Nintendo
Advertisement

Metal Gear Solid: Master Collection Vol. 1 is a game compilation developed in partnership with, and published by Konami for the Nintendo Switch. It collects remastered ports of titles in the Metal Gear franchise of stealth-action titles, released in commemoration of the series' 35th anniversary in 2022. It released worldwide on October 24, 2023.

Vol. 1 principally comprises the first five main entries of the franchise: Metal Gear (1987), Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake (1990), Metal Gear Solid (1998), Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty (2001) and Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater (2004). The collection will also include the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) port of the original Metal Gear and its standalone sequel, Snake's Revenge (1990) as bonus games. Metal Gear Solid within the collection will be based on its Integral re-release, including its expanded selection of VR/Special Missions. Sons of Liberty and Snake Eater will otherwise be direct ports of their respective 'HD Edition' remasters previously released for seventh-generation platforms, derived from MGS2 and MGS3's enhanced re-releases, Substance and Subsistence. Outside the games in the compilation, Master Collection includes various extras, such the Digital Graphic Novel adaptations of MGS1 and MGS2, as well as individual screenplays, master books and strategy guides for each respective title, and a sound selection of curated tracks from every game included. Master Collection Vol. 1 marks the first time the original version of Metal Gear Solid, as well as Sons of Liberty, have been released on any Nintendo console, in addition to marking the Nintendo home console debut of Snake Eater, and the first non-Virtual Console re-releases for the original Metal Gear and Solid Snake, as well as the NES entries.

Games[]

Title Original Platform Release year Game description
Metal Gear
MSXMSX
1987 1995: Young FOXHOUND operative Solid Snake infiltrates the fortified base Outer Heaven under the command of his superior, Big Boss, and is tasked with destroying Metal Gear, a bipedal tank armed with a nuclear warhead.
Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake
MSXMSX
1990 1999: Solid Snake is encouraged to resume his duties with FOXHOUND under Col. Roy Campbell's command, when he ventures into the discreet state of Zanzibar Land and vows to finally defeat Big Boss and his newly amassed militia of soldiers.
Metal Gear Solid
PS1Sony PlayStation
1998 2005: A fully retired Solid Snake is once again called back into action in order to infiltrate the secluded Shadow Moses Island along the Fox Archipelago in Alaska, and apprehend a faction of former FOXHOUND members who have staged an uprising in search for the government's top secret black project, Metal Gear REX.
Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty
PS2Sony PlayStation 2
2001 2007/09: After an operation goes awry involving the seizing of the new Metal Gear RAY unit aboard a tanker, fresh-blooded FOXHOUND recruit Raiden enters a clean up facility for the incident called Big Shell, and is given the objective of stopping a terrorist group calling themselves the "Sons of Liberty", who threaten to detonate an EMP over Manhattan unless their ransom is met.
Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater
PS2Sony PlayStation 2
2004 1964: During the Cold War, a young man serving the espionage group FOX codenamed "Naked Snake", is asked to extract Russian scientist Nikolai Sokolov and sabotage the planned activation of the nuclear tank known as the Shagohod, in order to clear the name of the United States in the suspecting eyes of the Soviet Union, and confront his mentor "The Boss", who suddenly defected to their side.
Metal Gear
04Nintendo Entertainment System
1987 Non-canon: A unique reimagining of the original Metal Gear's story and gameplay systems for the NES/Family Computer.
Snake's Revenge
04Nintendo Entertainment System
1990 Non-canon: A standalone sequel to the NES version of Metal Gear, depicting Lt. Solid Snake's mission to destroy Metal Gear Mk. II and confront his former mentor-turned nemesis, Big Boss, whom he thought perished in Outer Heaven.

Extras[]

Vol. 1 includes the motion comics Metal Gear Solid: Digital Graphic Novel (2006) and Metal Gear Solid 2: Bande Dessinée,(2009), both originally released for PlayStation Portable. Other extras include strategy guides, screenplay books, and an in-game sound selection of 20 tracks curated from each game in the collection.[1] Remixes of the vocal tracks "The Best is Yet to Come" from Metal Gear Solid, "Can't Say Goodbye To Yesterday" from Sons of Liberty and the titular "Snake Eater" from Metal Gear Solid 3, will be made available exclusively as pre-order bonuses.

Presentation[]

Instead of one central user interface presenting every game, the Master Collection installs five different applications onto the Switch console accessible from the HOME Menu that contain different games and their corresponding extra content. Metal Gear Solid, Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty and Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater each have a standalone app, while the original MSX games Metal Gear and Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake have been separated from being selectable in the main menu of Metal Gear Solid 3 and are collected together in a separate application. The Nintendo Entertainment System version of Metal Gear and its sequel Snake's Revenge are selectable in the "Bonus Content" application, which additionally contains the music player for tracks across the series, and the Digital Graphic Novel adaptations for MGS1 and MGS2. Every game's launcher is packaged with its own assortment of associated extras, such as digital replicas of each game's retail packaging and instruction manuals, corresponding "Master Book" dossiers that provide additional insight into the characters, narrative and placement of each title in the Metal Gear chronology, as well as the screenplays for each installment. Metal Gear Solid, Metal Gear Solid 2 and Metal Gear Solid 3 are alternatively available as standalone digital purchases from the Nintendo eShop, and purchasing Metal Gear Solid by itself also grants access to the original MSX games.

