METAL GEAR
Among Konami’s incredible streak of 70+ MSX releases, Metal Gear is one of its finest. Famously created with the system’s hardware limitations in mind, it was designed as a slower paced, flickscreen game that rewarded careful planning and slow movement over action.
Hideo Kojima cleverly designed the game this way to sidestep the jerky scrolling of the humble MSX and in doing so he practically invented an entirely new type of game that’s still deeply satisfying to play today.
Yes, Metal Gear is also available on the NES, and at a more affordable price, but the NES port was significantly altered with many changes, including the removal of the actual Metal Gear boss itself.
With the MSX version you’re getting the real, undiluted Kojima deal. If you’re looking to save money, you may be tempted to go for the cheaper Japanese release, but be cautious as the Japanese version will only play on MSX computers with a kanji ROM, so if you have a PAL system it likely won’t play at all. Too bad, Snake!