This review will likely be a short one. More of a cautionary tale than a proper review, actually. Let’s just get into it, shall we?

I bought the Metal Gear Solid: Master Collection Vol.1 - DAY ONE EDITION for Switch when it released last fall because I’m a fan of the series. I especially love the first Metal Gear Solid on PS1. (And before we go any further, it must be said that this compilation’s title is flatout bad. Are we even going to get a Vol. 2?) Being such a big MGS fan, I opted to purchase a physical copy.

As discussed in this post, I particularly like the idea of preserving collections in my personal game library. So I ordered a physical copy of the game, even though the case & box art looked legitimately hideous. Honestly, it’s as if they made the packaging as ugly as possible on purpose. When MGS:MCv1 arrived, I was super pumped to play. Popping the game into my Switch, I went to boot up MGS (the PS1 game), only to find a series of download status bars needing to complete.

To my surprise, there was no media stored on the actual game card—everything had to be downloaded from the internet. No MGS2: Sons of Liberty or MGS3: Snake Eater (PS2 games), no MGS (a PS1 game). No tinny-tiny little Metal Gear 1 or 2 (MSX games). Not even the supplemental materials, like the digital graphic novels or music tracks either. Nothing whatsoever.

Disclaimer on the box states: **“Download & microSDcard required.”** What an understatement.

It turns out I had bought an essentially blank game card. One which entitles me to download the collection’s games digitally, but a blank game nonetheless. And you know what, the game card still needs to be inserted in the Switch’s slot in order for me to actually play the games (which aren’t on it).

Such a bizarre arrangement, it really begs the question: Why even release a physical version if nothing is actually included on the damn thing?

It’s kind of like buying a music CD and receiving a download link to iTunes instead. Except it’s probably worse than that, because iTunes would at least let you download the MP3’s for use outside of their platform. Perhaps it’s more like buying a DVD and instead receiving a coupon code for Amazon Prime Video. Either way, it’s madness.

Then, to add insult to injury, MGS:MCv1 immediately went on sale for the holiday season. Had I waited about one month, I could have purchased the collection for 50% less than I what I’d paid for it. OR I could have purchased a digital copy of just MGS—the one game I really wanted—for $20 or less. Because if had I known the games were actually download-only, I probably wouldn’t have bought this stupid collection in the first place.

The experience of buying a physical copy of MGS:MCv1 has been so demoralizing, I still haven’t tried playing MGS on Switch. It’s all downloaded and ready to go, but I just don’t feel like getting into it now. I did try playing a little bit of Metal Gear 2 (the MSX game) and…well, now I see why they didn’t make the classic Metal Gears more accessible sooner. I’d much rather boot up Metal Gear Solid: Ghost Babel on Game Boy Color instead.

Now we don’t usually assign numerical scores in our reviews because—as much as we loved the video game magazines of yore—I don’t really think that’s a useful style of media criticism. However we’ll make an exception in this case….

Review Score: 2/10

The physical Nintendo Switch release of Metal Gear Solid: Master Collection Vol.1 - DAY ONE EDITION gets a 2/10 for being merely an empty vessel.