display and choose to enable infinite time to execute finishing moves. There are also options for unlocking secret characters, removing the requirement to complete complicated methods to obtain them.

Visually, the games can be experienced with numerous visual enhancements and presentation styles. Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection provides highly authentic effects that reproduce the cathode-ray tube displays of arcades or household displays, or the greenscale screen of a portable gaming device. A particularly nice touch is the setting to activate coin-op-inspired frames surrounding the screen, with the specific combat game you're playing accurately and softly reflecting against the faux black plastic borders. It's very artistically charming.

Extra Content

The collection includes numerous welcome features besides the documentary and emulated arcade classics, containing a soundtrack mode that enables players to reexperience the soundtracks of different combat titles excluding the sounds of combatants violently defeating each other. Additionally included are combatant descriptions that include bios and multiple story elements displayed via the demo sequences of coin-op titles and final sequences.

Lost Media Recovery

A particularly notable inclusion for hardcore Mortal Kombat fans is the opportunity to play a piece of "lost media" in the guise of Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 Wavenet Edition. This specific release, a somewhat revised iteration of Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3, was an initial venture by the company at one-on-one internet-based play in arcades. The Wavenet Edition of the game is virtually identical to UMK3, but included the option to battle network competitors and included some minor glitch repairs and refinements. However, this network version never gained traction, in part