Metal Gear Solid: Master Collection Vol. 1 Switch Physical Version Requires Downloads

God, imagine the download for MGS4 if that’s next.

What a joke, so little on the cart they shouldn't be allowed to call it a physical copy!

That's the problem with Switch carts. They're more expensive to produce than Blu-ray, and with the wider availability of high speed internet, publishers would rather save money by using the low capacity ones and have the purchaser download the rest of the data.

Well, that put a stop quickly to my purchase.

@Professor_Plumber it's konami though they would never do that much of thinking for there games.

@PKDuckman that's implying everyone's internet is good.

I usually purchase my switch games physical but I am finding a hard time justifying a physical purchase of this one.

This changes my purchase then. I'll get it for steam off a keyshop. If Konami wants to play the game I will as well. I get switch card sizes are more costly but why even have a physical release.

Boooooo. I was genuinely looking forward to playing these games for the first time and was willing to shell out the $60 for everything on a cart. Will now wait for the inevitable deep discount.

Annnnd that’s how you kill the hype.
Good job Konami. Good job 👏

Is that Substance and Subsistence or the OG releases in this thing? Because, especially in Snake Eater's case, that's a big difference. Or are they doing the Doom 3 thing now where they call the updated games (BFG Edition, in Doom's case...woefully) by the wrong title?
In any case, they lost me with the download, and with Konami being Konami.

Shame. Not something I support (i.e buy.)

This is BS!!!!! That’s not physical version at all!!!! At least the main 3 games should fit on the cartridge!!!! That’s the bare minimum! If Witcher 3 could fit with all DLC, so can this! Don’t let Konami cheat you people, this is not acceptable!

Better than a cloud version, at least (still salty about Kingdom Hearts), but what's even the point of a physical version if so much has to be downloaded anyways?

As much as I hate the Switch Tax and the growing trend of $70 games, I'm almost willing to pay that if that's what it'll take for companies to stop forcing us to subsidize game space of physical purchases onto our microSD cards.

I was considering a blind buy (never played a Metal Gear game, apart from the Snake Eater demo on 3DS), but this is a hard freaking pass.

And 30GB+ video downloads?! Are they freaking kidding? They should have bundled a Blu-ray with the physical release instead.

Or better yet, ship the entire collection (plus videos) on a 64GB cartridge like they damn well should have in the first place. Customers will pay for a decent product, but I'm not abiding this crap. Hell, even if this were free, I'd still be reluctant because of the enormous amount of space it would gobble up.

@DTFaux : I would take a premium-priced complete-on-cart release over this crap any day of the week.

But virtually nobody even has the guts to test the waters with premium 32GB/64GB cart releases aside from a tiny handful of releases.

I'm not remotely convinced that after more than six years on the market, that 32GB Switch carts cost anywhere near as much for publishers to STILL resort to this contemptible, anti-consumer crap.

And if they need to charge an extra tenner, then so bloody be it. The Switch offers portability and playability without installations. That's two distinct advantages that rival hardware can't match.

Lol i hope konami reads these comments, this holds me back from buying it. Unless they change it. Put the games on the physical card, and the movies for extra download.

And that officially kills all my hype for this. Just what is the point, honestly someone I’d really like to know, of having a physical copy if you have to download nearly the whole thing onto your memory anyway?!

@The-Chosen-one
No they should just get the proper size cartridge for the release and not be cheap buying the smallest possible carts!

So theres no point in getting it "physically" got it.

I have played only Metal Gear Solid 2 on the Xbox. I beat it many, many, many times. I do not know how much. It was so good. When it first came out on the first Xbox.

Still buying. Amazing games.

They may as well not make a physical copy. How bout just make 3 physical copies, one for each Metal Gear Solid game then. They already got the games done, just copy each one to a separate cartridge. With greedy dev like this why can't they just let us the consumers buy our own cartridge and had us put the game on it ourselves. Buying writable cartridges and burning games to those cartridges shouldn't be illegal anymore if the devs wouldn't do it themselves.

Wait… why are two 8-Bit games 1.4GB?

I would like to play these games but am reluctant to sit through hour+ cutscenes.
If they made a version of the game that can be played from cartridge, just without cutscenes, ok.
Hard pass on this.

@ecco6t9 Probably the Screenplay and Master Books that come with it.
Maybe the pages are uncompressed 4K images.

@bonjong23 contrary to popular belief it was never that large. You're looking more at 32gb. In fact if you've downloaded stuff like resident evil revelations 2 and whatnot on your switch your about on par for those sizes.
Better compression techniques as well would help. If you found one of "those sites" you'd spot it for about 24gb.

Is anyone else having trouble pre ordering the physical on the Konami site? I click on “Pre-order” but nothing is adding to the basket 🤔

So just a code in a box?
I will wait for some heavy discount.
This collection is worth anyway 10/15 euros like it’s price on ps3 🤷🏻‍♂️

Getting the Digital Version, then.

