What's weird is that Metal Gear Solid 2 is probably one of, maybe, three or four games that I can directly point at and thank for sculpting my interest and dedication to video games as a medium. Considering I'm now being fed by this industry, I think I owe a lot. And here it's been over a decade since I've touched that game, though still remembering it fondly, and I never really gave a real chance to any of the other games in that franchise.

There was a time I borrowed a copy of Metal Gear Solid 3 from a classmate in high school. I don't know why I hadn't bought the game, it was the sequel to the game I'd probably spent the most time in, second only to TimeSplitters 2. But even with the copy in hand, I couldn't get myself into it. I barely made it past the title screen, actually. To this day I'm not sure what stopped me.

I think I got cynical too young. I was unable to enjoy something, for a very long time, that wasn't apparent about whether it wanted to be taken seriously or not. I quickly dismissed things that were grand or dramatic as being pretentious. I was unwilling to accept the risky or unconventional narrative. I was the sort of person who loved Oscar movies because I was told they were great, and they won awards, so obviously I was right. I remember revisiting some Metal Gear Solid 2 cinematics years ago and rolling my eyes at the verbose writing, assigning no meaning.

I fucking hate the Oscars now.

I'm not sure what series of events in my life has caused me to relapse into wanting to enjoy things so desperately again. Maybe I'm just older. Maybe I'm sick of people defining themselves based on things they hate. Or maybe I'm just bored with all of what's accepted as traditionally good and want to be surprised again.

So here I am looking back at the things I might have skimmed past because I wasn't willing to let myself enjoy them. I've found myself coming around on a lot these days. And often I butt heads with coworkers and friends who clamor praise about the most recent Marvel retread or zeitgeist shooter that thinks it's breaking new ground 'cause it postures that maybe killing is bad.

I'm sick of the standard and predictable. I want something that I don't understand for once.

I find myself turning back to one of the series that started it all for me, Metal Gear Solid. And I want to experience the first Metal Gear Solid game because I never got to and I'm so profoundly jealous of people who have.

Help me, MGS fans. I'm not sure how to go about this. I could grab a copy on PSN and play it on my PS3, which seems easiest. I'm not sure how well the game emulates though. And I know there's some weird shit with the CD case and controller port switching, and I have no idea how that'd translate. I could also just go track down a copy of the game for PS1, but that's much more expensive. I'm also not confident I even have a functioning PS1 around. There's also the GameCube port, Twin Snakes. I do have a GameCube at my current place, so that's not a problem. The game is kind of pricey though, and I've heard that it changes the direction on a few of the cinematics. That might be reason enough to avoid it. Of course, the slightly updated graphics and control would be a big plus. Any help here would be greatly appreciated.

I also plan to move on through the rest of the series, including revisiting MGS2, after this. I'm leaning towards just grabbing that HD remake on PS3 for those.

The PSN version works well enough, I certainly didn't notice any blemishes when I played it last year. I think there are scans of the box that comes with the game that you can look up through the Home button. And for the switching ports stuff you can do it through the PS3 controller settings by hitting the home button.

If you grab the Legacy Collection that came out recently, you get the PSN version of MGS1 along with the HD ports of the PS2 games and Peace Walker, as well as MGS4.

The Legacy Collection is definitely what you want to get if you want to have every game in the series, though some things are missing from MGS2 and 3, particularly Snakeboarding in MGS2 and the dream sequence in MGS3. Neither is integral to the game but they are both really dumb fun (and the dream sequence is actually a prototype for an unreleased game).

Is there any way to get the original MGS on the Vita without transferring it from a PS3? I'd buy it in a heartbeat if it was just available on the store.

I'm probably in the minority here, but I thought Twin Snakes was great. The price is almost certainly a reason to avoid it, but it added a little extra silliness in cutscenes that fit well within the series, IMO.

I can't speak for the legacay collection since I still own the originals and had no need to buy it, but I'd say its worth it just to get everything at once and not worry about it.

@bwheeeler: Nah looks like you need a PS3. I just looked to see if maybe you could use the Media Go software for the PSP on PC, but apparently the files and software are not compatible with the Vita.

