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The Mortal Kombat series retains its share of secrets and the capacity to surprise, over three decades after its first appearance in coin-op establishments. This latest compilation including the franchise's earliest days, comprising four original arcade titles, multiple console adaptations, and spinoffs, is more than simply a faithfully reproduced set of legendary games along with lesser-known entries — it additionally serves as a rich documentary about the making of the renowned brand.

Even as a lifelong enthusiast of the series who has carefully followed its creation and evolution, there was plenty new for me to learn and appreciate about the series.

What Constitutes the Legacy Collection

Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection is, like other retro collections from the development team Digital Eclipse, portion educational film, part playable archive. The collection includes simulated releases of the pioneering arcade Mortal Kombat, Mortal Kombat 2, Mortal Kombat 3, and Mortal Kombat 4, plus console and handheld ports of some of those games. The collection even includes the brand's experiments at derivative games, like action games Mortal Kombat Mythologies: Sub-Zero and Mortal Kombat: Special Forces — some of the brand's least successful installments.

The Legacy Kollection is therefore not a highlight reel anthology, but an exploration into the franchise's initial era, when developer Midway and series co-creators the creative duo behind the series were figuring out how to make a fighting game, created from video recordings of actual people, on the fly. Watching the documentary — containing historical videos, contemporary discussions, and scans of old flyers, graphic novels, and including internal communications — it's astonishing to observe how the franchise evolved from simple starts to a worldwide phenomenon. It's frankly astounding to watch a handful of early video game creators, operating with virtually no plan or guidance, focus their cultural enthusiasms into establishing an enduring gaming brand.

Historical Section

The documentary portion of Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection traces the growth of the combat franchise and its creators' careers at the now-defunct Midway. It then goes on to show how the very same individuals addressed how to routinely one-up themselves, encountering significant pressure to repeat their achievements. It serves as a compelling period piece made from video recordings and film-based pictures and manual drawings, which showcase the DIY nature of the franchise's production method and how oral tradition helped circulate its mysteries and hidden aspects of Mortal Kombat in its golden era in coin-op establishments. Presented in manageable segments, it's highly engaging set of brief historical films that spans games, comics, films and including the humorous real-world tour. The collection additionally features some never-implemented techniques and digital fighter representations among its previously unreleased material.

Interactive Experience

Placed within the five-segment historical film's chronology are opportunities to engage with the actual titles. At certain intervals, audience members can jump into a combat game session or one of its home console ports to reexperience its mechanics and graphics, recreated with impressive accuracy on modern hardware.

I dedicated most of my time playing the arcade classics, particularly Mortal Kombat, Mortal Kombat 2, and Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3. Many of the games here stand the test of time, particularly during one-on-one local play. However, facing the computer-controlled adversaries in these titles is a demonstration of how basic and unfair the development approached in the series' initial installments. CPU-controlled opponents clearly employ dishonest tactics or are conversely remarkably unintelligent. Without having someone to play against — online play is available in numerous anthology releases, but too light on features — you'll be missing out.

Technical Presentation

The two dozen available combat games in the anthology, a mix of gaming hall, television, and mobile releases, are precisely simulated, though I detected a handful slight anomalies — mostly input lag and sporadic glitches, particularly in Mortal Kombat 4. Even though the releases are primarily displayed authentically, developer Digital Eclipse has added several intelligent quality-of-life features and graphical adjustment settings. For instance, players have the option to show each character's special moves on the display and select to activate infinite time to execute finishing moves. Also included are choices for accessing hidden fighters, without having to perform complicated methods to unlock them.

Visually, the games can be experienced with numerous graphical effects and display options. Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection includes remarkably accurate options that simulate the CRT monitors of gaming halls or domestic TVs, or the monochrome green display of a Nintendo handheld. An especially welcome feature is the option to have arcade-like bezels surrounding the screen, with the specific combat game you're playing faithfully and subtly duplicating against the faux black plastic borders. It's very artistically charming.

Bonus Elements

The collection includes numerous appreciated elements beyond the educational material and simulated classic games, including a music player that allows users to rediscover the music from multiple fighting releases without the din of combatants violently defeating each other. Additionally included are combatant descriptions that contain backgrounds and the various bits of lore presented by arcade games' attract mode screens and conclusions.

Historical Preservation

A particularly notable inclusion for hardcore Mortal Kombat fans is the opportunity to play a example of historically missing material in the form of Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 Wavenet Edition. This version of the game, a moderately improved edition of Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3, was an initial venture by the company at one-on-one internet-based play in gaming halls. The online-enabled release of the game is virtually identical to UMK3, but provided the ability to battle network competitors and included some minor bug fixes and balance. However, this network version didn't find widespread adoption, in part