I just want the games. Don’t care about the bonus 100000gb content. I really hate the fact that physical isn’t physical. But fact remains that digital is not cheaper, so I keep buying physical. So I can, if I wanted to, I could sell my games.

It's really don't look like a physical edition. Then I'll continue to play in true physical edition on my PS Vita (MGS HD collection) and in Twin Snakes on my Wii.

Konami once again showing why they're the most hated company in the industry.

Apparently killing MGS and Silent Hill wasn't enough. I've played them all before but for people looking forward to finally playing them, especially on Switch. This is bloody devastating.

I haven't bought a single Konami product since MGSV. It's been 8 years. If their name has been attached to anything, it's not had my money. I was looking forward to breaking that trend with this and Delta.

Disappointing but expected.

Yeah I'll just keep hold of the ps Vita physical thanks.

scratches this collection off my list...

I was absolutely going to buy this, but since my Switch collection is physical only, I'm out. We can but hope that Limited Run will strike a deal with Konami for a fully physical release, because that's the only way it will happen. These incomplete physical editions only exist because publishers know they can rack up sales to people who are unaware that the cart doesn't really contain the games. It's no better than a con, and the reason why I don't have one single Resident Evil title for Switch, because not one of those releases was ever complete on the cart. If they had been, even sold individually, I would have every title available.
So tired of this, but also thank you to Nintendo Life for bringing us this news, so we can make informed purchasing decisions.

EVERY Switch physical version requires a download. There's no such thing as physical anymore.

So the physical is just a download link, might as well just put a code in the box

So its a download locked by a physical key? Seems like the worst of both worlds. Does anything play off the cartridge?

@bonjong23

Maybe they'll go wild and leave it uncompressed, an empty 512GB SD card required to play, 1TB if you want the cutscenes included...

This is criminal and cringe. Automatically turned this from "must buy" to "no thanks". Why even release a physical version if you need to download the majority of the content? I would understand for the video content which is 30GB (and I will probably never watch) but the games could have easily been on cart. Get a grip please, Konami.

It’s not just Konami, it’s done by everybody. Sonic Origins is even worse. They release a physical Edition without the Gamegear games that are like 5 mb…. This disease is unstoppable

At the end of the physical will still be cheaper then a download anyway and tradeable, so will get secondhand at some point, but coild probably have fit moat roms on a small cart anyway. How the file sizes are this huge though boggles my mind

Bit rubbish, I suppose I need the cart inserted to play the games too?

I wasn't going to buy this when i saw it didn't have the twin snakes version of mgs1, but the abstract ps1 version.

Ugh, such a letdown! After the Cowabunga Collection, I hoped Konami would do right by this release, too. If the games were on the cart, this would have been an insta-buy for me. Now, I may just skip altogether.
There’s too many other titles upcoming for me to spend $$ on deficient products.

Now I’m worried about the Batman games though! Hopefully the first Arkham game is on the cart, at least.

This is pretty frustrating, especially at 30GB for the videos?! Something I did notice while looking on the eShop: everything in this collection is separate downloads. The Collection on the eShop is a bundle of five different pieces of Software, none of it is DLC. MGS, MGS2, MGS3, The Nes Games, the extra extras(The other pre-Solid games, the videos, the motion comic, etc). But before you get excited and think this means you can pick and mix: only MGS2 & 3 have prices by themselves. MGS and the NES Games are available in a collection together, but I think the only way to get the Extra Extras, including what people consider the real precursor games, is to buy the Full Collection.

Uhhh what? 54g for 25 year old games? Maybe I'll just get 1 on Xbox. My storage is already tight on Switch.

1.4 GB for a couple of MSX games which were probably originally less than 1.4 MB! What a time to be alive.

So it's unplayable without the downloads, meaning the second the shop closes, we are left with worthless plastic. Fantastic.

Du du dududu Du Du DU

I really hate this, though it’s important to differentiate that this is slightly better than code in a box. Code you can only redeem on one account I believe, where a cartridge - even one this terrible - you could sell to someone else and then they can then plug it in and download the game. these cartridges tend to sell cheaply on the 2nd hand market - I got Bioshock collection for $10 I think.

I’m usually physical only but for this nonsense I will just buy #3 digital if that’s an option - it’s the only one I’ve never played and I’ve heard great things about it.

Tried different countries on the site to see if anywhere was getting bigger carts, looks like no.
But it seems the sizes even vary among regions, MGS in particular doubling in size for EU.

