Three retailers in the last month have listed an HD collection of three Mortal Kombat games for the PS3 that should be out in time for Thanksgiving. This adds to an emerging trend of HD classics on that platform.
According to GameStop and two UK retailers, Warner Bros. is collecting the original Mortal Kombat, Mortal Kombat II, and Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 (a 1995 updated version of MK3) and plans to release them in early November. “This is the first MK to have a High Definition aspect,†said one of the retailers last month.
Mortal Kombat fansite TRMK discovered the GameStop listing for $39.99 – the same price as God of War Collection as well as The Sly Collection and the Ico and Shadow of the Colossus Collection when they come out. GameStop eventually pulled the listing.
GameSpot discovered today a similar listing from UK retailer GAME that is still up for £49.99 or £39.99 through a special promotion. Another UK retailer – ShopTo, revealed and then pulled their own listing for this title in the middle of August for a November 12th release date.
If the collection is real then it’s safe to assume that all three games will be in arcade-perfect form. If so this could end up being the first truly arcade-perfect version of the original Mortal Kombat ever released for a home console (as well as the first online version of it).Â
A nearly arcade-perfect emulation of Mortal Kombat II is available on the PlayStation Store, and a similar release of Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 used to be on Xbox Live Arcade. The closest thing to an arcade perfect home version of the original game can only be found in the limited edition version of Mortal Kombat Deception on the PS3 or original Xbox.
All three of these listings pin the game as a PS3 exclusive just like every other HD collection so far. If this turns out to be real, the Mortal Kombat collection would be the first officially confirmed HD collection from a third party publisher, though similar sets for Splinter Cell and Prince of Persia have been rumored to be coming from Ubisoft for PS3. The PS3 also makes sense for Mortal Kombat market-wise since Mortal Kombat II has remained one of the top 10 most downloaded PlayStation Network games for years.
One question however might be just how Midway – now NetherRealm Studios, would get the old Mortal Kombat titles to look like HD games. All three games run on sprite graphics – sprite graphics with character models based on live action models. Upgrading those models would be a whole different ball game from re-rendering a 3D game in a higher resolution unless NetherReal still has some original high resolution assets stored somewhere.
