Mortal Kombat has been, and continues to be, an iconic franchise in the fighting game space. While opinions about it vary, it’s hard to deny the cultural landmark that it has become. With the Mortal Kombat Legacy Kollection, Atari, Digital Eclipse, and WB Games aim to bring forth the series’ early days, and preserve some games that might otherwise fade into obscurity.
As the name implies, this is a collection of games from Mortal Kombat’s formative era. Titles from the arcade, consoles, and handhelds are available here, including early spinoffs such as Mythologies: Sub-Zero and the cringy MK Special Forces.
This collection wasn’t really about bringing every single early MK title together, as there are some versions missing that I do wish had been present. While the Super NES and Genesis versions of MK3 are here, the PlayStation version, which many people played a ton of, is not. For Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3, the arcade, SNES, and Wavenet Arcade versions are present, but the Genesis version is not. None of the home versions of MK4 are in the collection either, but the arcade version is, leaving it standing on its own.
This was obviously a decision on the part of the developers or publisher. Maybe some of these missing versions will find their way in via a patch, which wouldn’t be unheard of, given Atari’s handling of the Atari 50 collection.
I mentioned the Wavenet version of Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 is included, and this is easily the highlight of the collection if you ask me. This version was thought lost, and bounties were even out for working arcade boards, so having this version in the collection is a big win for preservation. It’s an even bigger win for those that want to play some new classic MK, because this is a new revision that has not been seen before, with tweaks to the balance that substantially shake up the roster. If you play as Kabal, you will not be happy with these changes. If you play against Kabal, you will be happy with these changes.
One of the things that I love about Digital Eclipse’s recent collections is the documentary content. This remains true in Mortal Kombat Legacy Kollection, which features several chapters spanning the original game’s creation up to the modern day. For me, this was very fascinating to watch, since you got to see the evolution of the digitization process for the character sprites happen from game to game. It was very interesting to see how the performances were turned into sprites for the first three games. There was also a definitive vibe around the studio back then, which really comes through in those old videos. The documentary also includes a ton of art, commercials, and even the full issues of the comics that came out back in the day. They really went all out, and it kept me fascinated all the way through. The most poignant part of it all, was seeing Ed Boon and John Tobias together again. The split between the two was all over the internet back when John Tobias left Midway, but maybe the actual acrimony between the two has been overblown. I can’t help but wonder if they’ll tag team again. After seeing this documentary, I can’t rule it out.
For a collection like this, the emulation has to be good. Digital Eclipse has robust emulators at this point, so it shouldn’t be a surprise that everything in these games looks, sounds, and plays as it should. There are options for screen filters, and on the arcade version of MK4, internal resolution up to 3x. What is not present, at least on the PC version at present, is any kind of resolution or screen mode setting. Borderless at whatever resolution your monitor is at is all you get. It’s not a dealbreaker, by any means, but it is a bit odd that basic settings like that are missing entirely.
Along the same lines, the default Xbox controller mappings for the PC version of the game are bizarre. Block is mapped to LB, which doesn’t feel good at all. Of course, it’s possible to go in and change the controls to suit, but it was a bit annoying to have to do this for every game I wanted to play.
When it comes to accessibility, which has started to become a recurring theme for me in my reviews, Mortal Kombat Legacy Kollection wouldn’t score very high in that regard. The game doesn’t really have dedicated accessibility options you can turn on and off globally. Everything is done on a game-by-game basis, which means some games get nothing, and others have some options present. Even still, retrofitting modern accessibility settings into 30-year-old games would be a very difficult thing to do, so I can’t be harsh on them for not doing it. What is included, however, is easy access to cheat menus, developer tools, and modern control tweaks that make the games more accessible in a broader sense, and I’ll tip my hat to them there.
Whether you’re a longtime fan of Mortal Kombat, or you are just getting into the series via its modern versions, Mortal Kombat Legacy Kollection is a great way to experience the series’ formative era on modern platforms. It isn’t a complete collection, but it does hit all the landmark titles of the series’ growing phase. It’s a great way to see how the franchise evolved quickly, and have it all at your fingertips. Maybe the few missing titles will be added back in via a patch or DLC later, but as it is now, this is a solid collection that is absolutely worth your time and money.
