Metal Gear is practically synonymous with PlayStation. Even though it technically got its start on the MSX (and the NES, too, if you count the ports of the first two Metal Gear games), the Hideo Kojima-developed franchise has had a long and arduous history with Sony’s console brand. Almost all of the Metal Gear Solid games debuted first on PlayStation consoles, with MGS1 in particular being a system seller for the PS1. Even most of the spin-off titles in the series were released exclusively for PlayStation.
The characters of the Metal Gear franchise have been represented in several first-party Sony games, too. Ape Escape 3 featured a Metal Gear Solid-themed minigame, while LittleBigPlanet and Astro Bot both had Solid Snake cameos.
These days, the Metal Gear series is primarily multiplatform, but the majority of its installments are nonetheless playable on Sony’s latest console, the PS5. Thanks to the Master Collection compilations that publisher Konami has released over the last few years, you can now play every mainline Metal Gear game on PS5, from the MSX and NES versions of Metal Gear all the way to Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots.
Despite Konami’s best efforts, there are still a handful of Metal Gear games that aren’t playable on the PlayStation 5. These range from more popular titles like Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance to obscure releases such as Metal Gear Solid Mobile. For convenience’s sake, I’ve decided to compile all the Metal Gear games unavailable on PS5 in one handy article. Hopefully, all of the titles listed below will come to PS5 in future Master Collection volumes, but it remains to be seen if that will happen.
Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance is One of the PS3’s Best Games
Let’s start off with the Metal Gear spin-off that’s probably the most well-known in the gaming community: Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance. Unlike the other titles in the series, this game is a fast-paced hack-and-slash with virtually no stealth elements. It follows MGS 2 protagonist Raiden as he fights against a private military company that seeks to destabilize countries for profit. This game’s version of Raiden, however, is more like a cyborg ninja rather than a run-of-the-mill soldier.
Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance was helmed by PlatinumGames, instead of series developer Kojima Productions. Nonetheless, Hideo Kojima was still involved in the game’s creation. As many readers may already know, this game has gained a lot of popularity in recent years owing to a resurgence of memes based on the title’s characters. Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance also has great boss battles and a killer soundtrack, so that’s certainly played a part in its resurrection, too.
Though it was released on the PS3, Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance is only playable on Xbox and PC when it comes to modern platforms. A remaster of the game has yet to be made. Since the PS5 isn’t backwards compatible with the PS3, you can’t play Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance on the console.
MGS: The Twin Snakes and MGS: Portable Ops Are Stuck on Old Consoles
Speaking of games that haven’t received remasters, Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes is another such example of a title that’s stuck on old platforms. It is a remake of the original Metal Gear Solid that’s exclusive to the Nintendo GameCube. This game was made by the now-defunct Canadian developer Silicon Knights, rather than Kojima Productions, so it notably departed from the series’ tone in a lot of ways.
Even to this day, Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes is a bit divisive amongst fans, owing to its unique cutscene direction and re-recorded English voice lines. That said, it’s still deserving of a PS5 port, since it’s still a competently-made game, all things considered.
The same can be said of Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops. As its name suggests, this game was released exclusively for the PlayStation Portable and was designed first and foremost with handheld play in mind. In that sense, it’s a lot like Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker, a PSP game which was recently ported to PS5 as part of MGS Master Collection Vol. 2.
Some Metal Gear Games Will Probably Never Come to PS5
Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops is set 6 years after the events of MGS 3: Snake Eater, and it features gameplay very similar to the mainline titles in the series. The game wasn’t written by Hideo Kojima, but it’s still considered an important chapter in the Metal Gear saga. It’s a shame, then, that it hasn’t been released anywhere else other than the PSP.
Other games in the franchise exclusive to the PSP include Metal Gear Acid and Metal Gear Acid 2. These two games are collectible card RPGs with tactical elements and turn-based combat. In other words, they’re very different from the mainline games in the series. Broadly considered to be non-canon, the Metal Gear Acid duology is an interesting part of Metal Gear history, and it would be nice to see them on PS5 someday.
Unlike Acid, there are a few titles in the Metal Gear saga that are unlikely to ever come to modern consoles. These include the now-defunct multiplayer game Metal Gear Online, the canon action-adventure stealth title Metal Gear Mobile, the iOS third-person shooter Metal Gear Solid Touch, and the shuttered mobile game Metal Gear Solid: Social Ops. Owing to the non-conventional nature of these games, Konami will probably never touch them, not even with a ten-foot pole. That said, who knows what the future holds?
