Metal Gear Solid HD Collection

Kojima Productions wants to remake the first Metal Gear Solid title in full HD, so says the studio's creative producer Yoshikazu Matsuhana.

Speaking with Eurogamer at E3 in Los Angeles this week, Matsuhana explained that the studio had decided against including the 1998 PSone classic in the forthcoming Metal Gear Solid HD Collection as both its gameplay and visuals are just too dated.

"Obviously, we wanted to include it and make it a complete collection. However, as you know, Metal Gear Solid 1 was for the PSone. It has a very, very low polygon count," he explained.

"While at the time the game was something new and refreshing, just bringing it as is into HD probably wouldn't have that much meaning to us. We're doing two and three with a certain work flow where the goal is to take that game, preserve it and introduce it to a new generation. We can't really take that approach with Metal Gear Solid 1 because it's very dated at this point."

However, Matsuhana then added that the studio hopes to return to the game at some point and give it some special attention above and beyond a new HD lick of paint.

"If we were going to do Metal Gear Solid 1 we'd want to take more time with it. Not just up-res the textures, not just make things look pretty and polished, but go back and tweak some of the gameplay, tweak the story to update things and do it properly. Not just a re-master but a re-imagining almost.

"We do want to do that sometime down the road but it will take more time. It's not something we're looking at doing right now."

If it does materialise it wouldn't be the first time the PSone original had been remade. Too Human developer Silicon Knights remade it as Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes for the GameCube back in 2004.

The Metal Gear Solid HD Collection, which incorporates buffed-up versions of Metal Gear Solid 2, 3 and Peace Walker, is due on PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 later this year.