JP / US / EU:
Cart needs a: 27.9 / 24.1 / 29.5 GB download (downloads being 2.4GB smaller than eShop purchase, as 2.4GB is already stored on cart)
MGS: 6.2 / 4.8 / 10.2 GB (without MG1/MG2: 4.8 / 3.4 / 8.8 GB)
MGS2: 11.1 / 8.0 / 8.0 GB
MGS3: 11.5 / 12.2 / 12.2 GB
Bonus contents: 1.0 GB + 30GB for bonus videos ('Digital Graphic Novel' 1 and 2)

I will never understand why — in the modern gaming digital download era — people make the statement "only if it comes out on physical". You will (almost) never get a complete game on a cartridge. This was just as true on the 3DS.

With internet-connected devices it's even more braindead to want physical, complete copies of games. Even the 3DS still needs (legitimate) security patches for some games (ie: Mario Kart 7).

Just admit the reason you want physical is so you can either sell the game back later or return it when you're done, or it's because you want some extra physical goodies that come with it. Refusing to buy games because they're not on physical — and thus not supporting devs hard work and genuinely great games — is your choice, certainly. But making a constant public stink about "I'll only buy if it's physical" just comes off as — kindly — out of touch.

There's dropping the ball and then there's Konami dropping the ball.

@PKDuckman That is correct but I would pay 70 if everything would be on card. now I'm not buying it, at least not the full set. likely just MGS1...
Not every company can be as cool as CD Project red and put EVERYTHING on the cardridge even the DLC... (Even Doom Eternal got a limited run games version with the whole game on card)

@bluesun I wonder why those games are anyways so big and the only possible solution is that the team behind the port had not time or didn't care because the original game was just 2 CDs big which can't be more than 1.4 gb... And to be honest it looks like they did no changes to MGS1 at all (texture wise).
Feels like lazy to me.

I truly couldn't care less about file sizes for this. I just want them released 🤣

@TheSovryn I am not against buying digital games, per se. My collection of games I've purchased on Steam, for example, is gigantic. There is a big difference between what Steam is and what Nintendo has done, however. With Steam, my games are available on every new computer I buy for as long as Valve stays in business, and the games work or can be made to work on new PC's. With Nintendo, my Virtual Console purchases are gone forever. Sure, I can download all my digital games before the Nintendo shops close, but if my memory cards die, I'm SOL. And the games won't be re-downloadable on the next Nintendo console.

@Bobb exactly.
For 50 pounds while on ps3 the same collection was sold for 15… ok without some of the added useless games and stuff.
Money grabbers… which is sad because those games are fire

@Burning_Spear
No I’m mostly a physical gamer and I can tell you that the biggest majority of switch physical games don’t require a download to play. Patches don’t count as long as the game is playable out of the box.

@TheSovryn
Not having internet and wanting to play the game right then and there out of the box is also a valid reason. I’m mostly physical because know it will last longer. If my digital purchases would migrate to the next gen I’d be more inclined to go fully digital but it doesn’t.

@TheSovryn I think most people's reasoning for wanting physical is so in 20 years time when their switch dies and the online stores are shut down. They can simply get a 2nd hand switch and still play all there games simply by clicking the cartridge in. I did this with my N64 the console gave up the ghost but I still had all my games! 😄

no problem for me I only buy digital, beside i had played so many time MGS1 and 2 on ps1/2 than I don't want to play them again kkk even after all these years , instead MGS3 which i considered the best i have played in the past i only played once( very hard and longest game of the three) , so I will buy it again good you can buy them separately

It’s a joke that only 2~ GB is included in the cart. Did they get the smallest cart available?

@TheSovryn There is a HUGE difference between still downloading a few small patches every now and then [most switch games btw] if your Physical to download over 90% of the remaining game content because Konami is cheap as hell. Even the other collections did a better job at this where at least SOME of the games was completely on the cart already.

konami = cheap

@andyg1412

yeah its more of a key or dongle than a copy.

in fact, its not a copy at all! you are so right.

@fabiop

yeah i hate having added "useless" games to play 😋

i take your point but i dont see the point of fretting over what costs what on platforms you dont have. pay the price or wait for a sale! 👍 these games are more than worth it, anyway.

@aresius

"i don't want to play them again kkk even after all these years"

am i being incepted here, or what? 😆

@GameOtaku

im with you, cart + DL is by far the worst of both worlds.

i either pop in a cart, OR pick from the list of digital games. what i wont do? ever play my games that i have to mess with the physical game AND make space for a massive download, and then wait for that. They happen to be also my weaker games (MGS not included) so it works out lol.

@TheSovryn

i have about 2 dozen games physically and only 2 or 3 of them are not completely on the cart, playable online. you are wrong! 🙂

Even that I have a modded switch I'd buy this in a heartbeat bc 1st I'm huge MGS fan and 2nd it would be nice saving some sd space. But then there these companies who don't like respecting customers keep making such things as releasing a physical cartridge serving only as a token for a collection like this is a joke beyond compreehension, so I shall continue sailing my waters aye. It was the same with the Resident Evil collection, that only the 4th game comes in the cart...

