Fans and gamers have been down on Konami the past half-decade or so, with R&D grinding down to a screeching halt and the company’s video game division focusing more on legacy and brand management rather than creating new games or continuing old favorite franchises. On September 25th, several of their undisputed classic games joined Silent Hill 4: The Room to add some more members of the Konami fraternity to the GOG.com (Good Old Games) party.
The titles added are:
Metal Gear (Based on the PS2 MGS3: Subsistence release) for $5.99 USD
Metal Gear Solid: Integral (PC Version) for $9.99 USD
Metal Gear Solid 2: Substance (PC Version) for $9.99 USD
Konami Collector’s Series: Castlevania & Contra for $5.99 USD — a 2002 PC release that contains the NES versions of Castlevania I, II, III, Contra and Super C
So, are these releases worth playing, and more importantly, are they worth your money? The results are a mixed bag that largely lean towards “no.”
What we have here are 3 re-releases of older PC versions and a new release of the 2006 version of the original MSX Metal Gear. The PC versions of Metal Gear Solid 1 and Metal Gear Solid 2 were poor conversions to begin with and these releases are more or less the exact same thing but for Windows 10. The glitch of the FMV footage not playing from the original version of Integral has been rectified but aside from that, it’s more or less just a Windows 10 compatible version of MGS1: Integral. The default controls on the gamepad are required some serious re-mapping. Overall, you’re better off hunting down the PlayStation 1 version or purchasing/downloading the ISO from PlayStation Online.
Metal Gear Solid 2: Substance fairs slightly better, but it’s still a not-great port of a great game with lousy default controls. Most of the special effects from the PS2 version can’t be properly recreated on this version and it contains a few bugs that are not present in the original console release. However, with a quick search, it looks like those there are some fan mods that allow for a widescreen view and a few other fixes. Still, the Metal Gear Solid HD Collection is the best modern way to play MGS2.
The version of the original MSX Metal Gear uses the Subsistence/HD Collection script and largely functions the same, but there are some PC specific issues with slowdown and for some reason, the sound effects are louder and contain additional reverb for this PC release of the original MSX Metal Gear. This is overall an okay version to play Metal Gear, but you can do better. Once again, the Metal Gear HD Collection trumps the PC version.
Finally, we have Konami Collector’s Series: Castlevania & Contra which puts together 5 classic NES games in one package. This one holds up very well, some of the more drab presentations on the menus aside. The games handle as good as their NES releases with JoyToKey.
So, what’s the overall take away? I’d say the most compromised of these PC versions is the release of MGS: Integral and the winner is Konami Collector’s Series: Castlevania & Contra. The Castlevania & Contra collection is a valuable way to play some classic 2D Konami action on your computer, but these versions of Metal Gear are a misfire, with the least tampered release being one of the weaker games in the series.
What do you think? What’s your experience with these games on GOG? Let us know below!
