It's A Crime That Metal Gear Solid 4 Remains Exclusive To The PS3

Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots is incredible. It’s subversive, ambitious, epic, absurd, and was once the planned culmination of Hideo Kojima’s vision for the legendary franchise. Gamers now have the hindsight of knowing he would return to the well several more times, but back then it felt like the story of Solid Snake was coming to a definitive end.

To this day, it remains trapped on the PS3. It is one of the best looking and most technically accomplished games of its generation, which makes the abandonment of its legacy a bitter pill to swallow in 2022. Metal Gear Solid 2, 3, and Peace Walker are available on additional platforms nowadays, but the original and 4 are stuck in a strange limbo where older hardware or emulation is required to play them at all.

[Flawlessmic]

Really hoping the news konami has coming of a beloved franchise is mgs,

Would love a boxset of 1-5!

[northpaws]

While I miss MGS, I don't want Konami to earn a dime more after what they did to Kojima.

[neutralgamer1992]

Man let it go

Kojima became famous
He was VP of Konami
MGS5 took too long and budget with engine was really high

Konami wants to do the least amount of spending and most amount of profits

[maelstromb]

What exactly did Konami do to Kojima?? I'm honestly not trolling with this comment. I legitimately am asking. I know the catch phrase/hashtag #F***konami is popular and has been cemented based on the severance of Konami and Kojima, and Konami's blatant unwillingness to produce anything of value for its long-time fans of its most popular franchises (Castlevania, MGS, Silent Hill, etc.), but does anyone truly know the specifics of what happened? All I've heard is speculation, opinions, and grandstanding, but nothing that suggests the "true" story.

[ziggyzinfirion]

@maelstromb, Didn't Konami at one point prevented Kojima from attending the Games Award 2015?

[Syphos]

@Maelstromb what ziggy said, Konami always disavowed Kojima's reputation like it's something hard to swallow for them so they pulled some moves looking like hoping he'd fail sometime because of it.

What they definitely did do though, was move the deadline for MGS5's development time, TWICE, by 6 months and everyone then bashed Kojima for releasing an unfinished game...

There are plenty of examples to be honest, just dig around if you really want to know..

[VersusDMC]

Especialy after Metal Gear survive and the latest Contra.

I see people bitching about what Konami did to Kojima was probably justified...but we definitely see what they did without him.

Konami will green light the trash above but Kojima has to convince them to green light lords of shadow.
Say what you want about lords of shadow but it is way better than the trash released lately.

[mgszelda1]

Or any of the other legends as well.

[Orchard]

Agreed, and it’s not even a decent way to play the game with its hideous framerate and near constant drops.

RPCS3 is a decent way to play it at 60fps but is quite involved to setup and get working fully.

Hopefully Konami one day see sense and give us a proper remastered collection (by proper, I mean not like the SH HD collection…)

[Nyxus]

Replayed it recently on PS3 and it plays just fine.

[Orchard]

Framerate is very inconsistent, drops to 15-20 all over the place too. And that’s with a sub 720p internal res.

PC with a reasonably recent spec can hit 60 consistently - but the real fix would be a gen9 port.

[Limitedtimestruggle]

"Played just fine"

Yeah, people said so with Cyberpunk on base Xbox One and PS4 as well. I mean, this is just plain lying.

The framerate in MGS4 on PS3 IS a big problem, always was. Still is. It varies between 20-60fps, it's all over the place. I had a shit ton of fun with the game though, but I won't deny it's a technical mess on original hardware.

[P_Bomb]

I had good experiences playing MGS4 on PS3 and Cyberpunk on PS4 Pro. Maybe I got lucky? Maybe I have more tolerance? Maybe both? But good was good.

[MadLad]

You're getting disagrees, as always, but the game really does drop all over the place.

Emulation legitimately runs it better on decent PCs, and the PS3 is hard to emulate for considering the CPU they chose.

[generic-user-name]

He's getting disagrees for his gross exaggeration.

"it’s not even a decent way to play the game"

A ridiculous statement to anyone who has played the game like it was intended.

[MadLad]

@generic

So does it drop all the time, or not?
Because I've also played it on original hardware.

[Hofstaderman]

This game was designed from the ground up to run on the PS3. I’ve played through it 9 times, most recently 4 months ago. I don’t ever recall having experienced frame drops. Wouldn’t mind it ported to ps4 or ps5.

[Shane Kim]

It actually ran really well. The odd part was the installing between acts, but I guess that was made because of improving frames and what not.

