Ask Joystiq: What's essentially in the MGS collection?

A signed MGS Essential Collection from Kojima's London Signing

The once-dormant Ask Joystiq has returned for a special Metal Gear edition. If you have any burning questions, unsolved gaming mysteries, or just a desire for musings from our knowledgeable cadre of writers, drop us a line at ask AAT joystiq DAWT com (and yes, we write it that way for a reason).

I want to get the MGS Essential Collection before I get Metal Gear Solid 4 but what exactly is in it? I mean for example does it have the Subsistence edition of MGS2 or MGS3? What does directors cut mean? Does it mean they cut from the original games? Please help me!
– Manuel G.

The Metal Gear Solid Essential Collection includes the original MGS, MGS2: Substance and MGS3: Subsistence (sans Disc 2). For MGS2, that includes:

• The original MGS2: Sons of Liberty, with new infrared effects and new dog tags.

• Boss Survival and Casting Theater, both found in the original PAL and Japanese version.

• 300 VR missions and 200 "Alternate missions"

• Snake Tales, a series of non-canonical missions featuring Snake

• A demo for Evolution Skateboarding featuring Snake and Raiden shredding the Big Shell

Since MGS3: Subsistence is without its second disk, there's no online mode. However, you still get the new 3rd-person camera mode with the main game, as well as a demo theater to watch in-game cinematics. For more on what's being left out of disc two, check out The Metal Gear Wikia.

When Substance and Subsistence are referred to as "Director's Cuts," that means it has expanded the game and included more than the original release of the title. For example, the Japanese and PAL editions of the original MGS2 had Boss Survival and Casting Theater (the game was released in North America first, which might pose an explanation for their exclusion).

Some director's cuts also fix up localization and translation errors. Despite the occasional wishful thinking, we couldn't think of a director's cut of a game that excluded content.

Snake? Snaaaake? SNAAAAAAKE! Check out our Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriotspage for all things Metal Gear.