Metal Gear Solid: Delta is not the first remake of Metal Gear Solid 3.
In the two decades since Metal Gear Solid 3 first HALO-dropped into our hearts, Konami has reissued, remastered, and remade Hideo Kojima’s tactical espionage opus more than a few times– adding to, subtracting from, and significantly changing Snake’s adventure in the nonexistent jungles of the Soviet Union.
You can dig up the raw PS2 original that hit 2004 like a tactical nuke, or feast on the more refined and rounded Subsistence. You can enjoy it on the go, or accept some sacrifices to play it on the newest tech. And if none of those get you charged up, perhaps Delta will deliver the Snake Eater of your dreams.
There are plenty of ways to enjoy one of the greatest games ever made– but what’s the correct way to experience MGS3? Is authenticity the aim, or even achievable? Are we willing to lose some of its original truth in the name of enjoyability and accessibility? In short: what’s the real Metal Gear Solid 3?
Your mission, Jack, is to infiltrate the various versions of this virtuous masterpiece and explore the changes it’s accumulated throughout the years, for better and for worse, beginning with…
Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater
Try to remember some of the basics of life in 2004: You’re wearing your “Vote for Pedro” shirt, rocking a Livestrong bracelet, and T9 texting your MySpace top 8 on the brand-new Moto Razr. Spider-Man 2 is at the movie theater, on your iPod Mini, and inside your sixth-generation console. Other games vying for your attention in this absolutely stacked year include a squad of S-tier sequels like Half-Life 2, Halo 2, and GTA: San Andreas. MGS3 hangs with them all.
Etched on this PS2-exclusive disc is an all-time classic. Hot on the heels of the mind-shattering Metal Gear Solid 2, Snake Eater is the platonic ideal of a prequel– an approachable action epic, with excellent voice-acting, and intricate, quirky game systems. It’s the perfect on-ramp to the Kojima experience and it easily deserves our contemporary score of 9.6.
But the game is about all you get.
The first release of Snake Eater had no VR missions, no multiplayer, and no bonus features beyond Snake vs. Monkey, a charming hide-and-seek minigame starring the titular simians of Sony’s Ape Escape series. Since the campaign itself is more than a hearty meal, no one much complained at the time, though there was some grumbling about the fixed, overhead camera carried over from MGS2.
A top-down view worked great for the bases, tankers, and… struts of past Metal Gear games, but a lot had changed since the heyday of 8-bit Japanese PCs. The first release of Snake Eater can be aggravating at times, and the cramped perspective doesn’t take full advantage of the wide-open jungles of Tselinoyarsk.
Still, the PS2 original is the rare, unseasoned Snake Eater experience– and there’s nothing quite like sinking your teeth into the earliest draft of a masterpiece. It doesn’t get more authentic than this flawed but foundational text from which all MGS3 is derived.
It only took a few months for Kojima and Konami to start tinkering with the game. Like MGS2 before it, the PAL version of Snake Eater includes a boss rush mode, cutscene theater, and the “European Extreme” difficulty level– perhaps one of the highest honors ever bestowed upon a continent.
The game itself was substantially unaltered, but it would see subSISTantial changes in MGS3: Subsistence.
Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence
The new-and-improved version of Snake Eater didn’t come as a surprise, since both prior MGS titles were followed by revised expansions. Metal Gear Solid: Integral included an entire disk of VR missions, a playable first-person view, and a bizarre photoshoot mode that has since been reborn in Death Stranding 2.
MGS2: Substance was flush with bonus content, including non-canon, largely silly Snake Tales to appease the angry anti-Raiden army. The game itself received lots of subtle refinements, though nothing near the extent of MGS3.
With MGS3: Subsistence, the Snake Eater experience is now composed of double disks, with a second DVD bursting with bonus material, as well as new ports of the original MSX games– including the first official localization of the magnificent Metal Gear 2.
And if that wasn’t enough bang for your buck, the so-called “Persistence” disc also includes a full-fledged online multiplayer mode: Metal Gear Online. Other MGS games, including Delta, would offer their own spin on the PvP formula, but this is the only release of MGS3 that includes it– though the servers have been dark since 2007.
Goodies aside, it’s the massive change to gameplay that makes Subsistence such a big deal. It’s why the rerelease has been the blueprint for all future iterations of the title, and it’s a big enough deal that one could plausibly argue that Subsistence is a remake unto itself.
