I just learnt I’ve been playing Metal Gear Solid 3 with a broken camera for 15 years

A confession: I’ve never played the original PS2 version of Metal Gear Solid 3. Though I had (and loved) MGS1 on PlayStation, I became an Xbox—and then PC—boy thereafter, which meant I only got access to the series’ sequels when they got Bluepoint HD editions in 2011. Those same Bluepoint HD editions would become the basis for Konami’s Metal Gear Solid Master Collection Volume 1 in 2023.

Which means I’ve been playing MGS3 wrong, it turns out.

Afevis Solmunko, head honcho of the Master Collection graphics fixpack MGSHDFix, recently announced a big tweak coming to MGS3’s Master Collection version in the mod’s upcoming 3.1.0 version: a fix for Bluepoint’s misaligned cutscene camera that’s has been in the game ever since its initial 2011 release, and which no one has since fixed.

“In both 2011 [HD Collection] & 2023 [Master Collection], the camera in ALL of MGS3’s cutscenes is ~10% higher than PS2’s framing, cutting off the bottom of screen,” wrote Solmunko. “Now fully corrected/properly centered by MGSHDFix.”

Konami / HEITAIsKonami / HEITAIsKonami / HEITAIs

Solmunko’s been on a tear recently. Just last week I wrote about him uncovering true third-person mode in MGS2, obscured by just a single variable in the game’s code.

10% might not sound like much, but in example images compiled by Metal Gear augur Heitais, the difference is very noticeable. The camera being angled just that touch higher in the game’s Bluepoint version cuts off a chunk of every scene’s bottom part. Is it fatal? Well, clearly not, since I didn’t even notice for the previous decade and a half, but it certainly isn’t desirable in a game as deliberately concerned with its framing and general cinema-ness.

The issue is also present in MGS2, though Solmunko seems to still be toying with the idea of fixing it there. In a post on the Metal Gear Network Discord, he wrote that he “Mightttt recenter MGS2 as well—they aligned the bottom edge of the frame and added more headroom, which results in you being able to see things like Ocelot teleporting / characters loading in.” Sounds good to me. Though this is Metal Gear: maybe it’s not a bug and Ocelot can actually just teleport.

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