MGS4's Remaster Keeps the iPod, Kills the Load Times

Two questions have haunted every conversation about Metal Gear Solid 4 leaving PS3 jail: would Konami keep all the licensed stuff, and would the load times still be brutal? After nearly an hour of gameplay aired on a Washagana TV livestream over the weekend, the answer to both is exactly what fans wanted to hear. The iPod stays. The loading screens are gone.

The footage, focused on Act 1: Liquid Sun, showed Snake's in-game iPod still present and functional, along with the Playboy magazine collectible used to distract enemies. Those were the two licensed items most people expected Konami to cut, so their survival strongly suggests the rest of MGS4's product placement roster, including Mountain Dew, Doritos, and the Walkman, will make it through too. The stream also confirmed a few smaller details: the defunct Hideoblog URL has been scrubbed from the cardboard box in an early cutscene, and a "back to main menu" option has been added to settings, matching what Konami did for MGS2 and MGS3 in Vol. 1.

But the real headline for anyone who actually played this game on PS3 is the load times. MGS4's original install-as-you-go system would delete completed act data and install the next chapter, leaving you staring at Old Snake chain-smoking for minutes at a stretch. In the remastered footage, transitions between areas are near-instant. The game also runs at 60fps, which for a title that was locked to 30 on PS3 hardware, feels like a different game entirely. I spent a lot of time with MGS4 on PS3 and those loading screens were punishing; seeing them evaporate is the single biggest quality-of-life upgrade this remaster could deliver.

One lingering question is what happens to the PS3-specific dialogue. There's a famous scene at Shadow Moses where Otacon tells Snake to swap to disc 2 before catching himself and praising Blu-ray. Whether that stays as-is, gets new voice lines per platform, or gets cut entirely remains unconfirmed. Metal Gear Solid: Master Collection Vol. 2, which also includes Peace Walker and Ghost Babel, launches August 27 on PS5, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch 2, Switch, and PC.