And @hatking you should definitely get the Legacy Collection if you plan on playing them all, since it has all the MGS games on PS3. But the copy of MGS1 with it is a download code for the PSN version, but i haven't heard of any emulator problems at all with MGS1 so it shouldn't be a problem at all.

if you redeem the code it should appear in your download history on Vita (and PS3 of course). I bought MGS1 off the PSN store on PS3 years ago and downloaded it onto my Vita from my Vita's download history last year.

I'm wondering if it's not too late for newcomers to get into this. A large part of my reverence for the series is getting completely blown away by Metal Gear Solid back in the day. In all honesty I'm not sure if any of the later games had as large an impact on me, apart from MGS2 being another technical milestone for the series (you could shoot the tarp in that boss fight!). When I imagine getting into MGS by playing Snake Eater as my first one or worse yet MGS4, I just don't know if I'd care or even enjoy myself all that much.

I like MGS1's stripped back mechanics. Its simple hide and seek and the radar explains exactly what's going on with enemy placement and line of sight. Its a lot more about sneaking through whereas, as soon as they gave you a tranq gun in 2, it because much easier to confront guards with little or no consequence.

Some of the dialogue in MGS1 is plain silly. When I was younger it was the most bad-ass deep shit, but now it's really melodramatic and goofy. It's almost like there's no pacing to it all, just boom boom dialogue comin at ya.

If you put yourself in the mindset of a 13 year old you might be able to see what made it so great at the time, haha.

Still better than opening a game with, "Hello, my name is Peace and this is my friend Peace and we are after Peace. PEACE!"

I got into it with Snake Eater and it worked. I went back and played all the previous games (except the first Metal Gear for the MSX) and really liked them all.

Kudos to you! They are amazing games all in their own unique ways. At the time the healing system was kind of a nuisance in Snake Eater but looking back I fondly remember the boss fight with the guy who shot crossbow bolts - going into the healing menu and showing a huge bolt penetrating Snake's skull always gave me a chuckle.

And Peace Walker is mechanically closer to MGS1. I prefer being in a smaller area that you can map out, rather than MGS3's great outdoors.

I still haven't finished MGS2, MGS3, MGS4, MGSGW or Peace Walker yet.

I really liked MGS1.

''What was she fighting for? What are you fighting for? What am I fighting for?'', ''If we make it through this, I'll tell you''.

'This is just like one of my Japanese animes!''

''A Hind D? Colonel, what's a Russian gunship doing here?''

''So you're the one everyone keeps talking about. Just what'd I'd expect from the man with the same codename as the boss''.

''This, is the greatest handgun ever made''. ''Six bullets -- more than enough to kill anything that moves''.

''You haven't even taken the safety of, rookie''.

''You enjoy all the killing, that's why''.

So many memorable lines! <3 Man, the dialogue may be really goofy looking back, but it's practically impossible for me to wipe away the nostalgia of witnessing it all as a kid. I took it all so seriously and at face value back then... God, I love that game so much.

Good luck! It's my favorite series of all time, but those early ones are pretty rough in terms of game play.

Metal Gear Solid is the best. You will enjoy it.

Understand where peeps are coming from but for me the earlier ones are a more crunchy form of stealth puzzle game vs the modern stealth of recent MGSs. VR Missions is still great fun too for that very reason.

You sure? the NeoGAF thread still says you need a PS3 for that one. Some random dude in a google search said it worked for him in the UK from the "download list" trick, but every other thing i have seen said you need a PS3 to get it on a Vita. Sadly don't have a copy to really test it out.

@yummylee: Haha, no no, you're absolutely right. It'll never stop being one of the coolest games for me too. All that "we're not tools of the government, or anyone else" and "neither enemy nor friend, I am back from a world where such words are meaningless" and "at least I always fought for what I believed in!" were revelatory to my young mind.

"Holy shit mom, this cyborg ninja is a badass!"

Just play the HD versions, they are great. The thing that really made me enjoy those games was watching the Chip Cheezum https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL35239A3611F274AA LPs at the same time.

I would playthrough each area of the game by myself, then watch the videos for that section afterwards. It was really helpful in learning the mechanics better, seeing what different approaches I could have made, and discovering all of the secrets and easter eggs that I had missed. Not to mention that it is just entertaining, the commentary is funny and informative.