One of the standouts of yesterday’s Nintendo Direct was the Metal Gear Solid: Master Collection Volume 1. However, some fans may remember that Konami sort of gave us this bundle already, in the form of Metal Gear Solid HD Collection.
So what are the similarities and differences between these bundles and will it be worth it?
First things first, what fans need to understand was that Metal Gear Solid HD Collection on the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 was an attempt by then Konami lead developer Hideo Kojima to tie together the Metal Gear storyline that he had slowly built across console generations and multiple platforms. Some fans may want to believe otherwise, but Metal Gear’s continuity is a convoluted mess with many contradictions.
And so, in a way, Metal Gear Solid HD Collection had its own logical chronological continuity, but there were still some inconsistencies that Kojima really wasn’t able to get around. Kojima would eventually face the dilemma of wanting to push his creativity to the limit, and the consequences of doing so being making a storyline that’s hard to understand, and for some players, not worth investing in.
So here’s what is bundled in Metal Gear Solid HD Collection, released in 2013:
- Metal Gear for the MSX2, remade to fit the story
- Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake for the MSX2, remade to fit the story
- Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty for the PlayStation 2, remastered for this collection
- Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater for the PlayStation 2, remastered for this collection
- Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker for the PlayStation Portable, remastered for this collection
There was also a PlayStation 3 exclusive rerelease of Metal Gear Solid HD Collection, called Metal Gear Solid Legacy Collection. This included PlayStation Classics digital codes for Metal Gear Solid and Metal Gear Solid VR Missions, and Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots for the PlayStation 3.
Today, as reported by Gematsu, Konami has announced the Metal Gear Solid: Master Collection Volume 1. They have also outlined the contents of the collection, as follows:
Metal Gear and Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake, the original MSX2 versions, different from what was on the Metal Gear Solid HD Collection.
Metal Gear Solid, this appears to be a rerelease of the original Windows version, and not the PlayStation 1 version. As such, it already comes with VR Missions, as well as Special Missions.
Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty and Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater, the remastered PlayStation 3 versions from Metal Gear Solid HD Collection.
Finally, there are Metal Gear and Snake’s Revenge, original games that released on the Famicom, and even the West on the NES. These are also the original versions of the game, and were not part of the Metal Gear Solid HD Collection.
The inclusion of the Famicom Metal Gear games should be taken as a signal that Konami is now doing what they want with the Metal Gear franchise, without any consideration for what series creator Hideo Kojima would prefer.
The Famicom Metal Gear port was made by a different team than Kojima’s, and without his permission. Because of the changes the Famicom team made to this version of the game, Kojima has actually disowned it.
Snake’s Revenge is an original game made without input from Kojima himself, and intended for the console market. This game did review poorly, but for what it’s worth, Kojima has gone on record to say that he doesn’t think it’s a bad game.
The bigger picture to this is one gamers may have a broader conversation about in the coming years. This collection already breaks Kojima’s intention of making a definitive storyline for Metal Gear, by including two non-canon games.
But if you are someone who values video game preservation, you would agree that Konami is right to rerelease these games. In fact, the continued availability of older games should be one of the goals towards better preservation.
This collection also raises questions if we can see other unlikely deep cuts in Metal Gear to reappear in the future installments of Metal Gear Solid: Master Collection. (Metal Gear: Ghost Babel? Metal Gear Subsistence’s online mode with Reiko Hinomoto and Rowdy Reiko costumes?)
However you may feel about it, these games are finally going to be playable again, in modern platforms, a decade after Kojima tried to do this himself with Metal Gear Solid HD Collection. That is one thing that we can look forward to later this year.
Metal Gear Solid: Master Collection Volume 1 will be released on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch, and Windows via Steam on October 24, 2023.
