We’re all excited for theMetal Gear Solid Master Collection Vol. 1. While most of these games were still playable in some way or another, having to use multiple emulators or multiple backwards-compatible consoles isn’t particularly convenient. It’ll be nice to have so many entries in the series in one spot, including the non-Kojima Snake’s Revenge spin-off game nobody bought and nobody remembers. While it excludesMetal Gear Solid4, 5, Revenge, and the Acid spin-offs, it basically has what most people think of as thegoodMetal Gear games.
Except one. One important game is missing from the Metal Gear Solid Master Collection Vol. 1, and I’m concerned it won’t appear in the second volume either. This isn’t some mere curiosity or cell phone game that time thankfully forgot. Nay, my friends, this collection lacks the greatest Metal Gear game of all time: Metal Gear Solid for theGame Boy Color.
Hear me out. One, the name is confusing because it was called Metal Gear: Ghost Babel in Japan. Get it? Metal Gear: GB. As in Game Boy? We had fun back then, folks, didn’t we? But in America, the name was just changed to Metal Gear Solid to more directly connect it with the recent hit. Which is confusing, because this game has an entirely different plot, map, and flow than the more famous Metal Gear Solid forPlayStationand, later, every emulator you’ve ever owned. So no, this isn’t a cheap swing at adapting a classic.
Two, Hideo Kojima was directly involved in designing this game. While he’s now the king of releasing a vaguely confusing, but truly great, masterpiece every ten years, he used to mess around with side projects all the time. Remember Boktai? No? Well, it was a GBA game with a light sensor that encouraged you to go outside. Who’s to say why it didn’t stick in our collective cultural memory? But Kojima was part of the process, and one of his goals was to see just how much of Metal Gear Solid’s gameplay he could shove into a Game Boy Color cart.
Ever since I was a little kid, I’ve always been fascinated by the smallest, most streamlined version of toys and games. I don’t know why. Maybe it’s because I had so many body issues as a child, or maybe it’s because my class once got a tiny copy of the Sun-Sentinel on a field trip to a newspaper printer. Either way, I love the tiniest possible playable version of games. There’s almost something philosophical in it: how much can you take away from a game until it stops being that game?
Three, GBC Metal Gear Solid isn’t a remake or canon. It’s a spin-off. Although, have you played any of the Metal Gear games? None of them fit together perfectly. It’s a series that’s embellished its backstory so much that none of it makes sense without a four-hour YouTube explainer. Plus, later games in the series would occasionally reference little bits and pieces of the GBC Metal Gear Solid. Because, again, Metal Gear makes no sense.
The fact it’s not a spin-off is actually relieving. It would’ve been far too easy for the developers to make this some sort of Metal Gear Gaiden with a who-gives-a-shit canonical sidestory. I’d rather get a completely new story rather than see Snake’s extra fun new adventures into Alaska. By removing itself from the canon (it takes place after the first two games and essentially ignores all the rest), GBC Metal Gear Solid has the space to be a bit goofy and play around with its characters.
But how does it play, you ask? Amazing. This is a great Metal Gear game. Everything from the radio calls to the hiding in weird places to the knocking on walls to the weapons to the extra VR training missions are here. This is a full game with a full story. It really is stunning just how much of the experience Kojima and friends were able to get running perfectly on an already-aging piece of hardware with a processor that you wouldn’t even put in a bargain-bin smartwatch today.
Of course, there are a couple odd things. GBC Metal Gear Solid is broken up into levels, probably to make the game easier to pick up and go. And while it was rated E for Everyone in America, it’s got some pretty heavy shit in it. Yeah, it’s less intense than the console entries in the series, but people still get shot to the death and the story ain’t always nice. Oh, and instead of using cigarettes to reveal laser traps, you have to use a ‘fogger’.Snake’s vaping, folks!Nintendowas funny back in the day. Guns, yes. Cigarettes, no.
But the important thing is this game is fun, man. It feels like a combination of the old Metal Gear games from the MSX & NES days with then-modern quality-of-life improvements. Mainly because that’s exactly what it is. And since the story has no relation to what we already know, there are plenty of surprises and interesting characters that the game can do whatever it wants with. You know The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages & Oracle of Seasons? Same deal, but Metal Gear. Also, yes, I know the Oracles games are Zelda canon. But if there’s one game series with even more obtuse canon than Metal Gear, it’s The Legend of Zelda.
Obviously, this game isn’t quite easy to get. Like I said, it’s not included in the first collection and I’m worried it won’t be in the second either. Although, to be fair, Konami has been including Game Boy titles in their Castlevania and Contra re-releases. Hopefully it’ll do the same here. Otherwise you might be left with having to spend top dollar on eBay for a cart or - I dunno - find some other wink wink way to play it. I just wish this game got more love because it’s - in my opinion - the most fun game in the Metal Gear series and the best use of the Game Boy Color’s hardware. Plus, you’ll never stop laughing at Snake’s ‘fogger’.
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