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The Mortal Kombat series continues to hold its share of secrets and the ability to amaze, well past its 30th anniversary after its initial debut in gaming halls. A new collection covering the brand's formative years, comprising a quartet of arcade releases, multiple console adaptations, and spinoffs, goes beyond only a accurately simulated set of legendary games along with lesser-known entries — it functions as a detailed chronicle about the making of the iconic franchise.

As a dedicated enthusiast of the series who has paid close attention its creation and evolution, there was numerous fresh aspects for me to discover and admire about the series.

What Defines the Legacy Kollection

Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection comparable to previous classic compilations from developer Digital Eclipse, portion educational film, portion interactive museum. The anthology contains emulated versions of the pioneering arcade Mortal Kombat, Mortal Kombat 2, Mortal Kombat 3, and Mortal Kombat 4, along with home system and portable adaptations of some of those games. This compilation also features the series' ventures at derivative games, like combat-focused releases Mortal Kombat Mythologies: Sub-Zero and Mortal Kombat: Special Forces — among the series' most criticized releases.

The Legacy Kollection is therefore not a greatest hits compilation, but an examination of Mortal Kombat's early days, when the development team Midway and series co-creators the visionary developers were discovering methods to develop a battle series, digitized from footage of real actors, as they went along. Observing the archival material — containing historical videos, recent conversations, and scans of old flyers, graphic novels, and even company memos — it's astonishing to observe how the series transformed from simple starts to a worldwide phenomenon. It's truly remarkable to watch a handful of early video game creators, operating with virtually no plan 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 fighting series and the developers' professional journeys at the now-defunct Midway. It subsequently demonstrates how those same creators contended with how to regularly outdo their previous work, experiencing considerable stress to duplicate their achievements. It represents an intriguing historical record composed of video recordings and traditional photos and manual drawings, which demonstrate the hands-on approach of Mortal Kombat's development and how oral tradition helped disseminate its secrets and undisclosed elements of the series in its peak period in gaming halls. Told in bite-sized chunks, it's an eminently watchable series of documentary shorts that includes titles, illustrated stories, cinematic adaptations and including the humorous real-world tour. It also includes some never-implemented techniques and digital fighter representations among its previously unreleased material.

Interactive Experience

Placed within the quintet of documentary episodes' progression are opportunities to engage with the games themselves. At various points, audience members can jump into a Mortal Kombat title or a console adaptation to reexperience its mechanics and visual presentation, simulated with remarkable precision on current technology.

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, especially in local multiplayer matches. However, facing the computer-controlled adversaries in these titles is a demonstration of how basic and unfair the coding existed in early Mortal Kombat games. Computer-directed fighters obviously use unfair advantages or are conversely remarkably unintelligent. Lacking a human opponent — network gaming is included in numerous anthology releases, but too light on features — you'll miss the full enjoyment.

Visual Options

The two dozen available combat games in the anthology, a combination of gaming hall, television, and mobile releases, are faithfully recreated, though I have noticed a couple minor issues — mostly input lag and sporadic glitches, especially with Mortal Kombat 4. Although the titles are mostly shown in their original form, the creators has included some smart convenience enhancements and graphical adjustment settings. For example, players have the option to reveal combatant-unique actions on-screen and opt to have unlimited duration to execute finishing moves. There are also options for unlocking secret characters, without having to perform obscure techniques to access them.

Graphically, the titles can be enjoyed with multiple visual enhancements and presentation styles. Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection offers very realistic filters that mimic the traditional television screens of gaming halls or domestic TVs, or the limited color monitor of a portable gaming device. A notably appreciated element is the choice to enable gaming hall-style borders encircling the display, with the specific combat game you're playing accurately and softly reflecting against the faux black plastic borders. It's remarkably visually appealing.

Bonus Elements

There are plenty of nice touches beyond the documentary and emulated arcade classics, featuring an audio component that enables players to reexperience the tunes of various Mortal Kombat games excluding the sounds of fighters brutally eliminating opponents. There are also fighter biographies that contain backgrounds and the various bits of lore shown through arcade games' attract mode screens and final sequences.

Archival Discovery

Among the most significant features for hardcore Mortal Kombat fans is the chance to experience a segment of previously unavailable content in the guise of Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 Wavenet Edition. This specific release, a somewhat revised iteration of Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3, was an pioneering effort from the developer at direct online competitive gaming in coin-op establishments. This network version of the game is virtually identical to UMK3, but featured the capability to compete against internet adversaries and included some minor bug fixes and balance. However, this network version didn't find widespread adoption, in part