What Konami Should Include in Metal Gear Solid Collection Vol 2 November 27, 2024

It’s been many months since Konami released the Metal Gear Solid Collection Vol 1 on modern platforms. They included HD ports of some of the greatest games of all time, as well as plenty of side-content and special features. However, true to its name, the release was merely titled Vol 1, and plenty of Metal Gear games were not included in the initially released volume. Demands for many of these remaining Metal Gear games to be re-released on modern consoles have not stopped, so we’re going to do Konami a favor put in our picks for what should be coming to Volume 2, and why!

Special Note: we will not be including any games or content that were previously released in Vol 1, nor will we bring up mini-games that were mysteriously left out of those re-releases such as MGS3’s Snake Vs Monkey or MGS2’s Skateboarding minigames.

Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker – First off, we’re going to start the list with the one game previously included in the Metal Gear Solid HD Collection that had not been ported in the MGS Collection Vol 1, Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker. Originally made for the Sony PSP, it is a story that takes place between the events of Metal Gear Solid 3 and Metal Gear Solid 5. Since this has already been ported by Bluepoint in the HD Collection back in 2012, and that Bluepoint code seemed to work fine for Vol 1, this would be the most likely candidate for Vol 2.

Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes – This is going to be a controversial addition, but I think it deserves to be included on this list. The Twin Snakes was a GameCube-exclusive remake of the original Metal Gear Solid, which featured the same graphics engine and gameplay features of Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty. It released around the same time as Metal Gear Solid 3, so its inclusion in the second volume would be a perfect choice. A lot of people mock its “updates” to the original game’s cutscenes and some of the “overly theatrical voice acting”, but as one of the few GameCube owners back in the day, I just really enjoyed playing this game.

Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops – We talked about the canonical PSP MGS game everyone remembers, now let’s talk about the first canonical PSP game NOBODY but me seems to remember, Portable Ops. Set between the events of MGS3 and Peace Walker, Portable Ops follows Big Boss as he’s still adjusting to his new code name. It also had a popular multiplayer component, but that has been offline for years. In fact, this multiplayer was so popular back in the day they made a multiplayer-only spin-off, Metal Gear Solid Portable Ops+.

Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots – This next one should be no surprise to anyone. This was a PS3 exclusive that to this day has never seen a port or remaster to any modern console and perfectly ended the Metal Gear Solid franchise in a satisfying conclusion. Its graphics and art style still hold up to this day, heck I think it looks better than many games made for the 4K gaming generation! This was THE reason to buy a PS3 back in the day, and while it has tons of PS3-exclusive Easter Eggs, I believe all those eggs should remain intact for any modern console port! The only controversy may involve whether Konami keeps the mid-chapter installation screens.

Metal Gear Solid (GBA) – I know what you’re thinking? Where are the bonuses? Metal Gear Collection Vol 1 included the original MSX and NES Metal Gear games alongside the PS1 and PS2 titles as a bonus, what bonus games can we include in Vol 2? Well, if you want a classic retro inclusion, look no further than the (apparently) non-canon Metal Gear Solid for the Game Boy Color. A major title for the platform I deeply regret missing out on back in the day. Originally, it was titled Metal Gear Solid: Ghost Babel in Japan, but was mostly the same title. It would be awesome to see both the US and Japanese versions of the game offered as a bonus.

Three major titles and two popular spin-offs would make for a good match to Vol 1 don’t you think? You notice we were missing a few big titles don’t you? Particularly a game called Metal Gear Solid V? Well, we didn’t forget it, we just didn’t think it was appropriate to include Ground Zeroes or The Phantom Pain in our Volume 2, as far as we are concerned both of those games belong in Volume 3! That’s right, there’s so much great MGS content out there, we can’t just stop at one extra volume, we’re going to kick it up a notch and include EVEN MORE games that we believe deserves to be included in the enviable Volume 3! Stay tuned for that!