The first two Metal Gear Solid games are back on PC, but they are not looking their best
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Plus, the first Metal Gear is playable, too
By Taylor Lyles / @TayNixster
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Image: GOG.com
After being MIA for nearly two decades on PC, Windows gamers will have the chance to experience the first two Metal Gear Solid games on their rigs. The two classics from Hideo Kojima’s critically acclaimed series are coming to GOG.com today.
Of course, this isn’t the first time each game has been released on PC; both would see a release on Windows PCs around two years after each initially launched on their respective consoles. But neither game has seen a re-release on digital storefronts like Steam in the years since.
Unfortunately, they look a little rough on modern hardware (more so the first game). I would go into more detail, but I will let the screenshots speak for themselves:
1/21
Revolver Ocelot has seen better daysImage: GOG.com
In my opinion, this probably isn’t the best way to experience these classic titles. If you want to play the original Metal Gear Solid, I suggest playing Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes, a remake released exclusively on the GameCube. (It’s not going to be cheap, though.)
There are prettier ways to play, if you want to pay
If you are looking for a better version of Metal Gear Solid 2: Substance, unfortunately, it did not receive an HD rerelease, but there is an HD version of Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty, which is available in both the Metal Gear Solid HD Collection (the Xbox 360 version, which is also backwards compatible on Xbox One, by the way) or Metal Gear Solid: The Legacy Collection (a PS3-exclusive compilation of all the main installments from the Metal Gear Solid series).
Still, that compilation only includes the original PS1 version of Metal Gear Solid, not the GameCube remake.
Metal Gear Solid 2: Substance is an expanded version of Sons of Liberty, the original moniker for the second installment in the MGS series. Substance added lots of new features not found in the original version, including new cutscenes, improved thermal goggles, and 500 new standalone missions.
In addition to Metal Gear Solid and Metal Gear Solid 2: Substance coming to PC, GOG.com has also added the original Metal Gear, plus Konami Collector’s Series, a compilation that includes Castlevania, Castlevania II: Simon’s Quest, Castlevania III: Dracula’s Curse, Contra, and Super C.
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What’s going on with Metal Gear Solid remasters, exactly?
Remember when Konami remade MGS3 as a pachinko machine?
(Image credit: Konami)
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Tokyo Game Show is two weeks away, and it may be Konami’s most exciting showing at a big gaming event in years.
According to Konami’s TGS schedule, it has a reveal of a new game planned for September 16. There’s a long list of Konami series that deserve a comeback—Metal Gear, Silent Hill, Castlevania, Contra, Suikoden—and according to a report by VGC, we might see one of them on stage at the event.
«One publishing source told VGC that the reveal is likely to be related to a smaller project, rather than Konami’s larger planned revivals for Castlevania, Silent Hill and Metal Gear Solid (the first of which is understood to be furthest along in development),» wrote VGC. Maybe Metal Gear won’t be at this show—but accumulating evidence points to Metal Gear’s return being a matter of when, not if.
The first three Metal Gear Solid games are almost certainly getting remasters for PC and current consoles. VGC’s Andy Robinson first reported in October 2021 that MGS 1-3 are being remastered for release ahead of a full-on remake of Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater. The remasters have been corroborated by Silent Hill leaker Dusk Golem, who wrote on ResetEra this Wednesday:
«The thing I’ve been a bit teasing of, and I know is 100% true, is Metal Gear Solid 1-3 are getting new Remasters, planned to come to everything, including Steam and consoles.
The plan is new remastered versions of Metal Gear Solid 1-3, can buy them separately, but if [you] buy them together as a collection also get Metal Gear 1+2’s MSX versions. I’ve had this confirmed to me more than once from more than one reliable source.»
Even if these remasters don’t appear at Tokyo Game Show, an announcement seems likely before the end of the year because Konami has essentially teased them already. Last November Konami had to remove Metal Gear Solid 2 and 3 from digital storefronts due to licensing issues with historical archival footage they included. They’re still gone, but on July 13 of this year, Konami tweeted «Today marks the 35th anniversary of the #METALGEAR series! Thank you to everyone that enjoyed and celebrated the series so far. We ask for your patience as preparations are underway to make the temporarily removed titles available again.»
(Image credit: Konami)
Given how long it’s taken for Konami to bring back MGS2 and 3, it would make sense to hold off on selling them again until the remastered versions are complete.
Both games were originally released for the PlayStation 2 and remastered for consoles in the 2011 HD Collection. A remaster would mark the first time MGS3 has been released on PC.
According to VGC Metal Gear Solid 3 will also be getting a ground-up remake from Virtuos, a Singaporean game company with 15 offices and 3000+ employees across the world. Virtuos has an extensive list of credits for contributions to triple-A games and has contributed to Switch ports for Dark Souls Remastered, Dying Light, and The Outer Worlds, among others.
«Konami’s Japanese bosses are understood to have historically pushed back against most pitches to outsource its key games brands,» VGC wrote in 2021. «However, following the disappointing performance of recent in-house titles Metal Gear Survive and Contra: Rogue Corps, VGC’s sources said the company has become more willing to contract outside studios for its major franchises.»
Even if you love MGS1’s PS1 aesthetic, its PC port could use some modern niceties.
(Image credit: Konami)
Supposedly a new Castlevania, as well as Bloober Team’s Silent Hill, are both in development thanks to Konami’s increased willingness to work with more external studios. Given the smoke around Silent Hill earlier this year, it may be the one destined for the TGS stage this month. But in Konami’s own words, Metal Gear Solid’s coming back. We don’t know exactly when or exactly how, but after more than a decade since the (ironically 720p) HD Collection, a new round of remasters feels like as safe a bet as bets come.
Once the first three games are all properly playable on PC, I hope Konami tackles a trickier challenge: figuring out how to extricate Metal Gear Solid 4 from the PlayStation 3’s Cell processor and making it playable on hardware from this decade.
Wes has been covering games and hardware for more than 10 years, first at tech sites like The Wirecutter and Tested before joining the PC Gamer team in 2014. Wes plays a little bit of everything, but he’ll always jump at the chance to cover emulation and Japanese games.
When he’s not obsessively optimizing and re-optimizing a tangle of conveyor belts in Satisfactory (it’s really becoming a problem), he’s probably playing a 20-year-old Final Fantasy or some opaque ASCII roguelike. With a focus on writing and editing features, he seeks out personal stories and in-depth histories from the corners of PC gaming and its niche communities. 50% pizza by volume (deep dish, to be specific).
Played Metal Gear Survive here
©
FullmetalJack
News
Is
MGS an abbreviation that carries something warm and nostalgic? Brace yourselves, MGS is now going to be something you’re likely to ignore.
Over the weekend, an open beta for Metal Gear Survive took place, and if we compare all the facts, then
— The game does not care about the universe, because now the action takes place in a parallel world with crystal zombies
the game contains Metal Gear Ray (the first appearance of which took place 32 years after the events of Metal Gear Survive), as well as Metal Gear Walker will appear only after 9 years from the start of survivalist
— Konami does not care about the unhealthy seething around microtransactions, they immediately stated that in In the game, these whistles will be present, moreover, the game will require a permanent connection to the Internet.
— Konami doesn’t care about the relevance of the genre leaking through his fingers (the change of which could extend the life of the game)
Well, let’s plunge into the beta last weekend, enjoy watching.
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