Overview:
A remake of Metal Gear Solid, which came out for the Sony PlayStation, co-developed by Konami, Nintendo, and Silicon Knights for the Nintendo GameCube. It took the same type of graphics and mechanics used for Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty for the Sony PlayStation 2 and tried its hardest to emulate it. Some things work while others don’t. Unfortunately, the GameCube controller didn’t have as many buttons as either the PS1 or PS2 so some concessions were made. Either way, this game is the only time MGS1 was ever remade for any other system and that’s pretty cool.
Visuals:
While this game does look pretty good, there is something that just makes it still look kind of inferior to MGS2 for some reason. The character models don’t look as detailed, the facial animations are kind of weird, and everything just seems to be of low detail. The cutscenes have also been remade due to the incorporation of Ryuhei Kitamura being brought in to direct the action sequences. These really do crazy things with Snake and his acrobatics but it’s appealing to some people, I suppose. I wasn’t one of them.
Audio:
Most of the audio is kept verbatim with what was done 6 years prior. Some of the lines have changed and Cyborg Ninja was completely recast, which is a shame, but everything else is there. You have talked about “Bothersome flies”, “Pineapples”, and “Alaskan Field Mice” all there. The music has also been reworked to be more in line with MGS2 as well with it being much more dramatic.
Completion:
I FINISHED THIS GAME!* Back in 2005. The things I’m typing are my thoughts on the game from that time period and, even firing it back up again to get the screenshots, I still feel the same. The game just feels a little bit off. It was cool to play this game on the GameCube and knowing, even 20 years later as of 2025, that it’s the only way to play it is still a trip. Seeing the cutscenes being redone and the graphics trying to be on par with MGS2 was a sight to behold. I just wish more was done for this system because, although cool it exists, I would still much rather play the original MGS1 anyday over this version.
