Metal Gear Solid is one of the most renowned names in video games, and Konami knows it. Years after its reportedly acrimonious split from series creator Hideo Kojima, the publisher is paying homage to the series along two separate paths. Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater, one of the most revered games in the series, is getting a remake subtitled Delta. But more presently, Konami is putting out the Metal Gear Solid Master Collection Vol. 1, a compilation of the classic MSX/NES games along with the first three games in the Metal Gear Solid series.
While Konami is no stranger to compilations–having recently released Castlevania and Contra collections–it does certainly feel like the publisher knows it has something precious on its hands with Metal Gear Solid. As a result, this one is particularly reverent, packing in loads of historical artifacts while letting the games speak for themselves.
To start, it’s worth pausing to note just how many Metal Gear games this includes. The 8-bit Metal Gear and Metal Gear 2, along with the off-brand Snake’s Revenge, together serve as a virtual museum of the series’ deepest roots. The three MGS games are nicely preserved and given a clean and sleek UI menu to navigate the games and their various extras. The games themselves are essentially untouched, with a presentation similar to the PS3’s HD Editions. There is a brief content warning at the start of every game, noting that some elements may be insensitive by today’s standards, but other than that they appear to be direct transfers of the original content. Naturally, the UI has been touched up as well to correspond with the modern controllers. I played the compilation on Nintendo Switch.