Like an unfortunate fighter who has had their eyes plucked from their skull, then shredded over tortillas they are forced to eat at kunai point, I must confess I have a big blind spot: I’ve never finished aMortal Kombatgame. Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection, which wasannounced this week at Sony’s State of Play, looks like the perfect opportunity to fix that.
The Opportunity I’ve Been Waiting For
Oh, I’ve dabbled before. I’ve been on the wrong end of Fatalities in multiplayer, played an hour or two of the story mode for Mortal Kombat (2011), and even bought a bundle that included the first three games onGOG.com. I was in for a nasty shock when I tried to play them, though, because – at the time – they didn’t seem to have controller support.
After doing some digging, it turns out, theydidhave controller support, but you had to go into the game files to enable it.
I had intended to play through the first three on PC, so this was a major blow to my plans. I’ve heard great things about the story modes in the recent games, and have wanted to check them out for years, I just never got around to it. But, the forthcoming collection seems like the perfect opportunity to finally see what the series is all about.
Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection includesMortal Kombat, Mortal Kombat II, Mortal Kombat 3, Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3, Mortal Kombat 4, Mortal Kombat Advance, Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance, and Mortal Kombat: Tournament Edition. The first four games are available in multiple versions.
Digital Eclipse Of The Ripped-Out Heart
The fact that Digital Eclipse is the company handling the collection makes this an especially exciting time to come aboard. The studio has made a name for itself in recent years on the strength of its incredibly thorough re-releases that go above and beyond what standard ports or, even, remasters have led us to expect.
The Making of Karatekais a standout example, which, along with Llamasoft: The Jeff Minter Story andAtari 50: The Anniversary Collection, paired classic games with interactive timelines that placed the games in the context of their developments. It offered video interviews, archival documents, and more. DE also included earlier builds of the games, allowing you to see how they progressed to the point of publication-ready polish.
Those are unique projects (dubbed Gold Masters by DE) but the studio’s standard releases still stand head-and-shoulders above the competition. Its Disney Classic Games: Aladdin and The Lion King included both the Sega Genesis and Super NES versions of the games, plus a “Final Cut” version of Aladdin that modernized some aspects and added Easter eggs. All of DE’s releases include archival material, too, which makes each the most complete way to play the included games.
As good as those standard releases are, Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection thankfully seems to be in the Making of Karateka tier. It’s set to include documentary footage shot by the team behind Grounded 2: The Making of the Last of Us Part 2, and a whole lot more.
“We’re also doing a deep dive into the history of Mortal Kombat to find design documents, early prototype materials, motion-capture sessions, concept art, and much more, some never before seen,” Digital Eclipse editorial director Chris Kohlerwrote on the PlayStation Blog. “You’ll be able to step through our interactive timelines as if you were walking through a Mortal Kombat museum, watching videos, playing games, viewing photo galleries, and more as you travel through the early history of the franchise.”
As someone who has wanted a complete and accessible entry point to the Mortal Kombat series, this is basically as good as it gets. As remasters and remakes become an increasingly sizable portion of the games industry, every developer should be looking to Digital Eclipse and following its example. With a series as big as MK getting this kind of treatment, I have to imagine others will soon be lining up.
