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The Mortal Kombat series continues to hold its share of secrets and the capacity to surprise, well past its 30th anniversary after its original launch in coin-op establishments. A new collection including the series' initial period, which includes four original arcade titles, multiple console adaptations, and related titles, is more than simply a faithfully reproduced set of legendary games and not-so-classics — it's also a comprehensive historical account about the creation of the iconic franchise.

Being a long-time devotee of the franchise who has closely monitored its origins and transformation, there was plenty new for me to learn and appreciate about the series.

What Makes the Historical Compilation

Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection is, like other retro collections from the development team Digital Eclipse, portion educational film, section playable historical record. The anthology contains emulated versions of the first 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. The anthology additionally contains the franchise's attempts at derivative games, like action games Mortal Kombat Mythologies: Sub-Zero and Mortal Kombat: Special Forces — two of the franchise's worst entries.

The Legacy Kollection is therefore not a greatest hits compilation, but a study of the franchise's initial era, when the development team Midway and brand founders the visionary developers were determining how to create a combat title, produced using film material of real actors, as they went along. Viewing the historical footage — containing archival footage, recent conversations, and scans of old flyers, graphic novels, and including internal communications — it's astonishing to observe how the series transformed from simple starts to a worldwide phenomenon. It's truly remarkable to see a group of early video game creators, operating with virtually no plan or oversight, channel their pop-culture interests into establishing an enduring gaming brand.

Historical Section

The educational segment of Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection documents the ascent of Mortal Kombat and its creators' careers at the now-defunct Midway. It then goes on to show how these identical developers contended with how to regularly outdo their previous work, experiencing considerable stress to duplicate their triumphs. It's a fascinating time capsule constructed using video recordings and traditional photos and pencil sketches, which demonstrate the hands-on approach of Mortal Kombat's development and how word of mouth helped spread its rumors and hidden aspects of Mortal Kombat in its arcade heyday. Presented in manageable segments, it's highly engaging set of brief historical films that includes titles, illustrated stories, cinematic adaptations and even the comical physical events. The collection additionally features some unreleased actions and character sprites among its cutting-room-floor content.

Interactive Gaming

Distributed throughout the five-part documentary's timeline are opportunities to engage with the actual titles. At various points, viewers can hop into a game of Mortal Kombat or a console adaptation to reexperience its mechanics and artistic style, simulated with remarkable precision on modern hardware.

I dedicated most of my time playing the arcade classics, specifically Mortal Kombat, Mortal Kombat 2, and Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3. Numerous titles here remain enjoyable, especially in local multiplayer matches. Yet competing with the computer-controlled adversaries in these titles is a demonstration of how basic and unfair the coding existed in the series' initial installments. CPU-controlled opponents blatantly cheat to win or are alternatively incredibly stupid. Lacking someone to play against — internet multiplayer exists 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 combination of arcade, console, and handheld games, are precisely simulated, though I have noticed a handful slight anomalies — mainly control latency and the occasional bug, particularly in Mortal Kombat 4. And while the games are mostly shown in their original form, developer Digital Eclipse has added several intelligent convenience enhancements and graphical adjustment settings. For instance, you can choose to reveal combatant-unique actions on-screen and opt to have unlimited duration to execute finishing moves. Also included are choices for accessing hidden fighters, without having to perform obscure techniques to unlock them.

Artistically, the releases can be experienced with numerous visual enhancements and presentation styles. Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection offers very realistic filters that mimic the cathode-ray tube displays of coin-op establishments or home televisions, or the greenscale screen of a Nintendo handheld. A notably appreciated element is the option to have coin-op-inspired frames encircling the display, with the specific combat game you're playing precisely and gently mirroring against the artificial ebony plastic frames. It's remarkably visually appealing.

Bonus Elements

The collection includes numerous nice touches beyond the historical footage and recreated vintage titles, including a music player that allows users to rediscover the soundtracks of different fighting releases without the din of fighters brutally eliminating opponents. Additionally included are combatant descriptions that feature histories and the various bits of lore presented by arcade games' attract mode screens and endings.

Archival Discovery

One of the biggest highlights for hardcore Mortal Kombat fans is the ability to access a piece of "lost media" in the format of Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 Wavenet Edition. This particular edition, a slightly updated version of Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3, was an early attempt by Midway at one-on-one internet-based play in coin-op establishments. This network version of the game is practically indistinguishable to UMK3, but featured the capability to compete against internet adversaries and featured various slight bug fixes and balance. However, this network version didn't find widespread adoption, in part