Metal Gear Solid’s Master Collection has been out since October 2023. And while it is very lacking in some key ways that we’d expect from a modern remaster in the 21st century, it still contains a hefty selection of some of the greatest games of the late ‘90s and 2000s.
Whether you’re playing the original 1998 Metal Gear Solid for the first time, or are revisiting it after many years, you might not know that you can unlock some fancy items that make repeat playthroughs of the game way easier. (Or perhaps, like me, you simply forgot how to.)
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In fact, if you already beat the game, it’s likely you earned a cool new item for doing so. Let’s go over how to use it in a second playthrough.
How to access MGS’s New Game Plus mode
After you hit the end of Metal Gear Solid, you can restart the game with any bonus items you earned upon completion. To enter New Game Plus, simply check your saved games and you’ll see “Dock” shaded in orange. Load up that game and it’ll take you to Snake’s opening infiltration in the docks of Shadow Moses, new items and all.
How to get the Bandana (and what it does)
Let’s start with the harder item to earn: The Bandana. To get this item, you’ll need to withstand Ocelot’s torture sequence without giving up. Doing so will ensure that Meryl lives. She’ll give you the Bandana at the end of the game. When you start up from this save file via the method above, you’ll have the item with you.
The Bandana, as Snake states in Metal Gear Solid 2, grants infinite ammo. This makes it super easy to breeze through boss fights and scripted fight sequences like the famous stairway showdown with the genome soldiers. Metal Gear Rex also becomes much easier to fight as you’ll have infinite chaff grenades to toss, throwing off the rockets’ ability to track you.
How to survive Ocelot’s torture sequence and get out of the cell as fast as possible
The Bandana isn’t won easily. You need to tap the action button (circle on PlayStation, B on Xbox, A on Switch) as fast as you possibly can.
In my experience, it’s way harder to pull this off successfully by holding the controller normally. What I prefer to do (and used to in 1998) is the following: Lay the controller in the palm of your left hand and grip it from the center. Then turn the controller so that it’s facing you and the action button is pointed toward the floor.
Then, position the tip of your thumb above the action button (which will always be the right-most face button regardless of your controller type), with your middle and ring fingers (it’s essential to use these fingers to stabilize your hand on the other side of the controller as it centers the mass of your hand over the action button) gripping the underside of the controller’s right trigger. Your thumb should be mashing the action button away from you.
You’ll still need to tap the button very fast (yes, it’s supposed to be hard). I find the Xbox controller with its domed button surface to be easier than the flatter button on PlayStation for sure.
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Once you’re in the cell after the interrogation sequence, call Otacon on the codec. He’ll revisit you after you complete one more torture sequence and will give you some rations and a bottle of ketchup. Wait for the guard (who happens to be our dear friend, Johnny) to go to the bathroom and equip the ketchup, lay on the floor and press square on PlayStation (X on Xbox, Y on Switch). This will make it look like Snake is bleeding. When the guard comes back, he’ll enter the cell to check on you in a hurry. Quickly stand up and either punch him out or break his neck, and you’re free.
Be careful: It’s easy to screw this up, as the guard is likely to head for the door to lock you in, forcing you to survive yet another torture sequence.
How to get Stealth Camouflage (and what it does)
If you choose to submit during Ocelet’s torture sequence, Meryl will die and you’ll escape Shadow Moses with Otacon at the end of the game. He’ll give you Stealth Camo, and when you start a new game off of this save file, you can use it from the beginning of the game.
Stealth camo shades Snake in a transparent green and makes it so that guards and most cameras can’t see him. It works on some bosses, but not others. Also, Snake will still get spotted during scripted encounters with guards.
A few other fun items
Once you beat the game a second time, you’ll earn the Digital Camera. This lets you snap photos (and even spot a few ghostly images). Finish the game a third time and you’ll unlock Snake’s tuxedo (no microtransactions necessary!).
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