Metal Gear Solid fans : You probably don't want to buy 'Master Collection Vol.1'

[GearSolidMetal]

First, its being sold for full price - $70 - for games that are 25, 22, and 19 years old.

Second, they're practically ports, like the recent Red Dead Redemption port.

Naming it the 'Master Collection' is extremely deceptive because it implies the games are actually being remastered. As you can see from the graphic above, all versions of MGS1 will be running at only 30FPS. Thankfully MGS2&3 will at 60FPS. But all three games on Switch are locked at 30FPS.

Third, MGS1 is in 4:3 aspect ratio - No Widescreen - so there'll be boxes on the left & right sides of the screen. Which means when a cutscene is playing black boxes will appear at the top & bottom to make it 'Letterbox' to make it cinematic on old Tube TVs.

"Yo dawg, I hear you like black boxes..."

In summary - This isn't the 'Master Collection' MGS fans have been waiting for. Its a lazy AF cash-grab by Konami, who I'm actually praying is going to be bought out by Microsoft one day. Save your money and wait a while until its $20 or less, used preferably to avoid Konami seeing a dollar of it.
Don't pay for shitty ports, ever.

 

[Sunnyvale TP]

I thought about them for the Switch Lite, but saw a review that said similar things. Going to be a pass for me.

 

[rikwebb]

First, its being sold for full price - $70 - for games that are 25, 22, and 19 years old.

Second, they're practically ports, like the recent Red Dead Redemption port.

Naming it the 'Master Collection' is extremely deceptive because it implies the games are actually being remastered. As you can see from the graphic above, all versions of MGS1 will be running at only 30FPS. Thankfully MGS2&3 will at 60FPS. But all three games on Switch are locked at 30FPS.

Third, MGS1 is in 4:3 aspect ratio - No Widescreen - so there'll be boxes on the left & right sides of the screen. Which means when a cutscene is playing black boxes will appear at the top & bottom to make it 'Letterbox' to make it cinematic on old Tube TVs.

"Yo dawg, I hear you like black boxes..."

In summary - This isn't the 'Master Collection' MGS fans have been waiting for. Its a lazy AF cash-grab by Konami, who I'm actually praying is going to be bought out by Microsoft one day. Save your money and wait a while until its $20 or less, used preferably to avoid seeing a dollar of it.
Don't pay for shitty ports, ever.

2 + 3 literally are the HD Ports from the PS3/360 collection

 

[GearSolidMetal]

2 + 3 literally are the HD Ports from the PS3/360 collection

Which is currently $25-$32 on Ebay.

But its only on PS3 & XBox360.
MS2&3 were in a bundle for the PS Vita, which was the only handheld version.

Even more of an example why this is a cashgrab.

 

[Hitman81]

Big Metal Gear fan, don't have any interest in repaying for or replaying those old games. I'm skeptical even of the MGS3 remake. We'll see. MGSV was a damn near perfect game and if im craving Metal Geal I'll play that

 

[ICHEERTHEBULL]

GOATS but even the Nintendo port of the first (of the modern era) changed too much for me. The best boss fight ever (PM) was lacking something in the twin snakes version (perhaps the voice acting?) Is MGS 1 the original or the Nintendo version?

I will buy MGS 3 when the new one arrives and I’m tempted to pick this up once it appears on eBay/sale but I don’t want to ruin the magic that I experienced.

Don’t want to touch this but I’m really getting the itch to give the series another run. Perhaps I open some old boxes and see how well the old PlayStations work after years sitting in dust

No fucking way will they see 70 out of me though

 

[SaiWa]

Master collection doesn't imply it was remastered. It's another word for premium or "best of the best". If it was a remastered version they'd call it Remaster collection. With that said i had zero interest in this so it's a big meh to me.

 

[HereticBD]

Anything outside of a full blown remake is kind of pointless. We have the HD collections, and they aren't exactly begging for 60fps.

