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The Mortal Kombat series still possesses many hidden mysteries and the capacity to surprise, over three decades after its initial debut in gaming halls. A new collection covering the series' initial period, featuring four original arcade titles, multiple console adaptations, and derivative games, goes beyond just a well-emulated set of legendary games and not-so-classics — it functions as a detailed chronicle about the development of the legendary series.

Even as a lifelong Mortal Kombat fan who has closely monitored its development and progression, there was numerous fresh aspects for me to learn and appreciate about the series.

What Makes the Legacy Kollection

Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection is, like previous classic compilations from the development team Digital Eclipse, part historical documentation, part playable archive. This compilation features 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 certain releases. This compilation also features the franchise's attempts at spin-off titles, like action games Mortal Kombat Mythologies: Sub-Zero and Mortal Kombat: Special Forces — among the series' most criticized releases.

The Legacy Kollection is therefore not a “best of” collection, but a study of Mortal Kombat's early days, when developer Midway and brand founders Ed Boon and John Tobias were discovering methods to make a fighting game, created from video recordings of live performers, on the fly. Observing the archival material — that features historical videos, new interviews, and scans of old flyers, comics, and including internal communications — it's remarkable to see how the franchise evolved from simple starts to a worldwide phenomenon. It's genuinely amazing to watch a handful of pioneering developers, operating with virtually no plan or supervision, focus their cultural enthusiasms into birthing an iconic game franchise.

Educational Component

The historical documentation of Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection documents the ascent of Mortal Kombat and the developers' professional journeys at the now-defunct Midway. It subsequently demonstrates how the very same individuals contended with how to consistently surpass their achievements, experiencing considerable pressure to repeat their triumphs. It's a fascinating time capsule constructed using analog films and film-based pictures and hand-drawn illustrations, which reveal the self-made character of the series' creation process and how personal recommendations helped spread its rumors and secrets of MK in its golden era in coin-op establishments. Presented in manageable segments, it's thoroughly enjoyable series of documentary shorts that covers video games, graphic novels, movies and even the comical physical events. It also includes some never-implemented techniques and digital fighter representations among its archived development assets.

Interactive Experience

Placed within the five-part documentary's timeline are invitations to experience the games themselves. At certain intervals, viewers can hop into a Mortal Kombat title or a console adaptation to revisit its gameplay and visual presentation, simulated with remarkable precision on modern hardware.

I dedicated most of my time experiencing the original arcade titles, particularly Mortal Kombat, Mortal Kombat 2, and Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3. Several releases here hold up, notably with one-on-one local play. However, facing the artificial intelligence fighters in these releases is a testament to how primitive and unfair the development approached in early Mortal Kombat games. CPU-controlled opponents obviously use unfair advantages or are alternatively incredibly stupid. Without having a human opponent — network gaming is included in most titles in the collection, but rather basic in functionality — you'll be missing out.

Technical Presentation

The 23 playable Mortal Kombat games in the anthology, a combination of gaming hall, television, and mobile releases, are faithfully recreated, though I've observed a couple minor issues — mostly input lag and sporadic glitches, especially with Mortal Kombat 4. Even though the releases are mostly shown in their original form, the creators has incorporated various clever user experience improvements and graphical adjustment settings. As an illustration, users can elect to show each character's special moves on-screen and opt to have infinite time to execute finishing moves. Additionally available are settings for revealing concealed combatants, eliminating the need to execute obscure techniques to access them.

Visually, the games can be enjoyed with multiple filters and visual treatments. Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection includes remarkably accurate filters that mimic the CRT monitors of gaming halls or home televisions, or the limited color monitor of a Game Boy. A notably appreciated element is the setting to activate coin-op-inspired frames surrounding the screen, with the specific combat game you're playing precisely and gently mirroring against the faux black plastic borders. It's remarkably visually appealing.

Extra Content

There are plenty of appreciated elements beyond the documentary and emulated arcade classics, featuring an audio component that enables players to reexperience the music from multiple combat titles excluding the sounds of fighters brutally eliminating opponents. There are also combatant descriptions that include bios and numerous narrative components shown through the demo sequences of coin-op titles and endings.

Historical Preservation

Among the most significant features for dedicated series enthusiasts is the ability to access a piece of "lost media" in the guise of Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 Wavenet Edition. This specific release, a slightly updated version of Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3, was an pioneering effort from the developer at head-to-head network battles in coin-op establishments. The Wavenet Edition of the game is almost exactly the same to UMK3, but featured the capability to compete against internet adversaries and included some minor bug fixes and balance. Yet this online edition failed to achieve popularity, in part