The Metal Gear Solid: Master Collection Vol. 1 is here, with that title naturally leading fans to assume Vol. 2 is on the way. As of yet the contents of the second release (or even its existence) haven’t been confirmed, though there are some obvious candidates from Hideo Kojima’s critically acclaimed franchise that need a re-release on modern platforms.
So, let’s sort through some candidates that are almost certainly going to make the leap, together with some more obscure entries we’d love to see make a comeback.
Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots
This is a no-brainer. Guns of the Patriots has only ever been released on PlayStation 3 in 2008, and uses Sony’s idiosyncratic hardware in such a way that makes porting it difficult. Despite this, it appears there was an in-house Xbox 360 prototype demonstrated inside Konami in the late 2000s, so it’s at least possible.
As it’s been so long since its official release, Guns of the Patriots would be the jewel in Vol. 2‘s crown. Our only worry is that any modern port would be a technical challenge, so here’s hoping it’s given the time and attention it deserves.
Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker
We’d be shocked if this isn’t in Vol. 2. Originally a PSP game, this got a glow-up for its inclusion in the 2011 HD Collection though though didn’t make the cut for Vol. 1. We suspect the reason is that updating the multiplayer functionality would have been too much work for this release, though it’d be criminal if this key part of the Metal Gear story wasn’t included.
Peace Walker is an expansive, bizarre and extremely fun adventure, and while you can still play the HD Collection version online, it’d be neat to see the multiplayer reach a new audience on modern consoles and PC (where it has never been previously released).
Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes / The Phantom Pain
There’s no real need for Ground Zeroes and The Phantom Pain to be re-released. The 2015 console versions play beautifully on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series S|X, and the PC versions will run smoothly on a potato.
That said, the fact that it’d be so easy to repackage these two games as part of Vol. 2 probably means they’re on the way, so let’s just hope we get some interesting supplemental bonus material with them. The most optimistic gamers may hope that the much-vaunted “Chapter 3” might be added to The Phantom Pain, allowing us to play through kid Liquid’s Lord of the Flies island nightmare. Frankly, we think there’s more chance of pigs sprouting wings and taking to the skies, but we won’t begrudge people their dreams.
Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance
PlatinumGames’ spin-off has little in common with the rest of the series, ditching methodical sneaking in favor of slicing cyborgs in half to wailing butt rock. That said, on consoles it hasn’t been officially re-released since the 2013 PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions, though it’s easily available on PC.
Revengeance could also use some light remastering to bring it up to modern standards, as while the character models still look great the environmental textures leave something to be desired. This title has also proved highly memetic, so there are probably many gamers aware of this game who are yet to actually play it. Let’s hope they get the chance.
Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops
Big Boss’ first handheld adventure is something of a curate’s egg for Metal Gear fans. On one hand it pioneered the soldier-capturing and weapon-developing mechanics that would be iterated on right up until The Phantom Pain. On the other, it features extremely wonky controls, boxy and low-detail environments, and Peace Walker improves upon it in every regard.
All that said, I think it tells a neat story. Its canonicity is highly debated, though seeing the early days of Frank Jaeger is interesting, as is an appearance from a young Roy Campbell. It’d make a great bonus entry for Vol. 2.
Metal Gear Ac!d 1/2
Time has largely forgotten Solid Snake’s bizarre card-based battling PSP adventures, which means they’d be ideal candidates for a re-release. Both games translate traditional Metal Gear gameplay to turn-based combat remarkably well, though the second entry perfects the mechanics.
New players also need to check out these games’ truly bizarre stories. These are a different brand of strange to Hideo Kojima’s surreal capers, though will not fail to raise eyebrows with their sci-fi oddness. As with Portable Ops, they would be excellent bonus additions to Vol. 2.
Metal Gear: Ghost Babel
This 2000 Game Boy Color adventure punches way above its weight and has never, ever been re-released. Essentially an alternate sequel to the original Metal Gear, this is a hybrid between the 2D MSX games and Metal Gear Solid. It’s also completely awesome, crams a ridiculous amount of content into a tiny cartridge, and has a surprising amount of gameplay depth.
That said, graphics designed for a Game Boy Color probably won’t look great blown up onto a 4K television, though we’re sure anyone willing to overlook a Solid Snake made of countable pixels will have a blast.
Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes
![Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes - E3 2003 Trailer [High Quality]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/Sdyc4VX5UGY/hqdefault.jpg)
Now we may be in the realm of fantasy. 2003’s The Twin Snakes is the GameCube remake of Metal Gear Solid, co-developed by Kojima Productions, Silicon Knights, and Nintendo. This means the rights to who owns the game may be irrevocably confused, particularly as the game features models of Mario and Yoshi.
It’s also widely considered a step down from Metal Gear Solid, though we’ve long had a soft spot for its over-the-top cutscenes. Perhaps it’s finally time for this to break free from the GameCube onto other platforms, even if we suspect Nintendo’s iconic plumber would be firmly edited out of any Xbox and PlayStation ports.
Metal Gear Solid Mobile
Let’s throw out a genuine curveball. Metal Gear Solid Mobile was released exclusively on N-Gage 2.0 and, like most games on that godforsaken platform, has never been ported elsewhere. As it’s all but impossible to actually play, it’d be interesting to see it included as a bonus.
I’ve played Mobile – I bought an N-Gage on eBay and spent way too long fiddling with it. It is awful, though it’s a game even hardcore Metal Gear fans may not have played and would be a fantastic historic curio.