 

[GearSolidMetal]

Is MGS 1 the original or the Nintendo version?

MGS1

Twin Snakes

 

[GearSolidMetal]

Master collection doesn't imply it was remastered.

Yeah, it does.

There's dozens of other words they could have used rather than 'Master.'

 

[Krimzon]

i'm a dummy casual so i falsely assumed it would be a remaster. That said, i ain't played ANY of the games so i'll likely be picking this up

 

[GearSolidMetal]

i'm a dummy casual so i falsely assumed it would be a remaster. That said, i ain't played ANY of the games so i'll likely be picking this up

Welll... I'd suggest waiting for quality YouTube reviews before laying down your hard-earned money.

Chances are there'll be a big price deduction in the next year. I'd say $30 would be a good deal.

MGS1 really hasn't aged well from a graphical & gameplay standpoint (and I say that as one of my favorite games ever). But the story & voiceacting are still 10/10.

MGS2, while the gameplay & graphics are a vast improvement, the story & some voiceacting isn't. Although its worth noting many of the story's themes... secret societies, 'mis-information,' & A.I... its almost nostradomas-like with its predictions.

MGS3 is the best of the series, aged very well on all aspects. Its on my Top #10 GOAT games, and it'll deserve to be on your Top #10 too.

The best selling point I can say for it is that since you've never played an MGS game, MGS3 is worth it for the price alone.... probably.

Personally, there's been rumors of a 'MGS Remastered Trilogy' for years, with the resolution, framerate, and textures optimized for today's hardware. This isn't fulfilling those expectations because they're lazy ports. The basic 'HD Collection' versions from PS3/XB360 to be playable on XBoxX/S & PS5.

Just warning you to know what to expect for your $70.

 

[SaiWa]

Yeah, it does.

There's dozens of other words they could have used rather than 'Master.'

show me another “master” collection of games that was remastered (and that collection was the first attempt at remastering those games)…. Actually show me a few examples.

 

[HereticBD]

Yeah, it does.

There's dozens of other words they could have used rather than 'Master.'

In fairness, they are ports of remasters.

I don't agree that "Master" has some sort of unique distinction, though. It's just a collection. "Ultimate", "Master", "Definitive"...they're all interchangeable.

 

[SaiWa]

In fairness, they are ports of remasters.

I don't agree that "Master" has some sort of unique distinction, though. It's just a collection. "Ultimate", "Master", "Definitive"...they're all interchangeable.

That was my point. Master collection is just an exotic way of describing the collection and it’s not about claiming the games are remastered versions.

ninja gaiden master collection
Company of heroes 2 master collection
Total war grand master collection

They’re all just collection of the series or game.

If these MGS ports were really remastered you better believe they plaster the word remaster all over the box or title…

 

[My Spot]

Technically, all three games have been "remastered." The 360 and PS3 versions of 2&3 ran at 720p.

 

[Jawth]

The price point is the only thing that sours me. If it gets to a deep deep sale in a year or more I'll pick them up.

 

[GSP_37]

So MGS1 isn't a redo with better specs?

I'll just stick w/PS3 collection for 1-3.

 

[Dizzy]

Still got this so I’m good

 

[GearSolidMetal]

If these MGS ports were really remastered you better believe they plaster the word remaster all over the box or title…

They didn't bother to out any effort into these ports to make them 'remasters.'

Technically, all three games have been "remastered." The 360 and PS3 versions of 2&3 ran at 720p.

Giving an old game a slight upgrade in resolution from 720p to 1080p isn't a 'remaster.'

And in MGS's case its still running at 30FPS when in some PC ports (from 20 years ago) its was running at 60FPS.

Now compare that to the Mass Effect Legendary Trilogy that all three games are running at 120FPS & 1440P, and the first game was given a rework with new textures to at least comparable to its sequels.

Its pretty sad that EA is putting more effort into their re-releases than Konami.