With the Metal Gear Solid Master Collection Vol. 1 finally out, players have the opportunity to relive some of the most iconic titles of the PS1 and PS2 era with the first three games in the Metal Gear Solid franchise – including on Nintendo Switch for the first time.
Unfortunately, for those playing on Nintendo’s handheld and picking up a physical copy to do so, there is a frustrating extra barrier to entry. Rather than supply Metal Gear Solid 1, 2 and 3 – ie. the core parts of this collection – on the game cartridge, Konami has instead only included the bonus MSX and NES Metal Gear titles with the rest requiring added downloads.
All up, there’s seemingly only 2GB of data on the Switch cartridge with another 32GB worth of extra stuff to download, making an additional SD card a requirement for most players to actually use the physical copy of the game on their Switch console.
Here’s how the official website for the game breaks it all down:
Important Information Regarding the Game (Nintendo Switch Version)
To enjoy all available content, game data must be downloaded (free).
- Internet connection required
- 25.0 GB (+12.2 GB for bonus videos)
- A microSD card (sold separately) with free storage space of minimum of the amount listed above is required to download this game.
- The bonus video content is referring to Metal Gear Solid: Digital Graphic Novel and Metal Gear Solid 2: Digital Graphic Novel.
Minimum Space Required
- Physical Version : 25.0 GB (*Front loaded onto cartridge: 2 GB )
- METAL GEAR SOLID – Master Collection Version: 7.6 GB
- Excl. MG & MG2: 7.4 GB
- Incl. MG & MG2: 7.4 GB + 0.2GB ( MG & MG2 )
- METAL GEAR SOLID 2: Sons of Liberty – Master Collection Version: 6.6 GB
- METAL GEAR SOLID 3: Snake Eater – Master Collection Version: 10.5 GB
- Bonus Content: 0.3GB + 12.2 GB for bonus videos
We gave the Metal Gear Solid: Master Collection Vol. 1 a 7.5/10 in our review, saying “Metal Gear Solid: Master Collection Vol. 1 does precisely what it claims to do – bring the first three Metal Gear Solid games to all major platforms after a much-felt absence. While the technical updates given to each game are scarce, this still represents a great way to get into one of the most important and prolific series in video games. Could there be some more touch-ups to modernise these games? Absolutely. But it’s hard to ignore the quality of the games included in this package, and it’s a testament to their strengths that, even with slight improvement, they’re still as compelling as ever.”