[HardKnockKid24]

@ generic-user-name, me thinks you are grossly exaggerating someone grossly exaggerating. How is "it’s not even a decent way to play the game", not an apt description for someone saying they are getting 15-20 fps out of a game? What is a decent/acceptable frame rate to you?

[generic-user-name]

@madlad

I've played it over 10 times and there are only a few instances where the drops were noticeable to me.

@Hardknock

You think if it was running in 15fps that that would not have been the dominant talking point about that game when it launched? That every user review wouldn't constantly bring that up? Every review would have been talking about how unplayable it is. So yeah, gross exaggeration, like I said.

[1Victor]

@ mad here’s digital foundry video. https://youtu.be/s7gmgg5Uzv...
Does the frame drop yes like ALL THE GAMES OF THAT TIME AND SOME NOW
Is it noticeable no as most of the time it happens on heavy action moments

[Gwiz]

It's not really a game that runs bad on the PS3 the exclusive titles have the most of the optimization to begin with.

[Limitedtimestruggle]

Sony Defence Force are running their downvote squads overtime lol.

I cant take people seriously if they think "this is fine". The framerate is incredibly unstable, that's a plain fact.

I remember the TGS trailer though, smooth stable 60fps. It looked too good to be true, and it was.

[HardKnockKid24]

@ generic-user-name, your experience is not everyone else’s. Could’ve been his specific console, who knows, the point is it was HIS experience. If HIS experience is that he was getting those frames, how is that not an appropriate description. Have you never had something happen to you that hasn’t happened to anyone else before?

[generic-user-name]

@hardknock

"Could’ve been his specific console, who knows"

Wow, even more reason to disregard his opinion in that case.

[Father__Merrin]

Ran pretty good and was one of the best looking games during its time. It is a very old game now and would make an excellent remake

[jznrpg]

That’s total BS it ran great I still have my ps3 and my copy of it .

[TheExecutioner]

I doubt you even tried it on ps3

[1Victor]

@ orchard Agreed, and it’s not even a decent way to play the game with its hideous framerate and near constant drops.

Sure like halo and all other old games had a steady 30fps hell even now we got games that can’t keep a steady frame rate drop 🤦🏿 😩 you and your hate agendas.
If I remember correctly Sony put the developers money into it and that’s why it still exclusive to PS3 and without Sony approval it won’t show up anywhere else so if you want to play the definitely end of the Solid Snake saga you have to buy a PS3 and the game both of witch are cheaper now you can get the game for $20 and the system depending if you look for it locally or online you can get it for less than $200. 🤷🏿

[shinoff2183]

I played it on ps3 without issue back in the day. Hopefully they do box up a set though for ps5or ps4 though for sure.

[ChiefofLoliPolice]

I still have a original copy of it from when I first bought the MGS4 bundle 80gb. I swear man to this day this game still holds up very well even at 30fps.

[badz149]

if trolls are this persistent on every single games exclusive to a certain console or platform they don't own, why aren't more of these people bringing the same fight to Nintendo? you know, the one with the most game locked on their consoles and handhelds?

[CosmicTurtle]

But we cannot even play it directly on PS4 it PS5. The assets most likely still exist and it would not be hard to update to higher res or frame rates. Wanting more people to be able to play it is not an attack on Sony. It would be great if Nintendo ported more games too. I think people have made that point before. Game preservation is a big issue well beyond these companies.

[Sgt_Slaughter]

Nintendo has moved their games forwards quite a lot. NES games were available in Animal Crossing on the GameCube, they had NES/SNES/N64 and GameCube backwards compatibility on Wii, all of those worked on Wii U as well as GBA and DS games, and now NES/SNES/N64 are on Switch.

GBC had GB support, GBA had both as well, DS had GBA, 3DS had DS and GBA, etc.

[Einhander1971]

Obviously some bitterness among us on here, just get a ps3 and enjoy This game and many more!!

[SurgicalMenace]

The bitterness is real and easily remedied by purchasing the console that it's available for.

[brewin]

This is why I worked m ass off most of my life. So I could buy all the consoles I wanted. I remember the school yard fights over Super Nintendo vs Sega Genesis. I was always like eff that, Im gonna be rich and buy them all while you peons argue over which one is better. Now I just buy them all and play the best that each has to offer. Problem solved.

[Father__Merrin]

They are extremely bitter this is proof enough that over the years they haven't had good games and and now relying on console ports

[Knushwood Butt]

I wonder how it would be if added to PS+ Premium.

[SonyStyled]

Probably the same as it was when it was on PSNow

[Knushwood Butt]

Ah, did you play it on Now?