I’m nothing short of livid over this but whatever… still buying it but it’s just not going to be the physical one I guess.

Once I read the @wheatly comment above about the carbon emissions that also made me feel better about it. This is truly a pointless waste physical copy so I’m not going to be contributing to this waste maker of a release. Digital it is.

In a perfect world the Switch would be able to use Blu-Ray discs or something inexpensive for physical copies instead of just having the same kind of problem the N64 had.

@bonjong23

It was the first PS3 game to use a dual layer Blu-Ray back in 2007.

I think the .iso is around 43 gigs or something like that.

And again this is why I’m basically all digital on Switch.

Another completely useless physical. I'll just wait for a deep discount now.

@PKDuckman You're forgetting that, the discs for the other consoles are more useless, because you still have to install the full game on the system, and then the disc only works as the key to access the game.

I have preordered it digitally, but might get it physical, just to have that sweet box in my shelf.

@tobsesta99
Carts load faster than discs usually. Konami is just being cheap as Scrooge. We are talking about mere pennies of difference between one size cart and the other and they are still charging a good price.

Huh, this is like when I picked up the Resident Evil Origins Collection and realized only RE:0 was on the cart, REmake was a download.

Physical edition storage requirements can be changed! Let your voices be heard! According to Konami's pre-order site, "the total game size and necessary storage requirements listed above are still TENTATIVE and will be finalized by September 2023"

@bransby
You can still (re)download the games you own, you need your account and a 3ds that works. If your sd cart is broken, buy a new one, put it in your 3DS and redownload the games. The shop still is online for downloading games you already bought. You just can’t buy new ones

@Burning_Spear I don't know why people keep insisting this. That is not true at all. The vast majority of the games can be played straight from the cart, no downloads, no online connectivity. Post release bug fixes exist but don't keep you from playing the game (except for the very few games that have straight up broken physical releases).

@fabiop that is basically what this collection is, a quick cash grab with no benefits or updated versions, it's crazy people are paying full retail for this smh

@Cyrax77 You can't redownload Wii digital purchases. I can't download my purchases from the Wii and play them on the Switch. And eventually, you won't be able to redownload 3DS games either.

@Aya-chan I haven't given the games a proper chance but I've always heard high praises for them. I wanted to give them a try, but after hearing about how they treated Hideo Kojima, the guy who made the games so great, I can't look at their logo without feeling some form of disgust. I was tempted when they were listing off all the stuff included, but it still doesn't sit well with me.

Let's hope Limited Run games have a good enough relationship with Kpnami to do this properly!

I just need the two NES games. The MSX Metal Gear games are already my favorites of the series (I know, I'm insane), and the NES ones were never really re-released, especially Snake's Revenge. I was hoping for Ghost Babel as well, but no luck there.

Code in a box bullship...

@SillyPlanet92

You could buy it digitally and print your own Cover and put it in a Box, wouldn't make a Difference...

It is really a shame how they call it physical

I’m out. Physical or bust.

This just went from a day one purchase to I'll wait for a sale of $9.99 or less. I have to imagine they know there are a lot of people that like to own and not rent their games. It's already bad enough we live in the time of day one patches and then monthly patches thereafter. What's the point in buying a physical copy of something like this when all you get is the requirement you have to put the cart in to play what's on your switch already. It is what it is, but that's just disappointing.

@TheBigBlue don't U have a big Micro SD in your Switch? I have a 400GB inside, they are so cheap in the meantime and I have still a lot of free space.

I'll get this on Series X or PS5, so I don't bother.

@MH4 Konami never discounts their games on switch.

A 32gb switch cartridge costs 60% more than a 50gb PS4 disc to produce. So 60% of $2.25 is $1.35. So $1.35 +$2.25 is $3.60. So this game would cost $3.60 to put on a 32gb cart with some download. A 64 GB cart is $3.95.
Konami are just being cheap c****

@Karatecanine Yesterday, 10:26pm
"@MH4 Konami never discounts their games on switch."

Eh? Arcade Classics ? Bomberman ? Snake Pass ? Castlevania collections ? Contra collection ? Turtles collection ? Yu-Gi-Oh! ?

ALL have been discounted 🤨

@jco83 sorry. I meant mainline Konami games. My bad.

@Karatecanine 6:21pm
"@jco83 sorry. I meant mainline Konami games. My bad."

What games?

Wtf is the POINT of the cartridge? What does it even contain if we have to download all of the games?

Just like everyone else, this prevents me from buying the game for full price. Great business you're doing, Konami! You must've forgot the Switch is not some obscure underdog, but the best- selling console by a landslide! You should treat us with the same respect as the other system owners. Actually, no. With MORE respect.

This is a deal breaker for me. Quite frankly I find it insulting to physical collectors. Why even call it physical? They could have fit all games on a 32gb cart.