The Metal Gear Solid franchise is important to the evolution of the medium. With Konami porting so much of its back catalogue, Metal Gear Solid deserves the same treatment. Contra, Castlevania and Konami's arcade titles have all received anniversary collections, with Castlevania even getting a second one, Castlevania: Requiem, that bundled together even more titles. While Konami has yet to offer a collection as all-encompassing as Kingdom Hearts - The Story So Far, the company has put out several key compilations. There is modest precedent for this in the current landscape. Related: Kingdom Hearts: Melody of Memory Co-Director Says the Game Is a Good Starting Point for New Fans
Just adding Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes and The Phantom Pain would make one of gaming's most influential series is accessible again.
Bringing together the entire franchise from the MSX to the PS3 is the sort of compilation fans need on current-gen. This is analogous because the MGS series already has a tantalizingly robust collection on PS3: The Metal Gear Solid Legacy Collection.
Kingdom Hearts' compilation for PS4 and Xbox One took the existing PS3 collections, added the new content and bundled it all under an accessible title like The Story So Far. Trying to keep up with where Metal Gear Solid games are and aren't available is about as taxing as following the Kingdom Hearts storyline, a series which, coincidentally, lays a nice foundation for a potential current-gen compilation of Metal Gear Solid. Related: Xbox Series S Won't Play Xbox One X Versions of Games - Here's What That Means The Path Forward Of course, Xbox players at least have better access than Nintendo players, who have no MGS access on the Switch, and only have access to Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes and Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater 3D on GameCube and 3DS respectively. Short of buying a PlayStation Classic, buying the game digitally on PS3 or getting a physical PS1 disc are the best options. But that still leaves the question of original Metal Gear Solid. Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain is naturally the easiest to acquire, as it was released this generation. The PS4 does have the minor advantage of access to Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots, again through PS Now, but this game is completely unavailable in the Xbox ecosystem. This collection can also be accessed on PlayStation 4 through PlayStation Now, but that's far from ideal. Through backwards compatibility, the Xbox One family of systems can play the HD Collection, which bundles together Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty, Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater and Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker. However, the original is conspicuously absent, and its remake, Twin Snakes, has never left GameCube. On the Xbox side, things are slightly easier. For current-gen players, trying to access the entire saga is an exercise in futility.