Today, October 24th, Metal Gear Solid: Master Collection has been released. Amidst various controversies, considerable interest, and the debate over whether Hideo Kojima appears in the credits or not, this compilation of the main games in the franchise up to Metal Gear Solid 3 has already hit the shelves. Consequently, it has also made its way into the hands of many users. This has allowed the most adept among them to delve into its depths to discover if there is more information than what we know. Something whose answer seems to be yes.
Metal Gear Solid: Master Collection uses a hub from which each game is installed separately. It is not, therefore, a single game. As its name suggests, it is a collection. This means that dataminers, individuals who examine the code of games to uncover their intricacies, have been able to find clues about the future volumes. Discovering explicit references to other installments in the series that are not the ones we already know.
In this way, via Wario64, we have learned that, at least in the Switch version, there are references to seven different games. Their names are MG12, MGS1, MGS2, MGS3, MGS4, MGS5, and MGSPW. MG12 refers to Metal Gear 1 and 2 from MSX, and MGS1, MGS2, and MGS3 are the first three installments of the Metal Gear Solid franchise, included in this first volume of the Master Collection. Therefore, it is not difficult to conclude, nor was it hard to infer, that the second volume will include Metal Gear Solid 4 and Metal Gear Solid 5. The inclusion of the former is especially noteworthy, as it was never released on any other console or platform other than PlayStation 3.
Now, some people might wonder what MGSPW refers to. The answer is simple: it stands for Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker. This installment of the franchise was originally published for PSP and takes place between Metal Gear Solid 3 and 5. It laid the groundwork for what the latter would achieve in the epic conclusion of the saga.
Therefore, if confirmed, this would provide a solid foundation for a second volume of Metal Gear Solid: Master Collection. However, to truly be the definitive collection we need, a third volume would be necessary. This volume should include, at the very least, the Game Boy game, the remaining PSP games, and the exceptional Metal Gear Rising.
