Video Games Chronicle is one of several outlets that got to play a preview of Metal Gear Solid Master Collection Volume 1. We have some fresh impressions from the preview below.
And the main point is that this anthology does what it says on the tin, but not much more. None of these games received significant raises in resolutions or performance, and are more or less the same games as they were found in Metal Gear Solid: The Legacy Collection, or in some cases, the original NES and MSX ROMs.
The highlights of Volume 1 are Metal Gear Solid 2 and Metal Gear Solid 3. These two are based on the Bluepoint Games ports, found in Metal Gear Solid: The Legacy Collection for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. That also makes them the most modern games found in this collection, and that makes them satisfying packages. The common consensus is that Metal Gear Solid 3 in particular is the crown jewel of this anthology, but with that said, let’s talk about the other content.
Metal Gear on the NES and MSX, Snake’s Revenge on the NES, and Metal Gear 2 on the MSX, are all represented here. These are emulations of the original games on those respective platforms. Notably, Video Games Chronicle’s preview does not mention if these versions of the games get many of the modern enhancements of emulated games from this era. That doesn’t just include save states and screen filters, but also rewind features. Konami added these features to many of their other rereleased games, so it would be interesting if they went the extra mile here too.
In regards to Metal Gear Solid on the PlayStation, Konami opted not to use the same ISO found on the PlayStation Network, but the Metal Gear Solid Integral version. This adds a multitude of changes, including more dialogue and additional languages. The VR Missions have also been expanded. While the graphics are unmistakably at a PlayStation level, they have been upresolutioned enough that they don’t look blurry or have jaggies, as would be the case on emulation of that particular system’s 3D graphics games.
Video Games Chronicle also got to test the Nintendo Switch version in particular, so they were able to confirm that these games will appear on the Switch as separate titles, instead of having one game that will appear as a hub of sorts to access the other games. This approach makes sense given how large each individual game is. Unfortunately, they didn’t confirm if this version has gyroscopic motion controls, but we’ll probably find that out closer to release.
Metal Gear Solid Master Collection Volume 1 released on October 24, 2023, on PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch, Microsoft Windows, Xbox Series X|S.