[MrChow666]

Last month I bought a ps3 just to play this game again

[badz149]

I still have my PS3 hooked to one of my FHD TV. it has its HDMI port broken and repair stores where I live aren't taking PS3 and below for repairs anymore. so I went and bought the HORI component cable for it and it works. just one problem, I have to keep my old TV to play it on because newer 4K sets don't have components input anymore. I'm gonna rock this PS3 till it dies on me because there are still gems I have yet to finish on it like Puppeteer, Enslaved etc. just recently started playing Lost in the Rain which I got many years ago from PS+. GEMS like these aren't being released anymore.

[Limitedtimestruggle]

If you have a Xbox 360, go play Enslaved on there. The PS3 port is..not very great. Gruesome performance all over the place. I did finish the game on PS3 though, good stuff! But I should have picked the 360 version for sure.

[badz149]

@Limited

thanks for the suggestion but I don't have a 360. and I just got an unopened copy of the game for cheap haha.

[brewin]

I got my ps3 at launch but had to buy this bundle when I saw it sitting there on the shelf at frickin KMart lol. Im gad I did because my launch PS3 died weeks later and all I had was this 80GB model. Had one for the living room and one for the bedroom. I remember having to wait almost 2 full days to completely have this game updated to actually play it, but that feeling of having it in my possession was still so awe inspiring!

Have not played in ages, this is something that should really be remastered for current gen. Very few series evoke the kind of awe the way a new MGS game used to. I know MGS series eventually came to other consoles, but everytime I hear of MGS I have massive PlayStation nostalgia flashbacks! Man these games made me fall hard for PlayStation! I dissed some girls back in the day just to play these games. I couldnt be bothered with that drama, fkn Metal Gear Solid was calling me. There is a reason Kojima is a legend!

[SoulWarrior]

I'd love a remaster of this on modern platforms, shame konami don't seem to care enough, I get it may be complicated due to product and music licences, and references to the PS3 and Cell CPU, but it's still a shame.

[Furesis]

There are some games people have been asking for a remaster but never got made, meanwhile less known games have gotten remasters that not many asked for. It has to be something with ownership for parts of the game or something that they just can't get an ok for. Whatever it is, i hope this game and others that are locked behind a system get ported/remastered in the near future to all the major platforms.

[Dwarrior]

I would buy a remaster for sure. In my heart of hearts, I know it won't happen.

If I was making the call, it'd be a PS5 collection of all of them remastered/remade in one package. Might as well wish for a lottery win. Fuck Konami.

[VersusDMC]

I don't think they will ever release all of them in one package.

At best it will be a Naked Snake collection (MGS3, Peace Walker, MGSV) and a Solid Snake Collection (MGS 1, 2, 4) for 60 each. If they are all straight ports maybe 40 each.

[MIDGETonSTILTS17]

Konami has either been asleep at the wheel during the golden remake era, or they genuinely don’t believe in themselves enough to make remakes that’ll meet the same standards of the originals.

[Terry_B]

Its playable on PC. 'nuff said.

[XxINFERNUSxX]

Now this deserves a remake, not a remaster. It should be remade for PS5 and PC taking advantage of the strengths of both, and it must use direct storage on PC as well.

[Dirty_Lemons]

I dusted off the PS3 the other day to begin a MGS saga playthrough after several years away. I'm currently on the Plant in MGS2, and I cannot wait to get around to 4 again. For me, back in the day, that entire finale cutscene was better than any film. It has the perfect ending to a game, and I think Kojima was wise not to chronologically continue the Solid saga after it.

[GoodGuy09]

Yup. Blame konami.

[EazyC]

I would argue it's the masterpiece of that generation of consoles (GTA IV and TLoU are definitely up there too).

I don't really like owning a lot of electronics so getting a PS3 would not really be a solution...but man oh man I'd love a remaster for PS5.

[TheEroica]

Mgs4 was meh

[P_Bomb]

Father & Son, good tune to end the saga. Two sagas!

[RoseSapphire]

100%

Games in general need better preservation and more access. Whether it is 5 years or 10 years later, these need to be made more widely available.

[mastershredder]

A True Crime was adding dumb crap like little grey and his shiny monkey pants into the franchise. We get a weeby cringe lord for a weapons dealer. Real hard Drebin, real hard. And that floofy ending took the series into a hallmark movie channel moment (hokey wholesome family is great for pixar, but come on dude).

[anast]

Keep it on the PS3. Resources should be put to Castlevania remakes if anything, but that won't happen either.

[LucidIllusion]

My favorite! Let it remain a rarity. Nobody cares cause you can make arguments about other games as well.