Subsistence incorporates a brand-new, player-controlled, third-person camera system– essentially a prototype borrowed from the then in-development Metal Gear Solid 4, and a huge improvement in terms of user experience. The game now allows you to peek around corners and scope out your surroundings, without the tedium of popping into first-person. The old way is still available as an option, though not a very appetizing one– even if some of the experience is lost in the transition:
The new POV makes the game slightly easier, though nowhere near the extent to which Twin Snakes trivialized the halls of Shadow Moses.
Some cinematic setpieces originally contained bespoke camera shots and movements that go unseen with the new system. They’re still there, but you’d have to know about them to switch over beforehand.
Finally, the wide-open Soviet jungle loses just a little magic when the camera is unshackled. Without the curated, limited angles of vanilla Snake Eater, it’s easier to see past the illusion of a sprawling wilderness and recognise the region for what it actually is: a series of surprisingly small rooms connected by loading screens.
Issues aside, the new camera makes Subsistence a strong candidate for the definitive version of MGS3. It’s almost purely additive and, unlike future releases, it’s content-complete. Our more granular review scale of the era deemed the upgrade worth two whole tenths of a point, and many others would agree that it’s the better game over the original… But is it the same game?
The enhanced rerelease is a Kojima tradition at this point. Even Death Stranding has a “Director’s Cut,” although Kojima himself disagrees with that label– he prefers the term “Director’s Plus.” His expansions exist to supplement the original, not cast shade on or replace them– even though in several cases, the vanilla versions are no longer commercially available.
Subsistence is the smoothest way to play MGS3, and it’s probably the camera the game should have shipped with. The thing is… it didn’t. The first release of Snake Eater remains Kojima’s uncompromised vision– and so does Subsistence. It’s up to you if you want to endure an aggravating camera in the pursuit of historicity, sans the temptation to switch to the better system.
Subsistence remained the final word on MGS3 for five years, until another version brought Snake Eater into a new generation. Most of it, anyway.
Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater HD
Metal Gear Solid: HD Collection was released in November of 2011, the same day as Modern Warfare 3, making for one interesting midnight at Gamestop. The Collection contains updated ports of MGS 2 and 3, plus a brand-new big screen version of the PSP-exclusive Peace Walker, all in glorious 720p.
Snake Eater HD is based on Subsistence, incorporating the free camera while offering higher resolution, native 16:9 widescreen support, and 60 frames per second performance. The HD collection was also the first opportunity for XBox owners to experience MGS3, although that came with a massive caveat.
Back in the optimistic early years of the millennium, console manufacturers went kind of crazy with controllers. It was a big period of innovation, leading to the abandonment of wires, built-in rumble, buttons shaped like beans, and controllers modelled after TV remotes and chainsaws. Pressure sensitive buttons were an evolutionary dead end of this era.
In addition to analog sticks and triggers, the DualShock 2, 3, and original XBox controllers all utilized analog face buttons that responded to pressure, meaning instead of a simple on/off state, they can report how hard they’re pushed. Not many games took advantage of this feature, but Kojima, the man who turned the sun itself into a game peripheral, gleefully stitched pressure-sensitivity into the very fabric of MGS2 and 3.
To raise your weapon, lightly press the designated Weapon Button. Let go to lower your gun without raising the alarm or spending silencer health. Push it all the way in to pull the trigger. With today’s muscle memory, it’s kind of jarring to not touch the shoulder buttons while handling an in-game firearm, but it works.
MGS3’s focus on close-quarters combat adds the wrinkle of questioning enemies at the end of Snake’s blade, where one slip of the thumb can turn interrogation into exsanguination. The slightest difference of pressure is all that stands between snagging some shiny new dogtags or splattering GRU guts on your camo and losing the precious Pigeon rank.
The pressure-sensitive controls can be inelegant at times, but they’re how the game was meant to be played– a uniquely tactile, immersive mechanic that might be forever lost to history.
The PS3 version of MGS3 HD is the last release of the game to support pressure sensitivity. Starting with the XBox 360 release of the HD Collection, Snake Eater has replaced it with a clumsy but functional scheme that involves clicking sticks, because today’s controllers are no longer capable of this level of input.
Analog face buttons are expensive, and the general apathy toward them led console manufacturers to dump them like a sack of spoiled tree frogs with the seventh generation. Today’s controllers are in their haptics and internal microphone eras, and no one has shown much interest in reviving pressure controls.