Mortal Kombat has been, and continues to be, an iconic franchise in the fighting game space. While opinions about it vary, it’s hard to deny the cultural landmark that it has become. With the Mortal Kombat Legacy Kollection, Atari, Digital…
Mortal Kombat has been, and continues to be, an iconic franchise in the fighting game space. While opinions about it vary, it’s hard to deny the cultural landmark that it has become. With the Mortal Kombat Legacy Kollection, Atari, Digital Eclipse, and WB Games aim to bring forth the series’ early days, and preserve some games that might otherwise fade into obscurity.
As the name implies, this is a collection of games from Mortal Kombat’s formative era. Titles from the arcade, consoles, and handhelds are available here, including early spinoffs such as Mythologies: Sub-Zero and the cringy MK Special Forces.
This collection wasn’t really about bringing every single early MK title together, as there are some versions missing that I do wish had been present. While the Super NES and Genesis versions of MK3 are here, the PlayStation version, which many people played a ton of, is not. For Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3, the arcade, SNES, and Wavenet Arcade versions are present, but the Genesis version is not. None of the home versions of MK4 are in the collection either, but the arcade version is, leaving it standing on its own.
This was obviously a decision on the part of the developers or publisher. Maybe some of these missing versions will find their way in via a patch, which wouldn’t be unheard of, given Atari’s handling of the Atari 50 collection.
I mentioned the Wavenet version of Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 is included, and this is easily the highlight of the collection if you ask me. This version was thought lost, and bounties were even out for working arcade boards, so having this version in the collection is a big win for preservation. It’s an even bigger win for those that want to play some new classic MK, because this is a new revision that has not been seen before, with tweaks to the balance that substantially shake up the roster. If you play as Kabal, you will not be happy with these changes. If you play against Kabal, you will be happy with these changes.
One of the things that I love about Digital Eclipse’s recent collections is the documentary content. This remains true in Mortal Kombat Legacy Kollection, which features several chapters spanning the original game’s creation up to the modern day. For me, this was very fascinating to watch, since you got to see the evolution of the digitization process for the character sprites happen from game to game. It was very interesting to see how the performances were turned into sprites for the first three games. There was also a definitive vibe around the studio back then, which really comes through in those old videos. The documentary also includes a ton of art, commercials, and even the full issues of the comics that came out back in the day. They really went all out, and it kept me fascinated all the way through. The most poignant part of it all, was seeing Ed Boon and John Tobias together again. The split between the two was all over the internet back when John Tobias left Midway, but maybe the actual acrimony between the two has been overblown. I can’t help but wonder if they’ll tag team again. After seeing this documentary, I can’t rule it out.
For a collection like this, the emulation has to be good. Digital Eclipse has robust emulators at this point, so it shouldn’t be a surprise that everything in these games looks, sounds, and plays as it should. There are options for screen filters, and on the arcade version of MK4, internal resolution up to 3x. What is not present, at least on the PC version at present, is any kind of resolution or screen mode setting. Borderless at whatever resolution your monitor is at is all you get. It’s not a dealbreaker, by any means, but it is a bit odd that basic settings like that are missing entirely.
Along the same lines, the default Xbox controller mappings for the PC version of the game are bizarre. Block is mapped to LB, which doesn’t feel good at all. Of course, it’s possible to go in and change the controls to suit, but it was a bit annoying to have to do this for every game I wanted to play.
When it comes to accessibility, which has started to become a recurring theme for me in my reviews, Mortal Kombat Legacy Kollection wouldn’t score very high in that regard. The game doesn’t really have dedicated accessibility options you can turn on and off globally. Everything is done on a game-by-game basis, which means some games get nothing, and others have some options present. Even still, retrofitting modern accessibility settings into 30-year-old games would be a very difficult thing to do, so I can’t be harsh on them for not doing it. What is included, however, is easy access to cheat menus, developer tools, and modern control tweaks that make the games more accessible in a broader sense, and I’ll tip my hat to them there.
Whether you’re a longtime fan of Mortal Kombat, or you are just getting into the series via its modern versions, Mortal Kombat Legacy Kollection is a great way to experience the series’ formative era on modern platforms. It isn’t a complete collection, but it does hit all the landmark titles of the series’ growing phase. It’s a great way to see how the franchise evolved quickly, and have it all at your fingertips. Maybe the few missing titles will be added back in via a patch or DLC later, but as it is now, this is a solid collection that is absolutely worth your time and money.
by Filippo Dinolfo
