How Metal Gear Solid: The Master Collection Handles The Psycho Mantis Battle From MGS1

At this year’s Tokyo Game Show, we were able to try out the upcoming Metal Gear Solid: The Master Collection Vol.1. The collection features modernized ports of classic Metal Gear and Metal Gear Solid games through Metal Gear Solid 3 on the PS3. From the TGS show floor, we have learned some news on a small change coming to one of the games.

Games Included in the Metal Gear Solid: The Master Collection Vol.1

• Metal Gear (Both NES and Famicom versions)

• Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake (Both NES and Famicom versions)

• Metal Gear Solid

• Metal Gear Solid: VR Missions

• Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty (HD Collection from BluePoint Games version)

• Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater (HD Collection from BluePoint Games version)

The collection will release on October 24th, for the PC, PS4, PS5, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series consoles. Coming into the Tokyo Game Show there seems to be some uncertainty on how Metal Gear Solid: The Master Collection will handle the ports of the previous games. 

While yesterday we discovered Metal Gear Solid will be locked in 30 FPS, there is still more uncertainty around each game. Given what we know, it tells me that these are likely to be direct ports of each game. With that, we can make assumptions around a lot of the ambiguity. 

Warning: Metal Gear Solid Spoilers

However, there has been some speculation surrounding the Psycho Mantis battle from Metal Gear Solid on the original PlayStation. Fans of the series will remember an iconic battle that has multiple approaches to defeat an incredibly difficult boss. One way to defeat him is to connect a controller to the second player port on the PS1. Yet how can Metal Gear Solid: The Master Collection handle that?

My personal speculation began when Sony added support for a second controller to act as a single player with the latest firmware update. Of course, it was added as an accessibility feature but, I thought the timing felt off. Well now we have spoken with Konami and we know the answer.

Warning: Metal Gear Solid: The Master Collection Vol. 1 Spoilers

Konami has added a digital mechanism in the game that will allow the player to change the controller port. It is unclear if that is a setting in the menu of the game or if the player will be prompted. Although it is better we wait and find out versus ruin that moment for everyone. 

Given that Sony added the firmware support this past month, physically adding a second controller to one player was not even technically possible when the team was porting the games. This sounds like a nice compromise. It will be interesting to see if any other changes have been made in the Metal Gear Solid: The Master Collection Vol. 1.