Konami released the highly anticipated Metal Gear Solid Master Collection Vol. 1 this past week on Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and Steam. The collection is an exhaustive bundle of the series containing 7 games and a huge amount of bonus content. The games included are Metal Gear, Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake, Metal Gear Solid (Including VR Missions/Special Missions), Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty (HD Collection version), Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater (HD Collection version), Metal Gear (NES/FC version), and Snake’s Revenge. Throw in the videos and books that are included and it’s a massive amount of content for fans of the series to consume.
As exciting as a collection like this is, the launch hasn’t been quite as smooth as anyone would have hoped for. Just days before the launch, Konami came out with a statement about some issues that would be present in the collection at launch that would be fixed later with a patch or patches. It’s pretty common for games now to release with some bugs or issues that have to be addressed with a patch on day one or sometime not too long after release. The trick with these issues is that these games are all years old at this point and some of these issues have been around for years too.
The issues are varied and are spread across the titles. The two NES ports each have some mismatched audio and subtitles that need to be fixed. There are typographical errors in Metal Gear Solid 3. Metal Gear Solid 2 has an issue where the game will slow down during cutscenes. There’s also a planned patch for pretty much every title to give the ability to switch between full-screen and windowed mode. Other restrictions like Metal Gear Solid being locked in 30 fps are more about the way the original port was made and not due to any issues with this particular collection. It was also revealed that the Nintendo Switch physical version of the collection does not have Metal Gear Solid 1-3 actually on the physical game. They have to be downloaded to play them and view the extra content. Fans expected patches to be needed but are critical of the release of a physical game that doesn’t actually have all the games on it.
The good news for Konami is that the reveal of the Metal Gear Solid 3 remake trailer, now called Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater, was a huge hit. The trailer debuted at the Xbox Partner Preview and got the internet buzzing. The game is running in Unreal Engine 5 and looks every bit the revamped remake with the classic story that fans are excited for. Konami has not announced a release date at all, but has confirmed that the game will release on PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S. Metal Gear fans and those who have never experienced that world before have plenty to keep them busy now, even with some issues, and something great to look forward to.
Image from: Konami
