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This iconic fighting game continues to hold many hidden mysteries and the ability to amaze, well past its 30th anniversary after its initial debut in arcades. A new collection including the brand's formative years, comprising four arcade games, several home system versions, and spinoffs, transcends simply a faithfully reproduced series of classics including less celebrated releases — it additionally serves as a comprehensive historical account about the making of the iconic franchise.

Being a long-time Mortal Kombat fan who has carefully followed its development and progression, there was numerous fresh aspects for me to learn and appreciate about the series.

What Constitutes the Legacy Collection

Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection comparable to previous classic compilations from developer Digital Eclipse, part historical documentation, section playable historical record. The anthology contains 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 some of those games. The collection even includes the franchise's attempts at derivative games, like action games Mortal Kombat Mythologies: Sub-Zero and Mortal Kombat: Special Forces — some of the brand's most criticized releases.

The Legacy Kollection thus isn't a greatest hits compilation, but an exploration into the series' formative period, when developer Midway and franchise originators Ed Boon and John Tobias were discovering methods to make a fighting game, digitized from footage of live performers, as they went along. Watching the documentary — which includes archival footage, contemporary discussions, and reproductions of classic advertisements, illustrated stories, and even interoffice faxes — it's astonishing to observe how the franchise evolved from modest origins to a international craze. It's frankly astounding to observe several young game developers, developing without clear direction or guidance, focus their cultural enthusiasms into birthing an iconic game franchise.

Historical Section

The documentary portion of Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection traces the growth of Mortal Kombat and its creators' careers at the now-defunct Midway. It then goes on to show how the very same individuals reckoned with how to routinely one-up themselves, experiencing considerable stress to duplicate their success. It's a fascinating time capsule composed of video recordings and analog photographs and hand-drawn illustrations, which showcase the DIY nature of the series' creation process and how oral tradition helped disseminate its secrets and secrets of MK 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 even the silly live-action tour. The compilation also contains some unused moves and character sprites among its previously unreleased material.

Interactive Experience

Interspersed along the five-segment historical film's chronology are opportunities to engage with the actual titles. At certain intervals, users can directly access a combat game session or a console adaptation to reexperience its mechanics and artistic style, emulated nearly perfectly on contemporary systems.

I dedicated most of my time engaging with the vintage coin-op games, specifically Mortal Kombat, Mortal Kombat 2, and Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3. Many of the games here stand the test of time, notably with one-on-one local play. Yet competing with the computer-controlled adversaries in these titles is a demonstration of how basic and unjust the development approached in the series' initial installments. AI-managed characters clearly employ dishonest tactics or are otherwise dumb as rocks. If you don't have someone to play against — internet multiplayer exists in the majority of included games, but somewhat limited in options — the experience will be incomplete.

Visual Options

The 23 playable Mortal Kombat games in the collection, a combination of arcade, console, and handheld games, are accurately emulated, though I have noticed a few small quirks — primarily delayed responses and intermittent errors, notably within Mortal Kombat 4. And while the games are mostly shown in their original form, developer Digital Eclipse has added several intelligent convenience enhancements and visual presentation options. For example, players have the option to display fighter-specific techniques during gameplay and opt to have endless periods to complete lethal techniques. Also included are choices for revealing concealed combatants, removing the requirement to complete obscure techniques to obtain them.

Artistically, the releases can be played with a variety of visual enhancements and presentation styles. Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection offers very realistic effects that reproduce the cathode-ray tube displays of arcades or household displays, or the monochrome green display of a Nintendo handheld. A particularly nice touch is the setting to activate arcade-like bezels framing the gameplay, with your selected Mortal Kombat title accurately and softly reflecting against the artificial ebony plastic frames. It's remarkably visually appealing.

Bonus Elements

There are plenty of welcome features besides the documentary and emulated arcade classics, containing a soundtrack mode that enables players to reexperience the tunes of various Mortal Kombat games absent the noise of fighters brutally eliminating opponents. Additionally included are combatant descriptions that feature histories and multiple story elements presented by arcade games' attract mode screens and endings.

Historical Preservation

A particularly notable inclusion for committed franchise followers is the ability to access a piece of "lost media" 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 early attempt by Midway at direct online competitive gaming in coin-op establishments. This network version of the game is virtually identical to UMK3, but included the option to battle network competitors and featured various slight glitch repairs and refinements. Yet this online edition didn't find widespread adoption, in part