Not a lot can be done about an industry-wide decision to drop a feature, but it does mean we might never get a chance to experience the game like this again. Even emulation requires original, aging analog hardware to enjoy Snake Eater as it was intended. You really can’t know what it’s like unless you’ve actually felt it
The HD Collection is also the first release of MGS3 to remove content from the game. Every single bonus feature from Subsistence is absent save for the 8-bit Metal Gears. Metal Gear Online is gone, and so is Snake vs. Monkey– a component of Snake Eater since its first printing in 2004. Sony didn’t want their Ape Escape on other platforms, and as of Delta they still don’t. We’ll get to Konami’s clever compromise soon.
The HD Collection replaced the lethargic framerate and hazy PS2 sheen of Subsistence with smooth performance and HD clarity. Some cutscenes don’t play super well with widescreen, and some visual effects are lost in translation, but it suits its purpose as a solid, adaptable, almost archival edition of MGS3.
It’s just a shame Guy Savage didn’t make the cut.
In previous releases, after Snake is captured and imprisoned deep within the fortress Groznyj Grad, our now-cyclopic hero has the option to call Para-Medic and save his game. This, naturally, sparks a discussion about Bram Stoker’s Dracula. Snake falls asleep, and when the player loads the save again, they find themselves in a completely different video game.
Without any explanation we are tossed into a barebones, black-and-white hack-and-slash sequence in control of a hook-sword wielding anime hunk. There’s a textured warehouse environment, a horde of zombies with rudimentary AI, and even a basic “heating up” mechanic, but the action ends after just a few minutes of mayhem and Snake Eater returns to your regularly-scheduled adventure.
Snake’s nightmare, known as the “Guy Savage” sequence, is Kojima’s trademark fourth-wall trolling at its finest. It was intended as a teaser for another game the team had been kicking around at the time, using a battle system borrowed from the never-released Zone of the Enders 3.
But, beginning with the HD Collection, Guy Savage has been M.I.A. from MGS3.
We don’t really know why. Maybe the separate game engine proved too laborious to port. Perhaps Konami doesn’t want the hassle of licensing old concepts for a cancelled game. For whatever reason, we must endure the seemingly-permanent loss of Guy Savage– along with the related codec banter from your kooky crew of future global authoritarian overlords.
Cutting an entirely missable non-sequitur fantasy sequence isn’t the end of the world, but Snake Eater is less complete without it.
Imagine if Psycho Mantis no longer talked your ear off about Suikoden, or MGS4 didn’t open with surreal live-action in-universe TV shows. It’s these playful, winking moments of weirdness that make Kojima games so special, and it would sincerely be a shame if Guy Savage has joined the likes of P.T., skateboarding Snake, and Sam Bridges slamming Monsties in the catalog of Kojima content that we may never see again.
The MGS3 HD port was carried forward into the currently-available Master Collection, meaning it’s the only way to legally purchase and play the original Snake Eater on modern hardware. For that reason alone we would easily recommend it, especially since the game was actually delisted for a while over rights issues surrounding stock footage.
The best version of any game is the one you can actually play, after all, and unlike other Metal Gear titles stuck in limbo, you can own and run this extremely solid version of Snake Eater on pretty much anything. It’s not the same game that was released in 2004, but until Delta, it’s all we’ve got.
There’s one more iteration of Snake Eater to talk about before we reach the current day, though, and it’s one of the most interesting of all:
Metal Gear Solid: Snake Eater 3D
Until the Switch, there’s never been a straight-up port of the core MGS trilogy to a Nintendo platform. Metal Gear is no stranger to the company, but whenever the series appears on Nintendo hardware there’s usually some sort of twist.
The Game Boy Color received a meaty 2-D throwback title, the GameCube enjoyed the extremely extra Twin Snakes remake, and Snake himself dukes it out with the Super Smash Bros. on the regular. Even the NES port of the first Metal Gear game was a bespoke, albeit wildly inferior, version that spawned a Nintendo-exclusive sequel without Kojima’s blessing, prompting him to continue the series purely out of spite.
The Nintendo 3DS port of Snake Eater is no exception to this trend. Snake Eater 3D isn’t simply a portable port of the PS2 title– it’s more like a full-fledged remake. Rather than cram the HD edition onto a cartridge, Snake Eater 3D applies the art, sound, and content of MGS3 to the more modern, portable-first engine of Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker. The differences are subtle, but quite clear in your hands.
The color scheme and character models are slightly altered, and new button prompts demystify the confusing CQC mechanics. Collectible Kerotan dolls have been replaced by Yoshi. The game takes full advantage of the 3DS’s hardware, using the onboard camera to create your own PhotoCamo, while the secondary touch screen does wonders for MGS3’s notoriously convoluted menu system.