Metal Gear Solid in the Master Collection is an emulation of the original PlayStation release of the game, and is also collected together with the regional VR Missions and Special Missions releases which are accessible from the game's launch hub. The previously Japanese-exclusive enhanced re-release, Metal Gear Solid: Integral, is also accessible from the game selection screen, marking the first time this version has been made playable to Western markets. The original Metal Gear Solid retains its intended 4:3 aspect ratio presentation during gameplay, with options to customize the borders around the screen with multiple wallpapers or adjust the display position of the screen, available to the player during gameplay. For the boss fight against Psycho Mantis, the player is able to create a virtual memory card with save data from other Konami games, for the sequence where he attempts to read the player's "mind" before initiating the fight, as well as digitally swap between Player 1 and Player 2 controller ports in order to impede his ability to predict Snake's actions, as would've been done physically in the PlayStation version. The digital replica of the game's North American retail packaging is also included as a means to retrieve the Codec number for Meryl Silverburgh, to contact her later in the game after being prompted by ArmsTech president Kenneth Baker.

Metal Gear Solid 2 and Metal Gear Solid 3 are both direct conversions of their prior 'HD Editions', originally developed by Bluepoint Games for distribution as part of the Metal Gear Solid HD Collection for seventh generation systems, All games in the collection are presented at a 720p output resolution on consoles, with the Nintendo Switch version having a target performance of 30 frames-per-second (FPS), half of either the other platforms or their HD Collection counterparts.

Development[]

In November 2021, Metal Gear franchise publisher Konami lost their various licenses pertaining to the use of historical footage that contained depictions of war and nuclear weaponry as permitted to them by various archive holders, leading to the subsequent delisting of various re-releases of titles in the series, including the Metal Gear Solid HD Collection compilation for seventh generation consoles, the GOG releases of Metal Gear Solid and Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty on Windows, and Metal Gear Solid: Snake Eater 3D, which was pulled from distribution on the Nintendo 3DS eShop shortly thereafter. The following July, Konami pledged to renew their licenses with respective holders in order to be able to relist each title in conjunction with the Metal Gear franchise's 35th anniversary that year.

In May 2023, Konami officially announced the Metal Gear Solid: Master Collection Vol. 1 compilation during Sony Interactive Entertainment's PlayStation Showcase, alongside Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater, a remake of Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater for ninth-generation consoles and PC. The announcement coincided with a message released on social media from Konami Digital Entertainment's development team, promising that the Master Collection series would be " 'the most complete collection that celebrates the 35th anniversary of the series, allowing fans to play the games as they were, as first released on the latest platforms'". At the time of reveal, the Master Collection was confirmed to comprise the first three entries in the Solid sub-series: Metal Gear Solid (1998), Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty, and the original version of Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater (2004). MGS1 would come included with its additional standalone set of VR/Special Missions introduced with the game's Integral re-release, while MGS2 and MGS3 were direct ports of their 'HD Edition' counterparts previously featured in the HD Collection, themselves based on the Substance and Subsistence re-releases of their respective games. Konami confirmed soon after that as with the HD Collection and Metal Gear Solid 3 Subsistence, the Master Collection would also include the original MSX2 version of Metal Gear (1987) and Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake.

Metal Gear Solid: Master Collection Vol. 1 was officially announced to be releasing on Nintendo Switch during the Nintendo Direct broadcast on June 21, 2023, additionally revealing the game's October 24, 2023 launch date, as well as the inclusion of the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) version of Metal Gear, its standalone sequel Snake's Revenge (1990) and the Digital Graphic Novel adaptations of MGS1 and MGS2 as part of the game's bonus content, which also featured individual strategy guides, screenplays and Master Books providing further insight into the story, characters and development process of each game included in the collection. Following release, it was confirmed that the conversions for each game featured in the compilation were handled by multiple developers, with M2 handling the ports of Metal Gear for MSX2, Metal Gear for NES, Snake's Revenge, Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake and Metal Gear Solid; Rocket Studio helped port the 'HD Edition' of Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty and Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater previously developed by Bluepoint Games to modern platforms, including Nintendo Switch.

Release[]

Metal Gear Solid: Master Collection Vol. 1 was released worldwide for Nintendo Switch on October 24, 2023, both physically and digitally. In North America and Europe, only the MSX and NES titles, as well as their associated extras are included on the Game Card, while the Japanese physical release also includes the original Metal Gear Solid. The rest of the outlined contents have to be downloaded and installed to the Switch console separately over an internet connection. Alternatively, the digital versions Metal Gear Solid, Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty and Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater are available to purchase as individual titles through the Nintendo eShop, with Metal Gear Solid being bundled together with the two MSX entries.

Reception[]

Metal Gear Solid: Master Collection Vol. 1 released to favorable reception, with reviewers noting the comprehensive nature of the collection between the featured games and extra content, as well as the games' newfound accessibility on modern platforms. However, criticism was drawn towards the convolution behind the games being split across multiple standalone applications compared to a coherent front-end, the obscurity of certain extras such as the Master Books and soundtrack player, and the underwhelming presentation of the games' themselves. Particular detraction was directed towards the Switch version for its performance cap of 30 frames-per-second (FPS) on every title including Metal Gear Solid 2 and Metal Gear Solid 3, with outlets such as NintendoLife remarking that the hardware was capable of achieving performance metrics equivalent to other platforms and prior releases of the games, and other publications like Digital Foundry citing the NVIDIA Shield version of the Metal Gear Solid HD Collection, which ran MGS2 and 3 at 60FPS on the same Tegra X1 system-on-a-chip (SoC) that powers Nintendo Switch presently.

References[]

  1. Jun 21, Wesley Yin-PooleUpdated; Jun 21, 2023 3:15 pmPosted; Pm, 2023 2:30 (2023-06-21). "Metal Gear Solid Collection Vol. 1 Confirmed for Nintendo Switch" (in en). https://www.ign.com/articles/metal-gear-solid-collection-vol-1-confirmed-for-nintendo-switch. 

External links[]

Advertisement