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This iconic fighting game retains numerous undisclosed elements and the ability to amaze, more than 30 years after its original launch in arcades. This latest compilation spanning the series' initial period, featuring a quartet of arcade releases, multiple console adaptations, and spinoffs, is more than just a well-emulated set of legendary games including less celebrated releases — it functions as a detailed chronicle about the making of the renowned brand.

Being a long-time Mortal Kombat fan who has paid close attention its creation and evolution, there was numerous fresh aspects for me to learn and appreciate about the series.

What Defines the Legacy Kollection

Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection comparable to previous classic compilations from developer Digital Eclipse, part historical documentation, part playable archive. The collection includes simulated releases of the pioneering arcade Mortal Kombat, Mortal Kombat 2, Mortal Kombat 3, and Mortal Kombat 4, along with home system and portable adaptations of several of these titles. This compilation also features the series' ventures at spinoffs, like combat-focused releases Mortal Kombat Mythologies: Sub-Zero and Mortal Kombat: Special Forces — among the series' worst entries.

The Legacy Kollection consequently doesn't represent a “best of” collection, but an examination of the series' formative period, when the development team Midway and franchise originators Ed Boon and John Tobias were figuring out how to develop a battle series, digitized from footage of actual people, through experimentation. Observing the archival material — containing vintage recordings, recent conversations, and scans of old flyers, illustrated stories, and including internal communications — it's astonishing to observe how the series transformed from simple starts to a international craze. It's frankly astounding to see a group of pioneering developers, working with minimal planning or guidance, focus their cultural enthusiasms into establishing an enduring gaming brand.

Educational Component

The historical documentation of Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection charts the rise of the combat franchise and the founders' vocational paths 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 represents an intriguing historical record composed of video recordings and film-based pictures and hand-drawn illustrations, which demonstrate the hands-on approach of the franchise's production method and how oral tradition helped spread its rumors and hidden aspects of Mortal Kombat in its arcade heyday. Delivered in easily digestible portions, it's an eminently watchable collection of mini-documentaries that includes titles, illustrated stories, cinematic adaptations and including the humorous real-world tour. The compilation also contains some never-implemented techniques and character sprites among its archived development assets.

Interactive Experience

Interspersed along the five-part documentary's timeline are prompts to play the original releases. At various points, audience members can jump into a Mortal Kombat title or a home system version to reexperience its mechanics and visual presentation, recreated with impressive accuracy on contemporary systems.

I spent the bulk of my time experiencing the original arcade titles, particularly Mortal Kombat, Mortal Kombat 2, and Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3. Many of the games here hold up, particularly during direct competitive sessions. But playing against the aforementioned game's AI-controlled opponents is a testament to how primitive and unfair the programming was in early Mortal Kombat games. Computer-directed fighters blatantly cheat to win or are conversely remarkably unintelligent. Without having a human opponent — internet multiplayer exists in most titles in the collection, but rather basic in functionality — you'll be missing out.

Visual Options

The 23 playable Mortal Kombat games in the collection, a blend of coin-op, home system, and portable titles, are precisely simulated, though I detected a few small quirks — mainly control latency and the occasional bug, particularly in Mortal Kombat 4. And while the games are largely presented as-is, the creators has incorporated various clever user experience improvements and visual presentation options. For example, you can choose to reveal combatant-unique actions on the display and opt to have unlimited duration to execute finishing moves. Additionally available are settings for revealing concealed combatants, removing the requirement to complete obscure techniques to obtain them.

Artistically, the releases can be experienced with numerous 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 monochrome green display of a portable gaming device. An especially welcome feature is the choice to enable arcade-like bezels surrounding the screen, with your selected Mortal Kombat title accurately and softly reflecting against the artificial ebony plastic frames. It's remarkably visually appealing.

Additional Features

There are plenty of welcome features besides the documentary and emulated arcade classics, including a music player that lets you revisit the tunes of various Mortal Kombat games absent the noise of two kombatants viciously slaughtering each other. There are also combatant descriptions that contain backgrounds and the various bits of lore displayed via arcade games' attract mode screens and final sequences.

Lost Media Recovery

One of the biggest highlights for hardcore Mortal Kombat fans is the opportunity to play a segment of previously unavailable content in the format of Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 Wavenet Edition. This version of the game, a somewhat revised iteration of Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3, was an initial venture by the company at direct online competitive gaming in gaming halls. The online-enabled release of the game is practically indistinguishable to UMK3, but provided the ability to compete against internet adversaries and included some minor bug fixes and balance. However, this network version didn't find widespread adoption, in part