The original Metal Gear Solid games made the jump to PC many moons ago, but you can’t play them today. Now, that might be changing.
Listings for the original Metal Gear games have appeared on the Taiwanese Digital Game Rating Committee, which is Taiwan’s equivalent of the Classification Board. It’s not just Metal Gear Solid either, as Gematsu spotted. Konami has listed Metal Gear, Metal Gear Solid, Metal Gear Solid 2: Substance (an expanded edition of the original MGS2), and Konami Collector’s Series: Castlevania and Contra.
Metal Gear Solid and Metal Gear Solid 2 are still some of the greatest games ever made, both being especially ahead of their time. The latter was particularly special for its thematic approach, tackling themes like post-truth politics and fake news which have only become all too prescient in the modern age.
Metal Gear Solid 1 + 2 were ported to the PC eventually, but those titles haven’t been re-released on digital platforms like GOG or Steam. You could get them running again, but you’d have to fiddle around with compatibility issues. A re-release would undoubtedly make that process a lot simpler, and naturally give people a chance to rebuy or experience the world of Snake all over again.
Part of what made MGS2 stick was Kojima’s preparedness to go against regular fandom. In an interview describing the importance of Raiden, Kojima explained his attitude at the time:
“Some members of the team expressed concern that players would want to play Solid Snake throughout the entire sequel, but Kojima says he was determined to bring a secret new character to the game. ‘Was I scared that people might not be happy about the new character? Not really,’ he says. ‘In a sequel you have to meet people’s expectations, but you also sort of have to go against them and deceive them I think. This is my Metal Gear, and I can destroy it if I want to.’”
Many games have been inspired by the original Metal Gear Solid games, but few have twisted and turned the way MGS 1 and 2 have. It’ll be brilliant to see a new generation of fans enjoy Kojima’s craziness all over again.
The series hasn’t been officially announced by Konami, but as is often the case with classification ratings, releases are never far away. A replay of Metal Gear Solid is wonderfully timely too — after all, we got Death Stranding on PC this year. Might as well bring the classics over too.
Correction: The original story mentioned that MGS 1 + 2 hadn’t been ported to PC, but that was incorrect: the games were ported in the early ’00s and haven’t been made available on digital platforms since. The opening paragraph and copy has been updated to reflect that. Sorry, and thanks to stendec in the comments for the callout!
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