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AtomEssential portable comparison: MGS remote play vs. PS3 download
Metal Gear Solid is sitting pretty on Japan’s PlayStation Store. Metal Gear Solid also arrived in North America as part of the Metal Gear Solid: Essential Collection earlier this week. So, which version plays better on the PSP? I personally don’t know! However Siliconera superstar Angelous did all of us a favor by comparing the two releases.
On Metal Gear Solid bundled with the Essential Collection Angelous notes in the comments:
“Ok, so I’m playing MGS on my PSP via remote play and I can’t selec[t] my items with the PSP “L” and “R” buttons. That sucks. Now I’m interested to know how the PS3/PSP version is optimized for the PSP. I’ve got 600 yen left in my JP PSN account, guess I’ll be buying MGS tonight. I’ll post an update later.”
Later he followed up by trying the downloadable re-release.
“So the MGS digital download for PS3/PSP weighs in at a hefty 775mb. So one might need to clean up their PSP mem stick before the load it on. As far the controls go, the L2 and R2 item swapping functions is mapped to the analog stick. Push left for L2 and right for R2.
The graphics seems cleaner when running the game on the PSP versus the PSX version via remote play. But this may be cause the game is running natively instead of being streamed. Also, you don’t have the half second delay in button presses that you get when you[‘re] playing with remote play. To me, this reinforces the fact that remote play with PSX game is best left to RPGs.
One other change I noticed is that there is no vibration setting option when you[‘re] playing the PSP, it’s removed from the menu all together. Of course, this is makes sense since the PSP has no vibration.
I have to say, MGS has aged very well for a game from 1998. There are some PSX games I can’t stand to play today due to their graphics and translations (I’m looking at you FF VII). Kudos to Hideo Kojima, KCE Japan, and Konami USA for producing an awesome game (not to mention series) that stands the test of time. Hopefully Konami USA sees fit to give us the English version of MGS on PSN in the future.
One last thought, MGS looks WAY better on the PSP’s screen that it does running on the PS3 over HDMI, upscaled to 720p, on a 42 inch DLP.”
Notes taken and it sounds like a digital download is the best way to experience Metal Gear Solid on the go! Angelous, thanks for the excellent write up, I’m sure this information will help other readers.
6 Responses to “Essential portable comparison: MGS remote play vs. PS3 download”
March 23rd, 2008 at 12:31 pm
OK. So Metal Gear Solid the Essential Collection comes with a physical reprint of Metal Gear Solid (read: disc). Using the power of remote play Angelous tried playing Metal Gear Solid on his PSP by streaming the data from his PS3, which had the disc.
Afterwards, he downloaded Metal Gear Solid from the Japanese PlayStation Store. Incidentally, the digital version came out on the same week as the NA reprint. The results of playing the digitally downloaded version is the second piece.
So it’s a compare and contrast between Metal Gear Solid using remote play to get the game on the PSP versus buying Metal Gear Solid off the PlayStation Store and running it directly from the PSP’s memory stick.
March 23rd, 2008 at 5:02 pm
ok, thanks now I got it… so the PS version is better xD
March 23rd, 2008 at 7:08 pm
well, weren’t those results to be expected ?
(can’t you turn off the virtual DualShock’s analog btn (hence emulating a non-dualshock controller) from the home menu via remote play and where the L and R are supposed to be mapped ?)
plus, you can change that too from the PopsEmu on psp by pressing Home>assign buttons and choose between type1-4.
42″ ? ugly, yeah no kidding. what about 24″ and sitting 9feets away ?
should look much better now :p (I’m curious to know if you guys played it on such a big TV the first time around.)
March 25th, 2008 at 7:54 pm
why wasn’t the twin snakes for the gamecube remade for this collection? which would of made it a lot better.
June 17th, 2008 at 11:50 am
@ Frankie
No, that would be a bad idea. Silicon Knights didn’t know what they were doing, and ruined what MGS was.
Terrible game…
Gaming Map
March 23rd, 2008 at 12:23 pm
ok lets make this clear… EEEEEEEEH?