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Mortal Kombat continues to hold numerous undisclosed elements and the ability to amaze, more than 30 years after its initial debut in coin-op establishments. A new collection spanning the franchise's earliest days, comprising four arcade games, multiple console adaptations, and related titles, is more than simply a faithfully reproduced set of legendary games and not-so-classics — it functions as a detailed chronicle about the development of the legendary series.

Being a long-time enthusiast of the series who has carefully followed 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 previous classic compilations from the creators at Digital Eclipse, part historical documentation, part playable archive. The anthology contains emulated versions 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. This compilation also features the brand's experiments at derivative games, like action-oriented titles Mortal Kombat Mythologies: Sub-Zero and Mortal Kombat: Special Forces — two of the franchise's least successful installments.

The Legacy Kollection thus isn't a greatest hits compilation, but an exploration into the series' formative period, when developer Midway and franchise originators the visionary developers were figuring out how to create a combat title, created from video recordings of real actors, on the fly. Watching the documentary — that features vintage recordings, recent conversations, and reproductions of classic advertisements, graphic novels, and even company memos — it's astonishing to observe how Mortal Kombat went from simple starts to a international craze. It's truly remarkable to watch a handful of early video game creators, developing without clear direction or guidance, direct their entertainment passions into birthing an iconic game franchise.

Historical Section

The educational segment of Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection traces the growth of the combat franchise and its creators' careers at the currently closed Midway. It further illustrates how the very same individuals reckoned with how to routinely one-up themselves, experiencing considerable pressure to repeat their success. It's a fascinating time capsule made from video recordings and film-based pictures and manual drawings, which showcase the DIY nature of the franchise's production method and how word of mouth helped disseminate its secrets and undisclosed elements of the series in its golden era in coin-op establishments. Presented in manageable segments, it's highly engaging set of brief historical films that includes titles, illustrated stories, cinematic adaptations and including the humorous real-world tour. The compilation also contains some unreleased actions and character sprites among its cutting-room-floor content.

Interactive Experience

Placed within the five-part documentary's timeline are prompts to play the games themselves. At various points, audience members can jump into a game of Mortal Kombat or one of its home console ports to revisit its gameplay and artistic style, recreated with impressive accuracy on contemporary systems.

I spent the bulk of my time experiencing the original arcade titles, especially Mortal Kombat, Mortal Kombat 2, and Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3. Many of the games here remain enjoyable, notably with direct competitive sessions. But playing against the artificial intelligence fighters in these releases is a reminder of how crude and unbalanced the programming was in the franchise's pioneering releases. CPU-controlled opponents clearly employ dishonest tactics or are alternatively incredibly stupid. If you don't have a human opponent — online play is available in the majority of included games, but rather basic in functionality — you'll be missing out.

Visual Options

The 23 playable Mortal Kombat games in the collection, a combination of gaming hall, television, and mobile releases, are accurately emulated, though I detected a few small quirks — primarily delayed responses and sporadic glitches, especially with Mortal Kombat 4. Even though the releases are primarily displayed authentically, developer Digital Eclipse has incorporated various clever convenience enhancements and graphical adjustment settings. For instance, users can elect to show each character's special moves during gameplay and choose to enable unlimited duration to complete lethal techniques. There are also options for unlocking secret characters, eliminating the need to execute some esoteric trick to access them.

Artistically, the releases can be played with a variety of visual enhancements and presentation styles. Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection provides highly authentic effects that reproduce the CRT monitors of gaming halls or home televisions, or the limited color monitor of a portable gaming device. A particularly nice touch is the option to have arcade-like bezels framing the gameplay, with the specific combat game you're playing precisely and gently mirroring against the simulated dark plastic edges. It's remarkably visually appealing.

Additional Features

The collection includes numerous nice touches beyond the educational material and simulated classic games, featuring an audio component that enables players to reexperience the soundtracks of different Mortal Kombat games without the din of combatants violently defeating each other. Also present are fighter biographies that include bios and the various bits of lore presented by arcade games' attract mode screens and conclusions.

Historical Preservation

One of the biggest highlights for dedicated series enthusiasts is the chance to experience a example of historically missing material in the format of Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 Wavenet Edition. This particular edition, a somewhat revised iteration of Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3, was an initial venture by the company at head-to-head network battles in arcades. The online-enabled release of the game is almost exactly the same to UMK3, but featured the capability to challenge online opponents and included some minor error corrections and adjustments. Yet this online edition never gained traction, in part