The many Metal Gear Solid versions in MGS: Master Collection Vol. 1 give players quite a few ways to experience one of the PS1’s most important games. But it is not totally clear what version does what. Here’s what MGS1 version you should play in Master Collection Vol. 1 and the differences between them.
What are the differences between MGS1 versions?
There are a handful of differences between each version of MGS1. The one at the top is simply the vanilla version of Metal Gear Solid. This is the game that came out in 1998 on the PS1. It contains the base game and that’s it.
The second entry on that list is Metal Gear Solid: VR Missions. This does not contain the base game and is only an expansion that has 300 extra missions for players to clear. These bite-sized missions range from sneaking through an obstacle course to having to shoot a handful of targets. It was first released in 1999 for the PS1 and would be considered DLC in the modern market.
Metal Gear Solid: Special Missions is essentially the same game as VR Missions but under a new name. Special Missions was its name in PAL territories and had some very minor differences (saves are also not compatible between the two). The key takeaway is that it, despite still having many English menus, has a wider array of language support and is for those who want to play the VR missions with European-centric languages: United Kingdom English, French, German, Italian, and Spanish. They all have to be downloaded in a separate pack, but the spoken dialogue will always be in English no matter what. The menu description is currently incorrect, too, as it has the wrong title and is mostly just the description for VR Missions.
Metal Gear Solid: Integral is the final version and is the most robust. It contains the base game and the VR missions in one package, the Very Easy difficulty, an option to play the game in first-person (after one full playthrough), a few new secret Codec channels, an easier torture mini-game with Revolver Ocelot, Japanese subtitles, and more.
Integral saves are not compatible with the vanilla version of MGS1 and vice versa, though, so you can’t jump back and forth between them. And while the very easy setting isn’t significantly easier than the other settings, its existence is would be beneficial for those who want to speed through and rack up achievements or trophies.
The dialogue text is also only in English, yet a lot of the menus are Japanese even if it is set to English. It’s still not difficult to navigate for non-Japanese speakers, but still worth mentioning. Despite having to download a Japanese language pack to even start it, it also only offers Japanese subtitles and no option for Japanese voice acting.
