The Metal Gear Solid: Master Collection is an exhaustive bundle of stealth classics

theverge.com:

When discussing his inspiration for the original 1987 Metal Gear game, series creator Hideo Kojima has often referred to the limitations of the MSX2 system it was designed for. With hard limits on the amount of sprites the machine could show on screen and limited support for scrolling graphics, the designer decided to make a game that eschewed all-out combat in favor of the stealth gameplay that would go on to define the Metal Gear franchise.

I thought about this design philosophy a lot while working my way through the Metal Gear Solid: Master Collection Vol. 1, a sprawling collection of games from the Metal Gear series that spans nearly two decades. I played the collection on the PS5, but it’s also available for the Xbox Series X and S, PC, Nintendo Switch, and PS4.

Obviously, the hardware most of these games were made for was not nearly as limited as the original MSX2. But throughout his career, Kojima has often designed his games with specific hardware in mind, whether it’s the wired controllers of the PS1 or the Blu-ray disc drive of the PS3. These features make porting a game like the original Metal Gear Solid to other consoles trickier than your average rerelease. 

But let’s back up a second. The $59.99 Master Collection Vol. 1 doesn’t just include the original Metal Gear Solid. It bundles together anywhere from half a dozen to a dozen or so different releases from the series, depending on how you count them, covering most (but not all) of the games between the original 1987 Metal Gear and 2004’s Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater. So you get the original two Metal Gears from the MSX2, Metal Gear Solid from the PlayStation, and its two sequels — Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty andMetal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater —