Ever since I was a kid, I've been a Mortal Kombat fan, with the first one I ever played being either MK3 or UMK3, I can't exactly remember which, on the Sega Genesis. I've played practically all main entries (besides MK vs. DC), and even Shaolin Monks on the PS2. When this collection was announced, I knew I had to get it. Sure, there'd already been another collection of the classic games, but that one only included the arcade version of the first three games, and required GFWL, so it was a subpar experience for me, who grew up with the home version of the games.

Now, you probably read in other reviews that performance was bad on release, but I'd say it's performing very well now (personally, I didn't even find issues during release, but then again, I play mostly SP; the MP was indeed broken when it released); I'd personally consider this to be the best way to play all the classic games, especially considering all the extra options they included to improve your experience, including proper adjustable difficulty and a rewind feature.

Regarding the difficulty, for those who're not familiar with the story of early MK AI, the arcade games' difficulty (and even that of the early home versions) didn't quite work as one would expect. While one would expect the easiest difficulty to be, well, easy, the way it worked was that the first fight would be at the easiest, but as you climbed the tower the difficulty would increase until the highest level. Basically, all it ever did was give you a few easy fights before all the input reading ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ would begin. It's because of stuff like this that I'd never managed to beat MK2 back in the day in a legitimate way. I say this so that you're informed that the difficulty isn't bugged, that's the way it's always worked; even then, as I already mentioned above, they've made some changes so that the triggers that increase difficulty after each fight don't get activated, if you choose that option.

The collection itself is pretty extensive, having all five arcade games (MK, MKII, MK3, UMK3 and MK4), as well as different home versions of most of them (Sega Genesis, SNES, even Game Boy and Game Gear versions). Each game also includes options to easily access secrets, like the Reptile fight in the original MK, or playable Smoke in MK3. While it is an extensive version, there are some omissions that I found a bit disappointing; the lack of the Genesis version of UMK3 being a big one for me, as that's the version I grew up with. Same goes for MK4; while some people would've like to have Gold included (which had more characters), I'd have been happy enough with the PC version being included, as that one had better cutscenes than the one in the collection. The collection also includes the handheld versions of Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance, which are obviously inferior to the console versions, but at least one of them includes Sareena as an exclusive character.

Something I was forgetting to mention was that, beyond the "main" games, the collection also includes the two spin-offs that released for the PS1; Mortal Kombat Mythologies: Sub Zero and Mortal Kombat: Special Forces. Thanks to this collection, I was finally able to experience them for myself, having always been interested in Mythologies in particular. And thanks to this collection, I didn't have to endure the extremely frustrating experience that the original version of both games were. While I love the idea of MK spin-offs (I loved Konquest mode in the 3D era games, as well as Shaolin Monks), these two games were extremely clunky in their design. That doesn't mean they're bad games, and there were some good ideas, as well as some cool additions to the lore in them. Honestly, I think a game like Mythologies could do with a modern remake, if NRS ever decides to start making spin-offs again.

Beyond the games, the collection also includes a whole bunch of extra goodies, like a music player with tracks from all four games, lore entries and information about each fighter, and a pretty extensive documentary that goes over the early history of the franchise, with tons of videos, pieces of concept art and other info.

All in all, I personally think this is a great collection, and so I can recommend it. I do hope that they manage to include more games in the future, like Mortal Kombat Gold and the Genesis version of UMK3, but what I'm really hoping for is for a Legacy Kollection 2 with the 3D era games. Now that would be a dream come true.

1. Can't find any one to play with other than MK3 Ultimate
2. When you do find someone to play with, super laggy
3. Not all old school MK titles included

Wait for them to fix the thing.

The game may not be perfect... but it is certainly a great compilation and a blast from the past!

Mortal Kombat... a game created with a lot of passion, vision, and love from the great minds of its creators. The game became a cultural phenomenon all over the world! This collection is a great homage to the amazing legacy of this legendary franchise. I know Digital Eclipse worked hard to bring this to life, and for that, I have a lot of respect for the developers. This compilation shows a lot of care and great detail everywhere. It may not be perfect, but the Steam version gets a thumbs up from me!