Konami has fixed one of the more glaring problems with the Master Collection version of Metal Gear Solid 1. When the game launched on Steam three days ago, players were supposed to be able to download Japanese, American English, and various other language packs from the game's launcher. Unfortunately, however, the relevant Steam page was inexplicably absent and the international version of the game was no longer accessible.

This was fatal. At least here in the UK, the only version of MGS 1 I could play was the British English, or PAL, version. Unlike the US NTSC version of the game, the PAL version is made for 50hz screens, so the only MGS 1 version I could get seemed unbearably slow, in addition to making it difficult to parse in all its low-resolution, PS1-era glory. Also, MGS: Integral was completely unplayable because it required me to download the Japanese language pack before it could be activated.

At least that problem has been solved. That is, you can download it by opening the MGS 1 entry in your Steam library and clicking on "Manage my DLC". In other words, you can download it by going to the MGS 1 entry in your Steam library and clicking on "Manage my DLC". The US English/NTSC version is adjusted for 60hz screens and looks great to play.

That doesn't mean the game is suddenly fixed. The emulator that Konami packaged with MGS 1 still doesn't have the bells and whistles that you would get if you emulated the game yourself using something like Duckstation. But if you want to boot up and play "MGS 1", be sure to choose the US English version. You'll be happy you did.

Konami is doing the same thing with "MGS 2" and "MGS 3" - adding Japanese language packs, but these games are not emulated like "MGS 1". These are plain ports of the Xbox 360 Bluepoint remasters, so there is no performance improvement. Nevertheless, it is a pleasure and a privilege to check out Snake by Akio Otsuka.

Anyway, here's the part I'm in charge of editing: I'm a little disappointed in the way the discourse surrounding these ports has turned out, with many fans complaining about the incredibly basic emulation of MGS 1 and the muddy 720p versions of 2 and 3, and returning to the old cliché of "corner-cutting developers are reverting to the old cliché, "I'm just a developer with a lot of money to spend.

As for the way these products were assembled--including all the language packs, the MGS archival material, and having dummy memory card data created for the Psycho Mantis fight in 1--the developers who created the Master Collection were genuinely trying to "Metal Gear" It suggests that the developers who created the Master Collection were genuinely interested in doing "Metal Gear" right. I doubt, however, that they had the resources to do it properly.

I imagine it would be a really difficult task to convince the executives at Konami to devote resources to a project like this, instead of putting it all into something like the shiny remakes that are doing well at Capcom. These original games deserve a proper and faithful remastering, and their production requires more effort and resources than it looks, but I can't imagine any influential person at the studio wanting to do that. So for now, we have to be content with emulating the correct versions.