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This iconic fighting game retains its share of secrets and the capacity to surprise, more than 30 years after its original launch in gaming halls. This latest compilation covering the brand's formative years, comprising four arcade games, multiple console adaptations, and spinoffs, transcends just a well-emulated series of classics along with lesser-known entries — it functions as a comprehensive historical account about the development of the renowned brand.

Even as a lifelong Mortal Kombat fan who has paid close attention its creation and evolution, there was numerous fresh aspects for me to discover and admire about the series.

What Makes the Legacy Collection

Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection comparable to other retro collections from the creators at Digital Eclipse, part historical documentation, section playable historical record. The collection includes digitally recreated editions of the first arcade Mortal Kombat, Mortal Kombat 2, Mortal Kombat 3, and Mortal Kombat 4, plus console and handheld ports of some of those games. This compilation also features the franchise's attempts at derivative games, like combat-focused releases Mortal Kombat Mythologies: Sub-Zero and Mortal Kombat: Special Forces — two of the franchise's most criticized releases.

The Legacy Kollection consequently doesn't represent a greatest hits compilation, but an exploration into Mortal Kombat's early days, when the creators at Midway and series co-creators the creative duo behind the series were determining how to create a combat title, digitized from footage of real actors, through experimentation. Observing the archival material — that features archival footage, recent conversations, and digital copies of vintage posters, graphic novels, and including internal communications — it's incredible to witness how the series transformed from humble beginnings to a international craze. It's genuinely amazing to watch a handful of pioneering developers, working with minimal planning or guidance, channel their pop-culture interests into birthing an iconic game franchise.

Historical Section

The historical documentation of Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection charts the rise of the fighting series and the developers' professional journeys at the no-longer-operating Midway. It further illustrates how the very same individuals reckoned with how to routinely one-up themselves, encountering significant stress to duplicate their triumphs. It's a fascinating time capsule composed of VHS tapes and analog photographs and manual drawings, which demonstrate the hands-on approach of Mortal Kombat's development and how word of mouth helped spread its rumors and secrets of MK in its peak period in gaming halls. Told in bite-sized chunks, it's highly engaging set of brief historical films that covers video games, graphic novels, movies and including the humorous real-world tour. It also includes some never-implemented techniques and digital fighter representations among its cutting-room-floor content.

Interactive Experience

Distributed throughout the quintet of documentary episodes' progression are invitations to experience the original releases. At certain intervals, audience members can jump into a Mortal Kombat title or a console adaptation to revisit its gameplay and artistic style, recreated with impressive accuracy on modern hardware.

I spent the bulk of my time experiencing the original arcade titles, specifically Mortal Kombat, Mortal Kombat 2, and Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3. Several releases here remain enjoyable, notably with direct competitive sessions. However, facing the artificial intelligence fighters in these releases is a testament to how primitive and unbalanced the development approached in early Mortal Kombat games. CPU-controlled opponents obviously use unfair advantages or are otherwise dumb as rocks. Lacking someone to play against — network gaming is included in the majority of included games, but too light on features — you'll miss the full enjoyment.

Visual Options

The two dozen available combat games in the collection, a combination of gaming hall, television, and mobile releases, are faithfully recreated, though I've observed a couple minor issues — primarily delayed responses and intermittent errors, particularly in Mortal Kombat 4. Even though the releases are primarily displayed authentically, developer Digital Eclipse has included some smart user experience improvements and graphical adjustment settings. For example, you can choose to reveal combatant-unique actions on-screen and select to activate infinite time to perform a Fatality. There are also options for revealing concealed combatants, without having to perform obscure techniques to unlock them.

Graphically, the titles can be experienced with numerous visual enhancements and presentation styles. Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection offers very realistic filters that mimic the traditional television screens of gaming halls or household displays, or the limited color monitor of a portable gaming device. An especially welcome feature is the option to have coin-op-inspired frames encircling the display, with your selected Mortal Kombat title precisely and gently mirroring against the faux black plastic borders. It's quite aesthetically pleasing.

Extra Content

The collection includes numerous nice touches beyond the educational material and simulated classic games, including a music player that lets you revisit the tunes of various combat titles excluding the sounds of two kombatants viciously slaughtering each other. Also present are fighter biographies that feature histories and numerous narrative components 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 piece of "lost media" in the format of Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 Wavenet Edition. This version of the game, a slightly updated version 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 practically indistinguishable to UMK3, but featured the capability to compete against internet adversaries and contained several small glitch repairs and refinements. Yet this online edition didn't find widespread adoption, in part