Image via Digital Eclipse
There are times when Digital Eclipse collections of games can feel more like educational preservation efforts, and Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection is a perfect example. It does more than chronicle the earliest entries in the fighting game series. It isn’t only about making things playable for a modern audience in a single space. Like Tetris Forever, it can feel more like an opportunity to comprehensively offer some insights into the series’ creation while also offering more opportunities to examine characters and differences between releases as well. The downside is that at launch, it doesn’t feel completely ready yet due to things like numerous bugs, some input lag issues, and lackluster online multiplayer options.
To start, Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection looks at the series over the span of ten years, examining arcade and console releases as well as titles that eschewed the expected nature to examine other characters and situations in action-adventure games. So you get Mortal Kombat, naturally, but that means you can experience the versions that appeared on the Game Boy, Game Gear, Genesis, SNES, and in arcade cabinets. This doesn’t happen with every entry. For example, we only get the GBA version of Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance. But in many cases we do get different versions to choose from so we can compare and contrast or return to the one that holds the most memories for us. Especially notable is Digital Eclipse somehow finding and adding the Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 WaveNet as an extra option. Though honestly, I’m pleased that Mortal Kombat Mythologies: Sub-Zero made it in due to fond memories of it with family and friends, even though it’s hardly a shining example of the series’ best. Between different versions of the same games, which in some situations can feel a bit different due to workarounds to get it working on a different platform, we basically end up with 23 ways to experience 11 games.
To make things easy, here are the games that are present. When you select one from the main menu, you can hop into versus and adjust controls, as well as adjust settings and see memorabilia and promotional materials tied to it before even starting a session.
- Mortal Kombat (Game Boy, Game Gear, Genesis, SNES, Arcade)
- Mortal Kombat II (Game Boy, Genesis and 32X, SNES, Arcade)
- Mortal Kombat 3 (Genesis, SNES, Arcade)
- Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 (SNES, Arcade and WaveNet)
- Mortal Kombat Trilogy (PS1)
- Mortal Kombat 4 (Arcade)
- Mortal Kombat Advance (GBA)
- Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance (GBA)
- Mortal Kombat: Tournament Edition (GBA)
- Mortal Kombat Mythologies: Sub-Zero (PS1)
- Mortal Kombat: Special Forces (PS1)
All of the games largely look and play as we remember, and the emulation is okay at launch. I tended to play Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection in Handheld Mode on the Switch 2, so there were times when I didn’t encounter major input lag. However I will note that when I played Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 and Mortal Kombat 4 there were occasionally some times when things felt a little delayed. Digital Eclipse did already issue a statement regarding that noting patches are in the works, so I’m not terribly concerned. There are some initial audio issues at times. The big one I noticed is that the the 32X version of Mortal Kombat II doesn’t have its sound effects, making it… well, sort of not worth playing until a patch comes in to fix it. The new visual perspective options are especially appreciated too, since early Mortal Kombat games did benefit from CRTs. The arcade ones are impressive, since they include reflections, and the Game Boy ones include different models of the system as options. The 4X resolution for Mortal Kombat 4 is also amazing.
Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection does feature some new elements. The trainer is handy for perfecting moves, especially since we do have a distance bar to help with inputs and you can see your inputs at the bottom to track your actions. Being able to toggle on secrets and developer menus is also great. And if you’re going into a specific game, you can select if things like secret characters (such as Noob Saibot or Human Smoke), blood, or other features are possible. There is a remap option for controls, which I found helpful. The Switch 2 version’s labels isn’t working right. Adding a rewind feature is also so welcome for the single-player games, as it’s substantial enough to make a real difference. I even kept the input option enabled so moves would appear on the side when I was getting reacquainted with some entries, as the option makes it easy to see at a glance attacks without constantly going into a menu.
Unfortunately, the online multiplayer situation isn’t great at launch. We can play Mortal Kombat, Mortal Kombat II, Mortal Kombat 3, Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3, Mortal Kombat Trilogy, and Mortal Kombat 4 online. There’s even rollback netcode. And there is a presence, as I didn’t need to wait too long for opponents. However, only Quick Match is present at launch. There are no lobbies or group options at launch. That feature will appear, but it isn’t ready yet and might be worth waiting on.
While some gameplay elements regarding input and online need a few more patches, The Krypt section is pretty amazing right away. This is the documentary section that taps into knowledge, art, and design documents from development to show how the series came to be with The Kreation of Mortal Kombat. These are broken up into smaller parts, such as the initial “Prepare Yourself” section going over the inception of the original concept and installment. I especially appreciated the timeline that offered additional context.
Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection feels like an educational preservation effort, but one that isn’t 100% ready at launch. The fundamentals are here. The insightful elements acting as a documentary offering insight into the series is ready. Some of the extra features work well, and there’s an admirable number of games. However online isn’t really ready yet and there are some bugs that need to be stomped out.
Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection is available for the Switch, Switch 2, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X, and PC.
Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection
Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection feels like an educational preservation effort, but one that isn’t 100% ready at launch.