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The Mortal Kombat series retains many hidden mysteries and the ability to amaze, over three decades after its original launch in gaming halls. A new collection covering the brand's formative years, featuring four original arcade titles, several home system versions, and spinoffs, transcends simply a faithfully reproduced collection of iconic titles and not-so-classics — it functions as a detailed chronicle about the making of the renowned brand.

Being a long-time devotee of the franchise who has carefully followed its creation and evolution, there was much to discover for me to learn and appreciate about the series.

What Constitutes the Historical Compilation

Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection similar to other vintage game anthologies from the creators at Digital Eclipse, portion educational film, section playable historical record. The anthology contains digitally recreated editions of the first arcade Mortal Kombat, Mortal Kombat 2, Mortal Kombat 3, and Mortal Kombat 4, including television and mobile versions of several of these titles. The collection even includes the series' ventures at derivative games, like combat-focused releases Mortal Kombat Mythologies: Sub-Zero and Mortal Kombat: Special Forces — among the series' worst entries.

The Legacy Kollection is therefore not a highlight reel anthology, but an exploration into the series' formative period, when the development team Midway and brand founders Ed Boon and John Tobias were determining how to create a combat title, produced using film material of actual people, through experimentation. Observing the archival material — which includes vintage recordings, new interviews, and scans of old flyers, graphic novels, and even interoffice faxes — it's incredible to witness how Mortal Kombat went from modest origins to a worldwide phenomenon. It's genuinely amazing to see a group of young game developers, working with minimal planning or supervision, direct their entertainment passions into creating a legendary video game series.

Documentary Portion

The educational segment of Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection charts the rise of Mortal Kombat and the developers' professional journeys at the currently closed Midway. It then goes on to show how the very same individuals addressed how to consistently surpass their achievements, experiencing considerable demand to replicate their achievements. It represents an intriguing historical record made from video recordings and traditional photos and manual drawings, which reveal the self-made character of Mortal Kombat's development and how word of mouth helped circulate its mysteries and undisclosed elements of the series in its arcade heyday. Told in bite-sized chunks, it's thoroughly enjoyable series of documentary shorts that includes titles, illustrated stories, cinematic adaptations and even the comical physical events. The compilation also contains some never-implemented techniques and game character images among its previously unreleased material.

Playable Component

Interspersed along the five-segment historical film's chronology are opportunities to engage with the games themselves. At various points, viewers can hop into a Mortal Kombat title or a home system version to rediscover its combat system and graphics, recreated with impressive accuracy on current technology.

I spent the bulk of my time playing the arcade classics, specifically Mortal Kombat, Mortal Kombat 2, and Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3. Many of the games here stand the test of time, especially in direct competitive sessions. However, facing the computer-controlled adversaries in these titles is a demonstration of how basic and unjust the programming was in early Mortal Kombat games. Computer-directed fighters clearly employ dishonest tactics or are conversely remarkably unintelligent. Without having another person to compete with — internet multiplayer exists in the majority of included games, but somewhat limited in options — the experience will be incomplete.

Visual Options

The two dozen available combat games in the compilation, a combination of coin-op, home system, and portable titles, are precisely simulated, though I have noticed a handful slight anomalies — mainly control latency and sporadic glitches, notably within Mortal Kombat 4. Even though the releases are mostly shown in their original form, the creators has incorporated various clever convenience enhancements and display customization choices. For instance, users can elect to show each character's special moves on-screen and choose to enable infinite time to perform a Fatality. Additionally available are settings for accessing hidden fighters, eliminating the need to execute complicated methods to access them.

Graphically, the titles can be played with a variety of filters and visual treatments. Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection includes remarkably accurate options that simulate the CRT monitors of arcades or home televisions, or the monochrome green display of a Nintendo handheld. A particularly nice touch is the option to have gaming hall-style borders framing the gameplay, with the MK game of your choice precisely and gently mirroring against the artificial ebony plastic frames. It's quite aesthetically pleasing.

Bonus Elements

There are plenty of welcome features besides the documentary and emulated arcade classics, including a music player that enables players to reexperience the music from multiple fighting releases without the din of two kombatants viciously slaughtering each other. Additionally included are fighter biographies that feature histories and numerous narrative components displayed via arcade games' attract mode screens and final sequences.

Historical Preservation

Among the most significant features for committed franchise followers is the chance to experience a segment of previously unavailable content in the form of Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 Wavenet Edition. This specific release, 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. The Wavenet Edition of the game is virtually identical to UMK3, but featured the capability to challenge online opponents and featured various slight error corrections and adjustments. However, this network version never gained traction, in part