With Mortal Kombat 1 coming out later this week, fans might want to try out the original arcade games for nostalgia’s sake. Sadly, the only store players can get these games is on the Xbox 360 and they’ll soon be gone forever.
A post on ResetEra brought up how the 360 is currently the only way to legally play these rare arcade games. Once the store closes down next year there won’t be any legal way to try these fighters out, unless an HD collection is in the works.
The arcade games in question are in the Mortal Kombat Arcade Kollection, which collects Mortal Kombat, Mortal Kombat 2, and Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3. Unfortunately, this Kollection is not backwards compatible with Xbox One or Xbox Series, so players can only get this on their 6th generation console.
Despite a number of games being backwards compatible with the Xbox Series, a majority of the 360 library will be lost forever when the store disappears. Old fighters like Soulcalibur 2 HD and Dead or Alive 4 are actually compatible with Xbox Series, so there’s no excuse for MK’s exclusion.
Considering how Mortal Kombat 1 is expected to be a reboot of the story, having the classics to go back and play through would have been good. Hopefully, NetherRealm Studios has plans to release a collection of some sort since these older games still have their appeal. Since this new entry is pandering to fans with Jean-Claude Van Damme DLC and references to older games, having the actual older games to play would be fitting.
There’s actually a lot to look forward to when Mortal Kombat 1 comes out later this week. Like previous entries, NetherRealm is packing in plenty of single-player content with their cinematic Story Mode and the reward-heavy Invasions. Having microtransactions is pretty scummy but most hardcore fighting fanatics will ignore them.
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Mortal Kombat 1 is coming to PS5, Xbox Series, Nintendo Switch, and PC on September 14.