Update 15/03/2024: Two days after the release of patch 1.5.0, the Steam input settings for MGS 1 have been updated and the fix actually works.

The Metal Gear Solid Master Collection was released in a bit of a state of flux. Sure, Konami promised nothing more than a straight port of a number of Metal Gear games, but the versions of these games that were released last October on PCs and modern consoles were noticeably worse than the original versions. These included muddy textures, audio glitches, and, in the case of MGS 1, poor analog controls.

More accurately, it was not the analog controls. Instead, the "MGS 1 Master Collection" version simply mapped the D-pad's 8-way controls to the left stick, and did not allow for full 360-degree movement like other unofficial emulation versions (see comparison here). This has been a major source of player dissatisfaction with the game since its release.

Today, however, Konami released patch 1.5.0 for the MGS Master Collection, fixing a few bugs in all six games and, importantly, "fixing a problem with the analog input not working as intended" for the original MGS. People were overjoyed: "This is indeed great news," said one fan on Reddit. 'This is great news! Keep up the good work!" said a user on the Steam Forums.

But I've spent too long testing the patch myself, so here's the problem: it doesn't work.

The game's analog movement is still limited to eight directions for reasons that I'm sure are related to Konami's use of Steam's built-in Steam Input technology to control MGS 1. In first-person view mode, the lack of a fix becomes even more apparent: tilting the stick should allow you to look down a bit, but in the Master Collection version, Snake's head simply moves downward as soon as the stick input is recognized.

So far, I have not found a way to make Konami's analog fix work. I tried rotating a bunch of unofficial Steam Input configs, but they almost all duplicated the official Konami ones, just tying 8 directions to the left stick and calling it a day (the rest were designed for various mods that try to tidy up the Konami controls themselves )

Just a side note: Konami also does not make its own official Steam input settings freely selectable from the game's settings page. Once you switch to a different setting, you cannot revert back. To revert back to Konami's settings, you have to delete the entire Steam Input folder. This is rather odd, and seems to be a metaphor for the company's approach to such ports in general.

Anyway, Konami realizes that the fix is not sticking and will have to sort out the Steam Input settings themselves. Hopefully sooner rather than later, but it's hard to say. A quick look at the game's Steam forums suggests that more and more players are realizing that the patch doesn't actually work, and with any luck, the uproar from upset users will grow and the studio will realize their blunder.

Aside from that, here are the full patch notes for MGS 1, MGS 2, MGS 3, and the Master Collection versions of the MSX Metal Gear games. At least the other fixes seem to be reflected.