The real giveaway that Snake Eater 3D is built on the bones of Peace Walker is the new movement and aiming system. Like in Peace Walker and MGS4 before it, Snake can now quickly scamper across the jungle floor via crouch walking, eliminating the need for slow crawling and tedious tip-toeing in the original versions.
Gone are the thumb-twisting weapon controls, replaced by a conventional over-the-shoulder third-person aiming system, complete with modern “aim with the left trigger, shoot with the right” scheme. The easier ability to move while aiming gives Snake far more mobility options during combat.
That freedom combined with the rather exploitable create-your-own-camo feature, on top of the free camera from Subsistence, makes Snake Eater 3D the easiest iteration of MGS3– though it’s far from the most pleasant to play. The framerate is abysmal, the resolution is miniscule, and good luck stopping the Shagohod without a Circle Pad Pro.
The distinct gamefeel and quality of life improvements can’t really make up for these massive downsides. Still, Snake Eater 3D is sui generis. There’s no other version quite like it, and it’s worth experiencing– but mostly as a curiosity, provided you have access to a 3DS with two sticks.
Besides, most of its better features have been incorporated into our final and most recent incarnation of MGS3…
Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater
Delta actually has a lot in common with Snake Eater 3D. It too grafts the story and gameplay of MGS3 onto a brand new engine, in this case Unreal 5, with the aim of updating but strictly adhering to the classic content.
The Peace Walker-style controls carry over from the 3DS, including crouch-walking and third-person shooting. Delta also borrows from the godlike traversal of Metal Gear Solid V for some slick new additions to Snake’s moveset, although this time around, the developers are directly addressing the balance changes by tuning up the enemy difficulty in response.
Snake’s camouflage is now directly impacted by the environment around him, with a coat of mud or a refreshing bloodbath helping Snake stay hidden. The clunky healing system of the original is now enhanced by wounds and scarring that persist throughout the game, as does damage to Snake’s drip.
The UI has been streamlined and the graphics given a gorgeous, if somewhat expected, photorealistic shine– but if you’d prefer a more vintage experience, the original color filters and fixed-camera controls are available courtesy of a “Legacy” mode. Like Snake Eater 3D, Delta leaves the essential aspects of the game intact and brings the gameplay up to par with the series’ evolution.
While the original Snake Eater slithered into our hearts via a 4GB DVD, Delta weighs in at an eye-popping 100GB of Metal Gear greatness. Most of that can be attributed to high-resolution Unreal Engine assets, but Delta is also packed with bonus features both new and surprisingly old.
Secret Theater has returned, while the multiplayer Fox Hunt mode serves as a spiritual successor to the dearly-missed Metal Gear Online. Even Snake vs. Monkey has reared its siren-toting head once more, though only on the PlayStation and Steam versions. Thankfully, XBox players won’t be left out this time: In place of Sony’s Ape IP, Konami is offering an exclusive Snake vs. Bomberman mode. We’re just one bad dream away from having quite possibly the most complete package of MGS3 ever.
Twenty years from now, when someone asks which version of MGS3 to play, will the overwhelming consensus be “just play Delta?”
Some fans are relieved that Delta’s ambitions are limited to a remaster, sticking to the original design, script, and hall-of-fame voice acting of a singular artistic achievement. Others are disappointed that it’s not a full-on reimagining of the scenario ala the Resident Evil remakes or Konami’s own Silent Hill 2, bemoaning the dated environments and annoying interstitial screens that come with such classic territory.
Can Delta become the definitive form of Snake Eater, or will there still be a place for the more awkward, idiosyncratic vintage versions? If the 2004 release will always be the purest incarnation, and Subsistence holds onto its title as the best, how will history look upon Delta?
Metal Gear Solid is famous for its complicated story, but ultimately it’s actually quite simple. The conflict at the heart of the series revolves around the will of the Boss– the greatest soldier in history who sacrificed everything for her country and left behind a vision of a better world. The warriors who came after her spent their lives fighting and killing each other over their own clashing interpretations of the Boss’s dream.
In the end, it’s the humble, doomed clone Solid Snake who finally unlocks the meaning of her will: Freedom. The freedom achieved by respecting the will of others. The freedom to fight for causes you believe in. The freedom not to fight at all.
There’s no “correct” way to play Metal Gear Solid 3, no “real” Snake Eater that obviates all the others. We have the liberty to choose the version that speaks to us the most, whether we desire a nostalgic trip to the days of Shrek 2 and The Simple Life, the jam-packed, fully-loaded final form of Hideo Kojima firing on all cylinders, or a fresh and gorgeous, fun and accessible new coat of paint that reminds us just how timeless this game truly is.