What is the Metal Gear Solid: Master Collection Vol. 1?
Released in October 2023 for Switch, PlayStation 4 and 5, Xbox Series and PC, the Master Collection Vol. 1 gathers the MSX2 originals, including Snake's Revenge as a bonus, the first three Metal Gear Solid games in their HD era forms, the NES versions as curiosities, and a deep bench of digital extras: screenplay and master books for each game, strategy guides in digital form, soundtrack selections and the motion comic videos of the earlier digital graphic novels.
The concept is archival rather than remade: these are careful ports of existing versions, presented as a museum of the series' first two decades, and the digital books are the collection's quiet triumph, putting Japanese documentation that never left Japan into global hands for the first time. For a documentation minded shelf, the Master Books alone justify the line's existence.
The launch was rough. Resolution caps, emulation quirks and missing options drew justified criticism, especially on PC and Switch, and Konami spent the following period patching the collection toward the standard its name promised, adding display options and fixes in substantial updates. The current state is far stronger than the launch state, and any review from October 2023 should be read as a period document.
Physically, the collection's editions vary by platform and region in a way that frustrates tidy shelving: the Switch version's cartridge contents and download requirements differ from the disc versions, and regional releases stagger. It remains, however, the first time the whole early series has been buyable new in one box in the West in decades.
The open question is Volume 2: the unported games, above all Metal Gear Solid 4, still locked to PlayStation 3, plus Peace Walker in console form and the question of Metal Gear Solid V's place. Until it arrives, the collection era of Metal Gear is exactly half documented, and this page will be the one to revisit.
